Chelsea Tuach, Chelsea Roett advance in Surf Pro
The Barbados Surfer Girls, Chelsea Tuach and Chelsea Roett are through to the next round of the Barbados Surf Pro QS3,000 in contrasting styles after Day three of the competition yesterday.
Roett was in the very first Heat for the Women which started at noon at the Drill Hall Beach and after a lengthy pause where none of the four surfers in the Heat attempted to catch a wave, it was Roett who was the first to catch a wave in the heat after eight minutes of
sitting and moving around looking for a wave.
She earned a 5.33 for her efforts with 15 minutes left in the 25-minute heat.
Jump started by the first wave, Roett was again at it, catching her second wave as she was paddling back out. This earned her a smaller score of 3.0 to add to her total.
With two waves under her belt none of the other surfers had paddled into a wave as yet and Roett was riding her third wave of the Heat.
Probably sensing they needed to get a move on the other surfers in the Heat started to pick up waves with Roett out front with a 5.33 and 4.00 to lead with a combined total of 9.33.
But it was in the back end of the Heat that things got frantic, Roett saw her lead snatched away by Alessa Quizon from Hawaii who first posted a 6.50 on her first wave and then with two minutes left in the Heat turned in a 7.10 on her second wave for a combined total of 13.60.
The last-minute drama continued to unfold in the Women’s First Heat as Roett then slipped out of qualifying when Zoe McDougall from Hawaii turned in 6.0 wave to give her a 10.83 combined score.
Facing elimination Roett up on a wave with only seconds left in the Heat and carved up the wave with some cutbacks before the horn sounded. It took a few more minutes before she knew she had advanced. Needing at least a 5.51 to her last minute final wave earned her a total of 5.83 which gave her a combined total of 11.16 to finish second in the Heat and Advance.
The home crowd had to wait until the final Heat of the Day to see Tuach.
Unlike Roett, Tuach did not catch the first wave Heat 8 nor did she face last minute drama, but when she started she showed that she meant business.
Tuach pumped out a 4.90 on her first scoring wave before whipping up a 7.17 to take the lead.
There was no last minute heroics from the other surfers in her Heat but Tuach made sure she remained in the lead by adding a 7.57 to her tally for a combined score of 14.74 to win the Heat in convincing fashion.
Bailey Nagy from Hawaii was the other qualifier from the Heat with a total of 11.84.
Speaking after the Heat, Tuach said that the first heat is always a bit nervous. “It was good to get out in the water, it felt great getting the first wave under my belt and surfing the heat well.”
“The nervous in the first heat is like nothing else,” said Tuach who considers Drill Hall her home break.
In Round Four Roett will be in Heat 2 of 4, while Tuach will surf in Heat 4 of 4.
In the morning session Bruce Mackie advanced to the next round with a second place finish in Heat 9. Mackie scored 13.33 to beat out third place Olamana Eleogram from Hawaii with 12.93. Winner of the Heat was Keanu Asing from Hawaii with 16.50.
Joshua Burke gave the home crowd something to cheer about with a victory in the final men’s Heat of the day. Burke scored a 7.83 and 7.93 wave to amass 15.76 in Heat 16. Hot on his heels was Luel Felipe from Brazil with a total of 15.56 in second place, while Yuri Goncalves from Brazil needed to replace his 7.17 wave with a 7.47 scoring wave to qualify as he was just behind second place with 15.17.
Dane Mackie was not as fortunate as he finished out of qualifying in third place in Heat 13.
Che Allan with a score of 11.53 finished third in his Heat which was won by Bino Lopes from Brazil with 14.33 while Shane Campbell from Australia was second with 12.03.