Surfing: Hareb makes near-perfect start to Beachley Classic

SYDNEY - New Zealand's Paige Hareb latched on to one of the highest scoring waves on offer to win her heat in the Beachley Classic women's surfing competition on Sydney's northern beaches yesterday.

She made a subdued start to her joust with Australians Sally Fitzgibbon and Claire Bevilacqua before finding the perfect right-hand break at Curl Curl to impress the judges and vault from a distant third to comfortable winner.

By completing five turns on her fifth wave Hareb achieved 9.0 from a possible 10 points, the highest score until Hawaiian veteran Melanie Bartel's impressive 9.33 opener to cruise to victory in the final heat.

Hareb closed with a 5.17 to progress directly to the third round with a two-wave tally of 14.17. Fitzgibbon also advanced with a 11.36 after a close fight with Bevilacqua, 11.34, who faced a second-round elimination match-up.

The Beachley Classic, named in recognition of Australia's seven-time world champion Layne Beachley, had to be moved from its Dee Why venue because of unsatisfactory conditions.

At Curl Curl the 17 elite surfers and Australian wildcard Laura Enever had to settle for a 60cm swell, hardly ideal but sufficient for Hareb to atone for her surprise quarter-final defeat to compatriot Sarah Mason on the tour's previous stop in Taranaki last week.

Three-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore, another to be upstaged by Mason last week, was also among the heat winners alongside Hawaii's Carissa Moore, the winner at Taranaki, Brazilian Silvana Lima and South African Roseanne Hodge.

The Beachley Classic, the fourth event on the nine-stop ASP world tour, is scheduled to run until Monday.

- NZPA