Waves hard to find: Saffi Vette had trouble trying to find waves in difficult conditions that could give her the score she needed during her qualifying round. Picture by NZ Surfing Magazine
Waves hard to find: Saffi Vette had trouble trying to find waves in difficult conditions that could give her the score she needed during her qualifying round. Picture by NZ Surfing Magazine
Saffi Vette has been eliminated from the second stop of the World Surf League Australian qualifying series in the round of 32.
At Boomerang Beach, New South Wales, north of Sydney, Vette struggled to find scoring waves in tricky overhead conditions as her competitors found the diamonds in the rough.
She finished the heat with wave scores of 3.0 and 1.0 to finish well behind the pack in a low-scoring heat where she needed one good wave to advance.
With a 9.75 total by Sage Goldsbury taking the top spot, Vette was in the hunt until the buzzer, but she couldn’t find the right wave in the stormy conditions.
After winning her first heat of the event in convincing style with a 12.35 total, Vette looked poised to do well in a large field of mainly Australian opponents.
Having struggled in difficult conditions in the opening round of the qualifying series, where she was knocked out in the round of 16, Vette has five more events to turn the tide and earn herself a spot in the next tier up — the Challenger Series.
If she were to qualify for the Challenger Series, the second half of her year would feature travel to some of the most famous surf breaks in the world, including Piha, for a series of eight events.
A top-five finish in the series would then give Vette qualification on to the WSL Championship Tour as one of the 18 best female competitive surfers globally.
