With more than 10 nine-point rides posted on Thursday, at stops number seven and eight of the women’s and men’s World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), it saw all three surfers from the South Coast exit the competition before finals day.

Reigning champion of the Lower Trestles, San Clemente, California event, Tyler Wright, from Culburra Beach, was eliminated in round four by Stephanie Gilmore, only managing 8.83 to her rivals 18.90.

“We always have the same goal: win every heat and win every final,” Wright said.

“So nothing really changes and this is pretty minor.

“I'm stoked for Steph [Gilmore] after she had a rough go at the US Open and it's not really a bad time to have a bad result here.

“I think I just want to keep evolving. It's kind of a transition for me with a lot of shifting pieces and I love what I'm doing.

“After heats like that, people expect me to be bummed, but I'm not.

“I did my breakdown of that heat, so now I'll just enjoy the rest of my time here. It's very enjoyable and I'm loving it.”

Gerroa’s Sally Fitzgibbons faired marginally better than Wright, reaching the quarter-finals before being edged out 14.06 to 13.43 by United States’ Courtney Conlogue.

Unable to match her career-best result at Trestles (second in 2014), Fitzgibbons will now hunt for a better result at the Cascais Women’s Pro to strengthen her 2017 World Title campaign.

Tyler’s brother Owen was knocked out in round two of the Hurley Pro, losing 15.73 to 15.43 to Japan’s Hiroto Ohhara.

As it stands, Owen remains in fourth in the world rankings, behind South Africa’s Jordy Smith, Hawaii’s John John Florenece and countrymen Matt Wilkinson.