WORLD’S BEST SURFERS SHOW IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY IN SANTA CATALINA, PANAMA

Day 4 of the Reef ISA World Surfing Games brought a slight increase in the surf and impressive performances from the world’s best surfers. Due to an extreme low tide, the event began just before noon. The competition picked up once the tide covered the volcanic rock reef and the waves improved.

Venezuela’s Rafael Pereira, with critical turns like this one, advanced to the next round.

Photo: ISA/Rommel Gonzales

Today featured all Open Men’s Repechage. This is a do-or-die round. If an athlete places 3rd or 4th in a Repechage heat, they are out of the competition. Today was a day where 30 percent of the competitors who started the event would be eliminated. The energy was intense.

“It was another beautiful day in the paradise that is Santa Catalina,” commented ISA President Fernando Aguerre.“The stakes were high; the National Teams were standing on the reef cheering their teammates all day long. That’s an amazing sight that only takes place at ISA World Championships. It still gives me the chills even after all of these years. The competition is critical as we approach the final days of the event. Don’t miss a minute of the live webcast.”

The most exciting heat in today’s Repechage, featured Luis Vindas of Costa Rica, who defeated El Salvador’s Porfirio Miranda in a close heat. Vindas took the heat, earning 15.53, while Miranda earned 14.67. Unfortunately for Russia’s lone team member, Sergey Rasshivaev, his score of 3.50 meant his participation in the Reef ISA World Surfing Games came to an end.

In the next heat, Brazil’s Ruda Carvalho tore the wedging peaks to bits, scoring the highest heat of the day—a 15.60! Carvalho got off to a slow start, but came on brilliantly with only 4:30 to go in the heat when his two highest scoring waves took place. The Brazilian defeated Josie Graves (PUR, 11.43), Marco Fernandez (BRA, 11.16) and Roger Torres (PUR, 8.27).

Finishing today’s schedule, the winners of the Repechage held earlier Round battled once again to remain in the event. The standouts were Brazil’s Ruda Carvalho and Peru’s Miguel Tudela, who both scored 14.67, the highest heat totals of the Round.

Carvalho managed to defeat Russell Molony (AUS, 10.46), who placed in second and advanced to the next Round, but Jose Manuel Trujillo (MEX, 9.20) and Samuel Arenival (SAL, 5.80) are now finished and out of the contest.

The blonde Peruvian, Tudela, dominated his heat, nearly doubling the score of his closest rival, Israel Barona (ECU, 8.86), sending home Tim McDonald (AUS, 7.90) and Icah Wilmot (JAM, 5.57).

Tudela began pulling away with a 7.17 and earned the victory after scoring a 7.50 in the last seconds of the heat.
For a full list of
 today’s results, click here- http://isawsg.com/results/

The 2013 Reef ISA World Surfing Games resumes tomorrow with The Morning Show at 11:10am (Panama time) hosted by Otto Flores featuring Guatemala’s Gefre Lima.

Following that, the competition will feature:
Open Men’s Qualifying Round 3
Open Women’s Repechage Round 2
Open Men’s Repechage Round 4

The live webcast of the entire championship is available on http://isawsg.com/

Here is the schedule for Day 5:
Sunday, 11am call—Santa Catalina, Panama
Sunday, 9:40am West Coast USA
Sunday, 6:40pm Western Europe/South Africa
Monday, 3:40am Sydney, Australia
Monday, 4:40am Auckland, New Zealand