JOSH KERR FLIES AND JORDY SMITH BOWS OUT AT QUIKSILVER PRO DURBAN

Durban – Some big airs and bigger upsets were the order of the day at the Quiksilver Pro Durban, as New Pier produced funnelling little high-performance waves for day 8 of Durban’s Six-Star Prime WQS event. The conditions, while perfect in shape and conditions, were a little bit small, but good to excellent rides punctuated the day’s performances and there were plenty of excellent scores being inked by the judges. But first up, the upsets.
Travis Logie was eliminated in the round of 48 in a heat that suffered from a bit of a wave drought, and it was Masatoshi Ohno from Japan and Leigh Sedley from Australia who advanced. Despite Travis catching a last good-looking wave on the final horn and smacking it for all it was worth, he fell just short of the required score and was eliminated, along with fellow South African Damien Fahrenfort.
Sunny Garcia was eliminated in heat 11 of the round of 48, despite a strong and powerful performance. He was out-pointed by an on-form Bettero Hizunome from Brazil and Yadin Nicol from Australia. Local surfer Warwick Wright dominated his heat in the round of 48, winning his 4-man heat, but was eliminated in the round of 24 in the high tide conditions. In another shock upset, local hope Jordy Smith was also eliminated in the same round by Phil MacDonald and Marlon Lipke.
Josk Kerr found his rhythm in his early heat and made some big airs in conditions that he really liked. “The waves in my heat was so suited to airs,” said Kerr. “With the waves being a bit soft with this little onshore lip, it’s easy to launch into the air. Then with the waves being so smooth and glassy it’s also easy to land them. I pulled off a few in my heat so I’m stoked.”
Marlon Lipke, the powerful German goofy-foot surfer, was instrumental in the elimination of Jordy Smith in their round of 24 encounter. Heat winner Phil MacDonald sat wide of the two, and Lipke and Smith engaged in a paddle battle or two and a little bit of good old hussling, with the German coming out on top between the two. “It was quite a tight heat, but I got that one good wave in the middle of the heat, and didn’t want to give any away,” said Lipke. “My boards feel really good in these conditions and my best waves were on my backhand, so it was a good heat for me. Durban is my favourite location in the world, and coming back here is definitely the highlight of my year on tour.”
Another New Pier local in Davey Weare surfed a blistering heat in what had become somewhat tricky conditions, and scored an 8.67 (out of a possible ten) and a 8.27 right off the bat to put himself in a commanding lead at the start of the heat, and he never let go of the lead. Dustin Barca from Hawaii surfed a solid heat to come in behind the South African and advance, and eliminated from the event was Leandro Bastos from Brazil. “Very stoked to get through, but I want to get further in the event. I’m looking forward to get going in the round of sixteen,” said Weare. “My boards are going well as well, so hopefully this is a good event for me.”
Tomorrow sees the event go into the round of 16. The event organisers have called for an early morning start at Ansteys at The Bluff, with predictions looking good for that side. To find out the contest venue for tomorrow please log onto the event website - www.quikprodurban.com – for the daily update.