In clean 5-to-7 foot faces, the Quik Pro France ran through the back half of Round 3 and the first four heats of Round 4. At overhead Hossegor, the Brazilian contingent dominated, with Medina leading the charge. In the first real upset of the day, Jadson Andre took out Joel Parkinson in the final heat of Round 3. Andre, sitting at 29 in the rankings, opened up with a number of solid midrange scores that proved too much for Parko to handle. At number 3 in the rankings, Parko used his signature wraps to try and keep up, but it was Andre’s time to shine. With an incredible array of airs, hacks, floaters, and carves, Andre worked his way out of Round 3 for the first time this year.
In the third heat of Round 4, Kelly Slater faced off against Miguel Pupo and Filipe Toledo. Toledo took off early, but failed to score high enough to make a dent. Slater quickly reacted, pulling into a wave that closed down on him, and failed to net him a score that he needed. Then Pupo took off and earned him a six-pointer that put him in second. Toledo held a 9.17 at the midway point.
With less than ten minutes on the clock, Kelly Slater still trailed. As the clock ran down, Slater was clearly frustrated. “It was a tough heat,” Pupo said. “Kelly couldn’t get anything — that’s how hard the waves are right now. It’s just a game. We were trying to find waves.”
Heat two featured world number one, Gabriel Medina set the pace early against Josh Kerr and John John Florence. As the tide dropped and the waves grew, Medina scored a 9.00 on his first wave with massive backhand turns. Kerr and Florence struggled to catch up, but Medina proved his rank and took the heat win. “I feel good, I just want to surf,” Medina said. “As I always say, it’s heat by heat. Even if I lose, I just want to surf good.”
