As morning broke in Fiji today the early light illuminated a Cloudbreak lineup still full of size, but lacking the mind-warping perfection of yesterday. The catchphrase of the day quickly became ‘wash-through’. Not quite big enough to properly do it on the outside, but big enough to make it Russian roulette to sit on the inside ledge. It’s on the inside where the scores reside however, so those left in the draw took some deep breaths and went into battle.
For the most part the first two quarters went with the grain of what we’ve seen so far. Medina got the win over his elder statesman, Adriano De Souza, Kelly continued his sublime form, amassing an 18.70 point heat total, smoking Wiggoly Dantas and looking every bit like he was destined to take it all the way.
Q3 was where it went a little off script. Ace Buchan took it to his Namotu roommate Mick Fanning and walked away with somewhat of an upset win, what this means for Micks requalification campaign is unknown, but it does make J-bay all that much more important for him.
Q4 was where all eyes were – JJF and Matt Wilkinson. Based on the display of form over the comp so far, John had to be the favourite going in but it wasn’t to be. As much as the luck of the ocean was in play today, it was Wiko’s newfound cool head, and blown opportunities on John’s behalf that led to the Hawaiian bowing out prematurely. Gabriel Medina said yesterday that the waves are 10’s and it’s up to the surfer to find the right line to make it so. With time counting down and Wilko out in front, a wave reared up for John that was a 15. John was in his own head however, and feeling the pressure, squeezed the teets a little too hard. Uncharacteristically he was too deep. The wave ran off without John, as did the heat.
Kelly looked untouchable in earlier rounds, but his semifinal with Gabs was always going to be the true test. Since Kelly found his magic earlier in the event I’ve longed to see him go all the way and taste victory one more time – old friends reuniting. However, the icy cold Brazilian strategist sitting with him in the lineup had plans to rain on that parade. It’s been a long time since Kelly has won, and when you haven’t done it for a while, it becomes a harder and harder feat to achieve. Victory is much fresher in Medina’s mind however, and he was never gonna let Kelly off the hook for some poor decision making and a snapped stick. Medina used this advantage brilliantly playing Kelly like a fiddle in the back half of the heat. Kelly was flustered and Gabs unceremoniously picked him apart stitch by stitch. You could feel the king’s blood pressure rising through the screen. So close but so far.
In his post heat interview Kelly was determined to focus on the positives saying, “I’m happy, I surfed well all contest. I feel like I’ve got that computer in my brain working again.”
When asked if he was looking forward to JBay, Kelly was as evasive as ever, “I’m just looking forward to this weekend and into next week staying in Tavarua.” Has the fire truly been re-ignited by his love of Cloudbreak? I guess we’ll see on the opening day in South Africa.
The ocean changed when Wilko and Ace took to the water for their semi showdown. It led to a subdued affair, a confused mix of wash throughs and average scores. In the wash up (literally) it was Wilko that would meet Gabby in the final, having ground out another working-class Wilko win over his best mate.
Back on the boat it was obvious the chaos of the heat had taken its toll on the ratings leader.
“I’m pretty excited about this one,” explained Wilko. “Pretty buggered after that heat though. It was gnarly, we got like 20 closeouts on the head. Hopefully those wash throughs stop so we can get some nice barrels for the final. I’m gonna drink some water and hopefully chop these arms off and put some new ones on!”
A short time later and the final was underway. The ocean mustn’t have heard the hooter though. Medina made an early start as always but only netted a 0.30 and 1.57 for his first two rides respectively.
Wilko picked up where he left off in the semi and wore a bunch of bombs square on the head, his ever-thinning spaghetti arms doing their utmost to keep him in the game.
Did the WSL look a gift horse in the mouth buy calling it off prematurely yesterday?
Next it was Gabriel’s turn to take a beating, getting washed all the way to the inside and needing jet-ski assistance to get out of there. All without catching a wave.
Now 15 minutes into the final without a score over 2.00, Wilko, asked a question of the judges. He went to turns on an average sized wave – Two hooks and a closeout finisher for a 4.17 … they weren’t having it.
Shortly after Medina finally found the first tube of the final. It wouldn’t have even registered yesterday, but today was a different day. He finished the ride with a sizable but sloppy oop – again not a patch on his effort from the earlier rounds – but it netted him a 7.33 and a crucial lead.
He then backed it up with a milky but lengthy pipe for an 8.27 and what would be the win.
With 30 seconds to go Gabriel unceremoniously paddled for the channel. There was no raucous celebration, just determination and a face that said his victory at Cloudbreak wasn’t job done, it was job just begun.
You can expect a big second half of the year from Gabby. He now moves into second place on the ratings and gets ever closer to ripping the yellow jersey from the torso of good friend Matt Wilkinson. J’Bay will be a battle worth watching.
