Day 5 of the Vans US Open of Surfing was not a good one for the Saffa contenders. Both Travis Logie and Bianca Buitendag were eliminated from the event in tough conditions at Huntington Beach.
Tatiana Weston-Webb eliminated Bianca Buitendag from the US Open.
For Bianca, the event was the sixth stop on the 2014 World Championship Tour and her Round 2 loss will definitely count as one of her throwaway results. The mushy waves at Huntington Beach have caused many a surf fan to bemoan the fact that it’s a Dream Tour stop, but at the end of the day you have to beat your opponent regardless. Unfortunately for the Vic Bay local, she lost another match-up with Hawaii’s Tatiana Weston-Webb.
Bianca smashed this wave for the highest score of the heat.
Bianca did record the heat’s highest single wave score though – an even 8.00 scoring ride for a well surfed right – but was unable to back it up with something significant, while Tatiana went to work and grabbed the win with a 7.67 and a 7.00.
The remaining Round 2 heats in the Mens division were also completed on Day 5, and there were some major upsets as three Dream Tour surfers were eliminated – Julian Wilson (AUS), Travis Logie and Sebastian Zietz (HAW).
Travis was looking sharp, but fell just short of advancing.
With less than a minute remaining in Heat 9 and needing only a 5.50 to advance, Trav stroked into a mushy left. The WCT ripper did the business on the outside, but while hopping his way to the inside connection he slipped and finished just 0.10 points behind Jadson Andre (BRA), who advanced with heat winner, Kainoa Igarashi (USA).
Jordy Smith, Beyrick De Vries and Dylan Lightfoot are all still in contention though, and you can watch their progression on vansusopenofsurfing.com.
