March 5 - 11, 2017: Issue 303

SUBWAY SURF SERIES 2017 AT AVOCA

Ethan Raper (Narrabeen) - photo by Spencer Hornby /Surfing NSW

REEF HEAZLEWOOD AND ZAHLI KELLY TAKE OUT SUBWAY SURF SERIES IN SOLID SURF AT AVOCA

AVOCA BEACH, CENTRAL COAST 
Monday, 6 March 2017 
Reef Heazlewood (Sunshine Coast, Qld) and Zahli Kelly (Cabarita, NSW) have claimed top honours at event three of the Subway® Surf Series at Avoca Beach, both putting on exciting performances in four-to-six foot surf.

Reef Heazlewood (Moffatt Beach, Qld) claimed his second Subway® Surf Series event for the year taking out the Mens division. The Sunshine Coast goofy-footer dominated in the solid surf, posting a decent 15.75 heat total (out of a possible 20 points). Heazlewood consistently put his body on the line over the course the event, performing critical manoeuvres in ankle deep water.

“I’m feeling pretty good right now,” said Heazlewood. “When I turned up this morning the waves looked pretty tricky, but it got better and better as the day went on and just continued to pulse through. It’s nice to get some clean and big waves for an event. Hopefully, I can keep getting results and maybe win the series at the end of this year.”

World Surf League (WSL) Junior Qualifying Series (JQS) rookie Alister Reginato (Alexandra Headland, Qld) proved to himself he was ready to take on some of Australia’s and the world’s best junior surfers, taking the Men’s runner-up position alongside Heazlewood. Reginato nailed a healthy mix of backside snaps to finish in the runner-up position with a heat total of 10.20.

“This is my first Pro Junior ever, so I’m stoked,” said Reginato. “In other heats I tried to get an early start, but it didn’t really work in the final unfortunately. Hopefully I can get a few more results over the course of the series this year.” 



13-year-old Zahli Kelly (Cabarita, NSW) claimed her second Pro Junior victory in as many events, taking out the Women’s division. In the low-scoring affair, Kelly managed to edge in front of perennial Pro Junior threat Alyssa Lock with a two-wave heat total of 8.10. Kelly is now sitting on top of the JQS rankings and has made the goal to qualify for the World Junior Championship early next year.

“It was pumping earlier, but it unfortunately got really difficult in that final,” said Kelly. “I tried to wait for a good wave but it didn’t really come. I didn’t set the goal of making the World Juniors originally, but now that I’m on top of the ratings I hope I can qualify for the event.”



Alyssa Lock (Tweed Heads, NSW) put up a valiant fight in the Women’s final against Kelly, but was unable to find the necessary 3.86 wave score in the wave starved final. Lock showed moments of promise, nailing a handful of critical turns, but ultimately fell short by a 0.75 margin.

“The surf was really tough in that final,” said Lock. “I got to ride a step-up board which was great as we don’t get the chance to ride them often, it was just a bummer the wind really picked up for the final and there weren’t too many opportunities.”

The WSL sanctioned Subway® Pro Junior events, which includes 18 and under boys and girls divisions, form part of the 2017 WSL Australasian Junior Qualifying Series (JQS), providing the winning athletes with an opportunity to win a coveted world title at the World Surf League Junior Championships in 2018.
 
The Subway® Surf Series is proudly supported by WSL, Surfing Australia and Billabong.
 
Entries have opened via the World Surf League website – www.worldsurfleague.com

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 1 - Bells Beach, VIC - Jan 14 - 15, 2017

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 2 - Cronulla, NSW - 23 - 25 Jan, 2017 (3 DAY)

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 3 - Avoca, NSW - Mar 4 - 6, 2017 (3 DAY) 

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 4 - Trigg, WA - Mar 18 - 19, 2017

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 5 - Kiama, NSW - Apr 8 - 9, 2017

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 6 - Sunshine Coast, QLD - Apr 22 - 23, 2017

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 7 - Gold Coast, QLD - May 6 - 7, 2017

Reef Heazlewood (Moffatt Beach, Qld)- photo by Ethan Smith / Surfing NSW
Alysse Cooper (Queenscliff) - photos by Ethan Smith / Surfing NSW

SUBWAY SURF SERIES AT AVOCA SEES A DAY OF AWESOME SURFING AHEAD OF FINAL ROUNDS

AVOCA BEACH, CENTRAL COAST 
Sunday, 5 March 2017 
Conditions took a drastic turn for the better today at the Subway Surf Series at Avoca as competitors battled it out in an attempt to qualify for the final day of competition tomorrow.

After taking out event two of the Subway® Surf Series at Cronulla, Reef Heazlewood (Sunshine Coast, Qld), continued his hot streak through the series, posting a 15.05 heat total (out of a possible 20 points), to take out his round three heat. Heazlewood seamlessly executed a powerful chain of forehand moves to post the aforementioned score and earn himself a spot into the fourth round.

“There's some really fun peaks out there and the conditions are awesome,” said Heazlewood.”There were lots of waves  in my heat thankfully and I’m very happy to get the win.”

Local dynamo Caleb Tancred (Avoca, NSW) broke his streak of recent losses, bagging himself a berth into round four. Tancred posted a decent 14.70 heat total in the third round to claim the victory ahead of Brazilian wonder kid Mateus Herdy who finished in second. Fellow Avoca local Sandon Whittaker will join Tancred in the fourth round tomorrow. 

“It was kind of tricky out there to find the really good ones,” said Tancred. “I haven’t won a heat in a while, so it was good to get one under my belt at my homebreak. I’m really looking forward to finals day.”

Having taken out event one of the Subway® Surf Series at Bells earlier this year, Mikey McDonagh (Lennox Head, NSW) looked like he was carrying similar form, posting a 15.35 heat total to claim his round three heat. McDonagh will face Joel Buxton, Tancred and Dylan Moffat in the fourth round tomorrow.

“It’s always an awesome feeling to get a few wins in the opening rounds,” said McDonagh. “My goal is to hopefully qualify for the World Juniors early next year, so I’m really hoping I can get a decent result here to back up the win at the beginning of the year.”

Kirra-Belle Olsson (Avoca, NSW) bagged another heat progression for the local surfing contingent, earning herself a berth in the upcoming quarterfinals. Olsson will meet reigning Avoca Subway® Surf Series champion Kobie Enright in the upcoming heat.

“It was really fun out there,” said Olsson. Sometimes it was a little bit difficult to find the good ones as I wasn’t sure the best spot to sit because there were just so many options. I’m just very happy to make it through to the next round.”


Kirra-Belle Olsson
Kobie Enright (Tweed Heads, NSW) continued her highlight-worthy performance, posting a massive near-perfect 9.00 wave score. Enright linked together a barrage of giant snaps to lock in the score and cement her spot in the quarters.

"I'm super stoked to get a nine," said Enright. "Those scores always boost your confidence; starting the heat with a good score. I just tried to freesurf and have fun after that. I'm trying to just take it heat-by-heat at the moment and hopefully I can get another win."

Surfers have come from all four corners of the globe to contest event three of the Subway® Surf Series, with competitors hailing from the Basque Country, Hong Kong, Brazil, Indonesia and New Zealand as well as all around Australia.
 
The Subway® Surf Series will commence each day at 7:30 am with the call for the day's schedule and location confirmed via the event hotline at 6:45 am. The event hotline number is 0458 247 212 which will leave a voice recorded message each morning of the event.
 
The WSL sanctioned Subway® Pro Junior events, which includes 18 and under boys and girls divisions, form part of the 2017 WSL Australasian Junior Qualifying Series (JQS), providing the winning athletes with an opportunity to win a coveted world title at the World Surf League Junior Championships in 2018.
 
The Subway® Surf Series is proudly supported by WSL, Surfing Australia and Billabong.
 
Entries have opened via the World Surf League website – www.worldsurfleague.com
Caleb Tancred (Avoca Beach) - photo by Spencer Hornby /Surfing NSW
Kyuss King (Byron Bay) - photo by Spencer Hornby /Surfing NSW
Morgan Cibilic (Merewether Beach) - photo by Spencer Hornby /Surfing NSW
Sandon Whittaker (Avoca)  - photo by Spencer Hornby /Surfing NSW
Zoe Ifield (North Entrance) - photo by Spencer Hornby /Surfing NSW

COMPETITORS SHINE IN TRICKY CONDITIONS AT THE SUBWAY SURF SERIES AT AVOCA

AVOCA BEACH, CENTRAL COAST 

Saturday, 4 March 2017:  by Surfing NSW

A solid four-to-six foot southerly swell was on offer today as the Subway® Surf Series at Avoca kicked off its first day of competition.

Brazilian Mateus Herdy put on a dominant display of surfing, nailing himself a 12.75 heat total (out of a possible 20 points). Since arriving in Australia for the World Junior Championship in Kiama back in early January, Herdy has been posting an array of mixed results on the World Surf League (WSL) Australasian Junior Qualifying Series (JQS) as well as turning heads on the Qualifying Series (QS).

“There was a lot of water moving out there, which made things tricky,” said Herdy. “I’ve been in Australia for the last two months and I've had some awesome waves up and down the east coast. I really want to get a few decent results while I'm here and hopefully help my seed on the QS.”


Mateus Herdy - photo by Spencer Hornby / Surfing NSW

Earning another win for the internationals, Indonesia’s Rio Waida unloaded a barrage of giant frontside turns to earn himself a 13.15 heat total and a spot into the second round.

“It’s always good to get the first heat out of the way,” said Waida. “I watched the lineup a lot before my heat and knew which ones to get, but it was definitely difficult to find them in the lineup.” 


Rio Waida - photo by Spencer Hornby / Surfing NSW

Finn Hill (Avoca, NSW) was one of the top local performers, using his knowledge of the tricky sandbank to conjure up a respectable 12.40 heat total. Hill nailed a mix of innovative fins-free turns to take his heat ahead of Ethan Raper (Narrabeen, NSW), Zac Michael (Maroubra, NSW) and Callum Robson (Evans Head, NSW) who claimed second, third and fourth respectively. 

“I was definitely feeling confident on that bank as I’ve been surfing it quite a bit,” said Hill. “It was surprising to see the swell jump so much, so I knew I had to be picky to get the good waves. Hopefully it’ll clean up a bit for the final two days of the comp.” 

Defending Avoca Subway Surf Series champion Kobie Enright (Tweed Heads, NSW) played a smart heat only catching three waves over the duration of the battle. Enright posted a respectable 11.65 to take her heat convincingly ahead of Elle Clayton-Brown (Corlette, NSW) and Madison Poole (Newcastle, NSW).

“That heat was a lot of hard work,” said Enright. “There’s definitely waves out there, but they’re hard to find. I think I actually favour waves like this though as I’m a bit bigger and like it to be a bit more powerful.”


Kobie Enright (Tweed Heads) - photo by Spencer Hornby / Surfing NSW

13-year-old Zahli Kelly (Cabarita, NSW) had little drama adapting to the shifty peaks at Avoca taking out her opening exchange. Kelly nailed a variety of impressive turns to take the heat with a 12.40 heat total. 

“I’m so stoked and relieved to get through that heat,” said Kelly. “My goal is to qualify for the World Juniors and stay on top of the ratings, so hopefully I can keep gaining momentum as the heats go on.” 

Surfers have come from all four corners of the globe to contest event three of the Subway® Surf Series, with competitors hailing from the Basque Country, Hong Kong, Brazil, Indonesia and New Zealand as well as all around Australia. 

 

Molly Picklum (Shelly Beach) - photo by Spencer Hornby / Surfing NSW

The Subway® Surf Series will commence each day at 7:30 am with the call for the day's schedule and location confirmed via the event hotline at 6:45 am. The event hotline number is 0458 247 212 which will leave a voice recorded message each morning of the event.

The WSL sanctioned Subway® Pro Junior events, which includes 18 and under boys and girls divisions, form part of the 2017 WSL Australasian Junior Qualifying Series (JQS), providing the winning athletes with an opportunity to win a coveted world title at the World Surf League Junior Championships in 2018.

The Subway® Surf Series is proudly supported by WSL, Surfing Australia and Billabong. 

Entries have opened via the World Surf League website – www.worldsurfleague.com


Wade Clemens (North Entrance)  - photo by Spencer Hornby / Surfing NSW

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 1 - Bells Beach, VIC - Jan 14 - 15, 2017

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 2 - Cronulla, NSW - 23 - 25 Jan, 2017 (3 DAY)

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 3 - Avoca, NSW - Mar 4 - 6, 2017 (3 DAY) 

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 4 - Trigg, WA - Mar 18 - 19, 2017

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 5 - Kiama, NSW - Apr 8 - 9, 2017

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 6 - Sunshine Coast, QLD - Apr 22 - 23, 2017

Subway Pro Junior - EVENT 7 - Gold Coast, QLD - May 6 - 7, 2017

Finn Hill (Avoca) - photo by Spencer Hornby / Surfing NSW
Zahli Kelly (Cabarita) - photo by Spencer Hornby / Surfing NSW
                                                                       Taj Watson (Coffs Harbour) - photo by Spencer Hornby / Surfing NSW
Reports by Surfing NSW, photos by Spencer Hornby / Surfing NSW and Ethan Smith / Surfing NSW