The Vissla and Sisstrevolution Central Coast Pro World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS) 3000 rated events resumed today at Avoca Beach with some of the sports biggest names hitting the water for their opening heats.
In town for the premiere of her new movie, Bethany Hamilton (Hawaii) booked herself a spot into Round three, moving through her opening heat in the runner-up position behind Japanese competitor Nao Omura (Japan). The natural-footer and shark attack survivor found a handful of playful waves in her heat, posting a respectable 9.37 two-wave heat total for a chain of snaps and carves.
“The waves were small but better than I was anticipating,” said Hamilton. “It was a bit of a stressful heat, but I’m so happy to make it through. I’ve been preparing for competition a lot mentally, so it’s a relief to get into the next round. The ocean has always been the place that I’ve used to escape the craziness of life on land and surfing has balanced it all out.”
Omura sent a warning shot over the head of her fellow competitors, in the same heat gaining the victory ahead of Hamilton with a decent 10.23 heat total.
“I feel like I could have surfed better but I’m definitely happy to take the win,” said Omura. “I decided to ride my smaller wave board which felt good for the conditions and helped a lot. I wanted to stay patient which helped as well.”
Recent Mothernest Great Lakes Pro Champion Luana Silva (Hawaii) kept the ball rolling on the momentum from her recent victory at Boomerang Beach, taking out a heat win against Mothernest Great Lakes runner-up and Carve Pro Champion Sarah Baum (ZAF). Silva found a handful of long righthanders in the heat to claim with a solid 12.73 two-wave heat total.
“I definitely have a lot more confidence following Boomerang,” said Silva. “It was a bit difficult to link those longer waves together on the higher tide, so I was stoked to find a few that went the whole way through. It was good to have another heat with Sarah again following our final the other day. I think we bought out the best in each others surfing and it was good to share another heat with her.”
Other standouts in the Women’s division included Freya Prumm (Gold Coast, Qld), Ellie Turner (UK), Shino Matsuda (Japan), Dominic Barona (Ecuador), Daniella Rosas (Peru) who all notched up heat totals in excess of 13.00 points.
The elite six-day WSL QS3000 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.
