Yadin Nicol going through the motions and scoring a perfect 10 on his Cheese Stick

PRAIA DA VILA, Imbituba, Santa Catarina / Brazil (Tuesday, May 31, 2011) – Sunny skies, clean 4-6 foot surf (1.5-2 meters) and offshore winds were the background for the start of the ASP PRIME SuperSurf Internacional in Imbituba, Santa Catarina, on Tuesday in Brazil. Australian Yadin Nicol was the highlight of the first day with long left-handers breaking along Praia da Vila, which was home to the Brazilian ASP World Tour event until 2010.

Nicol scored a perfect 10-point ride on a series of four off the tops on the best wave of the day. He later added a 8.20 on his second wave for the day’s highest heat wave total of 18.20 points out of a possible 20.

“I really liked my performance,” said Yadin Nicol. “I was able to get in sync with the waves and that high scoring wave was really fantastic! The judges don’t hand out 10’s every day, so I was lucky. The long, peeling lefts helped out too! Even though there’s a strong current, its great to surf.”

Top 32 ASP World Tour surfer Jadson Andre (BRA), who has fond memories of Praia da Vila, where he won the 2010 ASP World Tour event against 10-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater, also qualified easily in his heat against Adam Robertson (AUS), Odirlei Coutinho (BRA) and Heath Joske (AUS).

“This place is really special for me,” said Jadson Andre. “I’ll never forget that day. My first year on the ASP Tour and in my third event I was able to win the final against Kelly Slater. Today the conditions aren’t that easy. The current is really strong and we don’t have any help from the jet ski. I had to run up the beach like four times.”

Without support from the jet skis, the SuperSurf Internacional Prime almost seemed like a triathlon at times with the surfers running up the beach after catching the long left-handers to paddle back into the channel at the point.

“The conditions are really demanding today,” said Bernardo Miranda (BRA), who had the day’s second highest single wave total scoring a 9.10. “You catch a really long wave and end up way down the beach because of the current. Then you have to come back running and paddle back outside, so its a challenge physically.”

Julian Wilson (AUS) scored 8.93 points out of a possible 10 on his best wave of Heat 5 and qualified in first place alongside Hizonume Bettero (BRA), Dale Staples (ZAF) and Pablo Paulino (BRA).

“I came here last year just to watch the World Tour event but I never got a chance to surf,” said Julian Wilson. “I thought the waves were really good and long. Perfect with excellent conditions today. I needed a good score and I found that left which was basically my only good one of the heat, but its fine because I qualified into the next round.”

The major upset of the day occurred when the current number one ranked surfer, Adriano de Souza (BRA) lost in his opening heat, repeating his performance last week at the ASP Prime event in Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro. Other upsets came with Top 32 surfer Heitor Alves (BRA), Tanner Gudauskas (USA) and Willian Cardoso (BRA).

The SuperSurf Internacional Prime at Praia da Vila will continue tomorrow (Wednesday) with a call at 7:30am local time. Beginning with Heat 17 of Round 96, the surfers hitting the water will be Patrick Gudauskas (USA), Leonardo Neves (BRA) and Australians Stu Kennedy and Jack Freestone.

The SuperSurf Internacional Prime 2011 is presented by Peugeot and produced by Editora Abril. This ASP Prime event is also sponsored by the State of Santa Catarina and FUNDESPORTE and with the support of The City of Imbituba, FECASURF and the Surfer’s Association of Imbituba with exclusive coverage by ESPN Brasil.

To watch the ASP PRIME SuperSurf Internacional LIVE log on to http://supersurf.abril.com.br/aovivo.shtml