Surfers impress at Junior Champs
COOLANGATTA’S Thomas Woods threw down some huge spray on his backhand during round three of the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship in New Zealand yesterday.
A respectable 12.15 (out of a possible 20) was all Woods required to defeat South Africa’s Beyrick De Vries and Spain’s Kosme Molera, and advance through to round four in the under-18 boys’ division.
The world’s hottest up-and-coming surfers utilised their full competition repertoires, blending rail-to-rail carves, with new-age, fins-free moves and an innovative aerial game in the fun 2-3ft (1m) beach break conditions on offer at Phia.
But there was no one more innovative than Brazilian whiz kid Jesse Mendes. The electric goofy foot wreaked havoc in the clean conditions to net one of the morning’s highest two-wave combined total (16.50) and eliminate Tahiti’s Gold Coast-based Tamaroa McComb and France’s Ian Fontaine.
The girls showcased on podium two, with Lennox Head’s Tyler Wright joining fellow Australian Felicity Palmateer, South Africa’s Sarah Baum and Hawaii’s Malia Manuel in taking wins in the under-18 girls’ qualifying round three.
