Quiksilver Pro N.Y. opening rounds today

As expected, the opening rounds of the Quiksilver Pro N.Y. competition will begin at 8 a.m. today, where 36 pro surfers, including wildcards Balaram Stack and Asher Nolan, compete in 12, three-man heats.


The opening round is a non-elimination heat, but pro big wave surfer Peter Mel, who hosted Monday's opening ceremonies, said that the first round -- at 30 minutes each -- allows the pros like Kelly Slater to build moment going forward. Slater will face surf prodigy Stack in the opener's 6th heat.

An ASP World Tour event consists of five rounds and a series of heats, followed by quarterfinals, semifinals and the finals. Judges look for speed, power, flow and other factors. The winner will have surfed a minimum of six times, and possibly as many as eight times. When the season concludes in Hawaii, each surfer counts his eight best event results, and the competitor with the most ratings points from those events will be named world champion.

Quiksilver said that it expects to have at least four consecutive days of surfing this week, as forecaster Surfline said that Hurricane Katia is expected to deliver ideal waves Tuesday through Friday.

According to Surfline: "The forecast track and strength of Katia is very favorable to send surf to Long Island over the next several days. Look for pulsy SE swell to continue to build on Tuesday. Medium sized SE swell is expected on Wednesday. Medium to solid SE swell is on tap for Thursday and into Friday. Based on the current track of Katia, it looks like we will see our surf begin to fade late Friday with smaller leftovers on tap for Saturday."

While the competition is held over an 11 day holding period, Surfline's forecast could mean that the most anticipated surf competition on the East Coast could end this week, with the winner walking away with $300,000 of the unprecedented $1 million prize purse. Check out the competition live at: http://quiksilverpro.com/live.en.html

Here is today's match-ups:

Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Brett Simpson (USA), Travis Logie (ZAF)

Heat 2: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Dane Reynolds (USA), Gabe Kling (USA)

Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS), Patrick Gudauskas (USA), Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)

Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS), Jadson Andre (BRA), Bobby Martinez (USA)

Heat 5: Mick Fanning (AUS), Heitor Alves (BRA), Asher Nolan (USA)

Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA), Daniel Ross (AUS), Balaram Stack (USA)

Heat 7: Adrian Buchan (AUS), Alejo Muniz (BRA), Cory Lopez (USA)

Heat 8: Bede Burbidge (AUS), Chris Davidson (AUS), C.J. Hobgood (USA)

Heat 9: Michel Bourez (PYF), Raoni Monteiro (BRA), Adam Melling (AUS)

Heat 10: Damien Hobgood (USA), Matt Wilkinson (AUS), Tiago Pires (PRT)

Heat 11: Adriano De Souza (BRA), Josh Kerr (AUS), Kai Otton (AUS)

Heat 12: Julian Wilson (AUS), Kieren Perrow (AUS), Taylor Knox (USA)