Qualifying Series contests aren’t all that exciting. The athletes are talented but condensed contest windows and massive competitor fields typically mean events are run in less-than-stellar conditions. I believe the technical term is “crap,” actually. As in “crap surf.” Sliding further down the list of fallout effects we see a lot of low scores. Ten-point rides don’t happen often, but two 10-point rides in a single heat are rare indeed.
On Thursday, as competitors were settling into the Pacifico Surf Open Cerritos, a QS 1,000 event in Baja California Sur, Mexico, Americans Kepa Mendia and Cannon Carr served up a show. The waves at Los Cerritos Beach were great — better than your typical QS event — with six excellent scores dished out in the Round of 64 by the time Carr and Mendia suited up for their four-man heat closing out the day. As the five-minute mark approached in the Heat 16 matchup, both surfers were already in position to advance to the Round of 32. Mendia was the first to strike, blasting an air into a closeout section and earning some ohhs and ahhs from the crowd. Immediately after that, Carr followed suit with an almost identical rotation into another closeout section.
Both surfers got 10s from four out of five judges. The judge who scored their waves slightly lower (9.5 and 9.7) gave Carr’s wave the edge, likely because of the swooping carve that opened up his ride. Either way, two 10s in one heat makes for a great show at any level.
“I’m baffled and that was just a really fun heat I got to share with my best friend and he dropped a 10, too,” said Mendia. “That was one of the sickest heats ever. I feel great and just happy to make it through that first round and hopefully keep going. This wave is epic. I saw it this morning after watching Dimitri Poulos who I’m staying with and everyone just kept saying as the tide changes it’s only going to get better.”
