The MEO Portugal Pro had been stretched out longer than an overused comp leggie. Just like Pipe earlier in the year the finals of Portugal would be run on the last day of the waiting period. And my, how we’d waited.
When the men’s quarter-finals paddled out in ruffled three-foot Supertubes there was perhaps an air of anti-climax, but with a building swell things could only get better. The highlight of the quarters was seeing Gabriel Medina roar past Leo Fioravanti. Gabby was back, sledge-hammering lips with those thunderous thighs, taking flight at will and radiating enough intensity to trigger earthquakes – or at least tremors amongst his opposition. He was sporting the devilish goatee and had that slightly disgruntled manner in his interviews; you could feel all that competitive energy simmering beneath. Right now pro surfing needs Medina at his menacing best and on finals day in Portugal he was certainly edging closer to top form.
Thanks to Jo Turpel we learned that Griffin Colapinto had spent his morning reading ‘The Power of Now’, Echart Toll’s celebrated self-help text. San Clemente roots meets pop psychology with a few tips from coach Tommy Whittaker thrown in for good mix. It’s a heady cocktail of concepts. Much is made of Griffin’s meditations and mental preparations. Sometimes you want to take the piss out of the whole new age approach, but you can’t deny that something’s working. Relying primarily on his fin ditch backside hangers, Griff steamed past a revived Joan Duru who never really got in the game. Post heat Griff kept up the Jedi act explaining through shimmering Oakleys that he’d been, “envisioning the future, then coming back to the present moment.” Earlier in the morning brother Crosby had booked a slot in the semis, announcing himself as a contender and setting up the thrilling possibility of a final against his brother. Ethan Ewing was also there, the brooding presence with the perfect biomechamics outclassing Ramzi Boukhiam.
In the women’s semis Tyler Wright and Tatianna Weston-Webb traded turns like sparring boxers for the entire heat, but it was Tyler who landed the more convincing blows. If it was barrelling Tatiana may have been a better chance but in the tight Supertubes pockets it was a challenge to get in and out of turns quick enough to make it to the next section in time.
Under the tutelage of Micro Hall, Lakey Peterson has been a big improver, as shown by her determined win over Caroline Marks earlier in the event. Lakey is now climbing higher and hitting the lip harder on her back-hand, however she couldn’t quite match the class act of Johanne Defay, who has arguably the best backhand attack on the tour.
In the men’s semis Ewing’s blasted past Crosby, destroying the possibility of an all Colapinto finals clash. One forehand scythe of Ewing’s is worth re-watching if you can find it on the highlights. If Ewing was a sword-fighter he could finish bouts with a single blow. He has the most effective turns on tour, but such is the effort and focus involved in each swing of the blade he sometimes struggles to consistently reproduce them.
Jedi Griff had more rhythm than Medina in semi two and used his fin-ditch, tail drift backside hooks to excellent effect. Medina had the wave to overcome him in the final moments but went a shade too lateral in the first turn and the finishing floater was never quite going to deliver the excellent range score he needed. That’s the one thing missing from Gabby now that he once possessed, the capacity to turn a heat in the final moments by manufacturing a massive score and overwhelming opposition. Perhaps this super-power will come back, but it feels like he will have to find a different way to win.
Griffin’s go-too guru, Echart toll has a famous saying.
“Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time.”
It seemed like this was the message Griffin was channelling as he generated all the rhythm in the early part of the final. Meanwhile, Ewing was more or less stagnant for fifteen minutes. Ewing has a perfectionist’s streak that sometimes seems to make him hold-off until he sees exactly the wave or section he wants. Sometimes this works, but it also increase the pressure-level of every ride. There was another battle at play hear too. Jake Paterson was in the corner for Ethan and Tommy Whitaker was holding the clip-board for Griffin. Two former Ozi tour surfers who still thrive on competition. What advice had each given their surfers?
By mid-heat Colapinto was all momentum and flow and had a meaningful heat total. Ewing had to chase him down and when he squared up for two sublime backside jams and earned the highest score of the heat (a 7.4) until then, it seemed like he might do it. If it had continued to be a backside hook battle, Ethan may have hauled him in, however, Griffin completely shifted the paradigm when he found the tube. As conditions miraculously turned on, Jedi Griff was better prepared for the paradigm shift. The backside drainer, 9.67 reminded everyone watching that we were indeed at Supertubes. Griffin walked away in the yellow jersey and Ewing was left to ponder the loss of another final and had to be content with the number two ranking. Perhaps at Bells the Ethan empire will strike back.
In the women’s final, Joahanne Defay’s backside attack was too strong for Tyler.
Honed on the roping lefts of St Leu, before the sharks scared everyone away, Defay’s backhand is the most fluent and stylish on tour when she’s in form. A more dynamic forehand approach will improve her chances of a world title, particularly with Trestles as a finish point, but right now she is in career-best form at number two in the world.
Attention turns to Australia where Bells beckons and the cut looms ominously in WA. There’s always that other question too. “What the hell will Kelly do?”
We’ve been asking that for a decade but this time, as he sits at 33 well outside the cut-zone, there really is an air of finality about it.
