Gary "Kong" Elkerton unloads on paltry sleds…
Yesterday morning, two-time Sunset winner Gary “Kong” Elkerton, unloaded on the equipment choice of competitors in this year’s event.
“10 foot plus Sunset Beach and everyone is on 6,6s sitting on the inside while 10 foot bombs are going off out the back,” Kong posted on Facebook and to, mostly, enthusiastic approval.
Kong, who is a three-time runner-up to the world title, two-time Triple Crown winner and three-times Masters world champion, is fifty-three years old and lives in the Sunshine Coast suburb of Yaroomba.
Until recently, he owned and ran a swim school, Kong for Kids, at Billinudgel on the NSW North Coast. Last year, he bought the Sunshine Coast license for what he says is a revolutionary concrete sealing biz which was developed by a Hawaiian pal, Brian Kissenberger, who he happened to bump into on the Gold Coast.
Once the decks were cleared of small talk, I said, Mr Sunset, why are you so incensed by equipment choice?
Kong groans and, momentarily, stutters.
“Oh, fuck…fuck… where do I start… I just… I just… they’re sitting on six-sixes on the inside and not paddling out the back and getting the bombs. I think Wilko might’ve read my post because he had a go on a seven-six and he showed exactly what could be done. He looked absolutely solid. I was pulling my hair out. I was frustrated, watching these twelve-to-fifteen-foot bombs out the back and guys are taking off in the whitewater and trying to get to their feet.”
Why?
“The judges need to score a wave higher if it’s caught out the back. I watched a young Hawaiian paddle way, way outside, caught a wave off the button, a goofyfooter, did three turns on the inside and got a seven. I don’t know if any of the judges have ever been out at Sunset. It’s so much more difficult negotiating that west and north swell peak out the back when it connects together. It should be merited higher. And that would change the way it’s being surfed.”
Kong puts a lot of store on Sunset. It ain’t always the most photogenic wave, although it can be, but it challenges a surfer like no other wave, he says.
“I’m still blown away that it’s only a qualifying event. Kelly’s never won there and how many times has he tried? It’s the most demanding wave on the planet, bar none.”
I ask Kong to defend his outrageous claim.
“The way the reef contour is and the manner in which the west swell connects with the north swell and it makes this surging peak. There’s so much water, a football field of water meeting together. And to get into the correct spot, to get into what the lifeguard Darrick Doerner calls The Saddle, you’ve got to have your lineups completely covered. It’s not like Pipe where you take off behind the boil to get barrelled. Equipment is everything there. And to negotiate all that, there’s no other wave on the planet like it.”
And how should the wave be ridden according to Kong?
“At that size, I’d ride an eight-o. I’d get in the saddle, negotiate the big drop, big bottom turn, fade and load up on the inside… where they’re taking off on the six-sixes.”
A dirty laugh.
“That’s what I would’ve been doing. Not saying I’d do it now.”
And, here, highlights from yesterday.
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My lady likes the 8″ a lot more than the 6,6′ too
Kong’s on the money for sure,Id love to see Sunset surfed like Sunset, not like an u10’s push in heat in the reforms,especially by the worlds best up and comers. By the same token there’s been some epic surfing out there in difficult conditions, so my hats off to them.
But really.. is this relevant anymore? It appears to me that we are on critical path to seeing competitive “performance” in Wave pools as a tour, where being a waterman and having the skill and capacity to manage the conditions and select the right equipment will be a lost art….is this just the transition phase? Are we now witnessing the evolution of surfing to “Competitive Wave pool performance” Where 8’0″s will never be seen, Like the overnight evolution of the Surfboard in the late 60’s?
Gary Elkerton is the Taj Burrow of Cheyne Horans.
Hakman is Mister Sunset.
Kong is already “Kong”, you can’t have a moniker on a moniker, c’mon, do your h-work.
Kong Sunset will be the name of my next restaurant 😜
Not “Nik’s Nachos” ?
Maybe serve bush meat?
I would like to see Kong in the mix at WSL. Shit needs to stay real and Sunset is as real as it gets.
That wave made me a strong paddler.. just like Monday night burgers and beer are making my belly bigger. The old guard needs to speak up more. Delighted!
Very valid point, if everyone on tour was as versatile as JJF. The upside of a tour like that is it may attract the likes of Albee. The downside would be attracting the likes of Laird
Yeah but …
Some young guns drawing new lines
To be fair, how many kids hitting the tour really want to be surfing waves that are any bigger then double over head. Let alone the big shifting unpredictable peaks of Sunset. It’s a watermans wave.
I was 17 and only interested in skating at the time of that King vid.
How times change…
Sea Bass led the way at Sunset today, and so too that young Hawaiian charger Imaikalani Devault with his speeding
full rail carves, big bottom turns, deep fades and unique lines. Great to see lots of young talent
emerging and proving themselves too, as it always should be in Hawaii
this time of year. And to see them doing it on much smaller boards that
defy my older man’s logic, bloody amazing! Still, i agree with Kong. I would like to see more take-offs from much further out than the shoulder…and have formidable Sunset return as a decisive WCT event. We need to see the world’s best surfing in more challenging waves to test their mettle and prove their bona fides, not show boating in piss weak beach breaks and singular tubes.
Imaikalani Devault drew some incredible lines; like surfing on a mountain.
Yeah Mads, so good to watch. Quite stunning actually. Bit like Kong’s lines of approach too. I hope Imai’s performance inspires others.
What a pity JJF decided to ‘focus on the World Title’ and not treat us to his Sunset swoops.
Yeah would have something special to see Harry Dean, though Connor Coffin, Pat Gudauskas and Wade Carmichael and many others did a great job with their own brand of speed and power swoops.
Hour long heats might be needed?
Billabong Challenge 1995 had hour plus long heats and an hour-and-a-half for the final. Worked well. But there were only eight surfers to keep happy then.
Kong is correct
Yeah on the one hand I totally agree with Elko here, Sunset is about covering ground and controlling a whole surf zone. But fuck, some of the Hawaiian kids are killing, I love their bold lines on the inside.
Kong’s the best out there since BK. Fucken hand jiving swoops, lazy fades and deep barrels through the inside. No one could touch him.
Ha ha except lil bro in the best heat I’ve ever seen at Sunset, the 1988 World Cup final. Man on man, TC vs Elko, perfect 10-12′ NW swell Sunset, Doerner and me in the channel caddying. Tom got him on vertical turns up into the hook.
Forgot about little Thomi Karol 🙂 Yeah, that was epic! Pity he fucked up against Todd Holland a week later at Pipe. Jesus.
Who else would you throw in the mix? Hakman obviously.
Hakman is still the man. Still got it
Not that I’m comparing Jay Adams to the above but can still see his arm cocked back and hand making a fist as he took the drop. Love to have been in the line up to witness MR. Personally think during the blip i was walking that beach a lot of boards to thin. Maybe my legs were to weak!
BK (before my time), Mike Ho, Bobby Owens, Butch Perreira, Marvin Foster, Mike Newling, Dennis Pang, Pancho, Parko, Jordy, AI obv, RCJ, Shaun, Don Johnson, Charlie Walker, Sunny, argh there’s too many, I’ll forget someone. I think Mike Ho stands out in my mind as the surfer who has had Sunset the most dialled, Michael would persistently go to spots in the lineup that seemed to make no sense until pretty much the moment he reached them.
Cheers! How did Cheyenne go out there? Him and Charlie Walker hung together for a bit I think.
As I recall, you stayed out after the final and there was barely anyone out for a bit.
NC. Did you recall why MR got the nod in the 1986 Billabong Pro final against Elko? Did MR have a higher wave count under the old scoring system because I thought Elko got the best waves? Thanks
I don’t have an accurate memory of it off the top of my head. I think it woulda been best five waves ridden, 0-10 scoring. I don’t think there was a question of MR not winning though, he was blatantly the best surfer in that event. Maybe challenged by Richard Schmidt on that finals day? See look at that re below, I forgot Schmiddy! Idiot.
The finals were held at Sunset. Maybe I over-estimated what I remembered. I found the video here, with Sunset final at around 28:50
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Kongcrete Sealing.
He’s gotta trademark that name.
I design concrete at major projects around the globe for a crust, give us his company name Derek and I’ll check it out and maybe give it a plug.
I was on the beach watching when he won in ‘89. QS needs to read his facebook.