Protest Vendee Pro 2010: Joan Duru Claims Title

The ASP Protest Vendee Pro is apparently Joan Duru's event as he takes the title once again. Glenn Hall keeps his head high and isn't worried about his loss to the king of Protest Vendee Pro.

For the second time in two years, Joan Duru has claimed the title at the Protest Vendee Pro title. Duru defeated his competitor Glen Hall in a low scoring 35-minute final.

Joan Duru had to take advantage of his priority and the lack of waves to get the winning scores. Now, the surfer has made history by being the only competitor to take the ASP Protest Vendee Pro title two times in a row.

Late this afternoon the huge full tide meant fewer sets coming through the final hour of competition.

However, nothing could stop Joan Duru as he plowed his way through the quarters and semi finals and advanced to the finals. Duru had to call on every bit of experience to anticipate the constantly changing wave conditions.

Joan Duru followed Glenn Hall and paddled into the next wave, executing a chain of strong backhand smashes, which resulted in a score of 8.33 out 10.

“Glenn is a really good competitor and I knew the waves were going to be a little worse so I tried to get some good ones at the start but I fell off," said Joan Duru. "He took the first wave of that set and he had priority and I don’t know what he did but the second one was good and that was when I got the victory.”

Clearly thrilled, Duru was able to maintain his composure and reflected on the Protest Vendee Pro, his European Men’s Series ratings and his future events.

“I like this place a lot and everything is perfect. From here I’m off to Trestles where I hope to continue with the confidence I have gained at Vendee.”

Glen Hall took second place at the Protest Vendee Pro. Holding priority for the majority of the final, Hall found himself in a do or die situation as the clock ran down.

“I’m not too disappointed with the overall results and it was the waves that let me down a little bit in the final. I feel like I did a few errors with my priority but it was probably more the fact that I was just trying to get into the game because I hadn’t had a wave yet so that’s why I took that wave.”

Fewer and fewer sets came through leaving both finalists surprised at the situation they found themselves in.

“We were both sitting out there getting cold thinking where have the waves gone so it was just one of those things and Joan came out on top, so good for him.”

The 2010 Protest Vendee Pro is the second of twelve stops in the ASP European Star Series 2010 which will eventually find the European men’s champion of the year.