Sally Wins in Fiji With A Busted Eardrum
Yesterday, Sally Fitzgibbons defeated Bianca Buitendag in the final of the women’s Fiji Pro despite perforating her eardrum earlier in the event. Watching the finals, you could almost feel the pressure of the water pushing against Sal’s eardrum every time she went underwater. The pain would have been immense, but Sally’s a warrior and she pushed through to take the crown.
“In the face of adversity, this is one of the most special wins I’ll ever have,” she said post heat. Well done Sal.
John John Out, Giant Killers In
Earlier in the week we discovered that John John Florence had suffered from a high ankle sprain while shooting a video part with Felipe Toledo. The injury, much to the dismay of surf fans everywhere, has forced John John to sit on the sidelines in Fiji, one of his favourite events. However, much to the joy of surf fans, Jay Davies has been selected as the injury wildcard to replace John. As a bona fide barrel-pig, Jay has the potential to cause some serious upsets much like he did earlier in the year at the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro. Dane Reynolds has also been selected as an exciting wildcard, but your guess is as good as mine as to whether or not Dane will finally perform on the world stage.
Here’s a video of Jay doing what he does best. It was filmed at North Point recently and it’s a damn fine example of how dangerous Davies might be at Cloudbreak.
Tracks Clip of the Week – Dane Drops a Bomb
It’s been a big week for Dane Reynolds fans. Not only has he been selected as a wildcard in the Fiji Pro, but he has also dropped one of the sickest, lengthiest clips we have seen from him (or anyone for that matter) in a long time. This edit is in classic Marine Layer style and in my opinion it is almost certainly better than his section in Cluster even though, as Dane said, it’s the “b-sides… that didn’t make it into Cluster”.
Brett Barley’s Silver and Gold
Glorious POV barrels will surely never get old and Brett Barley’s latest compilation of brown, silver and golden barrels in no exception. The clip is a collection of a few Autumn/Winter sessions at Outer Banks and was made by Barley in order to reminisce on the US season just gone by. It’s now proper Summer up north and it is certainly not the season for these kind of waves. In Barley’s own words: “here’s a salute to the times past, of empty beaches and brown water cylinders, and a hope for more to come again sometime in a few months”.
Check the golden vision from 2:17. Simply incredible.
Soli Bailey Wins The Australian Indigenous Surfing Title
Earlier in the week, Soli Bailey took out the Australian Indigenous Surfing Title at Bells Beach. Along the way he beat defending champ Otis Carey in the semis and posted a heat score total of 17.77 to emphatically defeat Russell Molony in the final. The future is looking brighter and brighter for the local Byron boy Bailey.
A Very Near 540
Yesterday, Hawaiian surfer Seth Moniz came very close to landing a 540. There’s one and a bit full rotations there, but you can decide for yourself on whether that counts as a make or not. He certainly reckons it was a make.
Watch the Insty clip below.
Jacob Willcox At Home
Jacob Willcox’s latest edit is a collaboration of his surfing between the end of the contest season last year and the start of the 2015 season. At the moment, Jacob is suffering from a broken ankle and has been out of the water for 11 weeks. Hopefully, he can get back to this sort of level of barrel weaving and air stomping as soon as possible.
Donkey Mist in Namibia
Okay, so let’s get past the music (unless that’s what you’re into) and the dated font choice for a second and focus on the incredible waves that are featured in this clip. This section tells the tale of a frothing gaggle of surfers who arrived through the mist to meet the first swell of the year at the infamous Namibian desert left hander, Donkey Bay. Just to warn you, this clip features serious tube time and crazy long rides.
Who Is JOB 5.0 Episode 2
JOB does some silly things, but none are more ridiculous than his idea of hedge surfing in the latest episode of ‘Who is Job’. This clip also features the Catch Surf Keiki Shore Break Pro and JOB’s mate Poopies jumping off a bridge. Let the ludicrousness ensue.
Dokoda Walters Kills it at Home
This kid is 13-years-old and already has almost all the tricks in the book. Add a couple of years and a little bit of power to his game and he looks set to have a long career in pro surfing. Maybe it’s just the Billabong stickers on the nose of his board, but this guy looks so much like a young a Taj Burrow it’s kinda scary. Watch the clip below.
Bonus Section – A Dog Surfing Competition
About a dozen dogs turned up last Friday to compete in a surf contest at Huntington Beach, CA. 12 minutes, three judges and two weight divisions (big and small). The winners of the contest apparently also competed in a diving competition on Saturday… weird.
