Tricky Lacanau Whittles Down Field

Day 4 Highlights

2:32

A total of 32 heats were completed at the Soöruz Lacanau Pro, making way for the top seeds when competition resumes.

Following two successive lay days, competition resumed in Lacanau in clean two-to-three foot surf to complete two rounds of competitions. The Soöruz Lacanau Pro's top seeds will now enter the show when the event recommences, bringing International surf stars into the mix.

Guy Sato (JPN) 18, collected one of the day's top scores, an excellent 8-point ride for a combination of four good manoeuvers on a fast little runner. The talented Japanese opened his Lacanau campaign the best of ways and will look to confirm in the following round.

"I knew exactly what I wanted to ride out there, the second wave of a set and thankfully I got a nice wave," Sato said. "That was my plan and it worked out, I'm super happy. This board is from a French shaper Clean Cut and I'm very happy with it."

Northern Peru's Lucca Mesinas Novaro, 19, secured the round's highest combined heat total in the very last heat of the day. The young Junior dominated his 20-minute bout to earn his ticket for the first prizemoney round.

"It's my first time traveling and surfing in Europe and I'm super happy to be here," Mesinas Novaro said. "It's a fun wave, I hope we get a bit more size as right now they're really fast. I'm going to compete in Anglet and Pantin next, and head home for a North America Junior event, I'm trying to qualify for the World Juniors there."

Cloarec scores a gem during the morning session - WSL

Luke Dillon (GBR) 20, advanced alongside compatriot Reubyn Ash into the top seeds round, with a solid performance despite the very tricky lineup. Winner of the final Junior event of 2014 in Lanzarote, Dillon transitioned to now battle amongst the Qualifying Series for a spot in the major events.

"The waves were a bit small and it's difficult, but I tried to get the little bigger ones and it worked out," Dillon said. "It's good to surf in the bigger events and surf against the better guys. We just had a heat with Paulo Moura, I used to see him on the CT so that's definitely a bit different from the Pro Juniors. I want to do a few events this year, try to get a seed and get into the bigger events next season, so Lacanau is the start!"

Mihimana Braye (PYF), 19, came out on top of an international heat opposed to Australians Harrison Martin and Caiden Fowler (AUS) and South Africa's Slade Prestwich. The powerful Tahitian managed to adapt to the day's conditions and played his cards right to take the win.

"We've been waiting two days for waves and today was tricky but I think everyone was happy to finally surf," Braye said. "We've had fun and relaxed on the lay days with my Tahitian friends, there's a really good crew here and we hope to do good in the event. It's definitely harder for some of us who are surfing for the first time in Europe and experiencing these conditions, but I've personally been coming here for some time and I feel quite good even in the small surf."

Surfers and event officials will reconvene Saturday at 7:30 a.m. local time for a potential early restart to the competition. Up first will be a 100% French matchup between Charly Martin (GLP), Paul Cesar Distinguin (FRA), Nelson Cloarec (FRA) and Edouard Delpero (FRA) in the first heat of the fourth round.