Sills survives extreme surf conditions Hawaii

Richard Sills, South Africa’s lone representative in the HIC Pipeline Pro, survived the most extreme conditions at the infamous Banzai Pipeline to advance out of his first round heat in the HIC Pipeline Pro last week, but was eliminated in round three when he placed fourth.

The four metre waves breaking over a shallow coral reef on the North Shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu became dangerous during the 21 year-old Durbanite’s first heat when the wind shifted to hard onshore, prompting the organisers to postpone the rest of the round immediately the heat was completed.

Sills, who specialises in riding the hollow, bone-crushing waves at Pipeline, managed to place third in the six-man heat behind Golden Depesa (USA) and eventual quarter-finalist David Wassell (Haw) to advance to the next round, eliminating former Pipeline champion Johnny Boy Gomes (Haw), David Aluli (Haw) and the highly rated Didier Pitier (Fra) in the process.

It was a brave showing from the young South African big wave charger, particularly as he was badly injured in the fourth round of the corresponding event last year, requiring a dozen stitches to close a facial wound after being struck by his surfboard.

The final was dominated by Pipe expert Bruce Irons from Kauai who averaged a phenomenal 9.9 points out of a possible 10 for his best three counting rides. Irons was joined on the podium by fellow Hawaiians Myles Padaca and David Cantrell with Californian Strider Wasilewski taking fourth place.

Defending champion Carlos Cabrero (Puerto Rico) was just one of a number of competitors to suffer the full brunt of Pipeline’s power, dislocating his shoulder after a horrendous wipeout. At least 15 surfboards were snapped clean in half during the event.

The results of the two star rated event had no effect on the top of the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) rankings where veteran Brazilian Joca Junior still holds a narrow lead over Mikael Picon (Fra) with Brazilians filling the rest of the top 10 places.

David Weare in 27th spot is the top ranked South African after seven events have been completed, with rookie pro’s Royden Bryson (45th) and Shaun Gossmann (84th) the next highest.

The trials for the next event on the WQS, the five star rated, R625 000 Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast of Australia, started today (Tuesday) with 32 qualifiers set to join the top 128 seeds in the main event starting on Thursday.

Queries: Paul Botha / Life’s a Beach Communications E-mail: lifesabeach@mweb.co.za

See www.aspafrica.co.za for latest ASP World Tour ratings and results

Issued on behalf of: ASP Africa: e-mail: gavin@aspafrica.co.za

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