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Seabass Wins ‘Dirty’ at the Drug Aware Pro

Filthy, hucked grab-rails and good vibes trump Julian’s rhythmic body jive.

Fuelled by the promise of triple shot cappuccinos, coached by Tom Whitaker and equipped with a massive, grubby-railed front-side carve, Sebastian Zietz snatched victory at today’s Drug Aware Pro Margaret river. The win moved him to number two in the world and thus made the injury wildcard Matt Wilkinson’s nearest rival on two fronts – firstly as a contender for the world crown and secondly in the title for most popular surfer on tour.

“Wooah Radical!” exclaimed Sebastian Zietz after being told he was now ranked number two in the world by a channel-bobbing Pete Mel. The excitement was palpable and arguably eclipsed the scenes of Matt Wilko’s surprise back-to-back wins earlier this year. Post victory The Kauaian, who was raised as one of nine and is famous for throwing triple thumb shakas (he has an extra digit), was vocal about how much he loves the ‘mud’. “Capaccuino! I haven’t had a good coffee yet let’s hunt down that coffee van.” Maybe he’d just surfed himself into the first major coffee sponsorship on tour.

Seabass’ self-described “radical” victory over Julian Wilson was the result of a duel between dirty and clean surfing. The Hawaiian’s raw, raging rail work matched against Julian’s clinical, body-torque carves. Although Wilson controlled most of the heat Seabass’s 8.30 in the dwindling minutes proved to be the difference. ’Bass finished with a heat total of 17.40 to Jules’ 16.67. The judges seemed to be sending a message that they will reward charismatic turns, which break the line over a more fluent approach.

While Seabass celebrated his first CT win by ‘aiming low and achieving high’, Julian was left to contemplate his fourth straight finals loss. On the podium it was all smiles between the pair with Seabass even apologising for accidently kicking Jules in the face as the pair fought for the inside in their opening exchange.

“I am stoked,” Zietz said. “The pressure was on and I pulled that last maneuver in the white-water and made it. To win was definitely the goal I’d set for a long time. It is epic to win a CT event being against all the top guys and come out on top. I just want to dedicate this win to my family and everyone at home. Thank you everyone who has pushed me and helped me along the way.”

Seabass’ win hasn’t come without hard work. After failing to requalify in 2016 he was been thrown a lifeline by the WSL when Owen Wright withdrew from the first half of the season. Despite talking down any “behind the scenes” work and attributing the result to “surfing his brains out” the Hawaiian has been busy opening a gym and surrounding himself with the right people. His coach is former CT pro Tommy Whitz and their partnership paid dividends in West Oz.

“Falling off tour was really hard and made me feel like a kook, so I just went home and got a lot of waves to get back into rhythm,” said Seabass. “I was psyched to hit the Qualifying Series and get the call up for the CT. It was an amazing contest. We had killer waves and good wind. Western Australia in general is epic.”

The Hawaiian has already banked 1000 more points in three CT events than he did in his entire 2015 season and seems all but certain to requalify for the tour next season.

Meanwhile Wilson again finds himself on the losing end of a very tight result. (At Bells he was famously beaten by Wilko’s last minute wonder wave in round five) Narrow losses of this nature are a great test of character, particularly for those who have been ordained as world title contenders. On a positive note, where Wilson was once infamous for his plodding, low wave count approach to big fixtures he’s now surfing with much more rhythm in his heats. Most of the viewing audience (and possibly Julian himself) probably felt like he had the thing wrapped up in the first five minutes and it was only the absence of a single jaw-dropper turn that denied him a victory.

For now it’s Seabass and Wilko at one and two in a pro surfing world where the class clowns are running the show. It’s going to be a lot of fun seeing if the tour’s more typical comp nerds can catch up.

Drug Aware Margaret River Pro Men’s Final Results:

1 –

Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 17.40


2 –

Julian Wilson (AUS) 16.67

Drug Aware Margaret River Pro Men’s Semifinal Results:

SF 1:

Julian Wilson (AUS) 16.60 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.50

SF 2: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 16.27 def. Italo Ferreira (BRA) 13.17

2016 Samsung Galaxy WSL Top 5:

1.

Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 24,000 pts

2. Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 15,750 pts

3. Italo Ferreira (BRA) 14,750 pts

4. Kolohe Andino (USA) 13,700 pts

5. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13,450 pts

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