The Rip Curl Pro kicks off with the Women
BELLS BEACH, Victoria/AUS (Wednesday, April 12, 2017) - The opening day of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach saw incredible performances as the event ran through women’s Rounds 1, 2 and 3 in three-to-five foot conditions at Bells Beach.
Reigning WSL Champion Tyler Wright (AUS) put on a clinic today at Bells Beach with a phenomenal performance in both Round 1 and Round 3. Wright posted an outstanding 17.00 two-wave combined score in Round 1 and continued to showcase her flair with an 18.47 in Round 3. Wright’s wins today earn her a place in the Quarterfinals and moves her one step closer to ringing the coveted Bell for the first time. Sage Erickson (USA) and local favorite Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) were not able to challenge Wright in Round 3 and will be sent to elimination Round 4 for one final opportunity to make the final series.
“It’s been a really good day today -- scoring consistent Bells -- it’s great,” Wright said. “You still have to be relatively selective with the waves that we take, but because it is consistent, you can afford to try a few different things in a heat, which is nice. I haven’t won this event before so it’s definitely a goal, but at the moment I’m focussing on smaller goals and will deal with bigger ones when I arrive at them. I’ve had a lot of real-life pressure situations recently, so I feel a lot less pressure when surfing heats. It definitely helps and has given me perspective.”
Tyler Wright
Earlier this morning, three-time WSL Champion Carissa Moore (HAW) was relegated to elimination Round 2 by Van Dijk. Despite the early loss, Moore made an emphatic comeback in her elimination Round 2 heat with an amazing 19.13 combined score, the highest score of the day, against trials winner Ella Williams (NZL). Moore exhibited why she is a three-time winner at Bells with powerful turns and aggressive snaps.
Moore continued to charge through in the opening heat of Round 3 against 2016 event winner Courtney Conlogue (USA) and compatriot Coco Ho (HAW). In a close battle, Moore locked in a 7.17 and excellent 8.33, while Conlogue turned up the heat with an 8.00 and 7.03. Conlogue was not unable to post the required 7.51 on her last maneuver, giving Moore her third Quarterfinal berth of the season.
“The waves are pumping out there, just so many sets,” Moore said. “I’m so exhausted. It was a lot of work out there and we have surfed so many heats today, so winning that and skipping into the Quarterfinals is such a bonus. Now I can relax for a bit. The waves were so different in each heat so we really had to adapt quickly. I’m feeling good and am stoked to have bounced back from my first heat. It’s just great to be back at Bells.”
Six-time WSL Champion Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) continued her incredible form from the Gold Coast and Margaret River into Round 1, but was not able to take out her Round 3 heat. Non-elimination Round 3 Heat 3 saw current World No. 1 Gilmore struggle to find the waves to combat current World No. 7 Lakey Peterson (USA) and World No. 12 Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW). Peterson unleashed an excellent 8.57 and strong 6.33 to earn her place in the Quarterfinals.
Steph Gilmore
Tied with Gilmore for World No.1 is Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), was not able to win her Round 3 and will surf again in elimination Round 4. The final heat of the day saw 2017 World Title contender Johanne Defay (FRA) take the win. With only limited scoring opportunities on offer, Defay capitalized on two waves for a 9.33 combined score over Fitzgibbons and Silvana Lima (BRA).
“That was a really tricky heat,” Defay said. “The wind was increasing and conditions changing so it was hard to know what waves to go for. My scores were pretty low and so were my opponents but it’s always better to win a heat with a high total. I’ll always take a win into the Quarterfinals though. It was a real shame to come in at the end and see that Sally [Fitzgibbons] had hurt herself. I really do hope she is okay and recovers quickly.”
Needing a score on her last wave, Fitzgibbons took off on a set as a last-ditch effort to take the heat. Her first attempt at a turn was a big one, but she fell awkwardly and cut her foot on her fin. The medical team is taking care of Fitzgibbons now. The extent of her injuries are unknown. More information will be available on Fitzgibbons’ condition in the coming days.
“Sally Fitzgibbons is in a fair-bit of pain,” said WSL Deputy Commissioner Jessi Miley-Dyer. “I think she has a pretty big gash at the top of her foot. I do not know the much about how deep or anything but there is a fair amount of blood. The medics are taking care of her now.”
Sally Fitzgibbon
In her first heat win of the 2017 CT season, Lima took down Laura Enever (AUS) in Round 2 Heat 6. Enever, who withdrew from the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro due to injury, was not able to survive her first elimination heat back and will see an early exit from the event.
Pauline Ado (FRA), 2017 CT Rookie Bronte Macaulay (AUS), injury replacement Isabella Nichols (AUS), and 2016 WSL Rookie of the Year Keely Andrew (AUS) were not able to make it out of their Round 2 matchups and will exit in Equal 13th place.
Rip Curl Women’s Pro Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Sage Erickson (USA) 14.00, Courtney Conlogue (USA) 13.74, Coco Ho (HAW) 11.03
Heat 2: Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) 12.67, Carissa Moore (HAW) 11.67, Bronte Macaulay (AUS) 9.16
Heat 3: Tyler Wright (AUS) 17.00, Ella Williams (NZL) 6.53, Laura Enever (AUS) 6.50
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 14.94, Isabella Nichols (AUS) 10.16, Keely Andrew (AUS) 9.56
Heat 5: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 14.13, Lakey Peterson (USA) 13.60, Pauline Ado (FRA) 7.44
Heat 6: Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) 13.34, Silvana Lima (BRA) 12.16, Johanne Defay (FRA) 8.74
Rip Curl Women’s Pro Round 2 Results:
Heat 1: Coco Ho (HAW) 12.14 def. Keely Andrew (AUS) 12.00
Heat 2: Lakey Peterson (USA) 13.70 def. Bronte Macaulay (AUS) 12.44
Heat 3: Carissa Moore (HAW) 19.13 def. Ella Williams (NZL) 6.37
Heat 4: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 16.44 def. Isabella Nichols (AUS) 12.56
Heat 5: Johanne Defay (FRA) 15.43 def. Pauline Ado (FRA) 9.43
Heat 6: Silvana Lima (BRA) 14.50 def. Laura Enever (AUS) 4.13
Rip Curl Women’s Pro Round 3 Results:
Heat 1: Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.50, Courtney Conlogue (USA) 15.03, Coco Ho (HAW) 10.60
Heat 2: Tyler Wright (AUS) 18.47, Sage Erickson (USA) 15.73, Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) 8.76
Heat 3: Lakey Peterson (USA) 14.90, Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) 12.84, Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 12.00
Heat 4: Johanne Defay (FRA) 9.33, Silvana Lima (BRA) 4.80, Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 1.73
Comments
3 to 5 foot? No it was 5 to 8ft easy on the set waves.
Maybe if you live in QLD, but here in Vicco that's what we call 3 to 5 foot.
I'm in Vicco too mate.
I'm just gonna say it... you sound like a bit of a kook.
Thanks for the intelligent contribution to the discussion mate. Grade six must have been the most exciting three years of your life!
haha. that is a excellent reply. alas, it wasnt even 6ft on my coast so to say it was 5-8 at bells is highly unlikly. anyhoooooooooo...
Boy theres a yawing gap between the top girls and the rest,really showed yesterday.I think Silvana actually think falls off more than i do.
8ft hahahahahahahaha thats hilarious
Yeah you're right, it needs to be 3m faces, no 4m faces before it's 8ft, probably because you have massive gonads and can charge anything.
That's my observation on the size debate, the heroes like to under call, the realists are generally happy to have a scale that changes with face size.
6ft = dbl overhead = 3-4m faces. So it needs to be much bigger than 4m faces to call it 8ft.
Its science.
Agreed! It seems to me the more you under rate the size the bigger nads you "think" you got. Bit like the guys who drive flash cars to make up for something. Isn't the most unambiguous way to describe the size of a wave by the height of the face given that's what you surf?
Bah, humbug. Four foot sets with a coupla bigger ones each hour.
*shakes grey-bearded head*
Yeah that's my take on yesterday's surf. Is also what was forecast seven days in advance too.
I surfed it in the morning and the arvo...morning 2-3 maybe the odd bigger one...arvo was 3-5 with maybe the odd 6'er very occasionaly...if it was 8 foot then the swell we had a couple of weeks ago must of been 20-30 foot and I should change my name to Eddie
Seriously silly debate - the size thing - just depends on how you measure it.
It is a silly argument the size thing, but i agree on the size scale Swellnet uses in their reports and articles ect
When i tell people how big it is or was though, i generally just say waist high, shoulder high, head high, overhead, double overhead etc
So yesterday was triple waste high ??
Head high to over head (3-5 foot)
Knee high or less =half a foot
Waist high= 1- 2 foot
Shoulder high=3ft
Head high= solid 3 ft
Overhead= 4-5 ft
Double overhead=6ft
Triple overhead=8ft
Ect
These days I'm leaning towards 'wave face' size - maybe because I'm getting older :) but when a wall of water that you are riding is over your head that has got to be a 6ft+ wall of water, therefore wave height? The way of measuring the back of the wave - who surfs there :)) but wave height in my physics class's (way back) I think was from middle of the curve to the top. Talk to a tourist punter and they look at the wave face and compare it to the guy surfing it - which is pretty simple. maybe we all disappear up our own ...
Shoulder high, 3ft
Head high, solid 3ft
You really split that into 2 different wave heights?
I'm with Indo, I like the waist high, chest, head, just OH, a couple of feet OH, DOH, wish I had a bigger board, bugger I really have to catch one of these people are watching in the car park, is this what I do for fun etc. scale...
From my 'loungeroom' it looked bigger than 3-5ft that's all. Unfortunately I couldn't get down to watch the girls in action. In 40 years of surfing I've never applied a scientific method to estimating wave size, always judged the size by what I see and surf. It just seemed to me that 'some of the set waves' that came through yesterday looked bigger, at least double overhead and occasionally a little bigger. Like I said not a scientific approach, just a different interpretation and certainly not meant to be disparaging of Ben's forecast. Definitely plenty of waves in the 3-5ft range however. Anyway it was good viewing.
ps. I'm a kneelo perhaps that affects my judgement of wave size!
Short people = Double overhead when it is shoulder high.
Women (and ADS) are short(er) most of the time so maybe it looked bigger.
:) simple scinentological mathmathology. Just like they used at the wave garden...
Noticed the cam angle they use with the webcast at Bells tends to make it look bigger than it is as well
Ah yes. It's well know that elevated camera angles make the waves look a little bigger, as it flattens out the curve.
This has been a contentious point of discussion in the Swellnet office for years (not everyone agrees with me, eh Craig?).
Ben I've always though looking down on waves makes it look smaller than it actually is, then when you get down to beach level and can see the full face height of the wave it becomes larger.
Was this Craig's opinion too?
I'm with Ben on this one - have noticed it on the Middleton cam.
I'm totally with you Goofy.
Looking down from cliffs, the face is compressed, so what looks like 2-3ft of swell is actually 3-4ft when you get down and out there.
Simple physics ay?
Agreed looking down from a cliff makes it look smaller than it is but IMHO looking thru a cam or on TV makes it look bigger :)
+1 in Ben's corner on this one. Don't know the physics but I've always noticed looking down from a headland makes it look bigger.
i would say it affects more than your judgment of wave size.
Another quality contribution from kurrawa!
Anyway as far as the girl's surfing goes I thought Carissa and Tyler were the standouts. At their best these two I think are head and shoulders (is that 1 and 1/2feet?) above the rest.
Sorry for trolling. I just think it's a cultural thing and 'talking the size down' is just the way it's always been. It was bred in to me from a young age. You just don't wanna be the guy calling it 8ft when it's 4ft. as far as the girls went I think Steph Gilmore looks great too. Carissa probably looks the most comfy out there and will probably win it.
For what it's worth it is interesting to note that on the WSL forecast pages it refers to the size of the face of the wave. It forecasts Bells for tomorrow (Easter Saturday)to be 4-6' on the faces where the Swellnet forecast is 3ft for Torquay and Magicseaweed 3-4' for Bells. I guess it is just a different way of looking at it. Face size or swell size.
Sorry if I'm flogging a dead horse but here is a quote from Sean Doherty senior writer Coastalwatch discussing this years Bells. Here is his take on the first day's swell:
"The guys in the event thought they screwed up two days ago, when they sent the women out instead and it pumped. What started out as a morning of fun three-footers for the girls turned into an afternoon of pulsing eight-foot sets that no one saw coming. There were sets within sets. Dog Marsh counted 43 set waves in a 30-minute heat. The guys watched on grinding their teeth as wave after wave stormed through unridden."
I'm not the only one who thought it was bigger than 3ft?
Freestone ripped off!
Julian and Seabass- awesome heat.
Fuck I was torn then , Zen.
As Ronnie was saying , it came down to who's surfing you personally appreciated the most as both were tearing and I'm into the surfing of both.
Anyway...Go Seabass.
Just too many wiggles between turns by J'Dub. Understand it's a down the line wave, large playing area etc. but he needs to take a leaf out of Jordy book and slow down the board between the big moments. Maybe think about a quad in these waves.
Sally Fitz, good sportsmanship. Shame she lost, she was on a tear there in that heat.
Barton..... mate ...sounds like your calling a horse race not a surf heat.
Courtneys awesome, but that was no 9.
Epic win, hard one as the finish wasn't there, I thought maybe a touch under a 9, but a great finish.
Agreed, she more than likely would have got the score anyway.
Great contest in good waves. Congrats to Courtney, awesome Aussie leg for Steph and i'm hoping this will be Sally Fitz's year.