Crowd Favourites Go Down at Burls

Andy Morris

Nick Wood go at Burleigh. Pic Shield

Nick Wood almost pulled off a legendary comeback today at the Breaka Burleigh Pro, bagging barrel of the day. Although there weren't as many shacks as previous days with a smaller swell running, good old Burleigh still dolled herself up for the gents. Nick hit the accelerator just at the right time scoring tunnel vision for half the length of the Burleigh Rock Break. Nick used to rip in the old days and it was nice to see he hadn’t lost any of his smooth style. It was also really great to see the crowd and everyone else who heard he was having a crack, get right behind him. Everyone loves an underdog and fairytale comebacks.


Occy floats past Nick Wood. Pic Shield

For those that don’t know, word around Burls is Nick won an event wildcard by entering a Breaka competition. When Surfing Queensland officials went to draw the winner, they plucked an entry with a Mr. Nick Wood written on it. The transcript went something like this. Surfing Queensland dude one, “Hey man this says Nick Wood. Could it really be?” Surfing Queensland dude two, “No way man”. Immediately they checked the birth date written on the form against Nick’s birth date and sure enough they matched. So dude one grabbed the phone and dialed his digits to be 100% sure. Dude two announced it to the world.


Dusty Payne refining his act for his world tour assault this year. Pic Shield

Occy’s path changed today. He was eliminated by Kai Otton and Glenn Hall, as was crowd favourite Brendan Margieson. When Margo took off on his first wave, the crowd made all sorts of racket. It was the most noise they made for a surfer all day. Margo looked in rhythm with the point and did some serious damage with his big frame. Andy Irons also bowed out early in his come back from semi-retirement. He appeared a bit slow generating speed on his opening wave and just couldn’t find that special one. He was hunting for a big score but it's fair to say he had a shocker.


Taj Burrow has a pad in Burleigh, does that make him a local favourite? Pic Shield


Dion Atkinson's full wrap around. Pic Shield

Expect big things tomorrow as CT guys clash, ‘QS rippers fight, all while the swell still lingers. It’s gonna be sick.

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