The biggest names in surfing have descended on Bells Beach for the 2018 Rip Curl Pro and four coasties are among them.
Locals vying for invaluable points on the Leaderboard include Avoca’s, Ace Buchan and Macy Callaghan, and Copacabana’s, Wade Carmichael. Former Copacabana local, Matt ‘Wilko’ Wilkinson, is also in the mix. Bells will be critical for Buchan, who is currently sitting in second place on the 2018 Men’s Championship Tour Leaderboard. The Rip Curl Pro will run from March 28 to April 8. According to the World Surf League (WSL) season analysis, Buchan is the Central Coast’s best bet to see a local take out the Rip Curl Pro, however, his competitors won’t make it easy for Buchan, who has never made it to a quarterfinal at Bells.
He faces Brazil’s, Filipe Toledo, and fellow Aussie, Owen Wright, who have both recorded heat win rates of over 50 percent at Bells, as the cream of the crop in the Men’s Tour. Carmichael and Wilkinson are certainly not out of contention, but with 11 appearances at Bells with only one trip past Round 4 of the competition, it’ll be a tall order for Wilko to deliver. The WSL have higher hopes for Carmichael if he can make the conditions on the day work for him. Callaghan is a dark horse in the Women’s Tour to the WSL, with their analysist pegging her as a “serious emerging threat”. The WSL knows Callaghan is out to prove herself this year, having just missed out in 2017, but she’s up against some of the Tour’s strongest competitors in, Lakey Peterson, Keely Andrew and Sally Fitzgibbons.
Source: Website, Mar 28 World Surf League Bells Beach Rip Curl Pro 2018 preview