So, that thing I said yesterday about Brazilians not liking cold water, check that. Apparently they don't mind it so much. Or maybe it was the sunny skies that shone over Santa Cruz that got them sambaing. Either way, coming off of the high heat score of round two, 2011 Lowers Pro champ Miguel Pupo stepped up in round three and knocked out Kolohe Andino. Sitting 28 on the ASP World Ranking, Andino will improve his chances of graduating to the World Tour, but only by a slim 200 points. Meanwhile, Pupo, who's currently sitting 19, is well on his way to solidifying his spot on tour in 2012.
"I want to get a result here because I have a couple dropping before Hawaii," said Pupo afterwards. "I want to get some results and hopefully make the cut again and hopefully find my feet on the World Tour."
By now it's no secret, the Brazilians are coming ... even if some of us assumed the temperate water temp would cool them down a degree or two. At the end of the day -- a day that saw the high tide force the contest north of town to Waddell Creek -- four heats of round three were run. As noted, Pupo won one. Raoni Monterio and Willian Cardoso tallied up two more for the South American super power, knocking out South Africa's Shaun Jobert and California's Luke Davis, respectively. And then tomorrow when things pick back up we'll see what Wiggolly Dantes and Tomas Hermes can do to keep the proverbial futbol rolling.
2009 Cold Water Classic winner Nate Yeomans was the only surfer in round three not from Brazil to advance. "I've always loved it up here, but I swear, when I was a grom I didn't make a heat for five years," said Yeomans of how hard it can be to win at the tricky Northern California pointbreak. "I thought I was cursed here. Then I had that win two years back and I made the quarterfinals here last year. It's really a wave-catching contest at the Lane and I think that's why the locals shine. You have to get that wave that allows you to surf it through and you've really got to be on those waves. I've kind of got in a rhythm with it and it's treated me well."
Heading into the final weekend, there are some interesting match-ups on tap for Saturday. Dusty Payne v. Evan Geiselman should have its fair share of fireworks, as should Julian Wilson v. Nat Young ... and that's just in the first hour of the day. At the end of the round, in the heavyweight heat of the day, Jordy Smith and Bede Durbidge will go at it. Depending on what the swell's doing (which shouldn't be much), they may surf up at Waddell, which is turning out to be more of a relief than one might guess.
"It's nice not to be hassling behind the rock at The Lane and to get a beach break and have your own peak," said Josh Kerr after his round two heat today.
"I was happy to come down here because at The Lane it was pretty hard to surf," reiterated Pupo. "You could see in Jordy and Bede's heat in round one, it was gnarly."
O'NEILL COLD WATER CLASSIC ROUND OF 24 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 13.84 def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.67
Heat 2: Nathan Yeomans (USA) 13.70 def. Mason Ho (HAW) 13.10
Heat 3: Willian Cardoso (BRA) 13.56 def. Luke Davis (USA) 10.77
Heat 4: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 14.23 Shaun Joubert (ZAF) 8.86
O'NEILL COLD WATER CLASSIC ROUND OF 48 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 17.10, Mason Ho (HAW) 12.30, Richard Christie (NZL) 12.17, Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 7.94
Heat 2: Nathan Yeomans (USA) 16.20, Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.10, Jason Collins (USA) 12.10, Cory Lopez (USA) 11.70
Heat 3: Willian Cardoso (BRA) 15.14, Shaun Joubert (ZAF) 13.57, Joel Centeio (HAW) 10.17, Chris Davidson (AUS) 8.13
Heat 4: Raoni MOnteiro (BRA) 13.60, Luke Davis (USA) 12.00, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 11.57, Hizunome Bettero (BRA) 4.17
Heat 5: Dusty Payne (HAW) 14.80, Nat Young (USA) 11.53, Thiago Camarao (BRA) 9.23, Lincoln Taylor (AUS) 6.10
Heat 6: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.80, Evan Geiselman (USA) 14.44, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 10.50, Dion Atkinson (AUS) 7.77
Heat 7: Charles Martin (GLP) 10.26, John John Florence (HAW) 10.10, Jonny Craft (USA) 9.26, Daniel Ross (AUS) 7.53
Heat 8: Adam Melling (AUS) 14.34, Nic Muscroft (AUS) 11.37, Stu Kennedy (AUS) 9.73, Kai Otton (AUS) 8.77
Heat 9: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 14.26, Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 12.84, Travis Logie (ZAF) 9.67, Kai Barger (HAW) 8.50
Heat 10: Josh Kerr (AUS) 18.36, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.63, Granger Larsen (HAW) 12.10, Tonino Benson (HAW) 8.27
Heat 11:Tomas Hermes (BRA) 12.94, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 11.57, Brandon Jackson (ZAF) 10.17, Torrey Meister (HAW) 9.47
Heat 12: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.50, Tiago Pires (PRT) 10.00, Yujio Tsuji (JPN) 9.50, Jay Quinn (NZL) 5.80
O'NEILL COLD WATER CLASSIC ROUND OF 96 RESULTS:
Heat 22: Torrey Meister (HAW) 12.50, Jay Quinn (NZL) 12.20, Brett Simpson (USA) 10.87, Jano Belo (BRA) 3.63
Heat 23: Tiago Pires (PRT) 11.83, Brandon Jackson (ZAF) 8.17, Nathaniel Curran (USA) 6.04, Jesse Mendes (BRA) 4.50
Heat 24: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.33, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 10.96, Masatoshi Ohno (JPN) 9.43, Blake Thornton (AUS) 6.03