O'Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland Steps Into Top Gear

Jay Quinn (NZL) [Photocredit:Aquashot/aspeurope.com]

THURSO EAST, Scotland (Saturday, April 17, 2010) - The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star men's O'Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland stepped into top gear and showed it's true colours with courageous displays of surfing mixed with extremely wild weather conditions. Many saying the heaviest they have experienced in a surfing competition. The final 24 surfers were decided with the completion of round 3 late this afternoon under heavy rain, wind and a mere 4º Celsius

Strong cold winds which at times reached gale force strength along with rain lead to another tough day for the remaining surfers. Definitely bigger than yesterday with waves from 4-6ft (1-1.5m) and consistent sets which was one of the bonuses helping to keep the event on a roll.

Royden Bryson (ZAF) summed it up perfectly, "Definitely without a shadow of a doubt the coldest day I have ever spent at the beach in my entire life. The waves are actually pretty good so we can't complain I mean it's 5-6ft and it could be flat which is worse. The elements here are something radical."

The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star O'Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland the most northern surfing event on the planet is the second stop of The O'Neill CWC Series and offers surfers valuable ASP World Men' Star points and is also stop nº 1 of 12 of the ASP European Series which will eventually crown this year's European champion.

The performance of the day goes to Jay Quinn (NZ) who literally smashed and flew his way to the highest combined two wave total of the event 18.34 out of a possible 20. Belting the lip with a savage forehand attack saw him earn an excellent 8.67 score and then the young kiwi unlashed with one forehand smack followed by a huge air boost to claim a 9.67 out of a possible 10.

The quietly spoken younger brother of Maz Quinn former ASP WCT surfer was unable to explain how it all just fell into place for him today.

"I managed to get a couple of waves and I don't know how but the scores just came through for me. I think the wind helped out a bit on that one, it stuck the board to my feet, (laughs)," continued Quinn about how he pulled off his incredible boosting air. "Any other day I probably wouldn't have made it and for once it was good to get a good heat in because the last one I managed to scrape through in the last ten seconds."

Fresh from his win in the O'Neill CWC Tasmania Stuart Kennedy (AUS) had to fight all the way to the wire to keep his hopes alive and make it back to back O'Neill CWC victories

"It was difficult out there because I didn't get the good ones so I had to work hard on the smaller ones that I got so stoked to get through. My second best result in a 6-star."
 

On his chances of adding the O'Neill CWC Scotland trophy to his collection Kennedy was putting everything into perspective.

"It would be good to get two wins but you can't win them all so that's the other thing I have to look at."
 
 

ASP rookie Shaun Joubert (ZAF) on his first year competing on the ASP men's star tour and on his first visit to Scotland exploded out of the blocks in heat nº2 of round 4 pulling off a huge front-side air to score an 8.5 then backed it up with another high scoring 7.67 to secure the heat win and a two wave total of 16.17 out of a possible 20.

"It was pretty fun out there really. I live at a right-hand point break so anything that resembles that is good for my surfing and despite the cold it's good." It was one of those heats where everything goes right and I'm happy to have a good heat out there. I made 2 heats in Tasmania (CWC)," continued Joubert about his O'Neill CWC results so far this year. "It's good to do that again because lots of guys don't like surfing in wetsuits so they don't come here but I like it a lot"

Hodei Collazo (EUK) scraped through on his final wave of the 25-minute clash. Struggling with the wind, rain and spray Collazo knew that to advance he needed something big that would impress the international judging panel.

"I was all the heat and I couldn't get a good one only waves with one turn and I needed something like a 6.8. So I just waited for the bigger waves to try and get it and with the rain it was really hard. Then that wave came and I was a bit nervous but I did two big moves and I was lucky I didn't fall so I'm really happy. I came here the first time with my dad and this is the best I have done," continued Collazo about his experiences in Scotland and this year's results. "I got a good result in Brazil I came 9th and then I haven't really done anything so maybe here could be my next best result."

Earlier today in round 2 O'Neill team rider Nat Young (USA) 18, first timer to Scotland scored one of the highest scoring waves of the day 8.5 to advance into the next round only to be eliminated by Jay Quinn (NZL) and Yuri Sodre (BRA).

The young American turned heads with smooth powerful surfing in very difficult conditions and despite being eliminated will be back to have another attempt next year.

Tomorrow's forecast is for the swell to remain the same and unbelievably the possibility of snow. The O'Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland is without doubt the hardest contest on the planet and it will continue tomorrow with the first call at 6:30am (local Time).

All results, news, photos and videos will be available at www.aspeurope.com and www.oneill.com/cwc/
O'Neill wetsuit, O'Neill backpack and O'Neill board shorts are all available online.

Upcoming Round 4 Matchups O'Neill CWC Scotland

Heat 1: Nathaniel Curran (USA), Shaun Joubert (ZAF), Royden Bryson (ZAF)
Heat 2: Hodei Collazo (EUK), Blake Thorton (AUS), Brian Toth (PRI)
Heat 3: Glen Hall (IRL), Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY), Dylan Graves (PRI)
Heat 4:Tim Reyes (USA), Shaun Cansdell (AUS), Nic Muscroft (AUS)
Heat 5: John John Florence (HAW), Alain Riou (PYF), Yuri Sodre (BRA)
Heat 6: Marc Lacomare (FRA), Christophe Allary (REU), Jay Quinn (NZL)
Heat 7: Lincoln Taylor (AUS), Dyyan Neve (AUS), Bernardo Miranda (BRA)
Heat 8: Stuart Kennedy (AUS), Killian Garland (USA), Raoni Monteiro (BRA)

Results Round 3 O'Neill CWC Scotland

Heat 1: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 12.77, Hodei Collazo (EUK) 11.16, Austin Ware (USA) 10.63, T.J Barron (HAW) 9.26
Heat 2: Shaun Joubert (ZAF) 16.17, Blake Thorton (AUS) 13.67, Abdel El Harim (MAR) 11.73, Casey Grant (ZAF) 0.60
Heat 3: Brian Toth (PRI) 12.60, Royden Bryson (ZAF) 10.07, Joan Duru (FRA) 8.60, Richard Christie (NZL) 5.40
Heat 4: Glen Hall (IRL) 8.50, Tim Reyes (USA) 8.10, Kevin Sullivan (HAW) 5.53, Hugo Savalli (REU) 5.20
Heat 5: Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY) 13.20, Shaun Cansdell (AUS) 10.40, Chris Ward (USA) 9.67, Brandon Jackson (ZAF) 5.74
Heat 6: Nic Muscroft (AUS) 13.33, Dylan Graves (PRI) 10.76, Cory Lopez (USA) 10.47, David Weare (ZAF) 9.97
Heat 7: John John Florence (HAW) 12.50, Marc Lacomare (FRA) 9.57, Dion Atkinson (AUS) 7.50, Indar Unanue (EUK) 4.77
Heat 8: Alain Riou (PYF) 13.17, Christophe Allary (REU) 11.33, Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 10.77, Jeronimo Vargas (BRA) 9.10
Heat 9: Jay Quinn (NZL) 18.34, Yuri Sodre (BRA) 12.36, Nat Young (USA) 11.47, Eneko Acero (EUK) 8.83
Heat 10: Lincoln Taylor (AUS) 14.94, Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 13.57, Adam Robertson (AUS) 12.13, Sunny Garcia (HAW) 11.84
Heat 11: Dyyan Neve (AUS) 12.66, Killian Garland (USA) 12.10, Damien Chaudoy (REU) 11.50, Tim Boal (FRA) 5.80
Heat 12: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 13.00, Bernardo Miranda (BRA) 10.83, Alan Stokes (GBR) 9.56, Romain Cloitre (FRA) 7.27

Results Round 2 Heats 14 To 24 Of O'Neill CWC Scotland

Heat 14: John John Florence (USA) 11.33, Alain Riou (PYF) 10.23, Frederic Robin (REU) 9.20, Russell Malony (AUS) 7.23
Heat 15: Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 8.76, Indar Unanue (EUK) 6.70, Marlon Lipke (DEU) 5.67, Izuki Tanaka (JPN) 4.36
Heat 16: Christophe Allary (REU) 11.33, Dion Atkinson (AUS) 7.47, Mason Ho (HAW) 5.77, Sam Lamiroy (GBR) 4.56
Heat 17: Nat Young (USA) 15.67, Sunny Garcia (HAW) 11.23, Russel Winter (GBR) 9.94, Chris Ward (USA) 8.24
Heat 18: Eneko Acero (EUK) 13.34, Adam Robertson (AUS) 11.50, Matt Johnson (USA) 8.94, Chris Noble (SCO) 6.10
Heat 19: Lincoln Taylor (AUS) 11.54, Yuri Sodre (BRA) 10.60, Ricardo dos Santos (BRA) 9.84, Gabriel Villaran (PER) 6.90
Heat 20: Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 13.26, Jay Quinn (NZL) 11.20, Jack Perry (AUS) 10.80, Eric Rebiere (FRA) 5.36
Heat 21: Damien Chaudoy (REU) 10.24, Bernardo Miranda (BRA) 7.37, Justin Mujica (PRT) 7.03, Mickey Picon (FRA) 6.20
Heat 22: Dyyan Neve (AUS) 12.16, Alan Stokes (GBR) 9.50, Joao Guedes (PRT) 8.00, Nick Vasicek (AUS) 5.74
Heat 23: Romain Cloitre (FRA) 13.17, Killian Garland (USA) 11.20, Rudy Palmboom (ZAF) 10.96, Haritz Mendiluze (EUK) 3.23
Heat 24: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 11.17, Tim Boal (FRA) 10.57, Pablo Gutierrez (ESP) 9.36, Bruno Rodrigues (BRA) 7.83