Pastrana Advanced as La Marginal Surfing Pro Opened in Puerto Rico
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 14, 2026
La Marginal opens
The La Marginal Surfing Pro opened in Puerto Rico as a World Surf League North America Qualifying Series 4,000 event, and the first heats asked surfers to handle two-to-four-foot morning surf before winds turned the lineup harder to manage. The early rhythm favored surfers who could make quick reads and put together one clean wave when the chance came. Conditions changed through the day, and the surf stopped offering the same kind of shape the field had in the morning. That gave the opening round a different feel from one heat to the next, with the contest moving from manageable to unsettled as the wind worked against the lineup. Event organizers were set to reconvene later to decide on a possible start time for the next round, a sign that the schedule remained tied to the ocean and the weather.
Pastrana advances
Puerto Rico’s Dwight Pastrana gave the home crowd an early result to track in the men’s Round of 128, advancing with a late 4.93. The score came at the end of a heat that needed patience, and it pushed Pastrana through as the men’s side began to sort itself out under shifting conditions. The late push fit the tone of the day, when surfers had to wait for the right opening and then make it count. Milo Faure delivered the men’s best single wave score of the day with a 6.50 on an air reverse, a clean benchmark for the field and one of the most committed turns in the men’s draw. Between Pastrana’s progression and Faure’s top wave, the men’s opening heats showed how quickly a round could change with one ride, one score and one late move.
Moore and Kaina
The women’s side produced the day’s strongest early numbers, led by Amari Moore and Zoey Kaina. Moore earned the event’s first excellent score, an 8.00, in her Round of 48 debut, a sharp start that gave the women’s draw its first clear high-water mark. Kaina set the pace in the women’s opening round with a 6.67 and a 12.07 heat total, showing the kind of consistency that can separate a heat leader from the rest of the field. Those scores gave the women an early standard to chase as the event moved forward in changing surf. Together, they framed a women’s start that was more than a collection of individual rides. It gave the contest its first major benchmarks and put pressure on the rest of the field to answer them.
