Maui Surfer Ian Walsh Advances at Sunset Pro

The opening day of the World Surf League Sunset Pro witnessed Maui native and big-wave specialist Ian Walsh easily advancing in his heat.

This is the first QS event of the 2019 WSL Hawaiʻi/Tahiti Nui 2019 season and wave faces ranged from six-to-eight foot at the iconic Sunset Beach on Tuesday.

Walsh has been victorious at Sunset before, and his seasoned experience was evident from the start.

Maui surfer Ian Walsh at the 2019 WSL Sunset Pro. PC: WSL/ Chlala

“It was challenging today to be in the right place when a set came, and with a new swell building it’s a bit of time in between the good sets,” reflected Walsh after his heat win. “If you’re out of position for a set you might not get another really good opportunity, so you really have to maximize whatever you stand up on.”

“I think the biggest thing that keeps me motivated is just the feeling of competing, and trying to figure out the ocean as best you can in such a short amount of time,” Walsh said. “I just enjoy surfing though; if the conditions and the forecast look really good, then I get really excited and I just want to surf. I guess the biggest thing is just putting on a jersey – I don’t put it on too much during the year, so it’s fun to have that little internal pressure to perform in a certain amount of time.”

Kauai’s Cole Frye (HAW) and Peru’s Sebastian Correa (PER) turned in top performances.  Also making the most of the conditions was Peru’s Sebastian Correa, who dropped a massive 9.00 in his Round 2 heat for the highest wave score of the day.

The event was a blend of faces old and new, including Luke Swanson (HAW), who, along with Levi Young (HAW), was the youngest competitor at the age of 14.

Swanson bested Young to advance out of the Round 1 draw, but surfed his way into a tough Round 2 heat against 2015 Big Wave World Champion Makuakai Rothman (HAW), Eli Hanneman (HAW), and Ulualoha Napeahi (HAW).

Sunset Open Day 1 Results
All surfers from Hawaiʻi (HAW) unless otherwise noted.

Round 2 (Round of 96)
1^st & 2^nd advance. 3^rd=65^th place. 4^th=81^st place.
Heat 1: 1^st Turo Ariitu (PYF), 2^nd Taro Watanabe (USA), 3^rd Coconut Willie, 4^th Like Adolfson
Heat 2: 1^st Robert Grilho, 2^nd Ocean Macedo, 3^rd Lennox Chell, 4^th Kyle Tester
Heat 3: 1^st Kainaru Kato, 2^nd Kala Willard, 3^rd Max Beach (USA) 4^th Sandon Whittaker (AUS)
Heat 4: 1^st Kan Watanabe (JPN), 2^nd Kaito Kino, 3^rd Kekoa Cazimero, 4^th Brodi Sale
Heat 5: 1^st Guy Sato (JPN), Sam Neiger (USA), Gavin Hogan, Luke Adolfson
Heat 6: 1^st Eli Olson, 2^nd Joaquin Del Castillo (PER), 3^rd Ezra Sitt, 4^th Chase Rasse
Heat 7: 1^st Sebastian Correa (PER), 2^nd Love Hodel, 3^rd Chris Foster, 4^th Sammy Gray
Heat 8: 1^st Taishi Kume (JPN), 2^nd Herbert Moreno (BRA), 3^rd Sage Tutterow, 4^thDaiki Matsunaga
Heat 9: 1^st Gregg Nakamura, 2^nd Logan Bediamol, 3^rd Makana Pang, 4^th Elem Ben Zvi (ISR)
Heat 10: 1^st Makuakai Rothman, 2^nd Eli Hanneman, 3^rd Ulualoha Napeahi, 4^th Luke Swanson
Heat 11: 1^st Vitor Ferreira (BRA), 2^nd Cole Frye, 3^rd Remy Juboori (USA), 4^th Also Chirinos (CRI)
Heat 12: 1^st Ian Walsh, 2^nd Maddy Job (AUS), 3^rd Kalani Rivero, 4^th Bjorn

Men’s Round 1 (Round of 112)
1^st & 2^nd advance. 3^rd=97^th place. 4^th=105^th place.
Heat 1: 1^st Coconut Willie, 2^nd Lennox Chell (AUS), 3^rd Lucas Godfrey, 4^th Zac Hedemann
Heat 2: 1^st Kainaru Kato, 2^nd Kan Watanabe (JPN), 3^rd Mo Freitas, 4^th Taua Pou
Heat 3: 1^st Gavin Hogan, 2^nd Chase Rasse, 3^rd Achraf Marzouki, 4^th Derek Ho
Heat 4: 1^st Sammy Gray, 2^nd Taishi Kume (JPN), 3^rd Jake Riccobuano, 4^th Riley Morgan
Heat 5: 1^st Gregg Nakamura, 2^nd Luke Swanson, 3^rd Levi Young, 4^th Max Lockwood
Heat 6: 1^st Cole Frye, 2^nd Kalani Rivero, 3^rd Eimeo Czermak (PYF), 4^th Sage Burke (USA)
Heat 7: 1^st Robert Patterson, 2^nd Tyler Newton, 3^rd Jin Suzuki (JPN), 4^th Mitchell Salazar (MEX)
Heat 8: 1^st Gavin Gillette, 2^nd Roi Kanazawa (JPN), 3^rd Taichi Hagita (JPN), 4^thLorenzo Avvenenti (PYF)