Women’s top seed Zoe McDougall (HAW) produced a stellar performance on day two of the Vans Surf Pro Classic in Lamberts Bay on Saturday. No 2 seed Mikey February went through, but men’s top seed Beyrick de Vries (Umhlanga) was eliminated from the event that he won last year.
Yo-Yo’s continued to deliver great surf throughout day and despite the onshore wind increasing during the day, while the swell dropped marginally to the one-to-1.5 metre range, the final heat of the day still saw scores in the excellent range.
McDougall, currently ranked No 12 on the World Surf League (WSL) women’s Qualifying Series (QS) leaderboard, recorded the highest score of the day, 9.17 out of 10, in her first heat at the event. Adding a 6.0, the Hawaiian junior left the experienced Tanika Hoffman (Sea Point) requiring a near perfect 9.67 as they both advanced to the semi-finals.
Sophia Fulton (AUS) and Nicole Pallet (La Lucia) also scored convincing quarter-final heat wins, while Jeffreys Bay surfers Kirsty McGillivray and Emma Smith fought out a seesaw clash that eventually went McGillivray’s way to set up a talent-packed final eight who will battle for the title on Sunday.
De Vries dominated all of his heats until his Round of 16 clash, where he uncharacteristically spent most of the 20-minute match-up struggling to find a backup for his solid opening ride. Needing only 2.01 to advance to the last eight, De Vries was eliminated with just one ride on his score-line.
Renan Peres (BRA) and last year’s junior men’s champion Jordy Maree (Kommetjie) took advantage of De Vries’ demise to progress from the low-scoring heat. They will be joined in the last eight by David van Zyl (Glenashley), second seed Michael February (Kommetjie) and the in-form Shane Sykes (Salt Rock), all of whom ran out comfortable winners.
Mateus Herdy (BRA), whose impressive aerial repertoire has been well-rewarded by the judges and New Zealander Daniel Farr advanced through both their men’s and junior men’s heats today, and will be doing double-duty on the final day.
The junior men’s quarter-finals see the top eight seeds enter the fray for the first time. They will be up against three compatriots in Aya Gericke (Wilderness), Llandudno standout Luke Slijpen and perennial finalist Ford van Jaarsveldt (Kommetjie), along with five international campaigners in Herdy and Farr, Takuto Ohta (JAP), Jose Gundesen (ARG) and Joao Chianca (BRA).
The Vans Surf Pro Classic will crown champions in the men’s, women’s and junior men’s events on Sunday.
Picture of February in action courts of WSL/Thurtell