(Shared from Surfline)
“It was stressful for the women, probably 90 percent of us thought we weren’t going to surf North Point,” Johanne Defay said after her Round 1 win today at the Margaret River Pro. “So we were surprised, but I told myself I wanted to have no regrets. If a barrel came, I would take it on.”
Defay, even if channeling her inner Edith Piaf, didn’t find the tube, but did hack away to score one of the higher individual wave scores of the day. While she was doing that, however, her opponent Malia Manuel was having a few regrets of her own.
Willian Cardoso flexed on moody North Point to win his first R1 heat of the season, sending Ace and Griff to R2. Photo: WSL
It says a fair bit about the conditions today that Manuel’s jet-ski-assisted escape from a near pounding on dry rocks provided the most dramatic incident of the day. Now, if you surf North Point enough eventually you will find yourself in the same position, literally between a rock and a hard place. However, her predicament highlighted that while history was made with the first-ever Women’s CT heats surfed at North Point, many of the girls found it difficult to come to grips with the inconsistent and challenging waves.
“I was excited, but also nervous as I didn’t know the break,” Carissa Moore said after posting the highest heat total of the day. “Certain conditions allow the women to surf at their best, but then surfing waves like this allow us to push ourselves.” Reading between the lines, there was the whiff of a suggestion by Moore that putting the women out in heavier conditions can have both a positive and negative effect. Positive in that experience is the only way that the standard will improve, but negative in that watching surfers struggling can be an unedifying experience for the spectator.
Carissa was one of a few women to get barreled today. Photo: WSL
“To be in the first heat at North Point ever was pretty cool,” said the perpetually positive Sally Fitzgibbons. “It’s a bit of a treasure hunt between all the ledges, so it’s a real challenge. I didn’t use the ski and paddled out from the beach because I really like to connect with the place. I could watch the last heats of the guys and it’s a good way to get in tune and feel the mood of the ocean.”
“This was the first time I surfed North Point,” said Tatiana Weston-Webb, who won her R1 heat, “so it’s nice to post such a solid score like that.” Photo: WSL
And today, the ocean was damn moody. With a dying swell and funky winds the lineup was broken up into distinct, unlinked sections. The odd bigger set would hit the outside ledge, but you couldn’t guarantee that would happen more than once in a heat. The end section then came into play, as well as the inner ledge, a super shallow slab near the rocks.
If that all sounds tricky, it was. I once interviewed legendary Hawaiian shaper John Carper about a 10’6” Pe’ahi gun he’d made for Shane Dorian. Looking at the board he said, “Forget the numbers, forget the dimensions and go with the eye. Beauty always has a way of prevailing.” However, across the four heats surfed in the Men’s this morning, the numbers couldn’t be ignored. A mustached Joel Parkinson, who hunted up, down and across all the ledges, was the only surfer to get into double figures. Elsewhere, Adriano de Souza won with a 5.00 and Seabass with a 5.40. Kolohe Andino took off with 10 seconds to go, needing a 1.34 to win, and just scraped through. With barrels hard to come by and all the surfers inexplicably incapable of landing airs, prevailing beauty was hard to find. The low digits reflected that North Point, for all its quality, needs a true and solid swell to work for competition.
Joel Parkinson posted the highest heat total, 10.34, of the remaining Men’s R1 heats today, as the dropping tide made set waves scarce. Photo: WSL
“I love this part of the world because it’s like home,” said Seabass. “It’s really hard to find a friendly wave in this neck of the woods.” He meant that as a compliment. However, today North Point wasn’t friendly for all the wrong reasons. Yet, still, it served its purpose. There’ve been real moments of magic over the last two days and Round 1 of the Men’s and Women’s have been completed.
As Edith sang; “Non, rien de rien, non, je ne regrette rien.”
Last year’s event runner-up, Kolohe Andino, posted the second highest heat of the Men’s heats today, 8.20, to send Fred Morais and Zeke Lau to R2. Photo: WSL
The official Surfline forecast: Fading, but still fairly solid, surf and favorable morning prevails Sunday, easing further on Monday. Mid-size W swell looks possible Wednesday-Thursday, although wind may trend back onshore. Another solid SW to WSW swell remains possible for the end of the event window around the 20th-22nd.
Margaret River Men’s Pro Remaining Round 1 Results:
Heat 8: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 5.00, Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 3.74, Yago Dora (BRA) 1.60
Heat 9: Willian Cardoso (BRA) 7.53, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 5.93, Griffin Colapinto (USA) 3.83
Heat 10: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 5.40, Italo Ferreira (BRA) 2.90, Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 2.23
Heat 11: Kolohe Andino (USA) 8.20, Frederico Morais (PRT) 5.93, Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 6.54
Heat 12: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 10.34, Michel Bourez (PYF) 2.24, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 1.30
Margaret River Men’s Pro Round 2 Matchups:
Heat 1: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Dave Delroy-Carr (AUS)
Heat 2: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Kael Walsh (AUS)
Heat 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Mikey Wright (AUS)
Heat 4: Italo Ferreira (BRA) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 5: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Ian Gouveia (BRA)
Heat 6: Frederico Morais (PRT) vs. Michael February (ZAF)
Heat 7: Griffin Colapinto (USA) vs. Yago Dora (BRA)
Heat 8: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) vs. Michael Rodrigues (BRA)
Heat 9: Conner Coffin (USA) vs. Ezekiel Lau (HAW)
Heat 10: Connor O’Leary (AUS) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 11: Tomas Hermes (BRA) vs. Jesse Mendes (BRA)
Heat 12: Wade Carmichael (AUS) vs. Joan Duru (FRA)
Margaret River Women’s Pro Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 11.00, Coco Ho (HAW) 8.84, Silvana Lima (BRA) 5.93
Heat 2: Carissa Moore (HAW) 13.33, Bronte Macaulay (AUS) 2.37, Sage Erickson (USA) 2.03
Heat 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 9.56, Mikaela Greene (AUS) 6.43, Keely Andrew (AUS) 4.63
Heat 4: Caroline Marks (USA) 7.90, Paige Hareb (NZL) 4.80, Lakey Peterson (USA) 4.24
Heat 5: Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) 12.17, Tyler Wright (AUS) 11.50, Macy Callaghan (AUS) 9.34
Heat 6: Johanne Defay (FRA) 11.37, Malia Manuel (HAW) 10.17, Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) 5.13
Margaret River Women’s Pro Round 2 Matchups:
Heat 1: Sage Erickson (USA) vs. Coco Ho (HAW)
Heat 2: Silvana Lima (BRA) vs. Bronte Macaulay (AUS)
Heat 3: Lakey Peterson (USA) vs. Mikaela Greene (AUS)
Heat 4: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs. Paige Hareb (NZL)
Heat 5: Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) vs. Macy Callaghan (AUS)
Heat 6: Keely Andrew (AUS) vs. Malia Manuel (HAW)