Words Luke Kennedy & Alex Workman
It’s a question that bored into the minds of many yesterday at The Quiksilver Pro. While the pros were chasing points at Snapper everyone else was getting pitted down the line. There were barrels galore at Greenmount, genuine top-to-bottom ball tearers. But as a looming high tide threatened to choke out the fading swell we were still stuck up the point. We wanted to tell Paul Speaker and the WSL in case they didn’t know… because between stints sweating it up in the media pit we haven’t seen them surfing.
But, back to day four…
Surfing’s Lowest Moment and The Ultimate Style Battle
Rumors of Joel Parkinson’s retirement abounded before Snapper. However, if he is contemplating hanging up then leg rope any time this year then he is definitely intent on going out with a kapow! Parko has been practicing his airs at the HPC (watch here) doing run-arounds while holding convincing leads, sledgehammering lips and coercing rookie Brazilians to paddle in when the waves turn funky. You can bet Joel was controlling the narrative with Caio Ibelli when that little tête-à-tête about calling it quits went down. Who knows, perhaps Parko even knew that he would progress as the highest seed if the heat was abandoned by both surfers?
The double heat re-start will be remembered as an all time low-point in sporting history. Flat Oceans are what big sponsors fear most when they put their big bucks at the mercy of mother nature in surfing contests. As time ticked and no waves were ridden, behind the forced ramblings of Pottz and Joe Turpel you could almost hear the broadcast director scratching his eyeballs out and WSL CEO Paul Speaker vomiting into a complimentary, Samsung competitor’s bag. Twenty minutes of no surfing is like watching a full quarter of AFL with every player doing nothing but looking four leaf clovers. For a painful moment Pro surfing became like Homer Simpson’s description of baseball – ‘boring without the beer and the pop corn’.
Parko meets Toledo tomorrow in the first quarter. Joel told the press post heat that he hopes they get a little more swell, obviously reasoning that against the sky-mining Toledo he will need every beltable, big section he can find. Felipe goes in as favourite but Joel is in good form and will likely force the judges to compare a sublimely executed, fully committed turn with acrobatics. The purists and progressives will love debating this one, but the battle on the beach between the Brazilian G-string armada and the Gold Coast old guard will be just as riveting.
The Architect
It took Adriano half a heat to start surfing against Conner Coffin. The swooping cutbacks of the Santa Barbara kid looked nice but weren’t enough against Adriano’s trademark, vertical, forehand snap. With his small frame each rooster tail sent spray higher than the last and the punctuation forced the Brazilian crowd to roar. But perhaps the most emphatic display of his dominance came after the hooter, punching a tail-high reverse into the flats and finishing with a 1000-yard stare.
“I needed to fight so hard in order to come back in this heat,” de Souza stated after securing a Quarterfinal birth. “Conner is a super talented kid and he started the heat pretty well with that 8. I realised that when I have the opportunity I have to push as hard as I can every single turn.”
Adriano lurked for what felt like an eternity after the win, basking in a little world title glory. As he shuffled up and back the media area’s white picket fence soaking up every smile, selfie and compliment paid his way, it was evident he must be enjoying being the one adored for a change.
The (Avoca) Boys Light Up
There still might be a goofy-footer that leaves Snapper with the silverware. If so he’s going to be from Avoca, hell they might even match up. Matt Wilkinson continued to sizzle in Round 4, leapfrogging into the quarterfinals after blowing de Souza to smithereens. Ace meanwhile kept his hopes alive after kicking Kanoa Igarashi out of the draw. The Cali Storm was reduced to a cool breeze as Kanoa failed to finish his waves and surfed like a frustrated grommet who’d let too many opportunities astray.
“Matty’s definitely given me a lot of inspiration,” said Ace after the win. “We both want to give it a big shake this year. We know on our day when we do our best surfing we can beat anyone and we’re going to give it our best every time we paddle out.”
Speed is The Killer for Kennedy
Riding his fang-tailed, Si-Phi model (which everybody in the world now wants) Stu Kennedy is making the competition look like he is on the expressway while they are worried about the speed-cameras in a school zone. He hammers down the line and produces incredible acceleration through turns. Even the regulation snaps are laced with speed and his trademark whip-to-tail-slide turns are executed with such control that he doesn’t sacrifice any momentum. Stu is well aware that speed is his ultimate weapon against John John.
“I’m looking forward to putting it to John John for sure. As I said before, there was someone in the road in my heat against him this morning and I ran them over and that was the difference between getting through my heat. I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve been doing. I’m getting the scores for what I’m doing and I think the speed is a different factor compared to John John, he’s got the massive manouvres but I’ve been getting a few myself and hopefully I can keep doing that with speed.”
Kennedy is in the kind of flow state right now that enables him to click into the zone with each performance. He’s been there before. In 2009 he blitzed the Australasian pro junior series and claimed the title with half a year to spare. It seems he has rediscovered that sense of invincibility he had as a junior.
We can only hope that Kennedy retains his rampage and John John finds his free-surfing mojo. On paper, tomorrow’s quarterfinal definitely has the potential to be the heat of the event.
A huge thanks to Isuzu for providing the Tracks team with vehicles for the 2016 Quiksiliver Pro Gold Coast.
