Ventura flyboy Adam Virs sniffed out a frothy, long backhand barrel to lock in the highest single-wave score of the event, a 9.00 out of a possible 10.
“I actually thought I was going to pearl for a second,” Virs said. “I thought I was going to go straight down to the bottom but I kind of pulled it up and shockingly got barreled. What else can you ask for out there? The waves are great and the water’s warm.”
Former Newport Beach Pro champion Nick Kovack snuck into the event as an alternate yet was able to dispatch lethal up-and-comers Wesley Larsen and Sterling Spencer.
“My board’s working good. There’re plenty of waves out there so it’s nice to not have to hassle,” Kovack said. “I’m just being patient – it only takes two scores so I’m just waiting for a good one. There’re tons of good guys so it’ll be tough, but it should be fun.
Veteran competitor from Venezuela Magnum Martinez opened the morning up with some big, blasting maneuvers on his backhand. Another competitor to sneak in as an alternate, Martinez certainly isn’t wasting the opportunity.
“I was going to be doing another event in Latin America and I wasn’t planning on doing this which is why I didn’t enter,” Martinez said. “I was the last alternate yesterday and I hung out all day and I was rewarded today. I entered last year as an alternate and made the quarters so I’m looking to do well here again.”
The remaining eight heats of Round 3 will be completed tomorrow followed by all of Round 4. Round 4 will feature current leader on the Macy’s California Trifecta Surf Series, Dustin Cuizon.
Cuizon, winner of the first stop of the Macy’s Trifecta (Body Glove Surfbout at Lowers last April) and currently sitting in 19th of the ASP WQS ratings, is the only surfer who can potentially take home the $33,333 bonus prize for winning all three events in the Surf Series. Should the young Hawaiian be victorious here in Newport, he will only have to take out the O’Neill Coldwater Classic in October to receive the massive cash bonus.
Wavewatch forecasters have called for an even bigger jump in swell tomorrow and if conditions remain as glassy as they did today, we’re all in for a great day of surfing.
Heats will hit the water tomorrow at 8:00 am.
Check out updated photos and videos from the past two days of the event.
Live webcast will recommence tomorrow morning and is available at http://surfermag.com/events/nbpro06.