Taiwan Open launches at Jinzun Harbor

Taiwan Open of Surfing 2012
Presented by Taitung County Government

Ultima Grade ASC Event
Jinzun Harbor, Taiwan
14 - 18 November 2012

Round 1 of the Longboard Division Held in Excellent Conditions

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 16 November, 2012 : - - It was an full and exciting day of surfing action today in excellent wave and weather conditions to open the 2012 Taiwan Open of Surfing taking place at Jinzun Harbor in Taitung County, Taiwan. The 18 Noserider Pro Invitational contestants from Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and the USA were first to hit the water this morning at just after 7:00 a.m.

Current World Longboarding Champion Taylor Jenson from the USA was in the first of the three six man heats and wasted no time in showing the fans exactly what it takes to be a world champion.  At the conclusion of the heats, he had posted the highest single wave score of 7.3 points (out of a possible 10 points) and the highest combined heat score of 13.3 (out of a possible 20 points) to advance into the semifinals.

“I had fun out there,” said Taylor, who hails from San Diego but is currently living in Australia.  “Taiwan is such a beautiful place and it’s great to be here.  I’m feeling pretty good about getting some scores in that first heat, because in this morning’s conditions it was a bit difficult for noseriding.  Be great if the conditions get better for the semifinals, so looking forward to that.” Jenson is also competing in the Longboard and Men's Open divisions.

Also advancing into the Noseriding semifinals are Australian’s Nic Jones and Rosie Locke, and Taiwanese surfers Tung-Ming Chen, Cheng Chung Hua, Cheng-Hsien Lin, Jen Hsuan Huang, Chong Hong Chiou, Wu Jia Jiz, and Paul Teng.

                                                    Jinzun Harbor © ASC/Tim Hain

Next up were the 32 Longboard Division competitors who were treated to solid 3-4 foot glassy waves and bright sunshine for their first round of 8 heats.  Australia’s Nic Jones (Sunshine Coast), despite having been out of action for the last two days due to stomach flu, showed no signs of it affecting his surfing, easily winning his first heat.

“The waves were pretty fun,” said Jones.  “I seemed to be in the right spot at the right time, so the heat went well for me.  I still feel pretty drained of energy after being sick, but hopefully it’s all behind me now.  I was here in Taiwan last month for on a surf trip, and I’m happy to be back here again.”

In the Men’s Open Division two rounds were run today, with a total of 32 competitors from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, and the USA battling it out in hopes getting closer to the big prize pot that will be handed out on Sunday afternoon.  Winning 5 of the 8 second round heats were surfers from Indonesia, with current 2012 Asian Surfing Champion Raditya Rondi from Bali leading them off. 

“I was a bit nervous out there at first,” said Rondi.  “I fell on my first two waves and then it took some time to get my confidence back.  But then I got a couple of scores that got me through, so I’m happy I get another chance to surf tomorrow.  Hopefully I can do a lot better in the man-on-man heats tomorrow.”

Also winning their heats were fellow Indonesians Dede Suryana, Rahtu Suargita, Marlon Gerber, and Tipi Jabrik.

                                                             Nic Jones © ASC/Tim Hain

At the conclusion of the day, Head Judge Keenan Roxburgh from Australia (who is sharing the head judging duties with Trevor Brady, both ASP certified judges) said, “We really liked what we saw out there today on the first day of comp.  Sometimes the waves limited the scoring potential of the lower ranked and less experienced surfers, but we had to keep our scale consistent across all levels and our panel did a great job at that today.  Tomorrow should see bigger scores as the better surfers start to push one another into more aggressive and difficult maneuvers.”

Tomorrow will have all divisions in action during another full day of surfing competition at Jinzun Harbor, with the semifinals of the Noserider Pro, the quarterfinals of the Longboard Open, round 3 of the Men’s Open, as well as the Women’s Open and the Junior divisions.  The swell is expected to increase and provide both the competitors and the spectators with more exciting surfing at Taiwan’s biggest ever surfing competition.

The Taiwan Open of Surfing will run from 16-18 November at Jinzun Harbor in Taitung County Taiwan, an Asian Surfing Championship sanctioned Ultima event with the NTD 600,000 (USD $20,000) in prize money up for grabs across the Men’s, Women’s, Longboard and Noserider Pro Invitational divisions, the biggest prize purse ever offered in a surfing event in Taiwan. 

Previous reports:
# 1 : Asian circuit booming, adds event in Taiwan
# 2 : Coming Soon
# 3 : Coming Soon
# 4 : Coming Soon

www.asiansurfingtour.com
www.2012taiwansurfing.com.tw
www.facebook.com/taiwanopenofsurfing

Source: ASC Media

Author: Tim Hain

Tags: Taiwan, Jinzun Harbor, Asian Surfing Championships

ASC: Surfersvillage