Barbados’ top female surfers Chelsea Tuach and Chelsea Roett both had an impressive run at the recently concluded Air Force Super Girl Jacksonville Surf Pro. They both battled through four Rounds of competition against 80 of North America’s best female surfers to end equal fifth overall.
Surfing in waves in the four-foot range, Tuach continued the good form she has shown this year, impressing the judges with her speed, power and flow for her sixth (sixth) top five finish.
In her first Round, Tuach advanced alongside Eva Woodland from Costa Rica with a heat total of 12.07, eliminating Alana Lopez from the US and Irie Fitzgerald from Japan who scored a 9.60 and a 6.43 respectively. In her first Round Chelsea Roett’s heat total of 9.50 was good enough to advance alongside Coral Schuster from the US and eliminate standout Hawaiian surfer, Brianna Cope who scored a total of 8.10 and Ava Lavander from the USA who only managed to earn a 1.93 heat total.
The Round of 32 was held late in the day in difficult low tide conditions that saw all the girls struggling to find an open face. Nevertheless, the Bajan girls fought hard and made it to the Round of 16 with Tuach advancing along with Hawaii’s number 1 surfer, Moana Jones Wong and Roett advancing with current North American ratings leader, Sawyer Linblad.
Tuach brought her best surfing on Finals Day, defeating ISA Gold medallist, Kirra Pinkerton, in a hard-fought battle in the Round of 16 with both girls dropping some of the biggest scores of the event. Tuach scored a 7.83 and a 7.10 on her two best waves for a heat total of 14.93 to Pinkerton’s 13.56. Tuach then again faced Moana Jones Wong in the quarter finals where she secured an excellent score of an eight for a huge, backside, off-the-lip maneuver that saw her take the lead. However, Jones found a nice left that scored a 7.27, giving her the win in the dying moments of the heat.
“This has been another great event for me. The conditions were definitely tricky, but my boards felt good and I dropped some big scores which is always a confidence booster. The goal here was to secure at least another quarter final finish to keep my ranking in the top 7 in the region and secure my spot on the Challenger Series next year. I’m really happy that I was able to do that. I’m now heading to Colombia to compete in the inaugural CAC Beach Games where I hope to do my country proud,” Tuach said after the event.
Meanwhile, Roett defeated Lillie Kulber from the US in her Round of 16 with a heat total of 8.50 to Kulber’s 6.70. She faced an in-form Bella Kenworthy from the US in her first quarter-final this season scoring an 8.63 to Kenworthy’s 13.50 and ending a commendable 5th overall. This result saw Roett jump to number 12 on the North American regional rankings.
Roett gave credit to her CAC Games Preparation sessions with Team Barbados for her good result in Florida and is also looking forward to doing Barbados proud in Santa Marta, Colombia. (MT)
