Cronulla's Connor O’Leary enjoyed his first crack at the Rip Curl Pro, Bells Beach with a fortuitous second round win in perfect waves over Jason Andre.
Andre made poor choices with his priority leaving O’Leary in the power position and the rookie into round three.
Joel Parkinson got the jump early on O’Leary in their round three heat and punished him in perfect waves putting his Bells dream on hold for this year.
Since its inception in 1962, the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach has grown to become an integral part of Australia's surfing culture. It is the longest running championship tour event and closes out the Australian leg, keeping true to its 56-year Easter tradition.
The Rip Curl Pro is the third event on the 2017 World Surf League (WSL) World Tour. The event holds a very special place in surfing folklore and Cronulla surfers have made an impact on this event with Mark Occhilupo ringing the bell in 1998 after defeating Shane Dorian.
It was another good result for the Nulla in 1987 when trialists Nicky Wood and Kurnell’s Richard “Dog” Marsh fought out a classic bellringer when Wood became the youngest winner in the events history.
Frank Latta was another Cronulla surfer to make a big impact at Bells, making several finals before finishing second to Ted Spencer in 1968.
Courtney Conlogue (USA) won the Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach after defeating Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) in four-to-six foot (1 - 2 metre) conditions on Monday-the men’s contest is on this morning in challenging 6-8ft waves.
Cronulla has had plenty of swell over Easter week ,sitting around the head high mark for 5 days solid-its from the east which is a bit of a bummer because the banks on the beach are very straight and some waves are totally wasted.
There were still some good size waves on Tuesday afternoon -closing out and onshore and bringing back floggings as the tide dropped.
This morning its turned to rubbish with a 20 knot Southerly just ruining what little bank activity we have,there were hardly any surfers in the water-I took today’s pics at the Dunnies where there is a good rip doing its best to make a rideable wave.
Swellnet predicts “Surf size to slowly ease from the east for the rest of the week, probably holding 3ft+ through Wednesday and Thursday and then a little smaller into Friday, and equally inconsistent as per what we've seen the last couple of days-we will have to look elsewhere for inspiration this weekend-there's not a lot happening.”.
On the other side of the world Shane Campbell is making his dreams come true with a massive result in the first ever Barbados Pro.
Campbell ripped apart a heavyweight round five match-up with top QS performer Bino Lopes and two of the event's standouts in Mateus Herdy and Peterson Crisanto. Campbell has his goals set for 2017 and a big result will put him on track to attain them.
"I saw that heat before I went in and every one of them is stacked here. You look at who's left and there hasn't been an easy heat all event. I was looking forward to it, actually," Campbell said.
"After my round four heat I told myself I wanted to get above a 16-point heat total because I knew that's what it takes to win these later rounds. I want to be in a good spot for the mid-year re-seeding and this would be a great result to make a push for that so I can't wait for the final."
Campbell eventually fell one short, finishing second to tour surfer Keanu Asing who pulled out a 10 in the final to beat Campbell by 1.3. His teammates Jared Hickel and Harrison Martin didn't have as much luck, both dipping out in the second round.
Campbell also had a solid third round result in the earlier Martinique Surf Pro where Ricardo Christie took the win in good three-to-four foot waves at the iconic right-hand pointbreak of Basse-Pointe.
This leaves him sitting in 15th place on the World Qualifying Tour and in a good position for event seeding.
On Thursday, April 6, the International Surfing Association (ISA) mobilized its 100 Member Nations to celebrate the United Nations’ International Day of Sport for Development and Peace , a unique event that celebrates the power and influence that sport has as a tool for social change, development, and peace.
The ISA activated its members to participate in Peace and Sport’s White Card Campaign, an initiative anchored on IDSDP that encourages athletes to post photos with white cards to symbolize peace and the positive impact that Surfing and StandUp Paddle (SUP) have in their lives.
Surfers from four continents took part in the celebration, sharing stories from Afghanistan, Costa Rica, France, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Panama, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Spain and the UK about the role that Surfing and SUP is playing in their particular communities.