By PHIL JARRATT
THE surf for the opening stages of the J-Bay Pro in South Africa was certainly a mixed bag, with only just enough swell and winds doing a full rotation, from howling offshore to annoyingly onshore.
I was about to settle in for the pointy end final seven heats to determine a winner last Sunday night when WSL commissioner Keiren Perrow called off the jam, with conditions too inconsistent to continue.
Unfortunately for South Africa’s great white hope Jordie Smith, this only happened after he’d been eliminated by Hawaii’s John John Florence in the first quarter final. No shame in going down to John John anywhere, any time, but Jordie had been totally in command up to this point in what is more or less his home break, and definitely looked a contender.
Strangely, the two surfers who had looked most likely to block Jordie’s run were the two Aussies who would have been forgiven this year if their performances were a little tentative and timid. But a year after their frightening encounter with a great white shark during last year’s abandoned final, Mick Fanning and Julian Wilson have been outstanding in competition so far, dominating their heats with spectacular and assured surfing. In what was almost like a two-fingered salute to the men in grey suits, Jules powered down the line for three high nines in one heat, combo-ing both his opponents.
The cameras picked up a few interesting shots of Mick taking his time in paddling out for his first heat of the event, but I suspect it was just part of the well-known Fanning psyche-up session, rather than any second thoughts. (I once sat in on Mick’s pre-heat routine many years ago at Mundaka in Spain, and I can tell you it has more transformative power than Rocky Balboa’s!)
As I write (Monday morning) the J-Bay swell and weather predictions look sketchy and uncertain, so we may or may not know the final result by the time you read this. Bearing that in mind, I’m boldly predicting that as long as there’s enough power in the waves to gouge a turn or launch a punt, our own Julian Wilson will be taking out a much-needed tour victory.
Bowie on a tear
Closer to home, the postponed Queensland Longboard Titles finally ran last weekend on the wind-affected Sunshine beach breaks. I bet some one at Surfing Queensland is ruing the fact that they walked away from highly contestable point waves a month ago.
The marginal conditions didn’t hamper Sunny Coaster Bowie Pollard, who took out the logger division and scored a third in the open men’s behind comeback king Josh Constable. Bowie, who surfs for the Beachbeat team, has been a podium regular since his grom days, taking out several titles at the Laguna Real Estate Noosa Festival of Surfing in the junior and open ranks, and if his bosses Al Hing and Noel Woods give him a week off, I’m sure he’ll give the nationals a big shake next month too.
Home-made jam
THE Fabulous Burgess Brothers got together for a Sunday jam session at Sunrise Beach last weekend, rocking the neighbourhood with a set of traditional blues and Burgess originals from the stage of Brendan’s garden chill bar. It was a set not to be missed, with next-gen guitar sensation Liam Burgess sitting in for a song, but unfortunately there was an audience of just one. Me.
Panga Productions’ Shaun Cairns and I were filming for an upcoming project about the multi-talented Patrick Burgess, his work in human rights in Asia with wife Galuh, and his absolute passion for surfing and music. I’ve written about Bali-based Patrick in these pages before, and some of you may have caught his music set at the surf festival last March with guitarist DC Paul.
Catching up with bro Brendan from Sunshine Beach High and his family is what brought the Bali Burgess crew – Patrick, Galuh, and kids Sami and Liam – to town this week, but Patrick’s main mission in Australia is the launch of an album of original music in Sydney at the end of the month. Ground Zero is a collection of punchy ballads based on Patrick’s life experience that may well create a new music genre – surf-based human rights rock! Look out for it if you enjoy inventive, lyric-driven music.
Meanwhile, in Myanmar the second series of Patrick and writer Phil Gwynne’s soap opera series with a message, “The Sun, The Moon and The Truth”, is about to screened for its adoring audience of five million, while a Timorese version is in pre-production in Dili. It’s a busy life, particularly when the swell has been pumping all season in Indo, and a surfer’s gotta do what a surfer’s gotta do.
