The first round of the Quiksilver Pro France got underway in tricky peaks at Hossegor yesterday. The tide was effecting the three to four-foot waves heavily through many of the day’s heats, nevertheless there was some excellent surfing throughout Round 1.

Travis looked sharp in his opening heat.

Heat 1 featured plenty of experience with Taj Burrow (AUS), Fred Pattachia (HAW) and Travis Logie matching up. While Taj struggled to find a scoring wave during the opening minutes of the heat, Travis and Fred got off to a good start. The Hawaiian grabbed the early lead by getting the better of the opening exchange. Travis then snatched the lead from Fred on the ten minute mark with a series of high-speed turns to register an 8.17, while Taj was still waiting for his first meaningful score.

The Western Australian found what he was looking for about a minute later – a 7.03 – to get himself into the game. Still holding the lead having registered two good scores already, Travis concentrated on improving his situation and did so on each of his last two rides. With four minutes remaining, Taj picked up a long left, which he milked. It didn’t look like much, but in the context of the heat (and with judges taking more than four minutes to settle on a score) it was given an 8.13 after the buzzer and the heat win went to Taj. Funnily enough, the commentators had already congratulated Travis Logie on a job well done before going to an ad break. When they returned you could hear their astonishment as they announced that Taj had in fact won the heat with his generously scored left.

Julian Wilson was the man to beat on the opening day.

In one of the most exciting match-ups of the day, Julian Wilson (AUS) got the better of John John Florence (HAW) in a high performance duel. John John kicked off the battle with a 720 alley oop attempt that he came oh-so-close to landing. He then stuck a more standard air reverse on his next ride to take the early lead. Julian fought back strongly with an alley oop of his own, which was landed smooth as butter, then backed it up with a well surfed right to score the day’s highest heat total – 16.77 – securing a spot directly in Round 3.

In Heat 11, Jordy Smith was looking to keep up the momentum after his victory at Trestles. The waves weren’t helping with any kind of momentum though, as the tide quickly started filling in and the onshore wind began to tatter the lips. Up against Bede Durbidge (AUS) and Mitch Crews (AUS), Jordy had a battle on his hands as the peaks shifted up and down the beach.

In tricky conditions, Jordy advanced directly to Round 3.

The match-up started with the trio looking to score points on the rights, but Bede quickly realised that the scores were in fact a little further up the beach and did the run around to the next peak. It wasn’t long before he was joined by the others and a flurry of lefts were ridden. Jordy got the worst of the bunch, but had already built up a lead in the early part of the heat, which he managed to hang on to as the final hooter sounded. It wasn’t a massively convincing start, but it showed that he is up to the task of winning those tricky match-ups in less than ideal conditions. Jordy now jumps directly to Round 3 where he will be hoping for pumping waves.

Gabriel Medina out-scored Dane Reynolds in an entertaining match-up.

Standouts for the day included rankings leader, Gabriel Medina (BRA), his compatriot Adriano De Souza, Jeremy Flores (FRA), Joel Parkinson (AUS) and Michel Bourez (PYF), who all scored big to advance directly to Round 3.

Stay connected to aspworldtour.com for all the LIVE action, heat reviews and highlights from the Quiksilver Pro France.