Yesterday saw the final day of the IBA Box Pro run in some large, unpredictable swell. The morning started with a revised format due to time constraints. What was meant to be a non-elimination round, round 4 was do or die in big shift barrels and bowls at the Box.
The first heat saw some crazy moves and big barrels. Jared Houston launched what was arguably the biggest move of the day, a roll off an 8ft section in the middle of the reef. He landed it, but was strangely only awarded a 6.1 which meant he just missed out on a quarter final spot.
Jones Russell hit a very large invert in the same heat, which ended up being deemed the biggest move of round 4, which bagged him a sweet $1000 from Freedom Fins, while Mark McCarthy dominated the heat.
All of the round 4 heats were tightly contested, and heat 4 saw Emerald's Ryan Hardy up against our good friends Andrew Lester and Jacob Romero, along with Alex Uranga. Romero took out the heat, while second was secured by Hardy, who avoided a scare from Lester, who boosted a massive flip and landed, only to find out that it was just after the buzzer had sounded.
As the day progressed, it became harder to find good waves, with an increasing swell and strong onshore winds. Both Mitch Rawlins and Mark McCarthy proved to be best at finding good barrels and ramps, and faced off in the final. Rawlins dominated, putting on a show for the spectators, with boosts that would normally be reserved for free-surfing sessions. McCarthy got one good score, but just couldn't find a backup wave.
Rawlins took out his first World Tour event for several years, and you could see his elation written all over his face after the final.
We now look forward to the Arica Chilean Challenge, which is always a crazy event, due to start May 18th.
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