Vans Pier Classic Kicks Off In California

E365 -- The Vans Pier Classic presented by Jack’s Surfboards set off the west coast leg of the ASP North America World Qualifying Series (WQS) in clean two-to-four foot peaky surf at Huntington Beach today.

The opening round of the ASP WQS 2-Star men’s event saw its completion today before the first eight heats of Round 2. The 160-man field saw surfers begin the respective campaigns towards the Vans Pier Classic title, competing for the valuable ratings points as well as their piece of the $25,000 purse.

Andrew Gessler (Ocean City, NJ) gave the day’s best performance, netting the highest heat total during his Round 1 bout of a 15.50 out of possible 20.00 points. Gessler’s sharp surfing earned him a berth into Round 2, and he will look to apply his unique equipment, a quad-fin swallow tail, to good use in the latter rounds.

“Someone gave me the wave magnet today,” Gessler said. “I’ve got a good shape from Matt Biolis, and I feel like I got lucky. I felt like my heat was pretty inconsistent, and I happened to get the good ones, so I’m feeling lucky right now.”

Richie Collins (Newport Beach, CA), former ASP World Tour campaigner, was another standout performer today, posting a strong heat total of 14.25 out of possible 20 points in the opening heat of competition. Collins continued his solid form in his Round 2 heat, where he dispatched of young pups

“I’m just going out and surfing as hard as I can,” Collins said. “I’m not going to back down, win, lose, fall, whatever, I’m just surfing as hard as I can. The last heat was just luck of the draw, Kekoa (Cazimero) and I got our waves, and just got lucky.”

Kekoa Cazimero (Waimanolo, HI) posted the day’s highest single wave score, stamping a 9.00 out of possible 10.00 and a combined total heat score of 15.25 advancing the powerful Hawaiian through to Round 3.

OTHER SURF NEWS

Rip Curl Pro: Slater Steals The Show Joubert Wins Oakley Pro Junior In SA E365 Gallery> Beach Life at La Mexico Rip Curl Pro

FURTHER SURFIN'

EXTREME INSPIRATION

"Freedom is the instant between action and reaction."