California's Nat Young collected a fourth consecutive heat win in fantastic fashion, chasing the biggest set waves and placing his turns in the most vertical sections to drop a near-perfect 19.30 heat total (out of a possible 20). Surprisingly Young hasn't done well in the past couple of events in Ericeira but with conditions being absolutely superb this week, his style and technique spoke volume and the results followed suit.
"On a day like this it's kind of common sense that the judges want to see big turns on big waves," he said. "That's what I wanted to you anyway I wasn't going to ride small waves. I rode a step-up, a 6'1 Proton, there's a lot of water moving, it's almost like Sunset or Haleiwa, you don't need quite as big a board but similar feel."
Young went on to put another clinic in his Quarterfinal matchup against Carlos Munoz tonight as conditions started to provide clean walls again. His 18.23 total may have paled in comparison to his earlier exploits but it was the second highest of the day.
His upcoming Semifinal clash against Lau is one for the ages if conditions continue to pump in Ericeira on Saturday.