The legendary Cloudbreak spot on Fiji was a bit of a long time coming. After the brilliant start three days ago, it took a while for competitive waves and wind to come together again. Today also looked like a waiting game at first, the wind didn't start until around two o'clock local time, but then quickly picked up to around 20 knots. The waves were about head-high, with some very good sets - but still a far cry from the picture-book conditions of the first round and especially the days before the contest. Some clouds and passing showers made for fascinating light effects.
Head judge Angela Cochran immediately started the men's quarter-final heats when the wind kicked in. Each of the four riders had 30 minutes to choose the best waves, with the two best wave rides scoring points. The first heat was won by Ricardo Campello, who had travelled to Fiji a few days earlier just to get himself in. He also scored the best score of the day with 11.7 points, even though his opponent Antoine Albert had the highest individual score for a wave. Both progressed, while Liam Dunkerbeck and - somewhat surprisingly - style master Bernd Roediger were eliminated.
Cloarec, Martin, Campello and Swift win their heats in Fiji
The second heat was won by Baptiste Cloarec, who has amazed the whole windsurfing world with his rides over the last few days. He was followed by Antony Ruenes, a starter who is otherwise better known as a freestyler. Flo Jung unfortunately only finished in fourth place behind Morgan Noireaux, so both are out. The riders rode up to eight waves for the classification, but the often rather low scores show that the conditions were not easy.
Antoine Martin won his heat ahead of Takuma Sugi - both had also delivered spectacular images in the past few days. Leon Jamaer was eliminated in third place, even though he was able to significantly improve his score with his last wave and relegated Jake Schettewi to fourth place. The fourth and final heat of the day finally saw Robby Swift and Marc Paré through to the next round, while Federico Morisio and Taka Ishii were eliminated.
The women's semi-finals will take place tomorrow - today after two o'clock European time - before the men's semi-finals begin.
