TEAHUPOO, Tahiti (Saturay, May 16, 2009) – The Billabong Pro Tahiti presented by Air Tahiti Nui, event No. 3 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, is into another lay day today, with only small, one-to-two foot (0.5 metre) surf on offer at Teahupoo.
While there are only four remaining days in the waiting period, the Billabong Pro Tahiti has completed Round 1 and the opening six heats of Round 2, requiring only two full days of competition to finish the event. With a bump in swell projected for late Monday or early Tuesday, event organizers are hoping to run in the best possible conditions.
“The surf is small this morning and we’re not expecting anything to come in so we’ve called competition off for the day,” Luke Egan, Billabong Pro Contest Director, said. “We’re monitoring some models projected to come through in the next few days so we’ll be back tomorrow morning to assess the conditions.”
The next call will be made at 6:30am tomorrow.
Surfline, official forecasters for the Billabong Pro Tahiti, are calling for a today’s SE to dissipate before a moderate SW moves in, keeping an eye on a pulse expected to arrive either late Monday or early Tuesday.
When competition resumes, up first will be Taylor Knox (USA), 27, up against Kai Otton (AUS), 29, in Heat 7 of Round 2.
Highlights from the Billabong Pro Tahiti presented by Air Tahiti Nui are available at www.billabongpro.com
For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com
REMAINING BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 7: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Heiarii Williams (PYF)
Heat 9: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Andy Irons (HAW)
Heat 10: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Dayyan Neve (AUS)
Heat 11: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Dustin Barca (HAW)
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 13: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Aritz Aranburu (EUK)
Heat 14: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Dean Morrison (AUS)
Heat 15: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Ben Dunn (AUS)
Heat 16: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Tim Boal (FRA)
