After a full week of lay days, the Billabong Pro Rio finally got underway with the men’s division and it was straight into a new venue called Arpoador. The wave, a long left-hand pointbreak, didn’t offer much in the way of high scoring rides, and South African Jordy Smith had one of his lowest scoring heats of the season to date. Jordy’s two best rides of his hat were a 4.57 and a 3.50, giving him a heat total of 8.07 out of a possible 20. Jordy often scores in the 8 plus to 9-point zone for one wave, so this was a low scoring heat for the big Durbanite.
Beating him in the heat was American surfer Pat Gudauskas, who only managed to amass 8.13 as his heat total, making it a low scoring and extremely close heat across the board.
“Waves were a bit all over the show,” said Jordy of the waves for his heat. It is only the first round so Jordy will get to surf again, but apart from the waves Jordy has been experiencing a few other little set backs. “Well, I was having a few problems with my boards, as well as a little bit of flu.”
Waves were a bit all over the show - Jordy Smith
During the next day of competition Jordy will come up against local Brazilian surfer Peterson Crisanto. “Hopefully I will have sorted out my boards by then, and be done with the flu by tomorrow.”
Surfers who won their heats included the likes of Taj Burrow, Mick Fanning, Kelly Slater and Jadsen Andre. Two-times champion Mick Fanning found some form amongst the left-handers, and combined a series of quick turns for two good scoring rides. ““It was tricky trying to find the right one out there, but I watched the heat before and noticed that guys that were doing turns back-to-back were getting scores, so I tried to concentrate on that,” Fanning said. “They weren’t the biggest waves, but they just allowed three turns straight away.”
The forecast conditions look good for a return to the original contest site Barra da Tajuca, a better quality wave than the sloping lefts of Arpoador, and the possibility for bigger scores from the top surfers.
The Billabong Rio Pro is event Stop No. 3 of 11 on the men’s ASP World Title Tour featuring the World's Top 33 surfers plus one wildcard.
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.jpg "From their playground to his - SEARCH Projects surf with Jordy")
.jpg "From their playground to his - SEARCH Projects surf with Jordy")
.jpg "From their playground to his - SEARCH Projects surf with Jordy")
.jpg "From their playground to his - SEARCH Projects surf with Jordy")
.jpg "From their playground to his - SEARCH Projects surf with Jordy")
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