Lay Day For Billabong Pro Tahiti
May 8, 2008 – 3:28 pm PT by GregTags: ASP, Billabong Pro, Damien Hobgood, Tahiti —
The Billabong Pro Tahiti started its holding period today and due to less than optimum conditions a lay day was called.
“We had a good look at it and we are opting not to run today,” Contest Director Luke Egan said. “I watched it for an hour last night and if it looked like that this morning then I was definitely going to run. Time is on our side with the waiting period so we are going to utilize it fully.”
Conditions could be small for a few days and last year’s champ, Damien Hobgood, who was apparently going to miss the contest due to injury, may still sneak in if he feels up to it.
When action does kick off, you can watch it live on www.billabongpro.com. Until then, you can go to the site to see some pretty pictures of the Tahitian people. Like the woman above.
Here are the first round match-ups.
Billabong Pro Tahiti Round 1 Match-Ups:
Heat 1: Dean Morrison (AUS), Luke Munro (AUS), Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 2: Kai Otton (AUS), Leonardo Neves (BRA), Ricky Basnett (ZAF)
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA), Roy Powers (HAW), Royden Bryson (ZAF)
Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Tim Reyes (USA), Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 5: Andy Irons (HAW), Ben Dunn (AUS), Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Damien Hobgood (USA), Aritz Aranburu (EUK)
Heat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS), Dayyan Neve (AUS), Chris Ward (USA)
Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA), C.J. Hobgood (USA), Manoa Drollet (PYF)
Heat 9: Mick Fanning (AUS), Pancho Sullivan (HAW), Jamie O’Brien (HAW)
Heat 10: Taj Burrow (AUS), Tom Whitaker (AUS), Bruno Santos (BRA)
Heat 11: Adrian Buchan (AUS), Jordy Smith (ZAF), Mikael Picon (FRA)
Heat 12: Adriano de Souza (BRA), Jay Thompson (AUS), Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 13: Taylor Knox (USA), Kieren Perrow (AUS), Jihad Khodr (BRA)
Heat 14: Luke Stedman (AUS), Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA), Michael Campbell (AUS)
Heat 15: Dane Reynolds (USA), Fredrick Patacchia (HAW), Ben Bourgeois (USA)
Heat 16: Neco Padaratz (BRA), Bruce Irons (HAW), Daniel Wills (AUS)
And here’s my fantasy surfing match-ups. I still have Damien in there. I may regret it. Last month I took out Kelly Slater because it looked like he was going to miss the Gold Coast event and look what happened then.
Mick Fanning
Bobby Martinez
Damien Hobgood
Bede Durbidge
Adriano de Souza
Dane Reynolds
Tiago Pires
Jamie O’Brien
