CANADIANS ADVANCE IN PORTUGAL

Team Canada saw lots of action at the ISA World Surfing Games on Tuesday with both the men’s and women’s shortboard surfers in the water.

West Coasters’ Noah Cohen and Reid Jackson both won their heats and advanced to the second round of the repechage. Nova Scotia’s Glen MacDuff had a bye into the second round as well, while fellow Nova Scotian Neal Durling had a strong heat but was edged out by an Irish surfer.

As for the women, both Kim Childs (Nova Scotia) and Leah Oke (BC) had strong first heats, and while the waves where in their favour, they did not advance.

Later in the day, the women had a second session. As the day progressed, the winds picked up and wave conditions became more wind blown than ground swell, according to SANS President John Fluke, who is in attendance. Oke subsequently finished in third and Childs came in fourth in what were solid performances.

Wednesday is expected to be a busy day for the Canadian team. MacDuff is scheduled to be in the water at 8:20 a.m., Cohen at 8:40 a.m. and Jackson at 12:00 p.m. Portugal time (four hours ahead of Nova Scotia). If the surfers place first of second they will be surfing later in the day.

MacDuff is also scheduled to be surfing in the longboard repechage at 3:00 p.m. and Nova Scotia’s Pat Bannister is slated to compete in the bodyboard event at 8:20 a.m.

Note: The start of Wednesday’s action was delayed temporarily to allow the tide to rise. All heats will be webcast live at www.wsg2008.com