ADVERTISEMENT

Behind The Shot, Ross Williams, Cloudbreak

The rivalry between Ross Williams and Strider Wasilewski and the 'commentators cup' at the Fiji Pro.

The crew that work on and around the tour pretty much all surf, some better than others and at a lot of the tour stops there has been a loose running tradition called the ‘cameraman’s cup’ or the ‘commentators cup’ and depending how  many people involved they might just roll it into who has surfed the best on any single day.

With the addition of former pro surfers and big wave riders to this year’s web commentary team the stakes have been raised and there is a lot of trash talk around the breakfast tables and dinner tables about sessions that have gone down or are about to go down.

When the forecast for a big Cloudbreak swell was in the wind last week the jibbing between the webcast crew went up a notch with Hawaii’s  natural footer Ross Williams and American  goofy-footer and Pipeline specialist Strider Wasilewski calling each other out.

Fast forward to Thursday and the Women’s comp is first called on at Cloudbreak in solid 6’ surf but then the decision was made to move it to Restaurants as the swell continued to build. Unfortunately the Restaurants call was made as the tide was dropping and the event was put on hold till early afternoon.

Once the call was made for a tow hour break the island boats raced to Cloudbreak with all sorts of crew wanting to score some waves. Ross Williams was basically dropped off the boat just off the take off zone and within minutes was paddling into one of the waves of the day, sort of like when Dave Wassel got dropped out the back on the big swell two years ago and scored one of the waves of the day.

Ross dropped in, bottom turned, stood on the tail to stall and pulled into a open pit and parked himself in there as the wave reeled off down the reef. Notch up the first score to Williams.

Ross ended up putting himself in another bomb which he didn’t come out of while Strider hunted the line up looking for anything that slightly resembled Ross’s first wave. The ‘hooter’ sounded to end the round of the ‘commentators cup’ when the contest was called back on and all the workers bailed back to there respective jobs at Restaurants.  Williams had smashed the heat and had bragging rights until the next round, whenever and wherever that goes down. – Joli

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
SUBSCRIBE TO TRACKS
A bi-monthly eclectic tome of tangible surfing goodness that celebrates all things surfing, delivered to your door!
SUBSCRIBE NOW
HAPPENINGS
Your portal to cultural events happening in and around the surfing sphere.
Find Events
SUBSCRIBE TO TRACKS
A bi-monthly eclectic tome of tangible surfing goodness that celebrates all things surfing, delivered to your door!
SUBSCRIBE NOW
HAPPENINGS
Your portal to cultural events happening in and around the surfing sphere.
Find Events

LATEST

Ellie Harrison's dream CT debut just got a whole lot more dreamy.

Pairing Italy's famous delicacies with a healthy dose of barrels.

The formation of Goons of Doom, why you should get pissed at their gigs and what a band with Occy, Steph Gilmore, Yago Dora and Jacko Baker would sound like.

ADVERTISEMENT

PREMIUM FEATURES

Bestowing the highest praise upon a surfer.

An edited extract from ‘The Immortals of Australian Surfing’ by Phil Jarratt.

How a land-locked mainlander chased ocean dreams to the North Shore lineups and beyond.

TRACKS PREMIUM

Get full access to every feature from our print issues, read classic Tracks issues from the 70s, 80s and 90’s, watch all of our classic films & more …

TRACKS PREMIUM

Get full access to every feature from our print issues, read classic Tracks issues from the 70s, 80s and 90’s, watch all of our classic films & more …

CLASSIC ISSUES

A threat to Angourie, the death of vibes, and a tongue in cheek guide on how to become a surf star.

PREMIUM FILM

YEAR: 2008
STARRING: JOEL PARKINSON, MICK FANNING AND DEAN MORRISON

This is the last time the original cooly kids were captured together and features some of their best surfing.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

PRINT STORE

Unmistakable and iconic, the Tracks covers from the 70s & 80s are now ready for your walls.

Tracks
Kandui Resort Interstitial