Van Dijk can kick on after Tour triumph
NIKKI Van Dijk’s win in Portugal last week was a historic occasion for Victorian surfing.
Almost to the day, it came 25 years after Victoria’s previous winner of a Championship Tour event, which was Tony Ray who defeated Kelly Slater in the Bench beach breaks of Lacanau in France.
Van Dijk’s win has certainly guaranteed her place in the top 10 in the world and she’ll have no trouble qualifying for future championship tour events.
Her season this year has been fantastic, with quarterfinal and semi-final performances. And now that she has cracked a final and a win, it sets her belief and expectations that much higher. I’d expect to see her seriously challenging for a top five ranking from now on.
But if Van Dijk needed a reality check, she certainly got it just a few days after her victory when she competed in the next CT event in France and was sent home packing in last place, bundled out in straight sets after rounds one and two.
The French event, the Roxy Pro, is at the semi-final stage. Australia’s two big world title hopes, Sally Fitzgibbons and Tyler Wright, are both through to the semi-finals and are breaking away from the rest of the field. They look set to fight out this year’s world title, with Fitzgibbons holding a slender advantage over Wright.
The surf for the finals and for the entire men’s competition should be sensational. Expect to watch it live tonight and then run right through to Sunday.
French beach breaks can be some of the best in the world, with barrelling waves over shallow sand bottom sandbanks serving up some amazing waves. It will be a spectacular watch.
Spring has set in and it’s a good time on the Surf Coast, although surfing during the mornings is generally cleanest with sea breezes likely most afternoons.
Look for clean, small waves today and tomorrow and then better waves on Saturday, with a moderate swell, which drops into Sunday — plenty of surf.