billabong-pro-tahiti-mbourez
Sometimes life can be unfair, even cruel. Brilliant finalist in Bali late June, Michel Bourez has not seen beyond the second round at Teahupoo, his home. Cruel indeed, since the Tahitian is perfectly armed and trained to shine on his favorite contest. Alas, defeated by injury replacement Yadin Nicol (AUS) in the first round, the "Spartan" was then in the way of another Australian–former elite surfer and wildcard Nathan Hedge. A long and late tube beautifully mastered by the bald Aussie, another disappointment for Bourez. He is now out of the WCT top 10 (ranked 12th, down four places).
Surfagram co-founder Nykola Duma.
Journalist Vincent Martin.
Not included in the Top 34 analysis: Owen Wright (AUS), Tiago Pires (PRT), Dusty Payne (HAW) and Glenn Hall (IRL) who was wounded and missing in Teahupoo, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) who was unable to finance his trip to Tahiti lacking sponsors. Their replacements were Yadin Nicol (AUS), Pat Gudauskas (USA), Jocelyn Poulou (PYF), Nathan Hedge (AUS) and Ian Walsh (HAW) and the two wildcards from the trials: Alain Riou (PYF) and Anthony Walsh (AUS).
Editor’s Note: This article is a collaborative work between Vincent Martin and the Surfagram team (Nykola Duma & Pierre-Arnaud Marcelot). Vincent is a journalist and runs the popular French surf website Planète Surf. Nykola is a graphic designer and art director and Pierre-Arnaud is a software engineer. Together, they created Surfagram–a fun and visual way to look at ASP World Tour results and statistics on contests and surfers.