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SIARGAO, Philippines – It was a day full of impressive surfing performances by Asia’s best surfers in Cloud 9. On Sept 25, the ASC Men’s Open Division determined the semifinalists at the 19th Annual Siargao International Surfing Cup.
READ: Locals post highest scores in Siargao Int’l Surfing Cup day 1
Day 2 started at just after 6:30am with Heat 3 of Round 3 and ended at just before 2:00pm with Quarterfinal 4 having been completed, setting up the semifinal contestants. When competition resumes on Sept 26, it will be Siargao’s Osot Alcala [PH] up against Bali’s Mega Semadhi [INA] in Semifinal One, and Nusa Lembongan’s Putra Hermawan [INA] against West Java’s Dede Suryana [INA] in Semifinal Two.
Dede Suryana topped the list of exciting performances in Heat 8 of Round 4, where he got the first perfect score of the event on his first wave — 10 points out of a possible 10. Suryana took off behind the peak and backdoored a big set wave, disappearing so deep that nobody expected it when he came shooting out the end in a cloud of spray.
He went on to throw away wave scores of 8.15, 7.5, 8.5 and 4.0 before ending the heat with another massive 9.15 point barrel ride. He ended with combined heat score of 19.15 points out of a possible 20, a nearly perfect heat.
When asked how he got his perfect score and so many good waves during that heat, Suryana replied, “This is an insane wave, such a great barrel and I felt like it was a bit like this one wave up in West Java, but this one is more makeable. I knew I just needed to pull in on the biggest waves and get barreled, as that’s what gets the most points. There were so many good waves in that heat, it was amazing!”
Regarding his knack for wave selection, Suryana explained, “I just looked at the shape of the waves and got the good ones, pulling in, pumping, taking the high line and focused on making it through every one. I hope tomorrow is just as good, as I want to get more barrels!”
The sole Filipino surfer making it through to the Semifinals is local Osot Alcala, whom contest director Gerry Degan is willing to go on record as saying is the best barrel rider on the island, always getting the longest and deepest barrels in every surf session.
Alcala certainly proved that, posting the day’s only other 10 point wave while eliminating ASC number 2 ranked Garut Widiarta from Bali [INA] in Quarterfinal 1.
Alcala began the heat with a barrel that got him 6.65 points, then took off on a thick lipped beauty that he stayed in an impossibly long time before be ejected into the channel for a perfect 10 points. He went on to finish with another nice barrel that got him 8.5 points for the second highest combined heat score of the day of 18.5 points.
In his post heat interview with contest director Gerry Degan, Alcala was asked what he was thinking after hearing he scored a perfect 10, and he replied with a big smile, “I wasn’t thinking anything. I just got lucky to get that wave. But right now I’m thinking I’m really happy!”
At the end of day 2, Degan was asked to compare the waves and action against past events at Cloud Nine. He replied, “I really rate today as good as any we’ve had here, the waves were solid 4- to 6-feet, guys getting 10’s…It’s not often where guys get 10’s two heats in a row, so how can you get any better surfing conditions than that?
“I’ve been here for almost every event and it’s as least as good as any of the best ones. I’m super, super happy.”
When asked about the performance of the local guys against the ASC surfers, Degan replied, “Apart from Osot who made the semifinals, I think they were a somewhat overawed, especially the younger guys. My prediction was that we’d have two Filipinos and two Indonesian guys in the semifinals, but at least we have one Filipino still in it.
“Look, the Indonesian guys are a lot more contest savvy and I think the locals learned a lot, and we still have one guy left so we have every chance to see a Filipino winner tomorrow.”
There were not as many broken boards on day 2 as there were on day 1, but Bali’s Marlon Gerber had the misfortune of first breaking a board in Heat 6 of Round 3, but still winning the heat, then pulling out a fin plug on his backup board in Heat 4, which he also won.
He was finally stopped in Quarterfinal 2 by Mega Semahdi, who in the final minutes, found the 3.7 points he needed to add to his 9.4 point barrel and elimate Gerber, winning by .15 of a point. – Rappler.com
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