Australian surfers are dominating both the men's and women's events at the World Masters and Grandmasters Championships in the Azores.
No less than five Australian men - Jake Paterson, Dave Macauley, two-time world champion Damien Hardman, Luke Egan and Matt Hoy - made it into the masters quarterfinals in Portugal on Thursday.
Paterson has been particularly dominant, knocking out Sydneysider and two-time world champion Damien Hardman before eliminating former world champion Hawaiian Derek Ho.
The West Australian coaches promising young QS surfers including Leonardo Fioravanti, Ramzi Boukhiam, Marc Lacomare and Ezekiel Lau and Kael Walsh, and he's aware they've all been watching him compete.
"When I'm out there I'm actually thinking of what I preach but I still made a couple of mistakes and I'm sure my guys will text me and let me know about it, for example when I lost priority paddling for a wave I didn't get," Paterson said.
Natural-footer Egan cut the lefthanders apart to post the big enough scores to defeat Aussie Dave Macaulay and local wildcard Joao Alexandre on Thursday.
"It's so cool to see everyone is still as passionate about their surfing. I think it goes to show that no matter how old you are, if you really put the effort in you can still keep a very high level," Egan said.
"What I love most I think is seeing so many guys ride their own equipment, the pros nowadays unfortunately don't have time to do so."
Seven-time world champion Layne Beachley will face fellow Aussie and 1993 world champion Pauline Menczer in the women's masters semi-finals on Friday.
An Australian is also certain to win the over 55 grandmasters category with Simon Anderson, four-time world championship runner-up Cheyne Horan and Rob Bain set to battle it out in three round-robin heats on Friday for spots in the final.
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