“All of the nerves that I’ve had the entire year were just smashed into an hour and a half of waiting. I was pretty much mentally prepared for a surf-off. When I lost that quarterfinal heat against Courtney I was so bummed with myself I was going to paddle all the way to Moloki! But by the time I made it back to the rocks after hearing Sally’s result, it lifted my confidence and I just got more excited about the possibilities…”
In 2007 Stephanie Gilmore won her first world title at Honolua Bay, the only rookie to do so in their first year. Today, she clinched her sixth trophy at the very same wave. It wasn’t an easy day. The world title race came down to the very last heat of the very last event. Steph wasn’t even in the final but sitting in the competitors area waiting for her fate to be announced. A fate that was in the hands of her rivals Tyler Wright and Carissa Moore.
For a world tour that has been so dominated by the four women at the top, the whole crowd was talking as Courtney Conlogue removed Steph from the event in the first quarterfinal match up. Can she still win the title? Where does that put Sally?
Back in the water Bianca Buitendag was doing what she does best at right hand point breaks, ripping it to shreds. Vertical to vertical she gave us a rendition of the heat that got her a runner up placement at Snapper Rocks earlier this year. She knocked Sally out of the event and it took everyone a moment to realise, Sally was out of the title race.
She too looked like she might paddle away never to be seen again but instead floated in the shallows at the bay, clearly devastated at yet another close miss to her first world trophy.
Everyone knows that Sally is the hardest working athlete on the tour, the most dedicated to the cause and such a warm human being. Everyone felt the loss. “Today is such a heart breaker but I just got to pick myself back up. Obviously I was devastated after pouring all energy into it but it’s great that we had three Aussies in the title race – the trophy is going back to Australia,” Sally stated when she finally came back for her post heat interview.
Up in the competitors lounge Steph was being put through her paces watching the final. “I kept going through moments in my head of being so nervous that Tyler would win, then trusting that Carissa is such an incredible surfer” she said.
The most ironic thing about the final was that Carissa would have loved to take a third world title but was knocked out of the running in Portugal. Tyler on the other hand doesn’t even think about titles, she only cares about the way she surfs. “I don’t even know what I have to do to win a world title, to me, I’m just surfing.” And surf she did.
Even her brother Owen flew over from Oahu to surprise her and give her some advice. “Just do your thing Tyler.” In her speech about being the 2013 women’s runner up, Tyler spent most of the time thanking Carissa for inspiring her. Steph did the same on the stage today.
“Tyler is so deserving of this world title. So is Carissa, and so is Sally. I wish there was some way we could share it all,” a few of us looked at each other suspiciously, “but it’s mine for now” she finished with that trademark grin.
Whether you’re a photographer, a writer, a pro or a regular surfer, you’d have to agree this is the best year of women’s competitive surfing yet. This group of 18 girls has shown they have the ability to take on big waves and lay down power hacks some of the top 16 men would be proud of. And to bring the trophy back onto Australian soil, well that’s just the icing on the cake.
Mahalo Hawaii!
