Ricardo Christie, first Kiwi to qualify since Maz Quinn
Thought wilko didn't get the 7.5 either to beat him in the quarters.
Yeah agreed mick. Thought Riccardo was a bit unlucky not to improve his score with his last wave and Wilkos 7.5 was a bit generous. Stoked for Ricardo though and good reward for doing it hard the last few years.
My calcs has him still on the bubble at 10th.....so someone is knocked from the top 22 that is a double qualifier, could in theory take is spot.
One thing for sure is Hobgood era is over unless he is going for the injury wildcard which is a massive move from CJ considering no ones really been injured this year and would be an automatic qualifier!
Pretty epic effort by ricardo considering he has done it all on crumbs.
He only qualifies if Julian Wilson and Jadson Andre hold their current WCT positions after pipe
inzider wrote:
Pretty epic effort by ricardo considering he has done it all on crumbs.
True ENZer;)
I seen him at Burliegh last year, the bloke rips the shit for a Kiwi.
Eats cereal, for real;)
Good luck to him, I know I'm patriotic, thats my roots, GoBro and thats not GoPro.
Wellyman, how goes zit? there have been heaps of NZ surfers over the last 3 decades that had the skills to have been on the tour. JM, ET, the mataa's, the list goes on, but they were all poor with no real sponsorship.
If you come from NZ being a shredder aint enough, you pretty much need rich parents. Paige Hareb case in point. How did Ricardo get around the QS, not from surf sponsors alone.
Ozzies hate being beaten by kiwis at anything sporting, surfing included. You think how much money is generated in surf industry sales in NZ and how many kiwi surfers have any real sponsorship from that money generated..Pretty much none I would guess. Thats why they have to hit the Goldie before they are 12 and pretend to be ozzies if they want to chase their dream. Personally not a fan of comp surfing but it would be good to see Ricardo in there living his dream after the graft he has put in.
I hear ya, is it because of being twenty years behind...
Maybe thats a good thing in some ways;) haha less people on the good waves.
Anyways IMO Richardo is a very solid surfer for sure and I wish him all the best in his future that he is chasing.
May the "Koru" be with him, which symbolises growth, strength and peace.
My wedding ring symbolises that as well as my signature:)
Respect.
Ricardo Christie just passed the cut off mark for next year's WT. Fella has been cutting a swathe through the Vans World Cup at Sunset but had to progress past Round 4 to collect the points. He did so in a nail biter against Seabass Zietz and Mason Ho. Ho had the opportunity to pass him in the dying seconds but fell in a great barrell.
So, although unofficial, Ricardo becomes the first Kiwi since Maz Quin to qualify for the Mens WT.