Davey Cathels Awarded Wildcard Into Rip Curl Pro Bells
Davey Cathels (AUS) on his way to a win at the Oakley World Pro Junior Bali last year. Pic ASP/Robertson.
ASP caught up with Cathels to find out how his ankle is and how his training is progressing.
How’s the ankle?
It’s feeling pretty good. I’ve almost got it back to full strength, but there’s still some pain in it when I put it in certain places in the water. I’m surfing with it all taped up as well.
Was the time out of the water frustrating?
Yeah, it was really frustrating. Having to the watch the ASP World Junior Title be decided without me and then missing out on the entire Aussie leg of the ASP Star and Prime events was tough. It was difficult sitting on the couch seeing everyone I usually compete against getting good results and on top of that, not being able to just go for a surf and forget about everything was so hard.
Tell us how you felt missing the final ASP World Junior event.
It was disappointing. Towards the end of last year and the start of the new year it was always in the forefront of my mind. It was all I thought about. Then to miss it, I was pretty down for a few weeks.
You did some of your best surfing at the event you won in Bali, how far away from that form are you right now?
At the moment my surfing is no where near that. I’ve only surfed about five times. I’m getting there, you just can’t come back and expect to be right back to where you left off. I’ve got to get my ankle used to what I was doing slowly and get my confidence back as well.
How does it feel to have a wildcard into Bells?
It is amazing! I’m honoured that Rip Curl has given me this chance. It’s my first ASP World Championship Tour event. I’d like to be surfing better than I am at the moment. I’m pretty confident that in 10 days time I’ll be surfing much better and between now and Bells if I get as much time in the water as I can I’ll be able to give it a good go.
You will probably surf against Kelly Slater, how does that make you feel?
To get the chance to surf against Slater would be really special. Even if he smashes me I know I’ll still leave a better surfer. I just want to put on a good performance regardless of the result.
What are your plans for the rest of 2012?
I’ll be focusing on the remaining ASP Primes and 6-Stars, making the ASP World Championship Tour is my main goal. I want to change a few things that I did last year with my travelling and preparation, which I think, will help me get there. On top of that I’m just looking forward to all the epic places we get to go to and hopefully score some good waves along the way.
Comments
Category: All ASP News, ASP World Tour News
OKay, now I understand.
But you (ASP) might understand that is difficult for us(fans) to catch-up with so many rule changing, even if we are the gratest fans and suporters of the tour.
Even I (that watch all the events, and read every single article that you publish) had trouble explaining to my wife why taj/slater/owen/john john/ace/etc. were in the margareth event, to gain points for the (former one world rankings)and now I see that I was totally wrong.
Good luck for the tour, and I wish You can establish a durable system and rulebook so we (fans)can keep building audience(for you), and helping the growth of the sport.
How come slater is still #1 seed??? insn´t he in 5th place at the current ranking??? how will be the seeding??? WT, ONE world Rankings, or I CHOOSE WHO IS AGAINST WHO???
Seeding for 2012 ASP World Championship Tour events:
At the start of 2012, both the ASP World Championship Tour Rankings and the ASP World Rankings were reset to 0. Fresh starting points for all competitors.
The opening event on the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour, the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, was seeded 100% off the 2011 year-end ASP World Rankings.
The seeding in 2012 will be progressive, with the seeding formula seeing a 20% reduction in ASP World Rankings with each event filled in with 2012 ASP World Championship Tour results. By the 6th event, the Hurley Pro at Trestles, the seeding will be based 100% off the current ASP World Championship Tour rankings.