Tasmania's Wild Coast Delivers Perfection at the O'Neill Cold Water Classic
MARRAWAH, Tasmania/Australia (Thursday, March 25, 2010) – Through a very thick fog and sea mist event officials somehow made the correct call to again run at Lighthouse Beach on day three of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star Rated O’Neill Cold Water Classic .
When the sea mist finally lifted, perfect solid 1.5m plus (4 to 6 feet) surf greeted the surfers and the event enjoyed an awesome day of excellent waves and high scores.
Standouts were plentiful with the waves ideal for big scores.
South Australian surfer Dion Atkinson attacked the waves with his typically precision driven approach and was rewarded with an excellent 8.83 ride in his comprehensive heat victory over Brazil’s Junior Faria.
Atkinson has been on the cusp of ASP Dream Tour qualification over the past two seasons and will be keen to get a strong result here in Tasmania.
“The waves are great and I feel really comfortable in this environment – it has similarities to beaches at home in South Australia and the waves are really good – I made the semi-finals here last year and I’m hoping to do better this year” said Atkinson.
Veteran World Tour competitor Chris Davidson was the morning standout surfer scoring an outstanding 9 point ride on his way to an impressive heat tally of 16.17.
“These events are great and I’m actually keen to try and win the series and the 50 000 dollars that goes with it – the waves are great and if they stay like this I’m confident I can win here – they are exactly the type of waves I really like.”
“I’m going to try and enter the Scotland event and chase the series bonus of 50 000” said a confident Davo.
The Series covers events in Tasmania, Scotland, South Africa, Canada and the USA with all events held in rugged, cold and great wave locations.
The Tasmanian event opens the series season and just like last year, this event is delivering all the elements expected of the cold water regions, especially solid and really good surf!
The afternoon sun shone brightly here and the beauty of the region glowed as many were able to take off their jackets and beanies and enjoy the warmth.
Late-in-the-day heats saw current number three world rated surfer Bobby Martinez in sensational form surfing with style and power in his big win over young Australian Davey Cathels.
Martinez scored one of the days memorable waves when he picked up a rare left breaking wave in the middle of the beach unleashing some massive top-to-bottom turns to pick up an excellent 8.50.
Shortly after Shaun Cansdell (AUS) put in one the day’s best performances posting a high scoring and easy round three heat win over Marco Giorgi (Uruguay).
Cansdell is on the comeback trail and his form today indicates he has regained his confidence and he’s certain to be prominent in what-ever events he competes in this year.
Other surfers to excel today included Brazilian Gabriel Medina, Hawaiian Sunny Garcia, Shaun Gossman (AUS) and New Zealand’s Richard Christie.
The outlook ahead is for maintaining solid surf as the event heads into the finals through Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Follow the event live via a quality web at www.oneill.com/cwc or via www.aspworldtour.com
(ASPWORLDTOUR:13894)
Category: All ASP News, ASP Star News
