Even the infamous North Shore suffers through average spells in Winter, and following a week of lay days the Vans World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach was called back ON yesterday.
There were some good ones and some bad ones, like usual at Sunset.
Competition resumed with Heat 1 of Round 2 and Sunset was its usual ugly/beautiful self, offering big warpy peaks and powerful shoulders for competitors to sink their longer rails into. There were even a couple of tubes for those familiar with the lineup to tuck inside – but nothing like the Perfect 10 point tube Beyrick De Vries caught at last year’s event that still has the commentators talking.
After a strong display at Sunset last year, Beyrick is focussed on another in 2014.
With a Sunset reputation to his name, Beyrick swung straight into action in Heat 4 and caught the first wave of the match-up with Chris Ward (USA), Zeke Lau (HAW) and Stuart Kennedy (AUS). The Umhlanga Rocks local unleashed a series of hard carves, looking comfortable on his bigger board, and finished with a crazy fins-free bash on the closeout section to earn a 7.33 and the early lead.
Offering Beyrick advice from the channel was his caddie, Jake ‘The Snake’ Patterson, who was stoked on his young apprentice’s strong start. What they quickly discussed in the channel is anyone’s guess, but we think it was something along the lines of “wait for a good one” – which is what Beyrick did until there was just two minutes remaining.
Beyrick looked good on his longer board.
Sitting in fourth spot but needing only a 2.17 to advance, Beyrick paddled into a medium-sized peak and went to town looking for a back-up. He didn’t put a foot wrong and milked the shoulder all the way to the inside for a score of 6.17. That was enough to put him in second spot behind Chris Ward, who had scored a 9.63 mid-way through the heat to secure top spot. Zeke Lau still had a chance to overtake Beyrick with less than a minute remaining, but he chose a closeout and was left still needing a score as the clock wound down.
Earning Round 2’s highest heat total was young Italian, Leonardo Fioravanti. The 16 year-old showed immense maturity and power at Sunset to advance with a 16.17 total – including a well-surfed 9.07. Currently sitting at 25th on the WQS ratings, Leo could qualify for the Dream Tour with a win at the Vans World Cup of Surfing.
Leo Fioravanti swooped through to Round 3.
Competition will resume with the start of Round 3 when the Vans World Cup of Surfing gets underway again. Beyrick will be up in Heat 3, Jordy follows directly after in Heat 4, while Travis will be surfing in Heat 13. Watch heat reviews, check out some photos and get all the results from the Vans World Cup of Surfing on aspworldtour.com.
