Barbadian surfing star Chelsea Tuach is still hot in the water.
The teenager has racked up another historic achievement in her young career, becoming the first Barbadian to crack the Top 10 of an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star event.
Competing at the New Zealand Home Loans Surf Festival at Fitzroy Beach, Taranaki, on Friday, Tuach continued to turn heads as she progressed to the sixth round after a strong second-placed finish in the ASP 2-Star Chain Resources Junior Pro the day before, which featured 48 of the world’s best female junior surfers.
Tuach continued to surf with power and flair in the Port Taranaki Pro on Friday. She made it all the way to round six to be counted among the top 12 surfers of the event which started with 76 surfers.
In her fourth round heat, Tuach was second to Tatiana Weston-Webb who scored 13 points to her 10.75. The Australian pair of Phillipa Anderson and Cali McDonagh were third and fourth respectively.
In her round five heat, Tuach matched up against two top-17 world championship tour surfers in Laura Enever and Nikki Van Dijk, both from Australia, and Maud Le Car from France.
The Barbadian came out blazing to drop a 7 and a 6 for a heat total of 13 to take the win from Enever, who posted a heat total of 10.15, and Van Dijk, whose total was 9.90. Maud Le Car was fourth with 9.45.
“This was an amazing heat win for me. To come out on top in a heat like this, surfing against such incredibly talented surfers who are among the world’s elite surfers, is a dream come true,” Tuach said.
“I feel so blessed and would like to thank God and all of my supporters for helping to make this possible.”
Tuach then faced Justine Dupont from France and Leila Hurst from Hawaii, both top-ranked surfers, in her round six heat, ending third after a valiant battle in which she struggled to find waves with good scoring potential. Still, her equal ninth place is a historic achievement for Barbados and one of which she is proud.
“I am really happy that I was able to make it this far in a six-star QS event where the depth of talent is mind-blowing. This is my best result to date and I hope to just keep building on this result in the upcoming events,” she said.
The result in New Zealand has seen Tuach’s ranking on the ASP Women’s Qualification series jump from 28 in the world to 21 out of more than 120 top women’s professionals. (BA/PR)
