After calling a lay day for the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) 6-Star PRIME O’Neill Cold Water Classic California yesterday, today’s action saw Steamer Lane come alive to deliver a pumping four-to-six foot (1.5 metre) swell while the event’s top seeds displayed an amazing performance of progressive surfing for the local Santa Cruz crowd.
The event’s ASP 6-Star PRIME status has attracted the finest pedigree of global surfing talent in search of the valuable ratings points on offer for the 2010 ASP World Tour.
Sebastian Zietz (Kilauea, HI), 21, relied on his unbelievable above-the-lip approach to surfing to secure the day’s highest scores of a near perfect 9.77 out of 10 with three critical fins-free turns on a cranking righthander. The Hawaiian added an additional top score allowing him to clinch the event’s highest heat total of a near-perfect 18.74 out of 20 after a seesaw battle with Australian talent Yadin Nicol (Margaret River, AUS), 23.
“The waves were going off and it’s that in-between-tide where it’s not really kelpy yet,” Zietz said. “All of the guys were ripping and pretty intimidating early on. I got that first one where I kind of fell on my first turn and somehow made it happen and found my feet at the end.”
Zietz had a slow start to his Round of 48 heat, but was able to out-position fellow Hawaiian Granger Larsen (Lahaina, HI), 19, to find the waves needed to surpass Nicol to take out the heat win while advancing through to the Round of 24.
