Lay Day Called at San Miguel Pro Zarautz presented by Euskaltel
ZARAUTZ, Basque Country (Tuesday, August 31, 2010) – The San Miguel Pro Zarautz presented by Euskaltel called a lay day for Day One of the official waiting period due to small inconsistent conditions. Event officials were left with no other option, after making another call at 3pm, than to call-off the start of Round One of this Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) sanctioned event.
Small 1-2ft (0.50m) peaks were on offer early this morning however with the lowering tide and light winds the northerly wind swell died leaving incontestable conditions. The forecast for tomorrow is for similar conditions and then for the remainder of the week the fore is predicting a solid ground swell with a high wave period which will improve over the weekend.
Event officials are confident of getting the surfers in the water during the best moments of the swell and tide over the coming days. Contest director Aitor Aguirremota has many years of experience and local knowledge of the area and is confident that for the second half of the week we are going to have some excellent surf for the San Miguel Pro Zarautz presented by Euskaltel.
“Looking at the forecast which shows swell over the weekend I think it would be a bad decision to put the guys out in such small waves. So I think it is better to wait until Thursday and have a long day with possibly split banks but at least have all the guys in the best possible waves.”
“This morning we could have started because there were some waves but it was obvious that we would have only been able to run five maybe six heats at the most. So we would have eliminated people in some really poor conditions and then have to call-off the rest of the day. Therefore it was better not to start.”
ASP Regional Head Judge Iain Buchanan, arrived early to check conditions and speak with surfers in the first heats of Round One and assess the conditions along with Aguirremota. Knowing all too well what the surfers are going through Buchanan, former ASP World Tour athlete, agrees that it is vital to get all surfers in the water with the best possible waves.
“The waves were small, in the 2ft range, a wind swell really close together and quite weak. We have a good forecast for Thursday through to Sunday so we should be able to get into the event by then in some decent waves especially Sunday which is looking really strong.”
“We don’t have to make the guys surf in substandard conditions at the beginning of the week,” continued Buchanan. “It is good that some can have a short rest after the previous event so basically it comes down to thinking of the surfers first.”
Christophe Allary (REU) 25, is up first in heat nº 1 when competition begins. Always a tough situation to be in, the added pressure of waiting for calls and having to be on standby can be very taxing on the competitors. Allary comments on this morning’s decision not to start.
“This morning it was close to surfable but now with the wind and the low tide I don’t think it is getting any better. I think it was the correct decision not to run today and it should be better during the week so maybe we should wait a little bit.”
Trying to remain in a positive frame of mind and centred on the job at hand, Allary maintains his composure and talks about his routine in these types of situations.
“It is difficult being in the first heat,” explained Allary. “I live about 45 minutes away so I have to be here for the call and if it is small and they don’t run I have to hang around and then check in again. I try to keep concentrated on my heat and check the spot and surf a bit while I am waiting for the calls.”
A call will be made tomorrow Day 2 of the official waiting period at 10am with all of Round 1 on standby.
Surfers competing at the San Miguel Pro Zarautz presented by Euskaltel are looking for valuable ASP World Ranking Points and for the European contingent they are at stop nº 8 of 12 on the ASP European Men’s Series which also has points up for grabs.
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Thema: [ASP News] Lay Day Called at San Miguel Pro Zarautz presented by Euskaltel
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