TEAHUPO’O, Taiarapu/French Polynesia (Sunday, August 21, 2011) – Despite clean three-to-four foot (1 – 1.5 metre) waves coming through at Teahupo’o this morning, the world’s best surfers opted to call a lay day today for the Billabong Pro Tahiti presented by Air Tahiti Nui in favor of waiting for improved conditions forecast for the coming days.

The fifth stop on the 2011 ASP World Title season, the Billabong Pro Tahiti saw clean, consistent conditions on offer for yesterday’s Round 1 and will potentially recommence as early as tomorrow.

“The ironic thing is that we would have been very fortunate to have a day like this the past few years but with the abundance of swell forecast for the week, today is looking like one of the slower days so we’ve called a lay day,” Pritamo Ahrendt, ASP International Head Judge, said. “We’ll be back tomorrow morning to assess conditions for a possible Round 2 start.”

Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 6:30am to assess conditions for a possible 7:30am start.

When competition resumes, up first will be Jeremy Flores (FRA), 23, and Heiarii Williams (PYF), 23, in the opening heat of Round 2.

Surfline, official forecasters for the Billabong Pro Tahiti, are calling plenty of swell lined up for this coming week+. Medium SSW swell through the weekend will be followed by another medium size S swell for early next week, along with favorable conditions. We remain on track for a major swell for the 25th-26th, with potential for more very strong swell by the 28th.

BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 1: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Heiarii Williams (PYF)
Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Ricardo dos Santos (BRA)
Heat 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Gabe Kling (USA)
Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 5: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 6: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Josh Kerr (AUS)
Heat 7: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 8: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Raoni Monteiro (BRA)
Heat 9: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 10: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 11: Alejo Muniz (BRA) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 12: Heitor Alves (BRA) vs. Chris Davidson (AUS)

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