Monday, March 2nd, the Roxy Pro Gold Coast women’s surfing event got off to a nice start in clean 2-3′ waves Down Under at Duranbah Beach.

The first of 8 events on the 2009 ASP Women’s World Tour, the Roxy Pro Gold Coast opted to relocate from the primary site of Snapper Rocks this morning to Duranbah Beach to take advantage of the better conditions, and with the swell forecast for the event window becoming a challege, the possibility of various venues looms large for the Roxy Pro Gold Coast.

Shown in her white rash guard and black board shorts, above, Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 18, 2009 ASP Women’s World Tour rookie, took command in a hard-fought Round 1 heat, scoring the highest heat total of the day, with an 18.77 out of a possible 20, to overtake Silvana Lima (BRA), 24, and Megan Abubo (HAW), 31.

“It was a good start to the event,” Fitzgibbons said. “I was really looking forward to competing up here on the Gold Coast. We were lucky we had a good heat for waves. I was just looking to get on a roll to push me through the whole event.”

Stay tuned for more from the Roxy Pro Gold Coast women’s surfing contest…