Lay Day for Day 1 of the O'Neill Highland Open by Swatch

April 23, 2008 PRESS RELEASE
A lay day was called for the first day of the O'Neill Highland Open, an ASP 6-Star World Qualifying Series (WQS) event, today. The decision was an easy one for contest director Matt Wilson.
"It was a pretty easy call to make," Wilson said. "We came down to Thurso East at 6am and there was absolutely nothing happening there. Then we headed to check Brims, which is basically the option when there is no other option and there was nothing happening there either."
The surfers, now all congregated in the remote northern Scottish town of Thurso, are patiently waiting for the prediction of a favorable swell over the next few days.
Sunny Garcia (HAW), a former ASP World Champion and multiple Triple Crown Of Surfing winner, is among them. It is his first time in Scotland as he looks to cut his way on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) this year, and back onto the ASP World Tour for next season.
"I am used to surfing cold water," he said. "I have been living in California for a while now and the water gets a bit colder there in the winter. I have not been in the water here yet though. It is my first time over here. I love the countryside. I love the fact that there are no buildings or anything around."
Garcia retired from the ASP World Tour in 2005, but this season he is making a fighting comeback.
"I am trying to qualify," he said. "I actually thought it was going to be easy but now I have seen the level of surfing, it is a bit different."
"It is a lot of fun meeting all the new faces. It is different to the era I grew up in. A lot of these guys weren't even born when I was competing. They are all friends, but when I was competing we would step on other peoples toes a lot more."
Standing looking out at Thurso East, where no wave was breaking today, he said: "I haven't seen this wave working yet but I have seen photos. I can't wait to surf it."
Matt Wilson will be checking the swell tomorrow morning at 6am, when everyone will be hoping for a decent swell.
"Looking at the forecast we are expecting conditions to improve tomorrow," said Matt. "Then leading into Sunday and Monday next week, we expect quite good conditions possibly seeing the event move to Thurso East which is what we are here for."
UPCOMING ROUND 1 HEATSHeat 1: Jean Sebastien Estienne (GLP), Felix Messias (BRA), Mark Cameron (SCO)Heat 2: Luke Cheadle (AUS), Anthony Petruso (USA), Reubin Pearce (ZAF), Tom Wimmer (AUS)Heat 3: Alain Riou (PYF), Gavin Roberts (ZAF), Blake Howard (USA), Alfo Scavone (ITA)Heat 4: Austin Ware (USA), Miguel Ximenez (PRT), Hank Gaskell (HAW), Thomas Petriken (USA)Heat 5: Matt Wilkinson (AUS), Devon Tresher (USA), Jorge Spanner (BRA)Heat 6: Luke Campbell (AUS), Justin Mujica (PRT), Joe Tanaka (JPN)Heat 7: Tanner Gudauskas (USA), Blake Thornton (AUS), Yujiro Tsuji (JPN), Charlie Carroll (HAW)Heat 8: Yadin Nicol (AUS), Jay Quinn (NZL), Izuki Tanaka (JPN), Dustin Willmann (USA)Heat 9: Gony Zubizarreta (ESP), Abdel El Harim (MAR), Fergal Smith (IRE)Heat 10: Gavin Gillette (HAW), Kevin Sullivan (HAW), Simon Marchand (FRA), Tamayo Perry (HAW)Heat 11: Masatoshi Ohno (JPN), Jack Perry (AUS), Antonio Bortoletto (ZAF), Txaber Trojaola (EUK)Heat 12: Milton Morbeck (BRA), Mason Ho (HAW), Joao Guedes (PRT)Heat 13: Nathaniel Curran (USA), Fabio Gouveia (BRA), Eric De Souza (BRA)Heat 14: Federico Pilurzu (CRI), Hugo Savalli (REU), Ruben Gonzalez (PRT)Heat 15: Nathan Carroll (HAW), Eric Geiselmann (USA), Darren Turner (AUS), Oli Adams (GBR)Heat 16: Jose Maria Cabrera (CNY), Patrick Beven (FRA), Clint Kimmins (AUS), Alan Stokes (GBR)Heat 17: Sunny Garcia (HAW), Shaun Burrell (USA), David Richards (ZAF), Tim Taplin (AUS)Heat 18: Blake Wilson (AUS), Wesley De Souza (USA), Kevin Kapsky (HAW), Johnny Fryer (GBR)Heat 19: Paul Fisher (AUS), Justin McBride (USA), Rowan Aish (NZL)Heat 20: Warwick Wright (ZAF), Matt King (USA), Vincent Duvignac (FRA), Will Hunt (HAW)Heat 21: Romain Laulhe (FRA), Steve Noble (AUS), Dale Lovelock (AUS), Sam Lamiroy (GBR)Heat 22: Dion Atkinson (AUS), Micheal Spencer (AUS), Nick White (NZL), Micheal Marjanovich (AUS)Heat 23: Renato Galvao (BRA), Sam Page (AUS), Frederic Robin (REU), Thomas Bady (FRA)Heat 24: Chris Davidson (AUS), Brad Ettinger (USA), Brandon Jackson (ZAF)All news, videos, podcasts and photos are available on www.aspeurope.com