Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast 2012
After Kelly Slater won his 11th World Title in November and the final surf contest of 2011 at Pipe Masters ended in December, the Men's ASP World Tour took a few months off. Last week, the surfers were back, kicking off the 2012 season with the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast of Australia.
It's a little ridiculous how excited I was for the tour to start up again. As I've said before, I love watching sports. All kinds of sports. Surf contests have filled a gap for me that I didn't even know I had and it's helped me appreciate the sport of surfing more. Yes, it's awe inspiring to see the beautiful acrobatics, aerials and swooping turns that surfers can carve through the water. However, surf contests combine the athletic and graceful with a mental and strategic game that I think take these pros beyond the image of just being laid back surfer dudes.
In the Finals on Saturday, Australian Taj Burrow faced Brazilian Adriano de Souza. Despite the fact that the conditions were mediocre, Adriano was all over the waves during the heat, seeming to feed off the energy of the large Brazilian contingent on the beach. Right away, he started off the heat with a 8.00 ride, landing a big reverse air. Taj, on the other hand, had a slow start. It was almost ten minutes into the heat before Taj rode his first wave, a low scoring 4.60. It seemed like he wasn't going to be able to pull one out from under Adriano like he did last year. Then, Taj caught the best wave of the heat and scored a 9.43. He followed that up with another solid score of 6.43. In the final minutes of the heat, Adriano needed a score of 7.87 to overtake the lead. It came down to Adriano's last wave and it was a good one. As Taj waited on the beach and Adriano waited on the back of a jet ski, the winner was announced. Taj won with a two wave total of 15.86 to de Souza's 15.60.
You can watch a video of the final here and highlights from the event below.
The Women's ASP Tour also kicked off at Snapper Rocks with the Roxy Pro Gold Coast. Steph Gilmore won the event against Laura Enever.
The World Tour heads next to Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia from April 3-14.
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