I’ve been rugged up on the cliff for some amazing Rip Curl Pro events at Bells Beach over the years – Simon Anderson’s wins in 1977 and 1981 come to mind, as well as Kelly Slater’s Easter Sunday Hail Mary miracle in more recent times – but few of them can match the 2022 edition for drama and performance.
I hasten to add I watched this one from the comfort of the couch in Noosa, happily resting the bones after a couple of great surf weeks at home, but this is the MO of at least half of the world’s surf commentators in the modern media world, and it was no less thrilling. Of course, it’s always disappointing when the surf doesn’t co-operate through to the very end, but there was more excitement and emotion over this week of superlative pro surfing than any I can recall since, oh, when Kelly Slater won at Pipeline two months ago.
Yes, the World Surf League, despite athlete revolts and some crazy administrative decisions, is having a vintage year. Every championship tour event this year – two in Hawaii, one in Portugal and now Bells Beach, has had its thrilling, compelling moments, but until Easter, 50-year-old Kelly Slater brilliantly winning at big, dangerous Pipe and going to the top of the rankings was top of the pops. Not any more.
A week out, the swell prediction sites were united that Bells 22 was going to be a stinker, with raggedy swell and onshore winds. Even so, it was better than expected for the first couple of days, and then a Southern Ocean swell turned up the dial, the wind lay down and for several days, right up to the final six heats, it was magnificent. I’ve been there to see it bigger for the Rip Curl Pro, but not much better.
And the canvas was there to paint high drama.
For one, the WSL had reintroduced the mid-season cut, meaning that after next week’s Margaret River Pro, six women and 12 men would be relegated to the qualifying Challenger Series. Bells was therefore next but last chance for a bunch of veteran champions and tour rookies to keep the dream alive. For two, retired Aussie world champ and recent flood hero Mick Fanning had accepted a wildcard into the event for which he jointly shared the honour of most victories. Despite the claims of many brilliant tour rookies, a lot of older fans were hoping to see Fanning, 40, and Slater, 50, fight it out for the title.
On the women’s side of the draw, Steph Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons were surfing for their careers, while Tyler Wright was in the midst of a comeback after two years plagued by injury and doubt.
Old blokes first: Slater and Fanning both surfed like old blokes in the first round, but Kelly squeaked through and Mick had to face the ignominy of the elimination round, which he blitzed. White Lightning was back, and for a couple of rounds he didn’t look back. But both were taken down by groms – Kelly in the round of 32 by hot Hawaiian rookie Imaikalani deVault, and Mick in the next by hot Oz rookie Callum Robson. Both of the vets were heroic in defeat.
The round of 16 also saw the demise of Newcastle’s Jackson Baker, a happy chappy with a double chin who is fast becoming the most popular rookie on tour. And he surfs brilliantly. One of the many side stories at Bells was how he knocked out Jordy Smith despite the latter’s attempt to manufacture a buzzer beater interference.
As the men got to the pointy end, Brazil’s Filipe Toledo and Hawaii’s John John Florence were clear favourites, with Aussies Owen Wright, Ethan Ewing, Jack Robinson and Callum Robson still in the mix. Owen was first to fall but the others progressed to the semis with Ethan Ewing having to dispatch Filipe to make the final.
This was where Bells became a cruel testing ground. On finals day, Easter Sunday, the women’s semis played out on the early morning lower tide in good conditions, but when Ewing and Toledo paddled out, the waves stopped coming. Showing tactical smarts, Toledo moved to the smaller point waves of Rincon while Ewing toughed it out. It was heartbreaking, but it was real.
In the end, the scrappy finals at Rincon produced the right winners in Filipe Toledo and Tyler Wright, and the event will be best remembered for the incredible heats leading up to them.
As far as the rankings are concerned, coming into the last event before the cut, Toledo wears the yellow jersey for the men, Hawaii’s Carissa Moore (who finished second) for the women. Rookie Callum Robson’s outstanding Bells’ debut sees him at number six and knocking on the door for a finals berth later in the year. Our smoothest surfer in the draw, Ethan Ewing is ranked at eight and also has a shot at the final five.
At the cut-line, Jackson Baker has moved to 20, just inside the cut, while Owen Wright, at 23, needs a good performance at Margaret River to stay on tour.
In the women’s, Tyler Wright is at number two, while rookie India Robinson and Steph Gilmore are the only other Australian women currently inside the cut at eight and nine.
