Some of the world’s most exciting surfers unleashed on picturesque four-foot surf today as the Vissla Central Coast Pro World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS) 3000 rated event mowed through the third day of competition at Avoca Beach today.
Crosby Colapinto (USA), showed similar skills that allowed his brother Griffin to qualify for the WSL Championship tour, blazing through his fourth-round heat. The San Clemente native showed his comfortability in some heaving conditions, performing massive turns and snaps in some critical sections to finish the heat with a 16.53 two-wave total. Colapinto will now face Jacob Willcox (WA), Vicente Romero (Spain) and Keijiro Nishi (Japan) in the fifth round.
“I’m psyched. The waves are pumping,” said Colapinto. “I was so excited when I turned up this morning and saw there was swell because the last few mornings have been tiny and dumping on a sandbar. I think this my sixth or seventh time in Australia and I love this leg of events. The beachbreaks in Australia really allow you to do your best surfing. My whole goal here is to make the final day if I can.”
Despite not living on the Central Coast for the last decade, former world number one Matt Wilkinson (Copacabana, NSW) still considers the region home and relished the opportunity to throw on a rashie at his old stomping ground. Wilkinson only got a minimal amount of opportunities to showcase his razor-sharp skills that earned him a spot on the CT, but was able to move through the heat in the runner-up spot behind Darcy Crump (Avalon, NSW) on the strength of a 13.06 two-wave heat total.
“I found myself getting a little bit frantic with a 20-minute heat and found I caught a handful of average waves and put myself out of position for the good ones, but I’m just stoked there’s some swell,” said Wilkinson. “It’s nice being back home. I caught up with a lot of my old friends since I’ve been here and it’s been cool to be here. It’s still the same as I remember and not too much has changed.”
Crump came out of his heat with heightened confidence, thanks to the victory over Wilkinson. Crump showed the talent and proficiency of a seasoned QS battler as he notched up a 13.74 two-wave total to get the win ahead of Wilkinson by a 0.68 margin.
“I was nervous coming into that heat when I realised I drew Wilko,” said Crump. “The waves could shift pretty quickly, so I was definitely happy to get two smaller, quicker waves. I always wanted to surf against guys like Wilko as that’s the sort of guys you grow up dreaming about competing against. He was winning contests almost before I was born, so to get a win against him feels awesome.”
2019 Australian Junior Qualifying Series Champion Dakoda Walters (Angourie, NSW) kept his 2020 campaign steamrolling as he surfed well-beyond-his-years in his fourth-round heat. Walters executed a handful of critical snaps and re-entries in his heat to gain the victory with a solid 14.03 two-wave heat total.
“It’s awesome to have swell for a contest,” said Walters. “I think everyone in the comp was excited when they turned up this morning and saw waves. I’m crossing my fingers that it hangs around and we see some exciting surfing for the fifth round when all the top-seeds enter the event.”
The elite six-day WSL QS 3000 rated event will form the third and final stop on the Vissla NSW Pro Surf Series and will take place at Avoca from February 25 – March 1, 2020.
A live broadcast can be viewed at worldsurfleague.com
All event news, images and highlight clips will be housed at nswprosurfseries.com
2020 Vissla NSW Pro Surf Series Event Schedule
Event 1: Carve Pro QS1,000, Maroubra – January 29 – 1 Feb
Event 2: Mothernest Great Lakes Pro, Boomerang Beach – February 19 – 23
Event 3: Vissla Central Coast Pro, Avoca Beach – February 25 – March 1
The 2020 Vissla Central Coast Pro will be proudly supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW. The event will also be proudly supported by Vissla, Sisstrevolution, Central Coast Council, Avoca Beach Hotel, Hit 101.3, Mad Mex, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Mothernest, AirAsia, WSL, and Surfing NSW.
