Huge waves head for Mexico
Twiggy Baker to defend Big Wave title at Puerto Escondido
REIGNING WSL big wave champion Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker will be back in action at Puerto Escondido in Mexico this weekend to defend the title he won there in June last year.
That victory kickstarted his run to being crowned the world champ for the second time after finishing fourth in the Pe’ahi Challenge in Hawaii in November and reaching the semi-finals of the Nazare Challenge in Portugal in December.
Newly appointed WSL Big Wave Tour (BWT) Commissioner Mike Parsons has given the Puerto Escondido Challenge the green light to commence tomorrow or Monday after forecasts of back-to-back 6-8 metre swells making landfall at the famed Mexican beach break from today onwards.
Baker heads the elite 24man contingent of the world’s best big wave surfers who will contest the first event on the 2017 / 2018 BWT and will be up against the likes of fellow twotime WSL BWT champ Greg Long of California, Hawaii’s two-time Pe’ahi Challenge winner Billy Kemper and previous WSL BWT champions Makuakai Rothman of Hawaii and Peter Mel of California.
On the USA mainland, South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag faces a busy 10 days of competition.
The Victoria Bay local has been seeded into round four at the QS6,000 Supergirl Pro, the world’s biggest surfing event for women, in Oceanside this weekend and opens her campaign against three-time WSL Women’s champion Carissa Moore of Hawaii plus two qualifiers from round three.
Ranked No 39 on the Women’s Qualifying Series (QS), Buitendag needs to at least reach the final series in the event if she is to have a chance of ending the year in the top six in the rankings and regaining her spot on the elite Championship Tour (CT).
After the weekend Buitendag moves 150 kms up the coast to Huntington Beach where she has been given the injury replacement spot for Malia Manuel of Hawaii in the Vans US Open of Surfing, stop No. 6 of 10 on the 2017 CT. Having posted a best result of third in the 2015 edition of the event, the South African will be hoping for a confidence-boosting performance against the world’s top 17 ranked women.
Other South Africans in action at Huntington Beach include the trio of Michael February of Kommetjie, Beyrick de Vries of uMhlanga and Glenashley’s David van Zyl, all of whom will be determined to make serious inroads into the second of five QS10,000 rated events in 2017.
February, who has had phenomenal results this season, is fourth in the QS rankings with 10,550 points, but still needs at least another 8,000 points if he is to finish the year ranked in the top 10, which will see him join Jordy Smith on the 2018 WSL Championship Tour.
De Vries, who has reached the last 16 in the US Open in the past, will be hoping to reignite his 2017 QS campaign with another good result at Huntington Beach, while van Zyl, a first time qualifier at the event, has shown the form that could see him surprise the better known competitors.