Round 1 of the Billabong Pro Mundaka, Stop No. 8 of 10 on the Foster’s ASP World Tour, commenced at Bakio at 10:30am. Conditions at the mobile site, which is a 30 minute drive from the main event site in Mundaka, are two to three foot (one metre) this morning.

“The surf is two to three feet but it’s closing out some,” Contest Director Mike Parsons said. “There is enough surf here in Bakio but the banks aren’t very good so we’re going to have to make do.”

The decision to run today was made citing a rule which states that if the first round doesn’t run in the first two days of the Billabong Pro Mundaka waiting period, Round 2 is dropped and the surfer who finishes last in the three-man Round 1 heats is eliminated right away. This rule is specific to this event and was made because of the at-times fickle nature of the wave.

“It was voted on for this event that we would have to run the first round in the first two days, otherwise the third place surfer would lose out on surfing the following round,” Parsons said. “The surfers were aware of the situation, Mundaka is a hard wave to get. We have a nice long waiting period so we want to give everyone the normal two chances, so the decision was made by the surfer’s rep, myself and the head judge that it’s contestable and we’re going to go today. The goal is to get all sixteen heats done.”

The first heat of the event will feature France’s Jeremy Flores and Australians Troy Brooks and Michael Lowe. Log onto www.aspworldtour.com and www.billabongpro.com to watch it all LIVE!