The view overlooking Main Break at the beautiful Margaret River. Photo: WSL / Kirstin Scholtz
What: Men’s Samsung Galaxy Championship Tour stop #3.
When: April 8th to April 19th (12-day waiting period)
Where: Margaret River, Western Australia
Venues: Main Break—big open faced left and righthand reef break. The Box—gnarly water-draining righthand slab.
North Point—righthand point break, considered to be the region’s best break.
About the event’s title sponsor: Drug Aware is, in their own words, “A program that targets young people with factual, credible, and accurate messages about illicit drug use.”
Defending champion: Adriano DeSouza.
Current Jeep Leaderboard #1: Matt Wilkinson.
About the local: Long, consistent swell fetch from the Roaring Forties provides Western Australia with some of the continent’s biggest ridable surf.
Who’s out: Mick Fanning (PTO), Felipe Toledo (groin injury), Owen Wright (concussed), and Bede Durbidge (hip injury).
Who’s returning from injury: Alejo Muniz and Jack Freestone.
Who’s in (replacements/wildcards): Stuart Kennedy, Sebastian Zeitz, Dusty Payne, Adam Melling, Jack Robinson, and a yet to be determined local trials event winner.
Recent Tour quote: “What is going on?” Matt Wilkinson’s puzzled inquiry to Mick Fanning after being chaired up the stairs at Bells.
Event Intangibles: The possibility of running heats at vastly varied venues during the event. Which venue(s) will be utilized? Will the left or right at Main Break provide the bigger scoring potential? Swell direction and size are a major factor.
WSL event catchphrase: “Go West. Go Wild.”
Anticipated Round 1 heat: The third heat of Round 1 features Matt Wilkinson, Stuart Kennedy, and Adam Melling. Will Wilko continue his 2016 dominance? Can Kennedy bounce back from a disappointing Round 3 loss at Bells? Will Melling finally deliver a much awaited breakthrough performance?
Persons of interest: Matt Wilkinson—can Wilko make it three CT event wins in a row?
Josh Kerr—runner up in 2014 and seemingly the most skilled and experienced surfer in the field at The Box.
Jack Robinson—big home turf advantage at all three possible venues.
Taj Burrow—the added benefit of local knowledge and fan base.
Surfline’s brief event forecast overview: “A series of medium size SW/SSW swells look possible during the first week+ of the waiting period along with generally favorable morning wind. At this point the last few days of the waiting period look slower, although we’re low confidence on specifics this far out.”
Catch all the Live and On Demand action from the 2016 Drug Aware Margaret River Pro at the WSL website.
