Vincent Duvignac was a standout on Day 3 of the Pantin Classic Galicia Pro.
PLAYA DE PANTIN, Galicia/Spain (Thursday, August 29, 2013) - An expected little push in swell this afternoon gave organizers the opportunity to complete the last four heats of the men’s round of 64 at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 3-Star Pantin Classic Galicia Pro. Clean 2-3Ft surf was breaking on the main peak by the eastern end of the beach where surfers enjoyed long running lefts and righthanders to showcase their surfing.
Vincent Duvignac (FRA) 25, won the fourth and last heat today, advancing into the Round of 32. The stylish regular-footer netted the highest score of the event so far, a 9.07 for a righthander surfed to perfection. After nearly missing his heat due to a vehicle malfunction on his way to Galicia, Duvignac was very happy to get it out of the way.
“It’s been a tense road trip, my car broke down and I was afraid I wouldn’t make it here on time for my heat,” Duvignac confided. “Trouble’s out of the way now though and it felt great being out there in the lineup! I got a very good wave at the end there and I wanted to exploit it well top to bottom because I haven’t had the chance to show my best surfing so far in Europe. Hopefully we get bigger waves in the upcoming days!”
Jose Ferreira (PRT) 21, current European No. 6, opened up the show in the first heat this afternoon, facing defending event and regional champion, Portugal’s Marlon Lipke. Ferreira found the best opportunities on the righthanders and mixed all aspects of modern surfing to score his first wave in the excellent range. He quickly backed it up and spent the rest of his heat trying to push harder on his turns to score another great ride.
“It feels good to beat the champ, Marlon’s surfing great, he got the best wave of the heat so I’m stoked to advance in first,” Ferreira said. “I was looking at the lefts before the heat and that was my plan, but I couldn’t find any so I started surfing the rights and it worked out best. I got that 8 early on, then I started to be more selective I wanted a good backup. Rankings and stuff are always on a competitor’s mind, but the truth is all I want to do right now is get through heats, gain experience towards trying to qualify in the next few years.”
Marlon Lipke (PRT) 29, continued to tear apart the little peaks on offer at praia de Pantin today, scoring one of the highest scores of the day, an impressive 8.40 out of 10. Now representing Portugal, the German born surfer joins Ferreira and Vasco Ribeiro in the round of 32 at the Pantin Classic Galicia Pro.
“I got a bit rattled at the beginning when I had to wait about 8 minutes to get a first wave,” Lipke admitted. “But then again my first one was really good, so it’s sort of a gamble out there at full low tide but I’m stoked it paid off. I’ve got great small wave boards, this one is a 5’10 from Semente and it goes really well. When you have confidence in your equipment it gives you a lot of motivation out there.”
Diego Mignot (FRA) 17, current leader of the European Junior rankings, made a walk in the park of his round 64 bout, advancing ahead of other talented French junior Charly Quivront and defeating former European Champion Romain Cloitre. Mignot proved today he’s got what it takes to surf amongst the best European and International Qualifying Series campaigners and will be one to watch when competition recommences tomorrow.
“That was fun, I stayed on the left and got two, I’m stoked,” Mignot said. “Today was a tad bigger so I changed boards and it went well. I think two manoeuvers were enough but you have to really complete your turns and make them strong. I’m not pressured here, I’ll just learn from a loss and am stoked with every heat win.”
Halley Batista (BRA) 27, whose best results recently have been on the longboard Brazilian tour, made good use of a shorter stick today despite the waist high surf on offer. Batista was the first to score on his aerial game rather than on traditional rail surfing and top turns.
“Good heat, I got a good aerial on that last wave,” Batista said. “Waves are a little fat and small, actually they’re perfect for longboarding! I think my longboard background actually helps me out a lot to improve my surfing, it pushes me to look for the perfect line on the wave and when I switch to a shortboard again, I still have that flow but I’m also a lot less constrained with the length so I can do airs and other radical turns.”
Next call tomorrow Friday morning has been set to 9:30am, with conditions expected to improve overnight.
The 2013 Pantin Classic Galicia Pro is scheduled from August 27 – September 1, 2013 in Playa de Pantin, Galicia. For all results, photos, video highlights, press releases and LIVE webcast, log on to aspeurope.com/pantin2013.
The Pantin Classic Galicia Pro is made possible with the support of the following event partners: Árbol Es Vida, Vodafone Yu, Diputación de A Coruña, Xunta de Galicia, Deporte Galego, Concello de Valdoviño, Concello de Ferrol, Garnier Delial, Estrella Galicia, Cabreiroá, Surfing Latino, Novagalicia Banco, Surfer Rule, Pequot, Spotfav, RockStar Energy Drink, Carrís Hoteles, Intermax, Gadis, Concello de Cedeira, Coca-Cola, Federación Gallega de Surf amongst others.
UPCOMING PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO WOMEN’S ROUND OF 48 MATCHUPS:
Heat 1: Rebecca Woods (AUS), Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW), Bronte Macaulay (AUS), Maria Abecasis (PRT) Heat 2: Sage Erickson (USA), Brittani Nicholl (AUS), Georgia Fish (AUS), Ornella Pellizzari (ARG) Heat 3: Alizé Arnaud (FRA), Keely Andrew (AUS), Yolanda Aneiros (ESP), Anne-Cecile Le Tallec (FRA) Heat 4: Laura Enever (AUS), Freya Prumm (AUS), Maud Le Car (FRA), Ella Williams (NZL) Heat 5: Paige Hareb (NZL), Naomi Stevic (AUS), Nao Omura (JPN), Demi Boelsterli (USA) Heat 6: Dimity Stoyle (AUS), Philippa Anderson (AUS), Mikaela Greene (AUS), Carina Duarte (PRT) Heat 7: Johanne Defay (FRA), Justine Dupont (FRA), Alisha Gonsalves (USA), Reika Noro (JPN) Heat 8: Malia Manuel (HAW), Nage Melamed (HAW), Frankie Harrer (USA), Tessa Thyssen (GLP) Heat 9: Pauline Ado (FRA), Dominic Barona (ECU), Ellie-Jean Coffey (AUS), Teresa Bonvalot (PRT) Heat 10: Nikki Van Dijk (AUS), Sarah Baum (ZAF), Ainara Aymat (EUK), Stephanie Single (AUS) Heat 11: Alessa Quizon (HAW), Anali Gomez (PER), Skye Burgess (AUS), Chelsea Tuach (BRB) Heat 12: Silvana Lima (BRA), Felicity Palmateer (AUS), Laura Macaulay (AUS), Tanika Hoffman (ZAF)
UPCOMING PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO MEN’S ROUND OF 32 MATCHUPS:
Heat 1: Billy Stairmand (NZL), Hiroto Arai (JPN), Dylan Lightfoot (ZAF), Nathan Hedge (AUS) Heat 2: Todd Rosewall (AUS), Leandro Usuna (ARG), Dimitri Ouvre (GLP), Rafael Pereira (VEN) Heat 3: Hiroto Ohhara (JPN), Mateia Hiquily (PYF), Ian Gouveia (BRA), Imanol Yeregi (EUK) Heat 4: Vicente Romero (ESP), Vasco Ribeiro (PRT), Steven Pierson (PYF), David Do Carmo (BRA) Heat 5: Joan Duru (FRA), Connor O’Leary (AUS), Carlos Munoz (CRI), Caue Wood (BRA) Heat 6: Eneko Acero (EUK), Sidney Guimaraes (BRA), Jordin Watson (AUS), Bino Lopes (BRA) Heat 7: Jose Ferreira (PRT), Diego Mignot (FRA), Francisco Bellorin (VEN), Ethan Egiguren (EUK) Heat 8: Marlon Lipke (PRT), Charly Quivront (FRA), Halley Batista (BRA), Vincent Duvignac (FRA)
