Day two of the Body Glove Surfbout presented by Adio commenced this morning under overcast skies that gave way to sun by midmorning. Light onshore winds were on tap, but Lowers, which is like pizza in the fact that even when its bad its good, was looking fun with chest to head high peelers.
Evidence of increasing competitiveness due to the progression of the early rounds was evident, as three surfers in Heat 3 of the 3 rd round posted scores in the 7's and 8's to kick off the morning. Ultimately Leandro Bastos and Austin Ware would advance from the heat, but all competitors put in solid performances.
Local Greg Long failed to advance from his third round heat, Heat 5, despite posting an 8.0 on his first wave. Long was certainly looking solid with a good score early in the heat, but was unable to provide a decent wave to back it up and was bettered by Jack Perry and Toby Ogden.
Heat 6 was highly contested as a quartet of hot young surfers hit the water. Pat Gudauskas looked good and scored a 7.0 early on, which he was able to back up late in the heat with 7.83 to take the win.
Aaron Cormican, who blew a few minds yesterday with a stellar appearance in the first two rounds, failed to advanced from his third round heat as he was soundly bested by a confident looking Asher Nolan, and a competent Darryll Goodrum. Makua Rothman, who was seen chatting with perennial competitive powerhouse and former world champ Sunny Garcia before the heat, also fell to Nolan and Goodrum in Heat 7.
Infrequent sets midmorning left several competitors stranded for good scores, but as noon approached, some nice sized split-peaks began rolling in fairly steadily. Heat 9 saw Peter Devries continue his winning form, and Heat 10 saw Che Stang post a high 8 on his first wave. Stang, with one good score under his belt continued to push hard throughout the heat attempting several ill-fated layback snaps off the top and a huge frontside air that he couldn't quite pull together. Though Stang didn't find the rhythm he needed to post another high score, his aggressive approach kept his fellow competitors off balance enough to allow him to take the win.
Good sets continued to push through until the close of the third round, and the open faced A-frames created several interference situations as competitors hassled for the sets. Heat 12 was marred by two interference calls, the first on Ola Eleogram in the opening moments, a move which effectively put him out of the heat from the start and forced him attempt at play catch up with a commendable progressive attack. For Ola it was not to be however, and the interference played a role in earning him a 4 th place finish. The second infraction came in the closing minutes when heat leader Brandon Guilmette was a called in the wrong during a paddle battle with Shaun Berrel. Guilmette's mistake would prove costly as the scoring penalty would bump him from 1 st to 3 rd and keep him from advancing, a turn of events that allowed Berrel to take the heat in 1 st and moved Rhys Bombaci into 2 nd .
By the beginning of Round 4, wave size had dropped considerably. Ted Navarro, who tied Rob Machado yesterday for the day's highest scoring wave with a 9.5, was unable to summon a similar effort today and didn't advance from his 4 th round heat. A resourceful Dylan Graves took the heat instead, followed by Antionio Bortoletto in 2 nd .
Former Surfbout champ Rob Machado surfed the 2 nd heat of Round 4, and managed to take full advantage of the small and bumpy conditions with a low slung and smooth backside attach that earned him another 9.5 and an 8.1. Machado dominated his heat for the second day in a row, and after hitting the beach, commented on surfing the best heat of the day despite the challenging and small chop. “I didn't think I would be able to post scores that high when I was looking at it before the heat,” said the reserved legend, "it seems like the wind has really been peaking at this point in the day so it can be tough. But Trestles is a ripable wave no matter what, so I was just looking for the ones with a good line and a nice wall.”
As the afternoon wore on, Machado's wind observations proved correct as conditions improved from those seen during his heat. Consistent and cleaner peaks began to push back through on the lower tide and it seemed as if a new swell was beginning to show in the water. Paul Fisher jumped on the sets and settled into a nice rhythm to take heat 7, and Puerto Rican Brain Toth looked solid during his Heat 8 win.
Canadian Peter Devries took full advantage as well in Heat 9, and continued to roll along posting a 7.5 on his first wave with an ally-oop followed by a nice hook in the pocket. Devries then immediately got into position for another set wave, this one a left, and tore it to the inside with a brutal series of snaps for an 8.6 sealing the win.
Conditions continued to improve as the day wound down, and had many crossing their fingers that scheduled bad weather for tomorrow won't show. Perhaps they will and perhaps they wont. Regardless, log on to Bodyglove.com for Day 3 updates of Rounds 4 and 5, as well as Round 1 for the women. Check Wavewatch.com for scheduled conditions for the week to come and log on this Friday and Saturday to the Surbout mini-site for live scoring.