ANTOINE DELPERRO (FRA) SCORES HIGHEST EVENT WAVE ON DAY 2
Antoine Delperro : photo Maurel/ASP Europe
Today's heats kicked off at 9 a.m. in glassy 2 ft waves. To maximize a dropping swell officials decided to run the last six heats of round 2. Classic stylist and local legend Michel Demont (Pyf) scored a 7 pointer on his first wave then added an 8.67 on a hollow left.
The second heat of the day saw the start of Australian Jackson Close (Aus), the aussie opening the battle with a very consistent ride including a beautiful hang-ten linked with two radical turns; the reward was a 7.67 giving him the lead towards round 3.
Young David Dandois (Pyf) tried hard to catch up with his older opponents, not getting enough to counter Close and Pierrot Hapipi (Pyf), the two qualifiers of the heat. They were followed in the water by one of the best Frenchmen of the moment, European title contender here in Tahiti Antoine Delperro (Fra).
After his quarterfinal finish in the ASP World Longboard Championships last May in Anglet, France, Delperro seems to be one of the favourites here and knows he can definitely reach the ASP Longboard European Pro Tour title. Paddling on one of the set waves, Delperro used all his skills and pure classic style to link the whole repertoire and end with the best wave score of the event, a 9.17 out of possible 10.
Bonga Perkins : photo Masurel/ASP Europe
Behind him took place a tough fight between Hawaiian Tom Keahi (Haw) and local Raiano Laughlin (Pyf); wearing the white singlet, Laughlin looked confident, surfing securely but with style and commitment giving hard time to the hawaiian, to eventually qualify.
Former ASP longboard world champion, and 3rd in the last WLC in France, Bonga Perkins (Haw) paddled out confidently against the two local suffers including Tahitian Surfing Federation representative Philippe Klima. “It’s just an honour to surf with Bonga in the same heat, but I still hope I can qualify for round 3 and keep enjoying my time in this event. Everything is running well and we are really happy with it”, said Klima.
With an amazing speed and huge power, Perkins just destroyed his first wave flying over the sections with ease, to get an 8.33 reward. Feeling comfortable, Bonga then paddled on a fast closing right-hander going on a huge floater before going vertical up to the beach and score a deserved 8 pts score.
Yesterday’s high scorer Heifara-Peter Tahutini (Pyf) surfed in heat 11 against Remi Arauzo (Fra) and two other locals. With his performance on day 1, it was obvious the Tahitian was relaxed and ready to qualify for round3. As the three others were rushing into the waves, Tahutini waited for the best sets and opened his heat with a 6.83 before backing it up with a 6.77 to take the lead in front of Arauzo.
As in all heats of this second day, the last minutes brought the climax, for the second qualifying position. Pascal Maitui remained close until the last seconds but couldn’t counter Arauzo’s efforts to reach round 3.
Son of legend Bonga, Keoni Perkins (Haw) surfed in the last heat of the day against two locals, to try and join his father in round 3 tomorrow. Lucien José Raio (Pyf) however kept the pressure on the young man and managed to take the lead back after a long classic nose-ride.
The exchange between the two men kept on, Perkins getting back his lead with 9 minutes remaining. Third for the whole heat, Yann Duhaze (Pyf) gave all he could to stick to second position and finished very close but couldn’t make it to round 3.
It was a short but exciting day here in Tahiti. All favourites made it to round 3 and some serious action will take place tomorrow as some huge clashes will occur including former world champion Bonga Perkins (Haw) and highs corer of the day Antoine Delperro (Fra) who will surf one against the other.