It’s been one of the most heavily anticipated contests in recent history. Today Pro surfing made its return to Plenkung point aka G-land, on the jungle fringes of East Java.
G-land was where the concept of a ‘dream tour’ really began back in 1995 at the Quiksilver Pro G-land, a contest that goes down in surfing folklore as one of the wildest of all time.
So did day one of competition live up to expectations? Even on screen the sparkling blue G-land line-up is a wonder to behold. While the waves were not as hypnotically perfect ( or big) as we might have liked there were still a few moments with a little bit of magic.
The opening round post mid-year-cut stipulates that winners head straight to the round of 16, while second and third place go to the elimination round. Same , same but quicker and skinnier.
The surfing elite were gifted four to six foot waves today with light SSE winds. The waves were tricky but gems were found when the tide dropped.
Carissa Moore and Tatiana Weston-Webb established themselves as event favourites from their opening round performances
Stephanie Gilmore made the most of the sleepy conditions, taking down Courtney Conlogue and Isabella Nichols in the opening heat of the day.
Waves started to pick up as the day went on and Carissa Moore did not let her competitors go anywhere near the best rides in heat no. three. The world no. two used her powerful rail game and placed herself in the first barrel of the comp to gain two excellent scores.
Tatiana Weston-Webb showed why she is an event favourite with her performance today. The goofy-footer was obviously grateful that the CT finally has a world-class left-hand break and showed her appreciation by pulling into one of the best barrels of the day.
G-Land started to turn on as the tide dropped in the later rounds of the women’s and the start of men’s.
Italo shines, Medina returns, and John John possibly injured?
Ethan Ewing started the men’s opening round with a masterful back-hand approach to Grajagan, taking out veterans Jordy Smith and Jadson Andre.
G-Land isn’t a bad place for a return to CT competition for previously injured Yago Dora who faced John John and Kolohe Andino in his first heat back. John John caused a scare, when he paddled out with a left knee-brace in his heat. The knee-brace was not a casual bit of tape, this was an expensive piece of heavily engineered equipment . Does he have another knee injury that we don’t know of?Â
Fans however were relieved as John didn’t look overly burdened by his elaborate brace, his surfing convincingly winning the heat.Â
John in his post-heat interview said that “unfortunately yesterday morning I kind of tweaked my left knee, maybe my MCL. It’s been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me. I was thinking about pulling out of the event .I did some work with the medical staff and then had a surf this morning and felt OK, so decided to keep at it.”
Italo showed no fear for the reef. The speed machine threw everything into each section he attempted as he always does. G-Land suits Italo’s fast tempo and love of high impact manoeuvres on shallow sections and he is going to be hard to beat.
Medina brushed the cobwebs off in his return to the CT facing Callum Robson and Samuel Pupo in the final heat of the day. The three-time world champ found a cheeky barrel which he complimented with a beautiful wrap on his best wave (8.07). Medina made a bold statement with his surfing, that he is here to win and later told the broadcast that his “goal is to be at Trestles”.
Wave of the day
Griffin Colapinto scored the wave of the day, with multiple vertical snaps and impeccable timing on a beautiful Grajagan face. The Californian finessed his way to a 9.33 for his efforts.
Opening Round results
Women’s
Heat 1
Stephanie Gilmore – 10.40
Courtney Conlogue – 9.90
Heat 2
Brisa Hennessy – 13.83
Bronte Macaulay – 13.27
Heat 3
Carissa Moore – 17.16
Gabriela Bryan – 15.04
Sally Fitzgibbons – 9.30
Heat 4
Tatiana Weston- Webb – 15.17
Tyler Wright – 12.67
Lakey Peterson – 9.16
Men’s
Heat 1
Ethan Ewing – 13.37
Jadson Andre – 12.67
Jordy Smith – 12.33
Heat 2
Jack Robinson – 11.54
Kelly Slater – 8.34
Jackson Baker – 7.17
Heat 3
John John Florence – 13.94
Yago Dora – 11.67
Kolohe Andino – 7.00
Heat 4
Rio Waida – 11.83
Nat Young – 11.66
Felipe Toledo – 10.80
Heat 5
Italo Ferreira – 15.16
Jake Marshall – 9.67
Caio Ibelli – 6.53
Heat 6
Griffin Colapinto – 14.00
Kanoa Igarashi – 9.64
Matthew McGillivray – 8.46
Heat 7
Miguel Pupo – 12.77
Barron Mamiya – 11. 37
Connor O’Leary – 10.37
Heat 8
Gabriel Medina – 11.70
Samuel Pupo – 8.20
Callum Robson – 6.14
