As the last of the previous nights revelers dragged themselves from the stew of Komune’s pool and scattered like roaches, the early morning floodlights illuminated a sizey Keramas lineup this a.m. (I am not there, this is just what I imagine happening).
Word on the street was today would be better ‘aligned’ at the east coast wave, but through the triple dilution of a hazy Indo morning, camera equipment and a laptop screen 4,500 clicks away, it was hard to tell the difference from yesterday, which is to say it was large, slightly wonky and offering the odd meaty brown tunnel.
Competition was called on and the first order of business was to ice the last heat of round one. In it Adriano De Souza got the nod over Seabass and Yago Dora, Seabass had a chance to steal the win but found himself too wide of the chip in on a bomb, falling down the mineshaft into round two.
In the first two heats of round two, the top ranked Brazilian duo of Filipe Toledo and Italo Ferreira survived a scare at the hands of a couple of wildcards. Filipe resorting to progression on smaller waves to get the nod over local wildcard Oney Anwar,who was only interested in packing the biggest sets. Italo producing a last minute buzzer beater to trump Hawaiian wildcard Baron Mamiya 11.84 to 11.14.
While those heats were fine to watch, albeit a very beige brand of fine. It was when Mikey Wright and Kolohe Andino hit the lineup that the contest seemed to spark to life. However, it was only Mikey Wright producing the current.
Mikey started with a bang, stomping a dirty late drop and barely sneaking under an thick axe of a lip, emerging down the line as clean as a whistle for a 7.17. It was by far the most exciting wave of the morning, which is really quite odd when you consider the caves that were on offer.
Not keen to play the patient game and wait for a chance at dropping into his own big brown cathedral, Kolohe instead decided to ask the judges whether a smaller, cleaner and slightly longer tube would also turn them on. The answer was a resounding no after they handed him a limp 4.33.
This gifted MIkey priority and he made full use of it by threading another set for a 7.00 on the nose.
That seemed to defeat Kolohe on the spot, and he wandered aimlessly around the lineup like a disorientated pensioner for the remainder of the heat, eventually conceding and hitting the beach with over a minute and a half on the clock. His face anguished and confused as he trudged up the black sand.
He had just been Mikey Wrighted.
Maybe a chat to John John is in order for Kolohe, he might have some words of wisdom for the Californian in how to deal with the aftershock of an encounter with the mulleted madman.
Throughout their heat the notorious Indonesian wind line lurked menacingly out to sea, and as the next encounter between Ace Buchan and Miguel Pupo commenced it moved in and made itself at home, destroying the lineup.
As quickly as the contest had sparked it had been snuffed, for the second day in a row.
Commissioner Perrow persisted for a couple more heats before he, like Kolohe Andino, admitted defeat and shut it down.
We await tomorrow with fingers crossed for kinder winds and more sustained action.
