It is always going to be tight when the judges throw out a 10-point ride early in a heat, in perfect conditions. Perfect as in Keramas, six-foot sets, rising tide, light offshore and flawless. It was the Oakley Pro Keramas, and it was going off its tits, literally. The year was 2013, and Oakley proudly put up their hand to host a return to Indonesia for the Championship Tour. It was unbelievable. It was unforgettable, and it never happened again as Oakley decided against repeating that event.
Back to the event. It was round five, and it was a match-up made in heaven. Parko the seasoned veteran against then-upstart John John Florence. Parko saw this wave coming a mile away, and took off late on a six-foot dredger. It had a little bit of foam on the face, but Parko slipped behind the curtain early, riding pretty much the whole wave in the tube. It was a miraculous tube, and standing next to Kelly, he was cheering as loud as the next bloke. Almost as if having fun, Parko went for a long roundhouse cuttie into the bowl, but fell off. It was fine though, because he had already earned those ten points, and he could pretty much do what he wanted after that.
John John was flaring. His ankle was braced up and he was not resting, going for huge airs and alley oops, and just trying to win the heat as far down the new school road as possible, the diametric opposite to Parko’s excellent but standard tube rides.
Yes, rides…
It didn't take long for Parko to find himself back in position for another wave after his ten-point ride. What looked like the set of the day started looming. On a glassy day at Keramas, positioned from a point of elevation, you can see the sets coming from far away. They sometimes hit further up by KFC, and then suddenly appear right on the reef at Keramas. This set was the one. It actually looked like it was a bit too big, but then it suddenly went smooth as oil with the perfect tapering line. Parko was definitely deep. It was like he wanted to test the wave, to try and see how absurdly deep one could go and still ride a perfect tube. It was almost defiant in nature to be taking off so deep.
He paddled hard on what was obviously the biggest wave of the heat thus far, and probably of the event. He was so deep he scratched into the tube, set his line, and did a quick half-pump/adjustment to find his spot. It was sweet, and to the growing roars of the gathered crowds and contestants he came flying out of the best tube of the event thus far, and so much better than his previous ten-pointer.
Kelly smiled. “They haven’t left themselves anywhere to go,’ he said of the judges conundrum. They couldn't score leas than a ten, but the ride was so much more than the previous ten.
It was unanimous – a perfect ten by all judges, giving the perfect 20 point score to Parko in a strange situation that saw the internet light up and the haters hating, yo. The Parko Push hashtag was reignited from the previous year, his world title run, and the world of enraged couch buffoons ran their podgy little fingers amok on their jizz-encrusted keyboards in shock and anger.
It was a fairly simple situation, but one that the webcast viewer was not privy to. Parko’s first ten was a fair score. It was the best wave of the day thus far, it was the best barrel of the day, and it seemed that the surf was peaking at that stage. No one knew that the wave was going to be followed by a freak wave, the real wave of the day, shortly thereafter, and a 10-point ride is scored in a particular environment. It wasn’t wrong. It could be said that the judges could have given a little bit more room, but those two scores weren’t even a thing of worry, as Parko should have won either way, despite JJF’s ridiculous surfing.
There’s a thing to be said for going down to a Championship Tour event in person, to watch and understand the nuances that are very easily missed on the webcast. Try and get down to one in 2017, wherever you may be.
