De Vries riding high in Aussie Pro event
Durban surfer through to Round of 16
MONTHS of intense pre-season training have paid off for Beyrick de Vries at the Burton Automotive Pro in Newcastle, Australia, where the 96-man field has been whittled down to just 16 surfers after five days of action-packed competition.
De Vries will face Australian Stuart Kennedy in the Round of 16 and despite the outcome, the result will be one of his best finishes in the Qualifying Series (QS) event.
The event, which is home to four-times world champion Mark Richards and is a twohour drive north of Sydney, has enjoyed consistent swells for days courtesy of Tropical Cyclone Gita off the east coast of Australia.
As current QS number two ranked surfer Matthew McGillivray (Jeffreys Bay) fell short in the Round of 24, De Vries’ victory over Ethan Ewing (Australia) and Marco Fernandez (Brazil) in the same round ensured that a South African will feature in the business end of the event.
Cape Townians Michael February and Adin Masenkamp also featured in the Newcastle thriller with Massencamp narrowly missing out on a main event berth when he finished runner-up in the trials and February bowing out in the Round of 48.
Facing fierce competition in a world class line-up, De Vries’ has been digging deep to post heat- winning performances well into the dying seconds of his heats.
“In my last heat I just got the score I needed in the last 10 seconds,” said a relieved De Vries.
“I only needed a score of 4.67, did a close out turn on the right hand reform, and that was enough to see me through. The level of surfing has been incredibly high here, leaving hardly any room for mistakes. With better wave choice I feel I can keep on winning.”
After seven years of competing in at QS level, De Vries’ goal of qualifying for the elite World Championship Tour still remains his main focus. The gifted natural footer has left no stone unturned with his pre-season build-up and a big part of his renewed confidence has come from the amount of time invested into refining his equipment in recent months.
The increase in his performance levels have come largely from the support he has received from Durban-based Channel Islands Surfboards and Surfblanks who have been providing him with cutting edge equipment.
“My new Channel Islands boards have made a massive difference to my surfing and I am feeling a lot more confident on the waves,” confirmed De Vries.
Earlier in the competition major upsets were the order of the day with many past and present Championship Tour (CT) competitors falling to lower seeds in the draw. World No 5 Matt Wilkinson (Australia) was eliminated by less than half a point in the Round of 48 , with former CT surfer Leonardo Fioravanti (Italy) also suffering a similar fate in his heat.
Alejo Muniz, the 2015 Burton Automotive Pro champion from Brazil, continues to impress the judges and he, alongside CT rookie Michael Rodriguez who posted the highest heat score of the event thus far, remains a threat for the illustrious title.