And what a day of professional surfing! What a
truly fabulous day! There will be a pointed recap here and soon
coming Straight outta Kauai but in the meantime can we just be
happy that a true rivalry seems to be bubbling again? Something we
haven’t seen since Kelly Slater vs Andy Irons?
Feel the joy!
In this corner, weighing in at 170 lbs with ankles as thick as
tree stumps… John John Florence!
And in this corner, weighing in at 140 with skin so impossibly
hairless… Gabriel “Gabi” Mediiiiiiinnnnnaaa!
The two men are locked in at 1,2 at the top of the Jeep
Leaderboard and I don’t know how they feel about each other but I
hope hate flows through their veins. This is what our professional
surfing needs. This right here.
A rivalry!
And I hope the two of them rise to the occasion. I hope they
subtly dig at each other. I hope they burn in their hearts when
seeing each other. I hope their camps try to sabotaj each others’
with every chance they get.
I hope, also, they take the word “rivalry” seriously. Andy Irons
did, admitting to hating Kelly Slater. Oh not personally, probably,
maybe, but his competitive fire cooked so hot that it colored
everything. Everything!
That is what we need. That right there.
Da pashun!
A paixão!
The two men will surf soon in their respective semi-final heats.
John against Keanu, Gabi against Kolohe and then hopefully against
each other. With burn in their hearts. Hopefully!
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Sixty American dollars an hour to ride with pals! Cheap
yes? But what it it's not open? How will you get your
kicks?
Come taste divine fruits on opening day at Austin's
new Wavegarden…
Did you hear? Yesterday was opening day at
NLand surf park, North America’s first Wavegarden, and only the
second of its kind in the world.
The pool, which is twenty minutes drive from downtown Austin,
promises “steep performance waves” for ninety dollars an hour,
“Playful whitewater waves” at sixty an hour or you can ride
alongside pals on “Party waves”, also at sixty dollars an hour.
The prices figure about the same as Surf Snowdonia, Wavegarden’s first
commercial pool in north Wales (35-to-45 pounds an
hour for “advanced surfers”) although the water in Austin is a
bath-like 80 degrees fahrenheit (26 celsius) and ain’t no need for
wetsuits when the air’s hitting 87 or 30 degrees. A thoroughly
pleasant equation.
A sharp-eyed BeachGrit reader, Mr Bill Kemble, was
curious to see how many videos were made by happy pool users after
opening day.
“Woke up this am, hoping to see the glory of NLand’s opening
day ripping across YouTube. But only one (ONE!) video popped
up.
My observations:
– the quality of the “surf” looks like crap, no better
than the gulf (which is only a few hours south of
Austin)
– I see more lifegaurds on soft-tops out there than
customers
– a beautiful TX quote at 5:51 “God gave me a beach”
followed by a few tears.”
Freed from the strictures of professional production and PR
spin, the video gives a punter’s view of proceedings, complete with
a breathy Jesus-y commentary.
“You know, I’m ready to surf too. I’m so ready. I’m going
to. I’m going to do it, just like I started walking. I’m gonna
surf.”
Watch here.
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Filipe says: “I did not even know that I was needing a
huge score, I just heard that John [Florence] had a 9.40 and I had
an 8.50,” Toledo explained. “In a heat against John and Stuart
[Kennedy] you have to go big!" | Photo: WSL
For the first time in over a month my house is
empty. No guests, no dog sitting. Just peace and
quiet.
Still managed to get upset. Bordering on full-blown rage
explosion. So I self medicated with beer and pills and fell face
first into blissful emptiness while the ladies event ran.
Woke up to a storm of hyperbole.
“Heat of the Year?” asks the WSL.
Was it? Better take a look.
Busy day in baguette land, yesterday. A shitload of heats ran.
High scores abound. Too much to go through point by point. I don’t
feel like typing three thousand words. You don’t feel like reading
them.
Instead we’ll begin by skipping ahead. Heat two of round four.
John John and Filipe and Stu Kennedy. It’s what everyone’s talking
about!
Stu’s been having a very good year. Bede Durbidge’s bad luck has
only spelled good things for the young man. Playing spoiler against
the top dogs. A semifinal finish on the Gold Coast, quarters at
Trestles. Currently sitting above the cutoff at nineteenth, he has
every right to be proud of himself.
But he had nothing against the on fire pair of blonde headed
local boy and skinny South American camelid. Who would?
Was it the heat of the year? I guess, 2016 hasn’t been the best
year for pro surfing. But if you put it up against true magic heats
it falls a little flat.
John John started things off with a nice little tube ride. Of
course he found it, that’s what he does. I’ve seen the kid get a
four second barrel at one foot Ehukai. He’s a sorcerer when it
comes to finding cover.
7.33 for that one. 7.67 for a grab rail left green room shortly
after. Solid lead, great position. Given the fact that it’s been
hard for the boys to find gems all event you’d’ expect that to be
an easy win. When he dropped the low score with a 9.07 slash to
frontside grab rev to flats.
I feel sorry for John John’s joints. Better start stocking up on
Glucosamine. Which I don’t think really works. But I once read that
Danny Way swears by it. Way’s got the most fucked up knees on
Earth, I figure he must know a thing or two. Placebo effect or
not.
But you’ve gotta hand it to Filipe, he doesn’t roll over. Stu
Kennedy was looking like a baby bunny caught between two ravenous
pitbulls, but the Llama found a great backside pit, whacked it on
the way out, dug his way out of the combo situation.
John John answered back with a very good backside reverse
followed by two more backside taps. Judges gave him a 9.4. Don’t
get me wrong, it was a very good wave. But it once again
demonstrated the problem with repeated high scores. John John can
do better. Much better. Only leaving .6 for improvement puts the
other competitors in a bad spot.
Filipe’s heat winner being a case in point. So high, so long.
Lofted that full rotation into the breeze, stomped it perfectly.
Skaters’d call it bolts.
Filipe couldn’t resist the urge to claim it. Hands of his head.
Yippee! Totally totally totally understandable. If I landed
something like that I’d follow up by exposing myself to the entire
beach, burning the board, then never surf again. All downhill from
there.
But he landed in the perfect spot, perfectly centered, and there
was another section coming his way. Filipe remembered to drop his
arms and hit it at the last moment, but in a perfect world he’d’ve
bent his knees and used the section for another soaring trip above
the lip.
And if he’d done it? No where to go.
I’m not saying it was the wrong score. It was not. But they need
to find a way to deal with situations like this, should they rear
their ugly heads. A ten needs to be surfed perfectly. Quitting
before the wave is done is not perfect.
I favor docking points for claims. They’re out of
control. Justified or not, premature celebration is a
bad habit in sports. If I were his coach, or father, or whatever,
I’d read him the riot act, even though he won. It ain’t over ’til
the hooter sounds. Shouldn’t stop trying for even a second, no
matter how pleased you are with your performance.
Dialing it back to round three…
It was nice to see Asing beat Buchan. I like the little
Hawaiian. Seems like a nice guy. Always an underdog, can’t help but
rooting for him. Fun way to say it, I’m aware of the differing
definitions.
Filipe’s third round heat showed he’s on point to win this
fucker. Huge alley oop for an 8.6, top to bottom combo number for a
7.33. Cathel was surfing well, hardly handed Toledo the win. But
there’s only a few guys who can touch Filipe when he’s on his
game.
Igarashi is out in round three. Saw that coming. Poor kid.
Freestone flailed. Kolohe paired an overscored 8 with a nice
boost frontside rotation to take the win easily.
Wilko’s out. And his early season dreams of a title are more or
less dead. Very common curse. The dude’s who come out firing in the
early events rarely manage to maintain that momentum through the
course of the year.
Perrow called the day at the end of round four. Cited tide
change as the reason. Off ’til tomorrow. Hopefully more fun surf on
tap.
Not so stoked to see John John’s facing ADS in round five. The
former is the better surfer, the latter the better competitor.
Might be a great match up. Might be a tactical battle the blonde
kind can’t overcome. I sure hope that’s not the case. We all want
Florence to take the title this year. If for no reason other than
that it’ll be fun to watch the Brazilian internet contingent lose
their collective mind.
QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Keanu Asing (HAW) 14.50 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 11.40
Heat 2: Adriano De Souza (BRA) 14.50 def. Conner Coffin (USA)
12.80
Heat 3: Matt Banting (AUS) 9.16 def. Italo Ferreira (BRA) 8.80
Heat 4: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 15.93 def. Davey Cathels (AUS)
14.53
Heat 5: Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 11.06 def. Nat Young (USA) 10.76
Heat 6: John John Florence (HAW) 16.80 def. Ryan Callinan (AUS)
15.50
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.34 vs. Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA)
12.90
Heat 8: Caio Ibelli (BRA) 12.23 vs. Kanoa Igarashi (USA) 10.90
Heat 9: Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.93 vs. Jack Freestone (AUS) 8.83
Heat 10: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.43 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.93
Heat 11: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 15.67 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
12.66
Heat 12: Kai Otton (AUS) 12.60 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 10.43
QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Matt Banting (AUS) 14.43, Keanu Asing (HAW) 13.76, Adriano
De Souza (BRA) 13.53
Heat 2: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 18.50, John John Florence (HAW) 18.47,
Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 12.03
Heat 3: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.17, Caio Ibelli (BRA) 9.13, Kolohe
Andino (USA) 8.74
Heat 4: Kai Otton (AUS) 15.50, Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 6.30, Julian
Wilson (AUS) 2.33
QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 5 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Keanu Asing (HAW) vs. Stuart Kennedy (AUS)
Heat 2: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Adriano de Souza (BRA)
Heat 3: Caio Ibelli (BRA) vs. Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 4: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) vs. Kolohe Andino (USA)
Did you think it was Waikiki? Malibu? Maybe Santa
Cruz? Wrong! Welcome to Cronulla, Australia!
The fight over surfing’s ownership is a fun-ish
one don’t you think? Hawaii is, of course, our beloved tap
root… or is it? Peru lays claim also saying that pre-Incan peoples
rode waves on their boats for fun. But that sounds more like the
birthplace of SUPing to me.
Three Hawaiian princes surfed in Santa Cruz in 1885 and the
famous George Freeth surfed the Huntington Pier in 1907 in order to
advertise a new rail line. The Huntington Pier? Oh bummer!
The Duke is regarded as the father of modern surfing and
shredded Waikiki, California and New Jersey in style in the early
part of the 20th century but it has just been revealed, today, that
Australia’s Cronulla is the actual birthplace of our favorite
wastetime! Let’s read Who Knew? Cronulla is the Birthplace of
Modern Surfing in the Illarrawa
Mercury!
“Mike Bright and I paddled out, started catching waves. Then
people starting running across the car park to the beach. There
were hundreds of them. I thought, ‘sheesh, someone’s had a heart
attack’.”
The speaker is Greg Noll. Eighty years old. Conqueror of
Waimea Bay. That photograph at Pipeline. Those trademark black and
white board shorts. “Da Bull”. And the man who introduced the
malibu board to Australia.
Sunday, November 18, 1956, Noll and a couple of mates with a
US lifesavers’ team in Australia to compete in a surf life saving
carnival staged for the Melbourne Olympic Games, were taken to a
Sydney beach with their paddleboards to train in some waves after
the long voyage across the Pacific.
“Mike [Bright a fellow Californian] and I also brought balsa
boards along and I remember small waves breaking off these rocks to
the left. And all these people just staring at us, kinda
quiet.”
Many beaches claim to be the birthplace of modern surfing
but – Bondi, Manly, Freshwater and Avalon, eat your hearts out – it
turns out to be the home of the NRL champions and the race riot,
Cronulla.
Until Noll and his mate paddled out, the only surfboards
most Australians were familiar with were the old hollow “Toothpick”
style of surf craft but after Cronulla – and subsequent exhibitions
by the Americans at Avalon and Torquay in Victoria – malibus ruled
Australia’s beach culture.
I think, from context, the writer maybe means birthplace of
modern surfing in Australia but it’s fun to have that chest puffed
out so proud for a moment, ain’t it Cronulla? The whole wide
surfing world bowing to you. Thanking you for your wonderful
gift.
And for the Cronulla Sharks.
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Baby daddy Filipe is ruthless. Can you imagine facing
his sword in sub-four footers? | Photo: WSL
France is real good when it's good. But it sure
ain't when it ain't.
Day three, round two, of the Quiksilver Pro France
started on a sour note. Event went mobile, the site moved
to La Graviere. Which I fully support. Massive logistical feat,
great to see the WSL is willing to put in the effort to find
superior surf.
But it was the wrong call. La Graviere was lined-up shit. Event
on hold, mad dash back to des Cul Nus.
Not gonna throw stones. I’m sure certain people were feeling
sick to their stomachs. Super bummed to roll the dice and lose. But
everyone makes mistakes. Can’t fault someone for trying their best.
I appreciate the attempt. Truly.
The day was decent. A few nice moments. Some interesting
drama.
Wilko/Duru was a great way to start the day. Bit of a slow
start. Some morning sickness to deal with. But it cleaned up, and
the pair was ripping.
Duru had the heat in the bag. Solid surfing, good wave
selection. His only fault was his second scoring wave. Could’ve
dropped a big score, but surfed slightly off balance. Timing was a
bit off. Cost him the few tenths of a points he needed to win.
Wilko scraped through by the skin of his teeth. But not because
he surfed poorly. His second scoring ride, a lipslide float to
cutty to layback finner slash, was a thing of beauty. Dropped the
contest robot facade for a moment. I honestly thought it was a
little underscored. The layback was challenging as all hell, real
risky maneuver.
Judges dropped the ball towards the end. Took an eternity to
drop a score for Wilko. Turned the exchange into a gut wrenching
nail biter. Unfair for the guys in the water. Momentum is a real
thing.
But they got the score right, gave Wilko enough to get through.
Keep his title campaign alive. And that’s all that really
matters.
A second round loss definitely sucks, no matter who you are. But
Duru should be feeling pretty good about himself. Guy’s got some
real potential. I can see a ‘CT career in his future.
Callinan/Jordy was a back and forth battle. Smith surfing well,
Callinan on point. Hard to tell who’d get the nod. A lot on the
line for Jordy.
With 2:45 left the South African had the win clinched. Callinan
stroked into a shitty closeout, opened up with a standard backside
top turn. No way was he getting the score.
Then he flowed off the bottom into a hideous backside fin drift
reo. Came down fins first, spun it around, tossed the Medina Urkel claim. Grabbed
Jordy’s title campaign by the dick, then kicked it square in the
teeth.
Up next was Slater v Leo Fio. Turpel called it a super heat.
Hyperbolic designation. A legend against a rookie ain’t hardly
that.
But in the end he was right. It was super. Super fucking
boring.
Uncooperative ocean. Slater and the WOP struggling to
manufacture scores.
It got a little interesting toward the end. Fio snagged two
solid waves and did his work. Ended one with an acid drop onto dry
sand. That was a cool way to potentially kill a board during a
heat. Kelly butt bombed onto the ground himself. Looked like it
hurt.
The high point was Jordy’s post heat interview. He was upset.
Understandable. He was also absolutely dripping sour grapes.
Ryan’s a great surfer. I think he just kinda tried his luck on
that last move. And, um, nine times out of ten he probably
wouldn’t’ve made it.
Ouch. Proof is in the pudding, Jordy. Looked like a clean make
to me.
Leo Fio beat Slater again. Crazy. Slates closed the show with an
I-give-up chop hop.
I nodded off while Parko and Banting faced off. The waves
weren’t great. Both guys struggled to force something.
The legend led until the last five minutes when Banting managed
to grab two of the better ones and link together a few turns. Made
it to round three, something he’s only managed in half the events
this year. Might have something to do with how he throws his hands
over his head almost every time he does a turn. Whack-ass style. I
don’t like it.
Julian knocked out Flores. Then the frenchman stormed the judges
tower and set it aflame.
Not really. But here’s a serious question.
How the fuck was Flores’s second wave a 4.1? He did a cutback,
hit the whitewater, bogged out the back. That makes no sense at
all. Seriously. Am I confused? Did I miss something? Can someone
enlighten me? Is it a fucked up prank? Are the judges just trying
to mind fuck Jeremy?
Flores is funny. He really comes across like a prick, but I
can’t help but love the guy. Probably because I once watched him
surf scary Pipe one time from the safety of the channel. He put on
a clinic I’ve never seen the likes of before or since. And he
speaks his mind. Gotta love that.
If so, it worked. Flores went meltdown. Flailed on his next nine
waves. Except for a 3.43 that was miles better than his 4.1.
He kept it calm, relatively, during his post heat interview.
Flores is funny. He really comes across like a prick, but I can’t
help but love the guy. Probably because I once watched him surf
scary Pipe one time from the safety of the channel. He put on a
clinic I’ve never seen the likes of before or since. And he speaks
his mind. Gotta love that.
Filipe Toledo shook off whatever was bugging him yesterday.
Surfed as well as we all expect him to. Best of the day. Aggressive
turns. Sliding fins. Big spray. Total commitment. He ran down Alex
Ribeiro like my old neighbor’s shitty chihuahua. That bitch would
open her gate and let the little fucker out to shit in my yard
every single fucking day. Damn thing would bark and snap at us. Bit
my own idiot pooch on multiple occasions. He didn’t mind because
he’s a total moron.
Didn’t stop until I told her I was gonna kill the fucking thing
and bury it behind my house, then deny it when she called the
cops.
I wouldn’t have, really. I love dogs. Even shitty ones. You can
only blame the owner.
Bourez/ Muniz saw more sub par surf. The Spartan did an
admirable job of applying power to weakness, but Muniz milked his
last two waves all the way to the beach. Good heat strategy on a
day like today. Mid-five and a mid-six. Nothing flashy, but Alejo
deserved the win.
It’s been a shitty year for Freestone. Missed two events because
of injury. Second at Rio, but nothing substantial other than
that.
Luck was on his side today, he got the winning end of a total
robbery. Both of Kerr’s scoring rides, a 4.5 and 4.8, were light
years better than Freestone’s first 5.93. Jack tapped it twice,
then fell. Makes no sense. The judges must be drunk. Or blind. Or
busy sucking each other off. Or some combination of the three.
Seabass/Melling was boring. No choice but to make the best of
what they had. Best turn of the heat took place at the beginning of
Zietz second scoring ride. Big sexy gouge. I liked it very much. He
fell on his next turn, but it was enough to get through.
At one point Ross Williams and that other dude were discussing
Fanning’s “semi-hiatus” year. Alluded, once again, to the fact that
the WSL had promised him on of the two injury wildcards, despite
the fact that Bede broke his pelvis and Wright crushed his brain.
Those are real injuries. Fanning’s situation is special treatment.
I do not like it. That’s not how sports work. Everyone has personal
struggles. Everyone.
But not everyone has been bumped by a shark during a heat.
Bigger draw equals better treatment. They need to add that shit to
the rule book.
During heat ten the judges took a break from watching, drove to
Uncle Wiggly’s hotel room, then robbed him blind. Conner Coffin
surfed well, sure. Definitely won the heat. But he got a nine for a
line of identical backside whacks, Dantas only got a 6.93 for an
honest to gosh fast runner tube ride. Stupid stupid stupid. If
Coffin’s was a 9, Wiggoly’s was a 10. Which wasn’t enough to win,
but it sure would be nice if the scoring made a lick of sense.
Same old song, I guess.
Kennedy outpointed Payne without doing anything great. Highlight
was Rosie towering over Coffin during his interview.
Igarashi made it into round three again, sent Jadson packing by
surfing the way Kanoa does. Which is safely. Which is why he’s only
made it to round four once this year.
Pottz said it himself, unintentionally damning with faint
praise.
That’s Huntington beach surfing, right there. The ability to
surf a closeout well. That’s what Kanoa can do.
You know, maybe they need to stop applying ‘QS results to ‘CT
ranking.
And that was it for the day. I haven’t checked the swell
forecast, but I hope there’s something coming down the pipe. ‘Cuz
France is real good when it’s good. But it sure ain’t when it
ain’t.
QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.56 def. Joan Duru (FRA) 14.33
Heat 2: Ryan Callinan (AUS) 12.26 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 11.83
Heat 3: Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 13.26 def. Kelly Slater (USA)
10.16
Heat 4: Matt Banting (AUS) 11.50 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS)
10.74
Heat 5: Julian Wilson (AUS) 12.00 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 9.43
Heat 6: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 15.67 def. Alex Ribeiro (BRA) 7.60
Heat 7: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.00 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.33
Heat 8: Jack Freestone (AUS) 12.36 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 9.30
Heat 9: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 12.60 def. Adam Melling (AUS)
11.34
Heat 10: Conner Coffin (USA) 16.33 def. Wiggolly Dantas (BRA)
12.60
Heat 11: Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 12.00 def. Dusty Payne (HAW)
10.50
Heat 12: Kanoa Igarashi (USA) 12.43 def. Jadson Andre (BRA)
9.17
QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Keanu Asing (HAW)
Heat 2: Adriano De Souza (BRA) vs. Conner Coffin (USA)
Heat 3: Italo Ferreira (BRA) vs. Matt Banting (AUS)
Heat 4: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Davey Cathels (AUS)
Heat 5: Stuart Kennedy (AUS) vs. Nat Young (USA)
Heat 6: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Ryan Callinan (AUS)
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA)
Heat 8: Caio Ibelli (BRA) vs. Kanoa Igarashi (USA)
Heat 9: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Jack Freestone (AUS)
Heat 10: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)
Heat 11: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 12: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
