Quiksilver Pro France Round 2

 By Carlos Rock

Hossegor, France. Photo: Lucia Griggi

Contest officials decided to run the first seven heats of round 2 in the Quik Pro France in solid beach break surf as a new swell filled in.

A big swell filled in for the start of round 2 but the call to run the contest wasn’t made until the afternoon. Surfers were forced to wait because the surf was so big and unruly, producing mainly closeouts instead of ride-able and score-able waves.

But as the conditions cleaned up, they decided to run the contest. The new swell was a bit tricky, but the surfers were able to put up big scores and add drama to the already amazing 8-foot beach break exploding a few meters from the shore.

The man-on-man heat matchups also allow room for upsets. World Tour veteran Taylor Knox subjected current World #5 Adriano de Souza from Brazil to round 3.

But there was also WT rookie Kolohe Andino (USA) taking out #7 Josh Kerr (AUS).

Joel Parkinson (AUS) in deep. Photo: ASP

World #2 Joel Parkinson (AUS) started things off in heat #1 of round 2 posting a 9.67 and an 8.6 for an 18 point heat total. Parko is looking to still be in fine form coming off of a second place at the previous contest at Lowers.

#4 John John Florence of Hawaii also won his heat against fellow Hawaiian Dusty Payne from Maui.

With this swell looking to hang around for a bit, expect the contest to finish up in exciting fashion as the pros try and not get pounded in the beachbreak surf.

The wipeout of the day goes to Jeremy Flores (FRA), who took a two-wave hold down but still managed to win his heat.

“It just kept me down.” Flores said in a post heat interview.

Check out the action live at: http://quiksilverlive.com/profrance/2012/#

When you hear about France, you might imagine Paris, the Louvre, the Eiffel tower, baguettes and Europeans. However, if you are a surfer you can add the perfect beachbreaks that are riddled along the coast, just waiting to turn into A-frame spitting barrels.

France is now a surfing destination and with the webcast and live streams, it puts the viewer right on the beach and therefore promotes tourism. However, surfers make up a small amount of the population and if you travel to France, find out how much a trip to Hoseggor will cost and time it right with a swell.

How does green European spitting barrels sound on a trip to France?

Meanwhile, with winter upon us in Maui, Albee Layer landed the first ever 720 air in surfing history. It is basically a double alley-oop that he had been trying to land for awhile. With failure comes success, and Albee’s name will forever be in the surfing history books because of the one time he succeeded. Check back for our upcoming story on that.

Albee flying high. Photo: Stab

The youth in Hawaii is bursting with talent as the Maui boys are gaining more and more respect and changing the game forever.