“I don’t think I can put it into words,” said Defay. “It’s very hard to digest and I don’t know how to say how I feel -- it’s so crazy. I’m very happy to have some of my friends here and I’m thinking of the people back home too. I guess it’s all the work I’ve done before and it’s all come together. I’ve just been sticking to same game plan, trying to get a lot of waves. It was tricky at the start but then I got that score which put me in a better position. I feel really good, last year everything was so new and this year I feel way more comfortable.”
“It’s pretty amazing, I could never imagine that I could win here or that I could win an event,” said Defay. “I just took it heat by heat and it’s so crazy. This is definitely my biggest win. Ending up last year at eighth on the rankings I thought maybe I could do top five so we’ll see what happens this year.”
With this win, Johanne Defay claimed her first elite CT victory. Defay took out Sally Fitzgibbons in a tense Final at Huntington Beach Pier. Defay previously defeated Bianca Buitendag in the Semi-Finals, while Fitzgibbons beat Courtney Conlogue in their heat, which was pretty much wave-less. Sally ended going way south of the surf area to find some waves, while Courtney stood near the pier and unfortunately, no waves come through. Sally ended up getting several waves before Courtney even got one. Fitzgibbons, the 2011 event winner, earned herself a runner-up finish and remains at third place on the Jeep Leaderboard.
A ton more photos in the US Open Of Surfing Photo Gallery.
