What an incredible final day of surfing…(and yeah, this post is waaaay late so the stoke from the final day has lost its luster). Mick Fanning sealed the deal after some amazing surfing and some amazing competition. He took out fellow Australian surfer Bede Durbidge in the final to claim the first event of the year.

In route to the final, Durbidge’s semifinal match-up with the reigning world champ was the stuff surf fantasies are made of.

Durbidge opened the heat strong with two massive scores, leaving Slater needing a combination of excellent scoring rides to emerge from the heat alive.

Fighting his way back the way only an eight-time world champ can, Slater notched up the scores he needed and took the lead but last minute heroics by Durbidge changed the situation once again.

“What do you do?” said Slater. “I did good to come back to get the lead and then that wave came. The waves were there to be had and he was just in better sync than me; he had the advantage with that 9.93. I didn’t think that I was going to get back in there. You can’t be bummed losing a heat like that. We both scored high, we both surfed well and he surfed better than me.”

Click on the video below to watch the heat:

On the other side, Mick Fanning had his own spectacular heat going up against ASP rookie Josh Kerr in their Quarterfinal matchup. Kerr left Fanning needing a near-perfect heat score late in the heat to advance. Fanning found it and beat Kerr 19.53 to 19.10 in easily one of the highest scoring heats in ASP history. It was a simply amazing heat..

Click on the video below to watch the heat:

Next up: Stop #2 on the ASP World Tour, Bells Beach Australia………Bring it!

Round 1 of the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast presented by Samsung began (currently live: click here) this morning at 8am (local time) in 3 to 4 foot (1 to 1.2 metre) waves at Snapper Rocks. Conditions look a bit lackluster from the live contest cam with onshore winds bumping up the conditions. Commentators of th event referred to the conditions this as “contestable” and I would have leave it at that….

“We will run Round 1 today and while conditions are onshore, they are better than yesterday,” Contest Director Rod Brooks said. “We know the wave face is clean, but there are onshore winds. These conditions are expected to continue for the next three or four days ahead of a tropical cyclone. We’re not sure at this stage whether the cyclone will be favorable or unfavorable so we’re covering our options by running Round 1 of the men’s today.”

The cyclone brewing offshore and possibly headed towards the contest site looks to be rather substantial. As of now, many are calling it potentially the worst storm in 20-30 years….So, we’ll keep you posted on the developments there.

Enjoy Round 1 action!

Event organizers have called a lay day for both the Quiksilver and Roxy Pros.

“We’ve called a lay day due to the northeasterly wind, and we’re expecting this wind to remain all day and even into tomorrow,” Contest Director Rod Brooks said. “We’re not planning to run anything today and the next call will be 6am tomorrow morning. We remain optimistic about the forecast for the weekend and hope to be back in the water as early as possible.”

Despite today’s average conditions, a cyclone brewing off of the coast of Northern Queensland has competitors excited about the possibility of excellent surf for the event.

Quiksilver Pro Round 1 Match Ups

Heat 1: Dean Morrison (AUS), Pancho Sullivan (HAW), Bernardo Miranda (BRA)
Heat 2: Taylor Knox (USA), Mark Occhilupo (AUS), Gabe Kling (USA)
Heat 3: Tom Whitaker (AUS), Luke Stedman (AUS), Leonardo Neves (BRA)
Heat 4: Damien Hobgood (USA), Michael Lowe (AUS), Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 5: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Travis Logie (ZAF), Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA)
Heat 6: Bobby Martinez (USA), Shaun Cansdell (AUS), Luke Munro (AUS)
Heat 7: Taj Burrow (AUS), Chris Ward (USA), Trent Munro (AUS)
Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA), Daniel Wills (AUS), Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 9: Andy Irons (HAW), Greg Emslie (ZAF), Dale Richards (AUS)
Heat 10: Mick Fanning (AUS), Adriano de Souza (BRA), Jake Paterson (AUS)
Heat 11: Cory Lopez (USA), Victor Ribas (BRA), Ben Dunn (AUS)
Heat 12: Phillip MacDonald (AUS), Troy Brooks (AUS), Josh Kerr (AUS)
Heat 13: Bruce Irons (HAW), Raoni Monteiro (BRA), Neco Padaratz (BRA)
Heat 14: Bede Durbidge (AUS), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Dayyan Neve (AUS)
Heat 15: C.J. Hobgood (USA), Jeremy Flores (FRA), Royden Bryson (ZAF)
Heat 16: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW), Michael Campbell (AUS), Ricky Basnett (ZAF)

The Quiksilver Pro kicked off yesterday at Snapper Rocks launching with the pre-main event Trials competion. Conditions were prime for the Trials round to send one fortunate trialist into the main event for stop number one on the 2007 ASP World Tour. The waves were running in the 4-5 foot range for most of the heats with semi-clean to clean conditions along the Superbank.

Out of a star-studded trials final that included reigning ASP World Junior Champion Jordy Smith (ZAF), former Foster’s ASP World Tour competitor Kirk Flintoff (AUS) and Tahitian powerhouse Michel Bourez (PYF), it was the 19-year-old Richards who stole the win and the remaining Quiksilver Pro wildcard from the rest of the fold.

“It’s all a bit too much for me right now – I guess it really hasn’t set it yet,” Richards said. “I couldn’t hear the scores or anything out there, just my mates hooting every time I took off. I’m really stoked. I’m frothing so hard to be in the main event right now, I don’t even care who I draw.”

The final was closely contested as young upstart Jordy Smith held onto the lead for the first half of the final. Around the midpoint of the heat, Michel Bourez (PYF) took over the lead and held it through much of the second half of the final. Nearing the 3 minutes remaining mark, Jordy Smith made a late charge with a great wave and scored a 8.53 to take the lead. But, Richards answered on the following wave with a solid 7.30 to seal the deal as the ocean went flat shortly after.