| No waves at the O'Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland |
| Friday, 16 April 2010 11:35 |
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Competition was today postponed due to insufficient wave quality and size. After several calls throughout the morning and then a final call this afternoon at Thurso East event officials decided not to start round two of the US$145.000 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star men’s O'Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland. Poor inconsistent waves in the 3ft (1m) range were on offer this morning at Brims Ness but with a building on-shore wind wave quality was poor. With an expected new swell on the way and having the event totally mobile another afternoon call was made but proved fruitless as only 1-2ft (0.5m) waves were wrapping down the point at Thurso East. Contest director Matt Wilson and local surfer Andy Bain were monitoring conditions constantly knowing that in this region of Northern Scotland weather patterns can change rapidly. Being the most northern and arguable the coldest surfing event on the planet the O’Neill CWC has built a reputation weather wise of not quite knowing what is just around the corner. Wilson summed up how they are approaching the remainder of the event and the plans for running over the next few days. “We made the afternoon call with not the expectation of running but tomorrow we definitely expect the swell to build over night and hopefully we will wake up tomorrow morning with some good waves at Thurso East. “ “It looks like the wind is going to be a little bit of a problem,” continued Wilson. ”Side to on-shore but I think everyone realises that we tried our best today however it is looking ok for the next few days over the weekend.” With still 4 days remaining in the official waiting period and with the mobility and number of locations available for the CWC Scotland all is set to unfold when competition resumes tomorrow with a possible start of round two of competition. Current ASP World Tour surfer Blake Thorton (AUS) who placed third here last year and won the overall O’Neill CWC Series is happy with the extra time he has to adapt to the conditions. Having started the year slowly Thorton is hoping for another big result in Scotland which will start when he faces T.J Barron (HAW), and fellow Australians Jarrad Sullivan and Anthony Walsh. “Everyday that you don’t surf in competition it just gives you that extra day to get used to the weather and the conditions so you get more acclimatised and comfortable. I’m still a little jet-lagged so with another good night’s sleep I’ll be 100 percent.” “It hasn’t been the ideal start to the year on either tour,” continued Thorton. “I like it up here and I‘ve done well before so looking for a strong result. I won in (CWC) South Africa and come third here and won the overall series so if you can take that bonus home with you every year it would be great.” Next call is tomorrow April 16 at 6:30 am (local Time)
Heat 9: Jeronimo Vargas (BRA) 13.76, Frederic Robin (REU) 10.17, Freddie Meadows (SWE) 6.20, Mark Boyd (SCO) 4.60
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