2010 Trestles Hurley Pro

[CascadeCrudSkier]

5 days out. Waiting period is September 12-18th. The forecast for next weekend doesn't look too promising but according to Wetsand there's something brewing that could arrive the 16th or 17th.

http://www.hurley.com/hurleypro/

This will be the first contest with the new scaled down ASP tour. Jordy and Kelly are essentially tied for first but I'd like to see Dane pull off a win here.

[Long duc dong]

Another layday. They will probably wait until Friday. It will pump, and the parking lot should be open, which will be cool. It will be nice to surf Middles with the lot open.

[hop]

Will this be the year for Sl10er?

[BS720]

I obviously need to brush up on the new ASP format. He lost a heat on Friday. How do you take first after losing a heat?

[CascadeCrudSkier]

Will this be the year for Sl10er?

I think it will be. With four events to go it seems like the locations favor him over Jordy, especially at Pipe. Barring a meltdown I think he's got it.

I obviously need to brush up on the new ASP format. He lost a heat on Friday. How do you take first after losing a heat?

The easiest way to understand it is to look at the layout. It's pretty clear on slide 33 here:
Slater wins at perfect Lowers
Basically, rounds 1 and 4 are heats of 3 surfers. If you win a 3 man heat, you advance two rounds. If you lose in a 3 man heat, you surf again in a heat of 2. If you lose in a heat of 2, you're out.

I surfed Churches and Middles yesterday and watched a couple heats run up at Lowers. It was insane how great Lowers was yesterday and nobody was on it. Most of the sets were A-framing and people hardly used the lefts. I think almost everyone on the beach realized that these guys were passing on waves that would be the wave of a lifetime for most people.

Watching the contests on the internet or video isn't the same as seeing them in real life. When looking at highlights or still photos everyone in the ASP looks pretty close. When watching these guys surf live you realize that the top 6 or 7 are a huge step above the rest. It just boils down to whether they get the right waves and don't screw up. The Round 5 matchup between D. Hobgood and Dane was a perfect example. Dane surfed better but Hobgood had much better waves. It was super close and when the heat ended Dane popped out of the water and asked some fans running for autographs, "Did I get it?!?!" The mind games about wave selection and which to take in a set are such a huge part of winning surf contests and probably the reason why Kelly is consistently #1.