Competitors woke up to a solid new swell at Basse-Pointe and six-to-eight foot faces with the occasional ten foot freak set on Day 2 of the Martinique Surf Pro. The event resumed early with the remaining heats of Round 2 before giving way to the event’s top seeds in Round 3.
The day witnessed incredible surfing as surfers took on the big, powerful rights of Basse-Pointe and pushed their limits to commit to highly critical maneuvers. Their endurance was tested as well, as wide-breaking sets often surprised with huge closeouts over everyone’s heads.
The host nation of France was represented best by Reunion Island’s Jorgann Couzinet (REU), 23, today, as the current QS No.3 absolutely blew up in the big surf of Basse-Pointe to belt an 18.23 total and a spot into Round 4.
“It seems everything’s going my way in this first half of the season, I’ve got a new sponsor, I’m getting big results, I feel great mentally and physically and I feel like my surfing is just so much better,” Couzinet stated. “I’ve worked on power a lot and it shows I think. I’m so motivated right now, I want to show the people at Soöruz who support me that they’ve made the right choice. I’ve still got some other tricks in the bag so hopefully I can continue like this. I’m looking forward to slightly smaller waves so I can push my surfing even more.”
Imaikalani Devault (HAW), 19, and Weslley Dantas (BRA), 18, disputed arguably the best heat of the event so far, and engaged in a back-and-forth battle of huge scores, ultimately won by Dantas with a near-perfect 18.14 out of 20.
Noe Mar McGonagle (CRI), 20, and Alejo Muniz (BRA), 27, answered with an equally impressive battle, going McGonagle’s way as the Costa Rican tore apart the Basse-Pointe rights for a 9.17 and an 8.50. The two regular footers displayed matching power carves but ultimately McGonagle’s power got the nod.
“Conditions were amazing, on the QS we don’t get a lot of waves this size so I’m really happy,” McGonagle said. “Alejo’s surfing is really solid, he was so quick to get two scores. We’ve had some good battles before and I’m glad to surf against ex-CT surfers it’s always a great experience. This big open-wall right is great, you just want to be in the right spot, not too behind or too forward and put your turns in the sweet spot to get big scores.”
Jackson Baker (AUS), 20, put together an incredible heat as well to earn a solid 16.83 out of 20. The Australian surfed only three waves in his 35-minute bout, but his wave-selection was absolutely perfect, belting 8+ rides on each of his three attempts.
“It’s great to put a good heat on the board to start the event,” Baker stated. “It’s super challenging to pick the right waves out there, so it’s definitely a confidence boost to know that I can pick three eights out there in 35 minutes. To have a QS3,000 on such a good point break is amazing, there’s good money and points on the line and coming back to the Caribbean is super cool for the blue water and the warmth.”
Adrian Garcia (PER), 19, added an excellent result to the successful campaign of Peruvian athletes in Martinique, to make his way into Round 3. The powerful goofy foot approached the moving lineup of large sets with ease and capitalized early to take the win.
“A few years ago Miguel (Tudela) used to travel alone, now we’re all together on the QS and it’s great to support each other,” Adrian commented. “Miguel is kind of the dad of the group, he’s the one booking all the hotels, the one who drives and cooks for us aha. He’s the one winning heats as well so showing us a great example.”
Newquay surfer Luke Dillon (GBR), 22, scored one of the day’s biggest single-wave scores, an impressive 8.83 for a combination of two critical forehand snaps in the power section of a big set.
“I’m a bit of a bigger guys so it’s good to have some power,” Luke admitted. “I went for the first turn and almost fell, I laid back a little bit and recovered and I thought, right I just need to land a second turn. This is the first heat that I’ve made this year so hopefully it’s just a start in this comp.”
Surfers and event officials will reconvene at 7:30AM Monday for a potential early start of Day 3 in expected great conditions again.
The Martinique Surf Pro is scheduled from April 1-8, 2017 at Basse Pointe, Martinique – France. For all results, photos, video highlights and press releases, log on to worldsurfleague.com.
The Martinique Surf Pro is supported by Collectivité territoriale de Martinique, CAP Nord Martinique, Comité Martiniquais du tourisme, CCI Martinique, ville de Basse-Pointe, ADEME, CROS Martinique, Fédération Française de Surf, Coca Cola Life, Jeep, Jumbo Car, Mr. Bricolage, Air France, Brasserie Lorraine, Socacom, Orange, HSE, Reezom, Le Petibonum, AbilityBoats, Mumm, Ti Kafe, Odissey Sport Santé, Assistance 97, Canal +, Surf+, Trace, Martinique Buzz, Surf Session, France Antilles, People-Bokay, Zay Radio, Xtreme Sports, Surfing Latino and MagicSeaWeed.com as official forecaster.
REMAINING MARTINIQUE SURF PRO ROUND 3 MATCHUPS:
Heat 9: Deivid Silva (BRA), Arthur Lassee (MTQ), Adrian Garcia (PER) Luke Dillon (GBR)
Heat 10: Diego Mignot (FRA), Timothee Bisso (GLP), Shane Campbell (AUS), Louis Gillick (AUS)
Heat 11: Maxime Huscenot (FRA), Charly Martin (GLP), Jackson Baker (AUS),Tristan Guilbaud (FRA)
Heat 12: Victor Bernardo (BRA), Rafael Teixeira (BRA), Pedro Neves (BRA), Heremoana Luciani (PYF)
Heat 13: Hiroto Ohhara (JPN), Nomme Mignot (FRA), Brian Toth (PRI), Imaikalani Devault (HAW)
Heat 14: Ricardo Christie (NZL), Vasco Ribeiro (PRT), Weslley Dantas (BRA), Joaquin Del Castillo (PER)
Heat 15: Dimitri Ouvre (FRA), Luel Felipe (BRA), Adrien Toyon (FRA), Yage Araujo (BRA)
Heat 16: Soli Bailey (AUS), Robson Santos (BRA), Mateus Herdy (BRA), Taylor Clark (USA)
MARTINIQUE SURF PRO ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Marc Lacomare (FRA) 12.80, Yuri Goncalves (BRA) 9.30, Parker Coffin (USA) 8.83, Chauncey Robinson (USA) 8.20
Heat 2: Noe Mar McGonagle (CRI) 17.67, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 16.43, Lucca Mesinas (PER) 11.26, Colt Ward (USA) 8.10
Heat 3: Lucas Silveira (BRA) 13.00, Charly Quivront (FRA) 12.77, Medi Veminardi (FRA) 12.66, Michael Dunphy (USA) 7.24
Heat 4: Hiroto Arai (JPN) 13.00, Griffin Colapinto (USA) 12.60, Paul Cesar Distinguin (FRA) 12.00, Thomas Doumenjou (FRA) 10.77
Heat 5: Jorgann Couzinet (REU) 18.23, Shun Murakami (JPN) 15.30, Ty Watson (AUS) 12.84, Elliot Paerata-Reid (NZL) 12.53
Heat 6: Tanner Hendrickson (HAW) 13.00, Santiago Muniz (ARG) 10.33, Tomas King (CRI) 9.60, Takumi Nakamura (JPN) 9.33
Heat 7: Kalani Ball (AUS) 14.50, Miguel Tudela (PER) 13.67, Andy Criere (ESP) 12.33, Carlos Munoz (CRI) 11.50
Heat 8: Bino Lopes (BRA) 13.26, Kaito Ohashi (JPN) 12.27, Slade Prestwich (ZAF) 11.44, Adam Auffay (MTQ) 6.47
REMAINING MARTINIQUE SURF PRO ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 9: Adrian Garcia (PER) 13.83, Louis Gillick (AUS) 13.33, Jacome Correia (PRT) 11.86, Tomas Fernandes (PRT) 11.73
Heat 10: Shane Campbell (AUS) 13.06, Luke Dillon (GBR) 12.63, Fraser Dovell (AUS) 8.90, Micha Cantor (USA) 7.50
Heat 11: Jackson Baker (AUS) 16.83, Heremoana Luciani (PYF) 14.67, Cole Houshmand (USA) 11.60, Gatien Delahaye (GLP) 5.14
Heat 12: Pedro Neves (BRA) 13.46, Tristan Guilbaud (FRA) 13.24, Joshua Burke (BRB) 12.60, Evan Moll (BRB) 2.60
Heat 13: Brian Toth (PRI) 13.26, Joaquin Del Castillo (PER) 13.23, David Dorne (GLP) 11.07, Leon Glatzer (DEU) 9.16
Heat 14: Weslley Dantas (BRA) 18.14, Imaikalani Devault (HAW) 16.17, Bruce MacKie (BRB) 15.33, Yuji Mori (JPN) 4.77
Heat 15: Adrien Toyon (FRA) 14.84, Taylor Clark (USA) 11.43, Jihad Khodr (BRA) 7.77, Gabriel Farias (BRA) 7.67
Heat 16: Mateus Herdy (BRA) 17.20, Yage Araujo (BRA) 13.83, Harrison Martin (AUS) 9.57, Alonso Correa (PER) 7.80
Nicolas Leroy (WSL)
