Dane Reynolds of Ventura and Bobby Martinez of Santa Barbara are in South Africa to surf in what may prove to be the most important contests of the year.

The 21-year-old Reynolds dominated his first heat in Durban at the 18th stop of the Association of Surfing Professionals' World Qualifying Series, the Mr. Price Pro, while the 25-year-old Martinez looks to improve his ratings on the fifth stop of the Fosters ASP World Tour at the Billabong Pro in Jeffreys Bay.

Both events could play a major role in the future of these rising surfing stars; the Ventura surfing community will be watching these contests with high expectations.

Reynolds has had an excellent start to the WQS this year. He is ranked eighth with 7,800 points and is the highest-ranked American surfer on the WQS, just a notch above ninth-ranked Ben Bourgeois of Carlsbad. Many of the world's best surfers have been touting Reynolds as the best free surfer in the world, but Reynolds is also proving to be a contest-worthy competitor.

During his first heat at the Mr. Price Pro, Reynolds captivated the fans with his bag of tricks, racking up a combined score of 17.16 out of 20.00.

"I'm feeling good and this board is magic. I'm pretty excited to have the Mr. Price wild card because it's hard starting from the first round," said Reynolds. "I got a good start so I definitely need a few more results. I just need to keep the nerves down and focus on one heat at a time."

Reynolds easily won the heat against Mason Ho of Hawaii, Brazil's Hizunome Bettero and American Gabe Kling. A solid result for Reynolds in South Africa will secure his hopes of qualifying for the highly coveted World Championship Tour.

Reynolds also just landed the most prestigious surfer magazine cover photo with an image taken during the filming of "Young Guns 3" in Bali.

Reynolds didn't have great expectations in the WQS at the start of the year.

"It was actually weird 'cause Blair, my manager, was trying to get all these wild cards for me. And he was telling me, I'm just explaining to them how you are trying to qualify in one year,' and I was like, Qualify in one year? Are you kidding me? Not me.' I didn't have many expectations; I just figured it was kind of the next step after what I did last year. And I have always wanted to give it a full year's go, but I never had any expectations."

Reynolds needs four more solid results, but with the large amount of WQS contests scheduled for the rest of the year, it is a safe bet he will qualify for the WCT.

Martinez had a stellar season last year and will be looking for a strong finish in the perfect right-handers of Jeffrey's Bay later this month. Martinez finished fifth in the world in 2006 and was named Rookie of the Year.

Martinez thinks last year served him well.

"I think I learned a lot as a person and a competitor last year and hopefully I've matured with all the experience I gained from the ups and downs of traveling and competing on the tour," Martinez said. "I had a fun year in 2006, but I still feel I made some little mistakes here and there and I am looking forward to trying a couple of different things in '07 and hopefully the results will come."

Martinez is tied for 17th place with Australia's Dean Morrison after a solid fifth-place finish at the last event in Chile. Martinez showed his confidence and impeccable tube-riding abilities in the challenging waves of Africa by posting one of the three perfect 10s in the quarterfinals.

Martinez needs another good result and will be looking to show the other top 44 surfers why he finished fifth in the world last year when competition gets under way. The Billabong Pro at Jeffrey's Bay may prove to be the turning point for Martinez competitive season.

You can check out all the action from now until Julty 22 on a Web cast at www.aspworldtour.com.

— If you have any information regarding the local surfing scene, e-mail David Burroughs at runemason@yahoo.com. The Surfing Scene will appear Tuesdays in The Star.