Melanie Bartels : photo courtesy Craig Rubadoux/Florida Today /Globe SBI Pro

ASP 4 Star WQS Womens event #1/2006
Sebastian Inlet, Florida, USA
5 - 12 January 2005

Heatdraw/Results (xls) Women      Live Scores
Florida Today Photo/Video gallery  (top right page)

Day 3: Melanie Bartels wins Gallaz Surf Jam

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 11 January, 2006 : - - Melanie Bartels devoured the competition Wednesday afternoon to win the $3,500 top prize in the inaugural $20,000 Gallaz Surf Jam claiming victory over  Rebecca Woods  2nd, Caroline Sarran 3rd, and Leilani Gryde 4th. 

The native of Makaha, ripped off waves of 6.67 and 7.50 with an assortment of smooth turns, cutbacks and even a tailside snap to grab such a big advantage in the four-woman heat that runner-up Rebecca Woods of Australia needed better than a 9.0 wave to catch her with nine minutes left.

"I'm just glad it's over," said Bartels, 23, who says she's been missing her family back home. The former World Qualifying Series champion, who struggled through an injury-plagued, last-place finish on the elite World Championship Tour last season, admitted she "was lucky" catching the key waves during her 14.17-10.60 victory against Woods.

Woods, who won the WQS last season to re-qualify for the WCT, said she's enjoyed the rivalry with Bartels, one of her friends on the circuit. "She's a great competitor who also encourages many of the other surfers," said Woods, who collected $2,200. "It's just hard to beat her when I got so far behind. I needed the perfect wave to come through."

European champion Caroline Sarran, who had beaten Bartels in their semifinal heat, finished third. Hawaii's Leilani Gryde placed fourth, although she pocketed an extra $500 for winning the Long Doggers Big Dog/Biggest Heat award with a two-wave total of 15.50 earlier in the event.

"Considering the (small) waves, the girls did a good job," said celebrity guest Frieda Zamba of Flagler Beach, who won the last of her four world championships in 1990. "It was very entertaining."

In the semifinals, Gryde helped eliminate Atlantic Beach's Karina Petroni on a board she had borrowed from her best friend. "It was really funny," Petroni said. "We were yelling, trying to kill each other out there. As soon as she heard I needed a 4.6 to catch her, she parked herself right next to me. She just looked at me and said, 'What do you want me to do? It's a heat.'

"She's a little witch in the water. I think I'll remember this for the rest of my life. She beat me on my own board."

Results of the Gallaz Surf Jam

Final

1, Bartels,Melanie HAW
2, Woods,Rebecca AUS   
3, Sarran,Caroline FRA 
4, Gryde,Leilani USA 

Semi final # 1

1, Woods,Rebecca AUS
2, Gryde,Leilani USA
3, Petroni,Karina USA 
4, Shields,Sheridan AUS 

Semi final # 2

1, Sarran,Caroline FRA 
2, Bartels,Melanie HAW
3, Hodge,Rosanne ZAF
4, Baldwin,Lindsey USA 

Heatdraw/Results (xls) 

Day 2: Globe Sebastian Inlet Pro & Gallaz Surf Jam Set To Resume Tuesday Morning

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 9 January, 2006 : - - Following four straight days of competition in mostly good surf and with the promise of a nice swell on the horizon, officials at the Globe Sebastian Inlet Pro Presented by Ron Jon and the Gallaz Surf Jam Presented by Ron Jon opted for a lay day today. 

The 4-star ASP WQS event is kicking off the 2006 season with an international field 32 women.  Despite often cold weather, the event has drawn thousands of spectators to the beach on each day of competition. Conditions for last Thursday’s opening round up until yesterday have ranged from waist-to-head high peaks to similarly-sized heaving wedges. 

The women’s Gallaz Surf Jam Presented by Ron Jon got underway Sunday with the running of the round of 32 and the quarter-finals.  Most American surfers were quickly weeded from the pack, but four standouts were Lindsay Baldwin, Leilani Gryde, Karina Petroni and Hawaii’s Melanie Bartels.  The best international performances came from Caroline Surran of France, South Aftica’s Rosanne Hodge and Australians Rebecca Woods and Sheridan Shields. All eight women will compete in the semi-finals on Wednesday, with the finals set for the same day. 

Caroline Sarran watches Rosanne Hodge : photo Criag Rubadoux/floridatoday

Day 1: Gallaz Surf Jam kicks-off at Sebastian Inlet

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 8 January, 2006 : - - The Gallaz Womens Pro got underway and completed two rounds through the quarterfinals. The outstanding Womens competitors of the day were Leilani Gryde and Melanie Bartels. The eight remaining Womens semifinalists have been released until Tuesday morning, while the Mens round of 96 will check in at 8 AM tomorrow.

Rosie Hodge, a green-eyed, 18-year-old blond from East London, South Africa, ruled the inlet's waves like an old pro Sunday afternoon, advancing through two heats with a fluid style of snaps and cutbacks to reach Tuesday morning's semifinals in the inaugural $20,000 Gallaz Surf Jam.

Others advancing were Florida's Karina Petroni and Lindsey Baldwin, Hawaii's Melanie Bartels and Leilani Gryde, Australia's Rebecca Woods and Sheridan Shields, and France's Caroline Sarran, the 2005 European champion.

"This is my first pro event, so I'm stoked to be here," said Hodge, who grew up surfing in the same shark- and reef-filled waters that once produced four-time world champion Wendy Botha. Last year, Hodge won the junior women's title as part of the ASP's Africa Pro Surf Tour.

Petroni, 17, showed why she's considered by many as the sport's future star by unleashing an array of powerful, long rides in her two heats. "It's a lot of luck, although I don't know if I really believe in that," said the Atlantic Beach resident, who won a silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Huntington Beach, Calif., last October. "I'm just so thankful there's a women's event right here in Florida."

It's always a little intimidating to see Karina Petroni in your heat. But it's a little more intimidating to see her surfboard. The underside is all black, with a white skull and crossbones in the center. "That's my Jolly Roger," laughed Petroni "That's what makes me surf better." The top side of her board is red with sponsor's logos and CANAL ZONE etched across one side. "That just says where I come from," said Petroni, who was born in Gatun, on the Atlantic side of Panama.

Leilani Gryde posted the day's top wave (8.50) and the best two-wave total (15.50) while riding a board she borrowed from Petroni. "I broke my boards two days before I got here," said the native of Kona, Hawaii, whose career has been influenced by former men's world-class pro Shane Dorian, who hails from the same island.

Gryde, 18, finished 16th on last year's women's World Qualifying Series, 10 spots away from reaching the World Championship Tour. Bartels, a fellow Hawaiian who spent the 2004 and 2005 seasons on the WCT, won both her heats Sunday in impressive fashion. "What I learned from those two years is how to lose gracefully and not make the same mistakes twice," she said.

The 23-year-old native of Makaha, on the west side of Oahu, has been an inspiration for many young surfers. "That's kind of cool to know," said Bartels, whose career has been influenced by Hawaiian legends Brian Pacheco and the late Rell Sunn.

The top-seeded Rebecca Woods, who won the women's WQS last year after placing 13th on the WCT, also won both of her heats. "To finally be the top seed is a confidence builder," said Woods, 21, a native of Copacabana, Australia. She called her first season on the WCT "a real challenge." "They were all just so focused," she said. "They treated it like a job."

Woods spent New Year's Eve partying in Australia, and then flew to New York to celebrate a second New Year's. "That was a good turning of 2006, that's for sure," she said.

Local surfers Kira Sheppard, Connie Arias, Ashley Francis and Christa Alves all were eliminated in their opening heats, but Melbourne Beach's Ashley Bobb survived until the second round. "I'm just excited to be in it," she said.

For information about the Gallaz Womens Pro/Globe Sebastian Inlet Pro visit www.globesipro.com.

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