Christie falls short of target
He was in contention all year, but a second-round exit at the Vans World Cup in Hawaii has seen Kiwi surfer Ricardo Christie fail to qualify for next year’s World Surf League Championship Tour (CT).
The 29-year-old went into the competition at Oahu’s Sunset Beach with his qualification hopes still alive on Thursday (NZ time), with a third-placed finish or better needed at the final qualifying series event of the season to secure his spot.
Pitted against Brazilian duo Raoni Monteiro and Luel Filepe, and Australian Soli Bailey, the Kiwi got his campaign off to a good start and carved out a 6.33 opening ride to go into the early lead.
He didn’t stay there long, as the judges rewarded Monteiro for a messy barrel ride, with an 8.33 opening ride sending him to the lead in the heat where he remained.
Christie looked on track to better his opening ride soon after, with a high score on a sizeable right on offer. He took advantage of the open face with a huge opening snap before tucking under the lip and into the barrel.
But the Kiwi didn’t get out of the tube. His one turn racked up 5.33, so a completed ride would have scored 8 or higher.
Instead, in what was one of the most competitive heats of the day, Christie, Filepe and Bailey battled to finish second. After Filepe posted a 6.83 and a 5.27 in the latter stages of the heat, Christie was left needing a 5.78 in the final minutes to progress.
He managed to find a wave that had decent scoring potential, but scored a 5.37 – falling short and out of the contest.
The result puts to rest what has been a rollercoaster season for Christie, who spent one year on the CT in 2015.
This year he bagged his first QS event victory, winning the QS3000 Martinique Surf Pro as well as the second-highest single-event points haul of his career – picking up 5200 with a fifth-placed finish at the Vans US Open.
But he was unable to back those two results up with another big finish.