By Phil Jarratt
WORLD tour tragic that I am, I got up at 4am the other day to watch Jordy Smith end Joel Parkinson’s dream run in a fairly lacklustre final in small, side-shore Lowers. It was a disappointing end to what had been a surprisingly intriguing Hurley Pro at Trestles.
I wrote last week of the hysterical reaction of some competitors to judging decisions, but that was only half of the intrigue. In the men’s event, the final eight turned into generational conflict, with old stagers like Parko, Mick Fanning and Kelly Slater really taking it up to the young guns, whose speed on the face and air games made them firm favourites on the performance A-frame peaks of Lowers.
As the contest worked its way through the early rounds, it looked like it was Filipe Toledo’s for the taking. With not much swell on the horizon, the young Brazilian with the fastest turns and best airs on tour appeared unbeatable in waves under shoulder height. I enjoy watching Toledo surf, but getting up in the middle of the night to see him mow down my old favourites was not really on my agenda. However, I made the effort to set the alarm and check who was in the final and, wonder of wonders, six foot three inch Jordy Smith had found a chink in the Brazilian armour.
Now, with the early exits at Trestles of rankings leader John Florence and former leader Matt Wilkinson, the world championship has been thrown wider open than at any time since Kelly Slater came from way behind to slide past Aussies Mick Campbell and Danny Wills on the final day at Pipeline in 1998. With the Europe leg still to come, it might be a little early for that call, but the reality is that no one at the top of the rankings – not yellow-jerseyed John John, Gabriel Medina at two or Wilko at three – can afford to relax, with Jordy Smith and Kelly Slater now barking at their heels.
Granted, it’s going to take a superhuman result for Kelly to bridge the points gap this late in the season, but he’s done it before, and his momentum has been growing with every event. And while Peniche’s Supertubos has not been a happy hunting ground for him, he knows Hossegor inside out, and at Pipe, well, he’s a master.
Jordy Smith’s road to his first title is also far from easy, but he has a healthy break on Kelly and he too seems scarily focused on winning. As regular readers will know, I’m a Kelly tragic as well as a tour tragic, but if the old boy can’t make it the even dozen fairy tale for his swansong, then I’d love to see Jordy go down to the wire with John John and Medina.
As for Wilko, well, I hope he makes a liar of me, but I think he peaked too early and I suspect he’s going to finish the season heading south. Pity, but he’s got plenty left in the tank for the future.
Meanwhile, on the women’s tour, it’s all about Tyler Wright. I’m a huge fan of this power surfer from Culburra via Lennox. The whole Wright tribe is pretty awesome of course, but I just love Tyler’s sunny attitude while she tramples on her opponents with her brutal attack. She’s definitely the smiling assassin of the tour, and I’m completely sure she will take out her first world title in December.
At Trestles, however, Tyler’s campaign nearly came unstuck at the hands of my other favourite on the women’s tour. Multiple world champ Steph Gilmore came rampaging back into contention with a hard-fought second, and she really surfed beautifully all event. But I think the points spread is too great. The wheels would have to fall off completely for Tyler to give Steph a sniff, and that ain’t going to happen.
Here come the groms
Surfing Australia launched the sixth season of what is now known as the Weet-Bix Surf Groms program a week or so ago. When it started in 2011 it was the Vegemite Groms, so it’s good to see this fantastic junior development program stay in the hands of an iconic Aussie food brand, even if it is owned offshore.
This year Surfing Australia expects more than 12,000 groms aged between five and 12 to start the great adventure of surfing at some 80 delivery centres around the country through the Surfing Australia Surf Schools Network. Parents can register their children through the website www.surfgroms.com which will provide contact details for their closest delivery centre.
