Thurso East – Scotland (Saturday, April 16, 2011) –Jay Quinn (NZL) 27, and Joan Duru (Ondres, FRA) 22, led the remaining eight surfers into the Quarter-finals at The O'Neill Coldwater Classic Scotland in excellent 6-8ft (2m) waves where the standard of performance surfing rose to the highest level.
Thurso East turned on again for a third time, offering long rippable walls and deep barrels for yet another incredible day of cold water surfing.
Quinn, who had quietly progressed through the previous rounds of competition, unleashed a majestic display of clean, rail-to-rail surfing mixed with superb barrel riding and aerial skills to amass a two-wave heat total of 17.40, the highest of the day. Quinn is poised to make a big impression heading into the upcoming Quarter-finals.
“My aim in that heat was to get over a six. I’ve had a few heats now and I haven’t been able to get a roll on but then all of a sudden I found myself with a bag of waves and my scores getting better and better. A 7.50, a couple of 8.00’s and then a 9.00, so stoked for sure to finally be up and running.”
Quinn, a first-timer to the Quarters in the O'Neill Coldwater Classic Scotland, spoke of good friend, Richard Christie (NZL) 22, who also advance strongly and the possibility of the two fellow countrymen making the final together.
“We travel year round together so we keep each other on our games. Rich is in the other side of the draw so hopefully we can continue and he has definitely been one of the form surfers so far. I hope it stays like that and we can push it through to the bitter end.”
Duru relied on his barrel riding skills and backhand attack to oust Tim Boal (FRA) and advance to the Quarter-finals in a high scoring encounter. Duru, who yesterday caught the wave of the day, made it a repeat performance pulling-in from the take-off to exit and execute a series of round-house smashes to claim a 9.77 the single highest score of the day and take control of the heat.
“Tim (Boal) got off to a very good start so I waited for a good one and again the bomb came to me. It was hard because I was on a very high line so I was lucky to make it.”
“The heat was good,” continued Duru. “We both got high scores and the waves were really coming in and it is a shame that someone had to lose but that is the competition.”
Vincent Duvignac (FRA) 23, sailed into the Quarter-finals with a commanding performance over Hawaiian Kevin Sullivan with a combination of lightning fast re-entries and controlled floaters strung together down the line on the Thurso East waves. Duvignac kept busy from start to finish never letting his opponent into the match finishing with a two-wave combined total of 15.94 out of 20.
“I feel really confident and I had a very good heat this morning and this one was very good as well. I got some good scores at the beginning and I think that put a lot of pressure on Kevin. This is my best result in the Star events so I am really stoked.”
Duvignac, a former top European Pro Junior competitor, has done some serious off-season preparations for the 2011 season and with this, his best ever result in a Star event, the young Frenchman looks to the year ahead.
“I did a contest at Burleigh Heads and had some good sessions there. Here in Europe I have trained during the winter with a lot of surfing as well as some gym and I think I am ready for the European Tour and I am ready to reach my goal of finishing in the Top 10 on the European rankings.
Hodei Collazo (Zarautz, EUK) 26, secured his best ever result in Scotland, downing inaugural Highland Open Champion Russel Winter (GBR) in a closely fought out heat that Collazo led from the start with a solid 6.83 out of 10, opening tube ride on the siren.
“I was lucky to get the first wave of the heat and then I tried to build on my scores but it was difficult with the wind and the chop sometimes on the face of the waves. It is low tide now and it is more difficult than when I surfed early this morning. There were so many barrels, that is what I wanted to surf in my heat but I got one good one and made the heat.”
Collazo, a member of the Euro contingent standing out both in Europe and abroad in the Asp Prime and Star events, claimed his first 6-Star title last season in Ericeira, Portugal and knows that he has the ability to take out the final.
“We are not as many as Australians or Brazilians so in this contest all the guys are making heats and I think it is really good for us so I hope it keeps like this. I am taking it one at a time and not thinking about what is ahead but just concentrating on each heat.”
The O'Neill Coldwater Classic Scotland is stop nº 2 of the O'Neill Coldwater Classic Series with surfers out to solidify their overall standings as well as gain valuable Asp World Rankings points.
The O’Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland is scheduled from April 13 -19, 2011.
UPCOMING O’NEILL CWC SCOTLAND QUARTER-FINAL MATCHUPS
Heat 1: Joan Duru (FRA) Vs Jay Quinn (NZL)
Heat 2: Alain Riou (PYF) Vs Hodei Collazo (EUK)
Heat 3: Richard Christie (NZL) Vs Leonardo Neves (BRA)
Heat 4: Vincent Duvignac (FRA) Vs Brent Dorrington (AUS)
O’NEILL CWC SCOTLAND ROUND FOUR RESULTS
Heat 1: Joan Duru (FRA) 15.20 Def. Tim Boal (FRA) 14.86
Heat 2: Jay Quinn (NZL) 17.40 Def. Yujiro Tsuji (JPN) 6.94
Heat 3: Alain Riou (PYF) 11.07 Def. Charles Martin (GLP) 6.37
Heat 4: Hodei Collazo (EUK) 12.60 Def. Russel Winter (GBR) 5.67
Heat 5: Richard Christie (NZL) 13.26 Def. Romain Cloitre (FRA) 10.57
Heat 6: Leonardo Neves (BRA) 13.54 Def. Adrien Toyon (REU) 11.84
Heat 7: Vincent Duvignac (FRA) 15.94 Def. Kevin Sullivan (HAW) 2.90
Heat 8: Brent Dorrington (AUS) 14.03 Def. Davey Cathels (AUS) 11.20
REMAINING O’NEILL CWC SCOTLAND ROUND THREE RESULTS
Heat 3: Alain Riou (PYF) 7.17, Russel Winter (GBR) 5.37, Reubin Pearce (GBR) 4.66
Heat 4: Hodei Collazo (EUK) 13.56, Charles Martin (GLP) 11.80, Lincoln Taylor (AUS) 11.17
Heat 5: Richard Christie (NZL) 13.33, Adrien Toyon (REU) 11.77, Yuri Sodre (BRA) 6.57
Heat 6: Leonardo Neves (BRA) 13.84, Romain Cloitre (FRA) 12.87, Micah Lester (GBR) 5.80
Heat 7: Vincent Duvignac (FRA) 15.80, Brent Dorrington (AUS) 13.37, Christophe Allary (REU) 7.20
Heat 8: Davey Cathels (AUS) 14.67, Kevin Sullivan (HAW) 11.93, Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 8.82
