Tuach making waves in Japan

Chelsea Tuach continues to make waves in international waters with two heat wins in her opening rounds of competition at the World Surf League (WSL) Qualification Series (QS) 3000 event currently being held at the classic beach break of Okuragahama Beach in Hyuga, Japan.

Tuach dominated her Round of 64 heat against two Japanese contenders, Emily Nishimoto and Rina Matsunaga dropping the second highest wave score of the day, an 8.43, which she backed up with a 5.83 for a heat total of 14.26 to Nishimoto’s 10.14 and Matsunaga’s 8.50. 

Her Round 2 heat was a very competitive affair as she faced former World Tour competitor Pauline Ado from France, standout Australian surfer Phillipa Anderson and top Portuguese surfer Carol Henrique in the tricky, stormy conditions on offer. Tuach started with a small score of 3:00 points before she found her rhythm in the back half of the heat to drop a 6.50 and a 6.00 to take the win from Anderson, who was second with a heat total of 12.00, Ado who scored 9.70 and Carol Henrique who only managed a 5.30.

Tuach has been impressing the judges with her powerful, front side attack and now finds herself in the round of 16 where she will face off against Tia Blanco from Puerto Rico, Julie Nishimoto from Japan and Zahli Kelly from Australia.

“The conditions have been really tricky so I am very happy to have made it through to the Round of 16 against all of these talented surfers.  It is important to find the waves with the best scoring potential to make it through heats at this level and I am grateful that I have been able to do that so far.  I feel that my surfing is getting more explosive since I have been working with my Australian coach, Adam Robinson, and my boards are feeling really good under my feet. So I am hoping that I can continue making it through the rounds and gain some good points towards my international ranking,” Chelsea noted in her post heat interview.