EL CONFITAL, Gran Canaria (Wednesday, October 8, 2008) – It has been another long day for all Round 1 competitors waiting to get the dust off their boards but officials had to call the event off for the third consecutive day. The Ocean & Earth Pro pres. La Caja de Canarias, an ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) 4-Star event, has yet to commence at the world famous venue of El Confital and tomorrow’s expected swell pick-up might get the first sixteen heats done.
Some three to four foot (1 to 1.2 meter) consistent waves are expected to reach the north shore of Gran Canaria during the night and the first pulses of that new swell already delivered a few small but defintely better waves than yesterday.
From tomorrow morning, the event will have to use its four remaining days and if El Confital does not allow any action over its reef, the event will go mobile to the good beachbreak of La Cicer that should be getting more swell.
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We are very confident of getting things running tomorrow morning very early at El Confital as all forecasts show a significant increase in swell," said contest director José. "
If El Confital does not deliver its classic righthanders, we will move to the beachbreak and get Round 1 underway."
Round 1 features sixteen 4-man heats and ASP Top 45 members Aritz Aranburu (EUK), Daniel Ross (AUS) and Jay Thompson (AUS) will paddle out against low seeds the three Dream Tour surfers having lost their seed rights due to a late entry.
Looking at the European contingent, top seed and last year’s finalist Jonathan Gonzalez (Tenerife, CNY) will surf in Round 2 against Hawaii’s Nathan Carroll (HAW) in Heat 4. Gonzalez, who had a stellar start this year on the ASP WQS, suffered a serious injury to an ankle and is slowly getting back to its best level. El Confital is definitely one of his favorite waves and he will be much expected by the usually cheering Canarian crowd when he paddles out.
Competitors and officials will meet at 7.30 AM (GMT+1) to assess conditions and hopefully witness some good contestable waves eventhough some side-shore winds are expected as well.
The Ocean & Earth Pro pres. by La Caja de Canarias is webcast LIVE at
www.aspeurope.comROUND 1 HEATS
Heat 1: Matt King (USA), William Pasquet (REU), Evan Valiere (HAW)
Heat 2: Travis Mellem (USA), Edgar Nozes (PRT), Fernando Roca (CNY), Jonathan Torres (CNY)
Heat 3: Brandon Jackson (ZAF), Rafael Batista (BRA), Marco Giorgi (URY), Gary Gonzalez (CNY)
Heat 4: Devon Tresher (USA), Ricardo Dos Santos (BRA), Darren Muschett (PRI), Armando Navarro (CNY)
Heat 5: Kyle Knox (USA), Norman landa (EUK), Leif Engstrom (USA), Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 6: Txaber Trojaola (EUK), David Rutherford (MEX), Franito Saenz (CNY), Manolo Lezcano (CNY)
Heat 7: Sean Moody (HAW), Marc Lacomare (FRA), Anthony Walsh (AUS), Jay Thompson (AUS)
Heat 8: Parrish Byrne (AUS), Jason Miller (USA), Damian Moro (CNY), Bentor Gonzalez Dominguez (CNY)
Heat 9: Blake Howard (USA), Josh Lewan (AUS), Alexander El Naib (DEU)
Heat 10: Stuart Kennedy (AUS), Dallas Petersen (AUS), Eduardo Acosta (CNY), Alexander Zirke (CNY)
Heat 11: Joao Guedes (PRT), Mikey Bruneau (HAW), Cheyne Willis (HAW), Luiz Hernandez (CNY)
Heat 12: Brandon Ragenovich (USA), Ezra Sitt (HAW), Julian Cuello (CNY), Juan Manuel Florit (CNY)
Heat 13: Bobby Morris (USA), Clancy Dawson (AUS), Casey Brown (HAW), Aritz Aranburu (EUK)
Heat 14: Adam Melling (AUS), Luis Rodriguez (ESP), Aaron Romero (CNY), Antonio Marques (CNY)
Heat 15: Owen Wright (AUS), Dylan Melamed (HAW), Mario Azurza (EUK), Alexis Sanchez (CNY)
Heat 16: Nick White (NZL), Killian Garland (USA), Chris Jimenez Garcia (CNY), Ivan Monagas Torres (CNY)
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