WSL Hurley Pro Trestles
With only four contests remaining for the year, we now turn our attention to the Hurley Pro held in Lower Trestles in Southern California. The Hurley Pro begins on September 6th and runs through to the 17th in the coastal town of San Clemente.
Over the next week the swell is looking to stay relatively the same with waves ranging around waist height for the start of competition. You certainly don't need much for Trestles to get going, but as we have seen in smaller surf competitors can find it difficult to find a decent scoring wave as they search up and down the beach.
It's hard to know what kind of performance we will see this time round. Will we see the likes of Filipe Toledo attack in the air or will the power of Wilko and Wright come out and take the conservative approach with numerous snaps and cutbacks?
Last Contest in Tahiti we saw Julian Wilson take out his first contest of the year ahead of Medina who was still searching for his first win at the famous Teahupoo. We haven't seen much consistency from a Wilson throughout the year, but after Tahiti he is now in the mix and could make some noise down the stretch. Once again the standings have change dramatically with Jordy Smith uncomfortably holding the lead ahead of Florence and Wilko. We haven't seen a top three win a contest since Wilko was victorious in Fiji, will Trestles give us some idea who will take the crown home in 2017?
It's hard not to mention his name but Kelly Slater has been a wrecking machine at Trestles over the years. He has won the event six times and had 13 quarter final appearances for over the years at Trestles. It would be great to see something special from Slater, but the way the year has gone for the former number one it's hard to see home taking down the younger generation. He is without a final appearance yet with his best performance of the year dating back to the first contest the Quiksilver Pro in Snapper Rocks where he lost his quarter final to Medina.
Jordy Smith won this event last year against Joel Parkinson in a nail biter. In the past five years Smith has been solid at Trestles having two wins and made the quarters each time. A back to back win here could certainly push him further ahead in the overall standing and throw some pressure on the rest of the field. He meets the rookie Ian Gouveia and American wildcard Evan Gieselman in round one and is second behind Florence to take out the event. As for Florence he has never come through with the goods at Trestles but we all feel like it's his turn and are all waiting to see the same action we saw at Margaret River.
Make sure you tune into all the action from Trestles as we expect some fireworks along with some upsets likely to happen.
TIP: Filipe Toledo to win - $6.50 at CrownBet
