Semi-final 1 is underway and the on fire Lakey Peterson is up against Johanne Defay. Defay has started 2017 with a bang, taking out the Newcastle QS event and finishing second at Manly. Unfortunately, she couldn’t match the powerful Peterson who fired out of the blocks with a massive fins free attack landing her an 8.67. It was one of those heats where the dominant surfer never even lets their opponent into the heat, Lakey never looked like losing. Landing a massive 9.93 and the nail was in the coffin. Lakey is in the Snapper final and she is looking on song.
All Australian semi-final 2 sees smiling Sally take on stylish Steph. Gilmore kicks the heat off with three flowing snaps, and looks to be carrying confidence. Sally answers with a 5.20, Steph triumphantly lands a solid 7.50 in response. The pair exchanging blows to the face, each paddling past their opponent’s mid wave slashes, as every surfer knows there is nothing more degrading than spray from someone’s board smashing you in the face. Gilmore is on, we haven’t seen her surf like this in a couple of seasons and is finding tubes in places tubes almost shouldn’t even be! But we all know Fitzy doesn’t go down without a fight pulling into a steep late drop and locking in a solid 7.93. But it wasn’t enough to knock over the style queen who locked in a fight against Lakey Peterson. The two in form surfers made the final.