EurosportLogie remained calm with his wave selection to leap from fourth spot into first in the final minutes of his heat at Willards Beach, up the coast from Durban.
"It was a really tough heat, I think everyone had a pretty good score before I even took off on a wave," Logie said.
"I was getting a bit stressed out towards the end but I managed to get a set wave followed by another good one on the inside and pretty much held the lead to the end."
Fellow South African Beyrick De Vries, a wildcard, also progressed from that heat.
"Ballito is pretty close to home, so I feel really comfortable out there," De Vries said. "I’ve struggled to get into Star events this year so earning a wildcard from the ASP was a massive help and I’m really stoked to get through."
Local knowledge was important in clever positioning for the inconsistent one-metre waves.
Another home surfer Shaun Joubert – equal ninth in the competition last year – made it through in second spot in his heat against a trio of Australian opponents.
"It was tough out there, there weren’t many waves but when they came, they were fun," Joubert said. "I’ve been slugging away on the Star Tour all year so it’s great to have an event at home.
"My aim is just to get on that World Tour as soon as possible."
Bernado Miranda of Brazil posted the highest score of the day.
"The conditions were ok, it was windy but there were still a few fun rides and if you got a good one you could do three of four turns," Miranda said.
“I had some very experienced surfers in my heat, so I just tried to pick the best waves.”
Miranda eliminated Charles Martin, Brendon Gibbens and ASP world No.18 Brett Simpson.
Onshore winds and a high tide forced a postponement of the action before the remainder of the 24 heats could take place.
Round of 96 results:
Heat 1
1 11.60 Tiago Pires PRT
3 10.16 Yuri Sodre BRA
4 9.20 Gony Zubizarreta ESP
2 10.40 Chad Du Toit ZAF
Heat: 2
2 13.56 Wiggolly Dantas BRA
3 12.77 Tanner Gudauskas USA
4 8.30 Tim Reyes USA
1 13.93 Masatoshi Ohno JPN
Heat3
4 5.37 Jean Da Silva BRA
1 13.67 Tomas Hermes BRA
2 12.60 Stu Kennedy AUS
3 11.33 Conner Coffin USA
Heat 4
1 13.70 Travis Logie ZAF
3 11.33 Mason Ho HAW
4 10.74 Flavio Nakagima BRA
2 12.17 Beyrick De Vries ZAF
Heat 5
3 9.47 Adam Melling AUS
4 7.53 Perth Standlick AUS
2 11.47 Shaun Joubert ZAF
1 12.70 Nathan Hedge AUS
Heat 6
2 11.50 Olamana Eleogram HAW
3 9.27 Ricardo Dos Santos BRA
1 13.44 Nathaniel Curran USA
4 4.63 Kevin Sullivan HAW
Heat 7
1 14.57 Brian Toth PRI
4 8.00 Hizunome Bettero BRA
3 11.74 Marlon Lipke DEU
2 13.34 Garrett Parkes AUS
Heat 8
4 7.40 Brett Simpson USA
2 14.40 Charles Martin GLP
1 17.10 Bernardo Miranda BRA
3 11.07 Brendon Gibbens ZAF
Heat 9
2 13.66 Jadson Andre BRA
3 12.00 Mitch Crews AUS
4 11.17 Aritz Aranburu EUK
1 14.50 Torrey Meister HAW
Remaining round of 96 match-ups:
Heat 10
Patrick Gudauskas USA
Nic Muscroft AUS
Royden Bryson ZAF
Eric Geiselman USA
Heat 11
Joan Duru FRA
Granger Larsen HAW
Leonardo Neves BRA
Charlie Brown BRA
Heat 12
Adriano De Souza BRA
Marc Lacomare FRA
Lincoln Taylor AUS
David Weare ZAF
Heat 13
Jordy Smith ZAF
Kai Barger HAW
Alain Riou PYF
Michael February ZAF
Heat 14
Chris Ward USA
Alex Ribeiro BRA
Ricardo Christie NZL
Hodei Collazo EUK
Heat 15
Willian Cardoso BRA
Romain Cloitre FRA
Heath Joske AUS
Peterson Crisanto BRA
Heat 16
Yadin Nicol AUS
Mitchel Coleborn AUS
Kiron Jabour HAW
Davey Cathels AUS
Heat 17
Damien Hobgood USA
Jesse Mendes BRA
Thiago Camarao BRA
Rudy Palmboom ZAF
Heat 18
Nathan Yeomans USA
Tom Whitaker AUS
Jack Freestone AUS
Jeronimo Vargas BRA
Heat 19
Nat Young USA
Dion Atkinson AUS
Messias Felix BRA
Brandon Jackson ZAF
Heat 20
CJ Hobgood USA
Jay Quinn NZL
Adrien Toyon FRA
Greg Emslie ZAF
Heat 21
Matt Wilkinson AUS
Billy Stairmand NZL
Luke Davis USA
David do Carmo BRA
Heat 22
Glenn Hall IRL
Jonathan Gonzalez CNY
Jano Belo BRA
Yujiro Tsuji JPN
Heat 23
Gabe Kling USA
Sebastien Zietz HAW
Dale Staples ZAF
Caio Ibelli BRA
Heat 24
Alejo Muniz BRA
Chris Friend AUS
Gabriel Villaran PER
Steven Sawyer ZAF
