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BBC
Cornwall Surfing Correspondent Simon Alexander reports from the
line-up.
With
impressive wave selection and high-speed commitment to manoeuvres
in testing onshore 2-4ft conditions, Layne Beachley, the sport's
most visible and accomplished ambassador went on with her winning
ways.
Competition
finally got underway after three days of postponements due to tiny
swell and ugly east to southerly winds.
With
the SPC event needing to finish by Easter Sunday, organisers wisely
opted to make the best of the bumped up swell.
Beachley
comfortably won her three-woman opening round heat with young Australians
Laurina McGrath and wildcard Rebecca Woods, progressing directly
to round three, but admitted to the lineup being difficult to judge.
"It's
anyone's game out there today," said Beachley of the challenging
round one conditions, representing the outlook of all and sundry.
The ocean was the decider all day long.
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| Layne
Beachley |
"There
is a lineup out there, but because it's so windy it tends to shift
a little bit. It's not really the sets that are the good ones, because
the sets break too wide and fatten up really quick. It's all about
wave selection and positioning, and patience," said Beachley.
Paddling
out for her third round heat against rookie Rebecca Woods, Beachley
admitted to feeling somewhat lackadaisical.
"It
wasn't a very good mind frame to be in, especially when you've worked
so hard in the off-season to comeback and contend for a seventh
world title, so I gave myself quite a strong pep talk. After giving
myself a good kick in the butt, I went out there and really focussed
on my wave selection and, fortunately, surfed strongly on the waves
I got."
In
that first heat of round three, Layne opened with an 8.67 and backed
it up with a 9.17 incorporating serious snaps and critical floaters
into long runs from outside Rincon, which was an improved scenario
to the round one conditions wider around the Bells Bowl.
,
Woods surfed well, logging a solid 7.17 on her final wave, but Beachley
was simply a cut above, as would be expected of a six-times world
champion dealing with a rookie.
Former
Bells winner Megan Abubo, from Hawaii, easily accounted for Brazil's
Maria Tita Tavares in the following third round heat and will draw
Beachley in the first quarter-final.
If
Beachley gets by Abubo and goes on to win the event, she will match
the record of Florida's former four-times world champion Lisa Andersen
who has won four WCT events at Bells.
A
big upset in the round one schedule saw SPC Trials winner Jessi
Miley-Dyer defeat reigning and newly crowned world champ Sofia Mulanovich.
South
Africa's Heather Clark was left third in the same three-woman exchange,
later bowing out third in round two as well, suffering from bruised
ribs incurred in Western Australia last week.
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