“This has been a really great contest for me,” said Rosa with his thick Portuguese accent. “Everyone in the event is a great surfer. I made a few mistakes in the semi-final. I’m a little disappointed, but I’m happy because it will be good for my ranking and it gives me confidence going into South Africa. I love going there although it is cold. There are some nice waves and I look forward to it.”
The Rip Curl Search WCT event holds a first-of-its kind “ASP Floating License”, allowing Rip Curl to run the event in a different location every year if it sees fit. A company built on search philosophy Rip Curl has developed this event so it can travel the planet, delivering the world’s best waves to the world’s best surfers.
This means the event is now on the hunt for another prime location to host next year’s event. Rip Curl’s International Marketing Director, Neil Ridgway was extremely happy with the proceedings of the day and the event as a whole.
“It was a great contest held in one of the world’s premium locations,” said Ridgway. “I’d like to thank the surfers for putting on a such a great show and would also like to thank the locals for lending us this quality wave for the duration. Now we will again scour the globe for an ideal location for next year’s event.”
The Foster’s Expression Session, a most popular component of each WCT event, was taken out by the one of the globe’s most entertaining surfers in Taj Burrow with the best aerial manoeuvre being won by Jean da Silva.
Burrow received $US2,000 for his performance in the “no rules” session while de Silva scored $US1,000 for his crowd pleasing attack.
The surfers now head to Jeffreys Bay in South Africa for the sixth Foster’s ASP Men’s World Tour event.
Results:
Quarter finals:
1. Jake Paterson (AUS) 11.00 def Danny Wills (AUS) 9.83
2. Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.16 def Darren O’Rafferty (AUS) 8.23
3. Peterson Rosa (BRA) 13.67 def Corey Lopez (USA) 9.17
4. Phil Macdonald (AUS) 16.33 def Nathan Hedge (AUS) 12.84
Semifinals
1. Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.00 def Jake Paterson (AUS) 12.27
2. Phil Macdonald (AUS) 14.16 def Peterson Rosa (BRA) 13.67
Final
1. Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.10 def Phil Macdonald (AUS) 5.30
