“I cannot believe it; I’m the world champion… I made it hard for myself, but I’m so stoked to bring it back to Australia.” Molly Picklum was euphoric as she talked on camera, moments after winning the world title at Cloudbreak, Fiji. The plucky natural footer with a penchant for heavy waves had earned her victory with two wins and three-runners-up throughout the year. She’d made it to finals day 10 times and gone in as the number one seed. Fiercely ambitious but also fizzing with personality, it was a popular win. While Molly needed three heats, Brazilian Yago Dora only required the one to get the job done. It was a poignant moment when Yago’s father, Leandro, hugged his son in the wake of the win. Leandro had worked as a coach with Jack Robinson all year but rescinded his coaching duties on finals day, no doubt because of a conflicted soul. Yago and Molly were undisputed and deserving winners but at various points throughout the day the momentum was certainly with other surfers.
2015 Fiji champ, Owen Wright was at my local beach yesterday for a Surf Aid event. When I asked him about the impending WSL finals he flicked to the swell forecast and instantly suggested the smaller waves would favour the goofy footers.
Despite the promise of a rising swell, it certainly didn’t start out as the roaring, funnelling Fiji lineup fans or Jack Robinson had hoped to see. Jack looked like he was stuck in an imaginary scenario where it was barrelling, and he could utilise the biggest weapon in his arsenal. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he seemed to be screaming as he fell on multiple rides. In the end, Italo cruised to victory with mid-range scores and moderate airs. Robbo’s record in the defunct finals format hasn’t been great. He’s been there four times and failed to convert. One fancied Fiji was his best chance to claim a title in a final five scenario. Alas it was not to be for Jack or Australian fans.
The goofy foot ‘favourites’ theme continued in the early women’s matchups. Caroline Marks was able to take a mid-line approach that better suited the pace of the wave. Her turns connected like well-timed jabs and Marks looked more in synch with her Mayhem equipment than her early challengers. Bettylou Sakura Johnson was the first victim of an ultra-confident Caroline. Then Caity Simmers couldn’t quite match the wave’s pace as she endeavoured to go top-to-bottom on her backhand. Sweet revenge for Caroline who lost to Caity in last year’s best of three, world title matchup.
After Jack Robinson underperformed, it’s arguable that Italo went into heat two brimming with over-confidence. It was a flawed strategy if he thought a couple of manufactured airs on mid-size waves would be enough to get the win this time
Griffin certainly didn’t read any press releases about the conditions favouring the goofies. Critically, he found the waves with corners and good pace. From that platform he swung for the fences with precise, and deftly-timed power turns. It was just plain good surfing with enough variation in the angle of manoeuvres to avoid being repetitive. Meanwhile, the judges sent a clear message, they would not be beguiled by Italo’s magic tricks. He was certainly pulling rabbits out of hats, but they wanted to see him saw Griffin in two with his flying Timmy Paterson blade.
Against Jordy, Griffin’s hypnotic rhythm continued. Within minutes he’d snaffled a runner from way up the top of the reef, hooking down the line on a slinky ribbon and punctuating the ride with a fin-drifting finish. Meanwhile,
the more the commentators talked about Jordy perhaps ‘deserving’ a world title for his career efforts the more doubtful I felt. Griffin had no time for that kind of feel-good logic in a finals setting, where the title invariably belongs to the surfer who rises to the occasion and snatches it from the dreamy, blue waters of the Pacific.
As Jordy fumbled, Griffin was surfing with an air of invincibility and seamless flow. He looked so connected to his board, all he had to do was think about where he wanted to place his turn and how to tweak the tail. A crumbling, stage-frightened Jordy couldn’t strum a chord, but Griff was hitting every note just right.
However, at the fifteen-minute mark Griff wasted priority on an inconsequential wave. He was perhaps enjoying the flow too much. Too greedy for the rhythm and not tactical enough to make the right wave choice. Jordy pounced. On the biggest wave of the heat, Jordy cleaved at clean face and then air-dropped from a hammering lip with a dramatic floater. It was a big man doing big turns and the judges rewarded him handsomely with an 8.67.
Griff turned up the volume to nail a 7.6. He was surfing brilliantly in that 80-90 percentile range. Measured risk with variation. Jordy was chasing a 6.76 with priority and five minutes to go. Totally doable but he’d fallen or failed on every wave bar one. With two minutes to go he catches maybe the most important wave of his competitive life. The crucial first turn was a shade lateral and the rest of the wave just a little unconvincing. The judges could feel his nerves and dropped a 4.83. The title dream was over for Jordy and South African fans.
Both number one seeds must have been nervous. Their competitors had torn through the draw like hungry sharks with a view to a kill. Molly and Yago were jumping in cold, but only a heat (or two waves) away from title glory thanks to a late-season rule gouge that stated they could secure the title with a win in the first heat. It would only go best of three if the low seed won the first round.
On her first wave Molly murdered the high seed priority advantage, after bottom turning too deep she was late to the lip, and fell. It definitely wasn’t the firm metal spike in the world title mountain she wanted. Rattled by her fall a nervous Molly played it safe for two mid-range scores. Meanwhile, Marks went for a higher degree of difficulty as she snapped to airdrop and got funnelled across the reef. It was fully committed, high risk surfing but the wave clamped on what might very well have been a ten-point ride.
Caroline was behind, but the momentum was somehow with her and the ensuing 7.33 came as little surprise. On rail and in the lip, Marks looked by far the superior performer. Could Molly turn it around? Picklum went hunting the tube, her strong point, but the tactic didn’t pay off – this time. Advantage Marks after heat one. Now it was Molly who needed to win two heats and Caroline who was only a couple of waves away from her second world title.
In round one of the men’s final clash, Yago’s first wave put an immediate end to any suggestion he might not be in the zone. His big-cat body language radiated positivity as he slayed a carve and air-dropped from an onshore-ruffled lip. A 7.33 and it seemed that perhaps he was half-way to a world title.
Griff found a writhing warpy thing that he navigated well before letting him wrangle the first completed barrel of the day. The 6.33 gave him a fleeting lead. Shortly after Dora slayed a big open face with three hyper-critical turns and a head-dip finish for good measure. The judges dropped an 8.33 and it looked like Yago had done exactly what was required. Flown to Fiji for two waves and waltzed his way to a world title win. The remaining exchanges were inconsequential, as the clock ticked over and Yago held on to his commanding lead. If Colapinto had exited the tube on his last-second ride he may well have got the 9.33 he needed and pushed it to best of three. However, it wasn’t to be and Yago Dora was a worthy world champion. One might argue that his combination of committed rail surfing, power turns and steezy airs made him the most complete surfer on tour this season and he’d used every one of those weapons in his pursuit of glory, claiming wins at Portugal and Trestles en route to victory.
For Molly it would have been easy to crumble and succumb to self- doubt after making the job more difficult by losing the first heat.
For round two, the waves were bigger and a little junkier as the swell kicked in. Molly seemed to revel in the more unruly conditions. She could bash lips and forget about hunting the barrel – for a while at least.
Meanwhile, it was harder for Marks to knife rails in bumpier conditions. Molly opened with a seven and backed it up with a six, demonstrating she has one of the best backhand hooks in women’s surfing. She snuffed out a barrel for an 8.83 and easily clinched heat two to set up a dramatic decider.
Utilising the high seed, priority advantage, Molly nailed wave one in heat three. Sweetly timed on rail and brutal with the lip for a seven. Another two turn combo and suddenly the title was in sight for the charger from Shelly Beach on the central coast of NSW. The tube to float combo on wave three brought roars from the flotilla. The loudest from her boyfriend, Austin. She was surfing the textbook heat. Posting two good scores and then going excellent with a third ride – an 8.83. Caroline spent the rest of the heat in combo land, the rhythm and wave selection that had typified her finals campaign now eluding her. Molly put it even further beyond reach for the combed Caroline when she went excellent again with an 8.10. Somehow Molly had totally shifted the momentum her way and deciphered the tricky Cloudbreak lineup. Cameo coach, Mitch Ross, was certainly happy. He’d twice been in the corner for Carissa Moore when she lost on finals day. If the channel was loud, you could almost hear the cheers from across the Pacific in Australia as locals from Shelly Beach and beyond celebrated Molly’s win.
In Fiji fans waved goodbye to the Finals day format, one of the most controversial systems in pro surfing history. I’m amongst those looking forward to a return to a first past the post system. However, that doesn’t mean the WSL can’t be a little creative with formats. I’d be more than happy to see a separate ‘Champion of Champions’ event that took the top five to a suitable location for one day of competition after the world title had been decided. But maybe that’s asking too much of a system that has been tweaked and twisted too many times in recent years.
