Praia da Joaquina, Florianopolis, Santa Catarina / Brazil (Thursday, 23, Oct, 2014) – In his maiden ASP victory, Michael Rodrigues (BRA) used his local knowledge at Praia da Joaquina, on the island of Florianopolis, Brazil to defeat Santiago Muniz (ARG) on the final day of the ASP 6-Star Oceano Santa Catarina Pro. With his win today, Rodrigues earned U$25,000 in prize money and 3,500 ranking points that vaults him to 42nd place on the ASP Qualification Series (QS).
After being carried up the beach to the podium, Michael Rodrigues stated, “I feel pretty emotional right now, I wasn’t expecting this victory. I sustained an injury a while back and when I started surfing again, I said to myself that I would train hard as if each day were my last. But I still can’t believe that I won!”
Throughout the contest, Rodrigues used a variety of aerial maneuvers to reach the last day of the event at the Oceano Santa Catarina Pro. “I’ve been working on some different airs and it’s given me more confidence to pull them out in competition,” said Rodrigues. “I’ve been surfing in every condition this week here at Joaquina and this result here has given me a lot more confidence. I’m not going to Hawaii this year, but next year I intend to surf in every major event on the QS to try and get on to the WCT.”
Santiago Muniz is the younger brother of current WCT surfer, Alejo Muniz (BRA). Their family grew up a short drive north of Florianopolis, in the small town of Bombinhas. With his result today, Muniz took another step closer to joining his brother on the championship tour.
“I’m very happy with this result,” maintained Santiago Muniz. “Getting a runner-up finish gives me a lot of points at the end of the season. There are still a few more important events left this year and I want to do my best to try and qualify for the WCT. I would have loved to have won this event, but Michael (Rodrigues) had two big airs in the Final and I should have used his strategy. Hopefully next time I’ll come out on top.”
After several lay days in the waiting period due to strong winds, a declining swell forced event organizers to push through another long day of competition. Surfers were faced with moderate offshore winds and waves in the 1-2 foot range (0.5 meter). Wave selection was crucial in determining the outcomes of each heat.
Despite the deteriorating conditions, the pointbreak at Praia da Joaquina on the island capital of Santa Catarina broadcast its special beauty worldwide through special features like the epic views from the drone camera throughout the event.
Several athletes had the opportunity to move up in the rankings after the elimination of the top seeds during the ASP 6-Star Oceano Santa Catarina Pro.
Brent Dorrington (AUS) moved up 28 positions to number 52 on the QS rankings after reaching the Semifinals.
“Yeah, moving up the rankings is quite a bonus,” stated Dorrington. “I wish I had made the Final, but I just couldn’t find a good righthander there. I’m pumped to go to all of the rest of the Primes for the remainder of the year and keep chipping away at it. Hopefully by the end of the year I’ll be in the top 10 and it’ll be a nasty bonus. I’ll be going to the 4-Star event next week in Itacare and I’m stoked to be in Brazil because it’s rare to have thee contests in a row in any country.”
In the other Semifinal, Muniz took down Tomas Hermes (BRA), who was able to reinforce his QS ranking as he jumped from 9th to 7th place overall.
“It was a very difficult heat because we had a lot less sets when compared to the heat before ours,” said Hermes. “Santiago (Muniz) is a very sharp surfer and I wasn’t able to demonstrate my rail game in these waves. I tried waiting for a larger set to come, but the high tide made things complicated. There are still a few events in South America before the Primes in Hawaii, so there’s still a lot of ground to cover before I can celebrate my qualification onto the WCT.”
It is worth mentioning that a handful of athletes really caught the attention of the judges, fellow surfers and the crowd at Praia da Joaquina for their overall performances. Torrey Meister (HAW), Noe Mar McGonagle (CRI), Jean da Silva (BRA), Tanner Hendrickson (HAW), Davey Cathels (AUS), Carlos Munoz (CRI), and Italo Ferreira (BRA) all showed an impressive display of modern surfing which included an array of massive hacks, aerial maneuvers and rail to rail boardriding.
Italo Ferreira climbed into the group of 10 surfers on the QS ranking that will be part of the new class of athletes that will participate on the 2015 World Championship Tour.
“I moved up quite a bit in the rankings with this good result, but nothing is settled yet,” noted Ferreira. “My goal is to do well at the Prime event in Maresias, which is worth double the points. But first, I’m flying to Portugal to participate in the ASP World Pro Junior Championship and I’m going to try my hardest there as well.”
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Text: Gabriel Gontijo – ASP South America
Joao Carvalho
ASP South America Media Officer
(55) (48) 9988-2986 – jcarvalho@aspworldtour.com
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FINAL RESULTS AT ASP 6-STAR OCEANO SANTA CATARINA PRO:
Winner: Michael Rodrigues (BRA) with 15.37 points (7.70+7.67) – US$ 25,000 and 3,500 points
Runner-Up: Santiago Muniz (ARG) with 10.20 points (5.47+4.73) – US$ 12,500 and 2,640 points
SEMIFINALS – 3rd place with US$ 6,150 and 2,080 points:
Heat 1: Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 15.00 x 12.83 Brent Dorrington (AUS)
Heat 2: Santiago Muniz (ARG) 12.50 x 11.07 Tomas Hermes (BRA)
QUARTERFINALS – 5th place with US$ 3,000 and 1,560 points:
Heat 1: Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 12.84 x 11.20 Tanner Hendrickson (HAW)
Heat 2: Brent Dorrington (AUS) 11.96 x 11.17 Jean da Silva (BRA)
Heat 3: Tomas Hermes (BRA) 17.94 x 13.80 Italo Ferreira (BRA)
Heat 4: Santiago Muniz (ARG) 15.84 x 13.60 Torrey Meister (HAW)
ROUND OF 16 – 9th place with US$ 2,300 and 920 points:
Heat 1: Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 10.90 x 10.47 Wiggolly Dantas (BRA)
Heat 2: Tanner Hendrickson (HAW) 13.00 x 12.10 Deivid Silva (BRA)
Heat 3: Jean da Silva (BRA) 14.47 x 13.57 Noe Mar McGonagle (CRI)
Heat 4: Brent Dorrington (AUS) 12.26 x 10.53 Peterson Crisanto (BRA)
Heat 5: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 12.26 x 10.37 Kevin Sullivan (HAW)
Heat 6: Tomas Hermes (BRA) 12.53 x 3.63 Marco Fernandez (BRA)
Heat 7: Santiago Muniz (ARG) 13.86 x 5.26 Carlos Munoz (CRI)
Heat 8: Torrey Meister (HAW) 10.67 x 7.74 Ricardo Christie (NZL)
ROUND OF 24 – 3rd = 17th place with US$ 2,000 and 625 points:
Heat 1: 1-Wiggolly Dantas (BRA)=12.26, 2-Tanner Hendrickson (HAW)=9.33, 3-Davey Cathels (AUS)=8.37
Heat 2: 1-Deivid Silva (BRA)=13.77, 2-Michael Rodrigues (BRA)=11.76, 3-Gony Zubizarreta (ESP)=11.07
Heat 3: 1-Noe Mar McGonagle (CRI)=16.44, 2-Brent Dorrington (AUS)=11.27, 3-Maxime Huscenot (FRA)=10.87
Heat 4: 1-Peterson Crisanto (BRA)=11.94, 2-Jean da Silva (BRA)=11.93, 3-Caio Ibelli (BRA)=10.37
Heat 5: 1-Kevin Sullivan (HAW)=13.16, 2-Marco Fernandez (BRA)=12.04, 3-Luel Felipe (BRA)=9.97
Heat 6: 1-Tomas Hermes (BRA)=16.00, 2-Italo Ferreira (BRA)=15.84, 3-Joan Duru (FRA)=10.50
Heat 7: 1-Santiago Muniz (ARG)=12.34, 2-Ricardo Christie (NZL)=11.94, 3-Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR)=6.43
Heat 8: 1-Torrey Meister (HAW)=11.84, 2-Carlos Munoz (CRI)=11.17, 3-Cory Arrambide (USA)=9.20
