"To see a world in a grain of sand," is the line that Adrian "Ace" Buchan uses for his Insta bio. Now knowing the Tracks readers deep understanding of the great metaphysical poets, you will no doubt know that is the opener from William Blake's most famous poem The Auguries of Innocence. You will also know that the following lines go, And heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour."
The grain of sand and the flower, as you know, become metaphors for the hidden beauty of nature and the divinity that can be found in the mundane if, that is, you use your imagination. Well today’s performance by Ace had imagination and beauty and no shortage of sand.
Now Ace’s defeat loss will, rightfully, be overshadowed by the win of Julian Wilson. Julian has been surfing with one hand behind his back, yet still managed to pack a series of incredible drainers and fight through a series of physical and emotional barriers to claim his first ever yellow jersey. It may not rival the famous effort of Sam Burgess, when he broke his jawbone in the first tackle of the 2014 Grand Final, yet played on to captain his team to victory, but it was still damn impressive.
But Ace shouldn’t be forgotten. It proved, yet again, that he is simply one of the best backhand tuberiders in the world. At the age of 35 he also is still at the very cutting edge of surfing. This year is his 12th consecutive year on the CT. In that time he has finished as high as World No. 6 and never ended the season outside the Top 20. He has two events wins to his name, in France and Tahiti (beating Kelly Slater in both finals) and has made a career out of a lethal backhand, competitive smarts, precise rail work and his ability in tubes of consequence. Today he packaged all that up and pushed Wilson all the way.
He has now far progressed past being one of Australia’s most underrated surfers, he has been around too long and been to successful for that tag, but in a week when the likes of Griffin Colapinto showed where surfing might be headed, Ace yet again showcased just how good and relevant a surfer he is.
This week we also saw with Fanning and Parko what happens when our legends retire. The old adage that you don’t know what you’ve got, till what you’ve got is gone, rings true. It’s clear that Ace isn’t going anywhere just yet, but it still might be worthing allocating a bit of time for one of Australia’s great surfers. Maybe even do what Ace does, and see the world in a grain of sand.
