It wasn’t epic by a long shot, but the opening round of the Fiji Pro still went down in the best waves the tour has seen this year on the championship tour. Here are five moments that mattered at Cloudbreak in Round 1.
Jadson wins with the simplest formula
After a slow start to the first two heats of Round One, the waves began to pour in for the Medina vs. Kennedy vs. Andre match up and the guys got to work. Stuey looked classy on his backhand, all clean lines and flow, but fell on a good one early and couldn’t really back up his 7.5 with anything more than 5. Medina was hungry as ever, catching a million waves and laying the rail into every turn, but couldn’t find the exit on one of his scoring waves and fell on another, leaving the door open for his fellow countryman to walk through if he wanted to. And he did. Jadson hasn’t exactly been in the winner’s circle of late, but at Cloudbreak, with the prospect of long left-hand barrels on offer, the goofy-footer kept it beautifully simple and packed a couple of deep tubes to take a convincing win over his rivals.
Wilko fails to find back-up, Keanu squeezes through
After his Round 2 exit in Rio, you could tell Wilko wanted to make a statement in his opener at Fiji. Something along the lines of ‘Yes, this forehand works fine and the yellow jersey still fits’. And the forehand was working fine, but unfortunately a runaway section on his opening score and a slow heat wave-wise meant that he only had a 4.83 to go with his mid 7 (which showcased an impressive bit of rail-work combined with a nice little air on the inside section), and thus things were left open for a guy who needs a win more than most, Keanu Asing. With three minutes left the diminutive Hawaiian took off on a clean insider, belted the first section and then pulled in low and tight on his backhand before squeezing out for a 7 and victory by half a point, leaving Wilko to once again face the perils of Round 2.
Wiggolly takes down the veterans
With Mick hungry to get some quick points after a two-event hiatus and Kai Otton also looking to turn his year around following some disappointing early round losses (not to mention skipping Rio), Wiggolly had his work cut out for him against the veterans. The thing about Wiggolly, though, is that he already surfs like a veteran even though it’s only his second year on tour. With the low tide making waves scarce, big Wigs picked off the wave of the heat early on and surfed it pretty much to perfection, laying down three big hacks for an 8.17. Mick, for his part, surfed with patented flow, bagging a couple of mid-range scores on mediocre waves, but when Wiggolly put away a 7.43 in the later stages the heat was as good as over.
Jordy channels Andy, puts on the performance of Round 1
There was something very Andy-esque about the way Jordy took apart Cloudbreak in his win over Ace and Taj. Big turns on big sections and a blatant disregard for the shallow close-out section was what made it all look so familiar, and it was bloody good to watch. With a new swell pushing in with the tide and a cross-shore wind making things a little bit hairy, the big South African put on his best performance of the year with a combination of big back-hand belts and floaters, scooping himself a 9 and a 7.67 to post the highest heat total of the round. Ace kept him on his toes throughout, linking together a couple of nice runners, but in the end he couldn’t keep up with Jordy’s aggressive approach.
Slater wins his second heat of the year
By the time the last heat of the day hit the water, the wind was well and truly up and the waves were pouring in. While Seabass had a bit of shocker, Kelly and Kolohe went toe-to-toe, with the young Californian stringing together a couple of textbook three-turn combos to score a 7.50 and an 8.40, putting as much pressure as he could on the champ. Kelly looked far from his best, but surfed better than he has all year and managed to put together a 9 midway through the heat for a blowtail-carve-floater combo that allowed him to narrowly squeak through for his second heat win of the year.
Now onto Round 2
Sure, it wasn’t flawless Cloudbreak by any means, but day two of the Fiji Pro still went down in the best surf the WSL has seen for a Championship Tour event all year. With semi-clean 3-4 foot waves rolling down the reef, Round 2 ran from start to finish and featured a healthy mix of upsets, close calls and finely timed returns to form from some of the world’s best surfers. Here’s a few of the juicier bits.
Wilko narrowly avoids another Round 2 exit
Wilko left his run late against Brazilian rookie Alex Ribeiro, but a couple of rail-heavy mid 6s in the latter part of the match-up was enough to give him the nod over his luckless opponent, who’s yet to make a heat since he qualified. Wilko appears to have lost some of the magic confidence that stood him in such good stead at the start of the season, but he’s still surfing well. In fact, his forehand looks better than ever and if he can find some rhythm in the next couple of rounds that yellow jersey might stay on his shoulders a little longer.
Medina goes nuts against Callinan
Tracks had Newcastle rookie Ryan Callinan pegged for a big result in Fiji, but against a riled-up Gabriel Medina the talented goofy-footer stood little chance. While Ryan played the patience game and banked a couple of well-surfed rides, Gabs stalked the line-up and caught everything that moved, punting full-rotation alley-oops one minute and scoring deep tubes the next. The hot-blooded Brazilian had a well-publicized altercation with big South African unit Jordy Smith in the morning’s freesurf, but that didn’t hurt his confidence none. If anything it just seemed to fire him up more as he laid down the third highest heat total of the day. Here’s hoping Jordy and Gabs come up against each other in a later round so they can settle the beef in the best way possible.
Fanning sends a friend packing
Namotu roommates and fellow veterans Kai Otton and Mick Fanning had themselves a good old-fashioned stoush in their Round 2 match-up, with renowned tube-pig Otto opting to pull in while Mick relied on his ever dependable rail-work. In the end the judges went with Mick’s spray and finesse on the bigger waves over Kai’s cover-ups, and the Aussie goofy-footer was handed his third 25th of the season, making his quest to requalify a hard one. Speaking of the match-up afterwards, Mick was as gracious ever: ‘You sort of just want to go out there and respect each other and put on a good performance and just let the surfing do the talking, which is how it went in the end. But yeah it’s hard to lose a mate.’
Taj ain’t done yet
In his last ever event as a tour competitor, Taj recovered from his Round 1 shocker to hand Brazilian rookie sensation and world number 5 Caio Ibelli his first early round exit. With half of Namotu caddying for him in the channel and a haircut that wouldn’t be out of place on the set of Mad Max, Taj put his trademark backhand hammers to good use and kept the dream of going out with a win alive, even if it seems to matter more to us than him.
‘Going out in this event is a fairytale ending for me regardless of the result,’ a stoked Taj told Rosie afterwards. ‘I’m on my favourite island and with all my extended family and friends and I couldn’t be happier.’
Kerrsy and Kolohe get stuck into it
Josh Kerr and Kolohe Andino had one of the battles of the round as they went blow for blow in heat nine. With a ton of waves on offer and each guy fired up for a win, the two traded pig-dog barrels and backhand blasts right to the final hooter, with Kolohe going down to his opponent by the narrowest margin for the second day in a row. Considering how well he surfed in both heats this result has got to hurt, and it’s not going to help his already faltering title run. Kerrsy, on the other hand, needs to get his year back on track after falling to 27th after the first four events.
Fiji Pro Round 2 Results:
Heat 1: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 10.67 def. Tevita Gukilau (FJI) 3.50
Heat 2: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 13.10 def. Alex Ribeiro (BRA)11.10
Heat 3: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.94 def. Ryan Callinan (AUS) 14.10
Heat 4: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 14.00 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 11.17
Heat 5: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.10 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 14.40
Heat 6: Dusty Payne (HAW) 16.50 def. Nat Young (USA) 14.67
Heat 7: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.30 def. Caio Ibelli (BRA) 13.03
Heat 8: Kanoa Igarashi (USA) 13.17 def. Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 10.53
Heat 9: Josh Kerr (AUS) 15.00 def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.74
Heat 10: Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.50 def. Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 8.83
Heat 11: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 14.84 def. Jack Freestone (AUS) 13.16
Heat 12: Conner Coffin (USA) 13.17 def. Davey Cathels (AUS) 10.16
Fiji Pro Round 3 Match-Ups:
Heat 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Matt Banting (AUS)
Heat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Kanoa Igarashi (USA)
Heat 3: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Kelly Slater (USA)
Heat 5: Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) vs. Conner Coffin (USA)
Heat 6: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Keanu Asing (HAW)
Heat 7: Italo Ferreira (BRA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Josh Kerr (AUS)
Heat 9: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 10: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Taj Burrow (AUS)
Heat 11: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 12: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)
