Heitor Alves (BRA), 31, led the top seeds by posting the highest scores of Los Cabos Open of Surf competition on his backhand.
ZIPPERS, Los Cabos/Mexico (Wednesday, June 19, 2013) – The ASP 6-Star Los Cabos Open of Surf returned to Zippers for the second consecutive day and saw the top seeds ignite a peaking swell while posting the event’s high scores.
Stop No. 2 of 4 of the ASP North America Series, the Los Cabos Open of Surf represents the first ever ASP 6-Star event in Mexico and several of the world’s most promising talent have flown to the budding surf nation in search of points towards their ASP World Ranking.
Heitor Alves (BRA), 31, delivered an electric performance on his backhand, demolishing the righthander of Zippers with incredible power-turns. Alves would go on to take the day’s high-heat total of 17.00 out of 20, punctuating his opening heat in Los Cabos.
“I’m really happy with that first heat because I was out with my friend Jano (Belo) and we both had a good heat,” Alves said. “We both had high scores and it was a really relaxing heat because the waves were good.”
Alves, former ASP WCT surfer and current alternate for the ASP Top 34, was a standout in Fiji just weeks ago and is looking for a top result in Cabo to relinquish a position among the world’s best surfers for 2014.
“Going to Fiji was great because I love surfing bigger waves and getting barrels,” Alves said. “I’m happy to be here now though. There are a lot of points available here for my ranking and Cabo is a beautiful place.”
Granger Larsen (Maui, HI), 23, quickly found a rhythm in the glassy afternoon conditions and combined an array of forehand maneuvers to notch some of the day’s highest scores. Larsen opened his Los Cabos Open of Surf campaign with an 8.00 and shortly backed up the ride with a 7.00 to secure his Round 2 win.
“I’ve only surfed this wave twice and hadn’t gotten any waves until that heat, but I’d been practicing up at the Rock and getting used to my new boards,” Larsen said. “I wanted to get a good wave right off of the bat and I got a back up score right away. My goal was to control the heat and that one went my way.”
Tanner Gudauskas (San Clemente, CA), 24, got off to a quick start in his Round 2 affair, notching an excellent 8-point ride for a seamless combination of powerful backhand turns. The goofy-footer would go on to lead the heat throughout its entirety, besting fellow Californian Conner Coffin (Santa Barbara, CA), 19, who advanced in second, Mexican standout Diego Cadena (Sayulita, MEX), 31, and Lucas Santamaria (ARG), 25.
“I was trying to get off to a quick start and get something going early,” Gudauskas said. “I was happy to start off with that 8, because I was taking off on waves and not exactly sure what was going to happen. As I was on that one, it just kept giving me sections, so I was stoked to find a couple.”
Dylan Goodale (Kauai, HI), 22, dominated his opening heat from start to finish, building momentum at Zippers to eventually earn one of the day’s high heat totals of 16.27 out of 20. Goodale combined a series of searing forehand blasts, punctuating the ride with a solid air-reverse to mark a strong start to his Los Cabos Open of Surf campaign.
“I was glad to get those glassy morning conditions with a light sideshore wind which was perfect for little airs,” Goodale said. “I was just thinking, quick start, because I was watching heats where people weren’t getting a good wave until five-minutes left in the heat. I tried to be more aggressive and hold position at the start and it worked out.”
Goodale is looking at the Los Cabos Open of Surf as a crucial point in his 2013 campaign and hopes a standout result in Mexico will allow him to break in to the highly coveted ASP Prime rated events.
“There are only a few 6-Stars and the rest of the events are Primes,” Goodale said. “The rest of the bigger events are Primes and I can’t get in to them. I need to do as good as I can in these upcoming 6-Stars so I can hopefully get in to Primes for the back half of the year.”
The Los Cabos Open of Surf holds a waiting period from June 17-23, 2013 and is webcast LIVE via www.loscabosopenofsurf.com
