After Two days in the questionable Komune pool, sipping on Coronas (until they ran out) the worlds best women hit the Karamas line up in day 3 of the Corona Bali PROtected. Wind evasion has been the pinnacle of priority here in Karamas, with the trade winds reliably roughening up the surface before mid morning. The free surfs have been artificially lit in the pre dawn dark, crowded or in howling onshore conditions.
The first two heats saw slashing backhand attacks and a lot of jostling for position, the peak is a tricky one with a few different take off zones. Co Co Ho managed to slot herself into a nice open tube, surfing her own heat and ignoring the jostle for position her co-workers were dedicated to.
Heat 3 and the best female surfer in the world right now, possibly ever easily found one of the barrels of the day. In pure Steph style she sent Sage on the first wave of the set and effortlessly turned on the second, magically finding the wave of the heat.
Three of the top 5 were relegated to round 2 but all managed to grind through, namely crook Carissa. The Hawaiian heavyweight has had a bad case of Bali Belly, today being the only day she has been seen around the Komune complex.
While Gilmore may be on top of the ratings, Silvana Lima was the highlight of the day. With a near perfect 9.13, the Brazilians passion was prominent coming out of a screaming backdoor barrel and exploding through her turns all the way to the beach. She was the most dynamic surfer through her turns and destroyed her usually formidable opponents.
Unlike tennis, surfing has no rule about coaching while competition is underway. Today those who stopped looked or listened to their signals were on the best waves and rewarded kindly. Whether it was a wild whistle or a little orange high vis vest peeking over the corona balcony, the best barrels came to those in the know.
