FOURTH EDITION OF MARTINIQUE SURF PRO LAUNCHES IN FUN CONDITIONS 
- MEAH COLLINS RACKS UP DAY'S HIGHEST TOTAL
- MEN'S RD1 COMPLETED, WOMEN'S RD1 H7-8 REMAINING
- MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE AT WORLDSURFLEAGUE.COM

Caption: Meah Collins (USA), flowing through the sections to get into Round 2 of the Martinique Surf Pro
Credit: © WSL / Poullenot

Basse-Pointe, Martinique / France (Saturday, March 17, 2018) - The Martinique Surf Pro, Stop No. 3 on the World Surf League (WSL) European Qualifying Series, launched today in bumpy two-to-three foot surf at the iconic righthand point break of Basse-Pointe.

Surfers took on the remaining bits of a previous swell to open their campaign in Martinique. In the men’s Round One, Tristan Guilbaud (FRA) put on a solid performance to collect one of the day’s highest totals for his forehand powerful attack of the Basse-Pointe walls.

“I’m stoked to be back in Martinique,” Guilbaud said. “The previous heats were pretty stacked with waves so I expected it to get quieter for ours, but it was fun we did get a few waves each. Luis and I battled for first but there wasn’t any hassling so it was a really good heat to start things off in this event.”

Young Brazilian Lucas Vicente tore apart the sets on his backhand and won the hearts of the fans and judges with good vertical turns in the lip for the day’s highest single-wave score of 7.83. 

“I had been checking out the waves for a while before my heat and I realized the third wave of the set was the best,” Vicente analyzed. “So I sat patiently and waited to select the right one. That wave was a little bit hollower with two or three bowling sections to get vertical. I love surfing backhand so I was stoked to be here on this fun right. After a month freezing in California that’s a nice change of scenery.”

The current World No. 8 on the QS Matthew McGillivray (ZAF), and a former semifinalist in Martinique Luke Hynd (AUS) were two other qualifiers with decent scores in the opening round of the men’s event. 

The women made history today, paddling out for their first-ever round of professional surfing competition in Martinique. Conditions remained challenging with only medium-sized surf on offer and a higher tide but competitors showed the talent level they’re at with prime performances all afternoon.

Meah Collins (USA) was the highlight of the round, surfing faster and stronger than her opponents to post an impressive 14.30 heat total, the highest of the day (men and women combined). The Californian locked in multiple vertical turns and powerful carves to rack up her highest two scores.

“I felt lucky to have these waves and I’m really happy with that heat win,” Collins stated. “I have really good boards and I know that speed is a big factor so that’s something I try to work on when I’m at home. My local break is not a point break but I do have access to waves similar to this around so I feel comfortable here. I might not have come to just Barbados, but with two events back-to-back in the same zone I didn’t even think twice, this is a great opportunity to rack up points and confidence before the next big events.”

Camilla Kemp (PRT) and Samantha Sibley (USA) took out the following two heats and Sophie McCulloch (AUS) put on the second biggest total of the women’s event so far with a similar display of forehand carves on the long Basse-Pointe walls.

Event officials will reconvene at 7:30 a.m Sunday for a probable 8 a.m start with the remaining heats of the women’s opening round before deciding of the schedule for the rest of the day.

MagicSeaWeed, official forecaster of the World Surf League (WSL) European Qualifying Series (QS) give us a first overview of the conditions on hand for the event:

A mix of northerly swells and trade windswell is on tap over the weekend and through early next week. Northerly swells will ease next week as trade windswell takes over. Trade windswell will be the dominant source of surf Wednesday into next weekend

The event will be webcast LIVE on worldsurfleague.com.

For all photos, videos, news releases about the Martinique Surf Pro, visit worldsurfleague.com and the WSL app.

The Martinique Surf Pro is supported by Collectivité territoriale de Martinique, Comité Martiniquais du tourisme, CAP Nord Martinique, CCI Martinique, ville de Basse-Pointe, ADEME, Fédération Française de Surf,  Jeep, Jumbo Car, Air France, Brasserie Lorraine, Socacom, Orange, Frantzy Video, HSE, Pelage Brumisation,  Odissey Sport Santé, Assistance 97, Aqua moov, Martinique Première, RCI -NRJ , Surf Session, France Antilles, Zay Radio and MagicSeaWeed.com as official forecaster.

UPCOMING MARTINIQUE SURF PRO MEN’S ROUND 2 MATCHUPS:
Heat 1: Raoni Monteiro (BRA), Santiago Muniz (ARG), Taichi Wakita (JPN), Ryland Rubens (USA) 
Heat 2: Tomas Tudela (PER), Robson Santos (BRA), Matthew McGillivray (ZAF), Tom Cloarec (FRA) 
Heat 3: Shane Campbell (AUS), Kaito Ohashi (JPN), Juninho Urcia (PER), Takuto Ohta (JPN)
Heat 4: Nelson Cloarec (FRA), Nomme Mignot (FRA), Cole Houshmand (USA), Ugo Robin (FRA) 
Heat 5: Reo Inaba (JPN), Timothee Bisso (GLP), Daiki Tanaka (JPN), Luis Diaz (CNY) 
Heat 6: Reef Heazlewood (AUS), Vicente Romero (ESP), Tristan Guilbaud (FRA), Dane MacKie (BRB) 
Heat 7: Imaikalani Devault (HAW), Gatien Delahaye (FRA), Gearoid McDaid (IRL), Dimitri Ouvre (FRA) 
Heat 8: Mihimana Braye (PYF), Alvaro Malpartida (PER), Luke Hynd (AUS), Paul Cesar Distinguin (FRA) 
Heat 9: Tanner Hendrickson (HAW), Andy Criere (ESP), Lucas Vicente (BRA), Leo Paul Etienne (FRA) 
Heat 10: Marco Fernandez (BRA), Diego Mignot (FRA), Tomas Fernandes (PRT), Miguel Blanco (PRT) 
Heat 11: Jackson Baker (AUS), Leandro Usuna (ARG), Joaquin Del Castillo (PER), Pedro Neves (BRA) 
Heat 12: Joshua Burke (BRB), Marcos Correa (BRA), Ben Coffey (USA), Enzo Cavallini (FRA) 
Heat 13: Samuel Pupo (BRA), Tomas King (CRI), Slade Prestwich (ZAF), Stevie Pittman (USA) 
Heat 14: Beyrick De Vries (ZAF), Nicolas Chalonec (MTQ), Ruben Vitoria (EUK), Che Allan (BRB) 
Heat 15: Lucca Mesinas (PER), Liam O'Brien (AUS), Charly Quivront (FRA), Henrique Pyrrait (PRT) 
Heat 16: Michael Dunphy (USA), Thiago Guimaraes (BRA), Yuri Goncalves (BRA), Jacome Correia (PRT) 

REMAINING MARTINIQUE SURF PRO WOMEN’S ROUND 1 MATCHUPS:
Heat 7: Ella Williams (NZL), Brianna Cope (HAW), Lucia Martino (ESP), Marion Philippe (PYF) 
Heat 8: Maud Le Car (FRA), Leticia Canales Bilbao (EUK), Eliza Greene (AUS), Julie Nishimoto (JPN)

MARTINIQUE SURF PRO MEN’S ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taichi Wakita (JPN) 11.00, Tom Cloarec (FRA) 9.90, Joh Azuchi (JPN) 9.87, Dylan Christensen (USA) 4.96
Heat 2: Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) 11.33, Ryland Rubens (USA) 10.67, Vincent Duvignac (FRA) 8.03, Eduardo Motta (BRA) 5.70
Heat 3: Juninho Urcia (PER) 10.76, Ugo Robin (FRA) 9.10, Keijiro Nishi (JPN) 7.54, Tom Sibon (MTQ) 7.46
Heat 4: Cole Houshmand (USA) 12.23, Takuto Ohta (JPN) 9.87, Eithan Osborne (USA) 9.43, Luke Dillon (GBR) 7.70
Heat 5: Daiki Tanaka (JPN) 11.33, Dane MacKie (BRB) 9.13, Chauncey Robinson (USA) 8.90, Noah Beschen (HAW) 8.34
Heat 6: Tristan Guilbaud (FRA) 12.83, Luis Diaz (CNY) 10.46, Caina Souza (BRA) 6.03, Luis Perloiro (PRT) 5.10
Heat 7: Gearoid McDaid (IRL) 12.33, Paul Cesar Distinguin (FRA) 10.50, Joao Chianca (BRA) 9.57, Adam Auffay (MTQ) 5.00
Heat 8: Luke Hynd (AUS) 12.77, Dimitri Ouvre (FRA) 11.57, Arne Bergwinkl (DEU) 9.13, Vitor Ferreira (BRA) 4.53
Heat 9: Lucas Vicente (BRA) 12.63, Miguel Blanco (PRT) 10.44, Pedro Coelho (PRT) 10.23, Yage Araujo (BRA) 8.77
Heat 10: Tomas Fernandes (PRT) 10.84, Leo Paul Etienne (FRA) 10.27, Guilhermo Satt (CHL) 9.24, Jose Gundesen (ARG) 9.10
Heat 11: Joaquin Del Castillo (PER) 12.44, Enzo Cavallini (FRA) 10.80, Tommy Coleman (USA) 10.33, Alex Maniatis (GRC) 9.07
Heat 12: Ben Coffey (USA) 12.86, Pedro Neves (BRA) 10.36, Tomas Lopez Moreno (ARG) 9.63, Arashi Kato (JPN) 8.30
Heat 13: Slade Prestwich (ZAF) 12.74, Che Allan (BRB) 11.07, Bruce MacKie (BRB) 10.07, Jacob Burke (BRB) 9.03
Heat 14: Ruben Vitoria (EUK) 10.30, Stevie Pittman (USA) 9.30, Kaiki Yamanaka (JPN) 8.90, Dwight Pastrana (PRI) 7.84
Heat 15: Charly Quivront (FRA) 13.00, Jacome Correia (PRT) 12.80, Alonso Correa (PER) 11.80, Leo Calvo (CRI) 9.47
Heat 16: Yuri Goncalves (BRA) 11.37, Henrique Pyrrait (PRT) 10.90, Shane Sykes (ZAF) 10.77, Shaun Burns (USA) 8.46

MARTINIQUE SURF PRO WOMEN’S ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Emily Nishimoto (JPN) 11.60, Shelby Detmers (USA) 8.26, Nagisa Tashiro (JPN) 8.17, Kloee Openshaw (USA) 3.76
Heat 2: Meah Collins (USA) 14.30, Reika Noro (JPN) 11.97, Shino Matsuda (JPN) 11.30, Tessa Thyssen (FRA) 8.60
Heat 3: Camilla Kemp (PRT) 11.83, Autumn Hays (USA) 10.70, Kirra Pinkerton (USA) 9.07, Pacha Luque-Light (AUS) 8.77
Heat 4: Samantha Sibley (USA) 12.33, Rachel Presti (USA) 11.33, Bailey Nagy (HAW) 10.54, Chelsea Roett (BRB) 6.56
Heat 5: Sophie McCulloch (AUS) 13.33, Neis Lartigue (FRA) 11.27, Marissa Shaw (USA) 8.33, Brittany Penaroza (HAW) 7.94
Heat 6: Melanie Giunta (PER) 11.83, Daniela Rosas (PER) 9.67, Emily Gussoni (CRI) 9.26, Tanika Hoffman (ZAF) 8.44