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Pipe Pro: Halse, Fischer and Botha power on

posted by Kelly Footit on 21st February 2008

With an anticipated drop in swell for the day and a record turnout meaning 15 minute heats, the job today was no doubt to get your waves and get through. By no means were the conditions poor but with a few heats getting the odd long lull, you wanted to get your scoring waves in as soon as possible.

The ladies took to the water first in the morning and would alternate with the men's round throughout the day and complete their competition at the end of the day.

The men's Round 5 saw Darren Halse from Warner Beach (SKZN) first up representing South Africa. Having hit his straps in his 4th Round yesterday, he picked straight up where he left off and opened with a deep, clean Pipe tube to notch an 8.5 and take the early lead, however, it was Mitch Rawlins who showed his class to claim first spot with Darren in second and into Round 6 where he met up with David Crowley (AUS) and the two seeded riders Spencer Skipper (HAW) and Ryan Hardy (AUS) who started with a very early 9.33 and left the rest to play catch-up. Crowley who has been powering through his heats in a very workman-like fashion treated this heat in the same manner, picking off his waves and carding the scores. Halse was a little out of sync this heat and unable to find many decent ones, but the shock upset came from Ryan Hardy - known as a bit of a waiter - who left it too late. With a 9.33 as his only wave, he needed a 4 pointer to knock Darren from 2nd but with just a minute left all he could manage was to scratch into one for a small closeout roll which did not prove enough.

Vijay Maharaj from Durban (CKZN) was up in heat 2 of Round 5, against Dave Crowley who went on to face Darren. After a few late scares yesterday, Vijay again comes alive in the latter half of the heat and scoops a sick backdoor screamer; a long, disappearing barrel and exits into a little forward off the lip. 9.67 from the judges which at the end of day 2 was the second highest score of the contest. Crowley countered with an almost identical combination but included a small roll on the inside and carded a 9.10. Next blow went to Vijay with a Pipe lefthander, a cover-up and ARS's out and back under again for another small tube. A 7.5 for the wave was just not enough to claim first. Vijay's Round 6 heat was another which proved a little frustrating for competitors and after nailing an impressive back-flip, Vijay was left requiring a 3.67 and unfortunately the wave he did stroke into did not offer a section and a few combos to the beach earned him only a 2.83. A man on form but unfortunately out of luck.

Wesley Fischer from Durban (CKZN) started his day in Heat 3 of Round 4. His high scoring wave of the heat was a right at backdoor, where he boosted a HUGE roll off the barrelling section, into the flats, straight back under the lip and rolled out the barrel again. Earning an 8.0 from the judges and hoots from the crowd and a first place for the heat. Round 6 was even more convincing where he beat Cade Sharp (AUS) into 2nd place by 8.70.

Last but not least was '99/'00 World Champ Andre Botha who made light work of his heats. Rarely looking in trouble and as comfortable as ever, he did the job and moves onto Round 7 with Wesley & Darren, all who will be looking to join Mark McCarthy in Round 8.

Today (Thursday, 21st Feb) will see the final rounds completed so plan for an all-nighter if you're able to watch the Web Cast. The contest starts at 8am Hawaiian time with Darren Halse first up and some big name seeds starting to enter the competition, include some wild cards, most notably Pipe legend Kainoa McGee.

If you'd like a slightly more "as it happened" take on the event, visit: www.sixty40.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1352

The event is being webcast at www.ibatour.com/webcast

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