“What a brutal fight. I hope they will be ok.”
It may be hard to believe but in two weeks it will be exactly six years since Australian Mikey Wright went toe-to-toe with Jesse Mendes in a Western Australian carpark after a drop-in by the Brazilian, a tussle that soon became known as the “world’s worst surf fight.”
As the surf coach Jake “The Serpent” Paterson explained at the time, Jesse Mendes had become infuriated by Mikey Wright’s hogging of the best waves during a North Point swell and subsequently dropped in on Wright who then, metaphorically, vomited into the bowl as he shot the dope. ie. swerved around Mendes to find tube.
Interesting free surf session this morning before the event started. Word on the street is @jesse_mendes had waited all morning for the wave he dropped in on @mikeywright1 and Mikey had just had a set wave! No love lost by the looks!
Kelly Slater commented,
I’ve surfed with them both a lot. @mikeywright1 is possibly the biggest frother I’ve ever seen and forgets other people exist when it starts barreling. He knew what he was doing here outpositioning @jesse_mendes in a tricky and crowded lineup. Or maybe he was getting Jesse back for paddling me around the point in our heat at sunset years ago, haha. Whichever it is, I’m sure we’ll all look forward to their next heat together.
Later, Mendes, those thin, cruel lips shaped into an ominous smile, gave hell to Wright in the carpark with consecutive light blows of his surfboard as well as two pushes in the chest, the second momentarily knocking Wright off his axis.
Brazilian fans were delighted.
“Mickey is like a little girl… more than his sister!” wrote one commenter.
“Hahaha Jesse just putted him on his place! In a fight I would put some money on Jesse… and if I were Mickey, I would not go to Brazil soon. Brazil is not for beginners, just ask when Shane Dorian had a gun pointed to his head! Good luck Mickey.”
The exchange quickly became known as the world’s worst surf fight, surpassing even Ashton Goggans’ Strike of Wrath on BeachGrit’s own Chas Smith.
