Team News

Emslie poised on the brink of re-qualification

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 20 November, 2008 : - - Greg Emslie, South Africa's highest ranked surfer on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), is poised to re-qualify for the prestigious 2009 ASP World Championship Tour and is determined to finish off the year with a solid performance in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing currently underway in Hawaii. 

The Team Red Surfer from East London is currently ranked eighth on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) and is virtually assured of re-qualification. "Right now I am so keen to qualify, go home and get ready for next year," said Emslie from the North Shore of Oahu. "I need to qualify first and when I do I am going to put a lot of effort into focusing on one big full year in 2009."

Emslie is currently taking part in the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa, which runs from November 12-23, and will end his year at the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach (November 24-December 6). Having already accrued 1 1463 points on the WQS ratings, he will simply need to advance through one round in either event in order to improve his current ranking.

Emslie occupied one of the exclusive berths on the World Tour for a total of eight years between 1999-2002 and 2004-2007, before narrowly missing out on re-qualification at the end of 2007.

However, with 13 Hawaiian seasons behind him, the 32-year-old is in a prime position to hop back onto the Dream Tour for the ninth time and Emslie said he was thrilled that his year was reaching its climax at the renowned Hawaii surf break that he knows so well. "When you surf a powerful wave in Hawaii, like at big Sunset or Backdoor, you have so much fear for the place that when you complete a crazy ride you feel on top of the world," he explained.

As the top ranked South African surfer on the WQS, Emslie is being closely followed by Durban North's Davey Weare who looks set to join Emslie on the Dream Tour in 2009. Emslie said he really enjoyed traveling and competing with Weare.

"Dave and I travel well together, we have good support for each other and we always surf early before the contest and then plan our day from there, such as where the best waves are, what boards to ride, what the judges are looking for and so on."

The top fifteen surfers from the WQS will qualify for next year's Dream Tour and it is hard to believe Emslie won't be among that exclusive group come December 6, but he is not getting ahead of himself just yet. "My main objective is to re-qualify but I am going to just take it heat by
heat and try and enjoy it at the same time," Emslie said.

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Pierre Tostee

Team - Surfersvillage