Rip Curl Pro Bells Day 1 Recap

Wow, what a start to this event.  Want to talk about scoring?  The women's division started off the day and they easily had the best waves of the day which is something we don't usually see.  The ladies tore up Bells and there were some standouts in Round 1: Laura Enever, Coco Ho, Sally Fitzgibbons, Malia Manuel and Lakey Peterson.  While not all of them won their heats, they showed that they can surf at Bells, one of the hardest waves to surf.  Laura Enever, fresh off of a second place finish at Snapper, looks hungry for a win. Coco Ho made some really nice, critical rail turns as did rookie Malia Manuel.  Sally Fitzgibbons is looking to go back-to-back at Bells and by the looks of her surfing yesterday, she has a very good chance.

For the mens division, as stated earlier, they didn't get the waves that the women got in the morning but it was still close-to-perfect Bells at times.  As for standouts, Kolohe Andino, Kelly, Jordy, Owen and Joel were my picks.  Kolohe took on Taj and local wildcard, Nic Muscroft - he looked in fine form and took to the air when winds went in his favor.  His turns were sharp and powerful and his airs were...well he's Kolohe, so they were perfect.  Taj looked like he was struggling in his first heat of the day, scrambling for waves and getting frustrated with himself at times.  Nic ended up winning the heat on a last second buzzer beater landing an 8 to overcome Kolohe.  Look out for this guy as he is my sleeper pick to make a few more upsets.  It will be interesting to see who he draws in Round 3.  Kelly struggled in the first half of his heat, but, as always, comes out of nowhere and finds one of the only good waves of his heat and scored a 9.5.  Typical Kelly.  Hopefully he can get a few quick scores in his Round 3 heat.  Owen had probably one of the best heats of the day, if not the best.  His surfing was perfect and he was going on the best waves in his heat and making the most of them.  I have a feeling that he could make his way into the semi's if he keeps this surfing up.  Is I've said before Jordy and Joel's surfing are pretty much the same (power surfing wise).  This wave really suits their style and it showed today.  In the first heat of the mens division, Jordy took on Kieren and Freddy P.  It was an action packed heat but Jordy's power surfing won it for him.  I think that both he and Joel will go far in this contest.

I am pretty nervous about my Fantasy Surfer team.  Although the Men's Round 1 did not finish, I already have a few big names into Round 2 (an elimination round): Kolohe, Julian, and Taylor Knox.  Hopefully the continuation will bring me better results.

How are your teams going and what do you make of the contest so far?

Here are Day 1 Video Recaps of both the men's and women's divisions