Jordy Spills J-Bay Secrets, Riss Gets Ripped Off, And A Top-5 Scandal

J-Bay delivers on Day 2 of Elo’s 3-Day Workweek! Let’s gorge.

TLDR

• Filipe Toledo collects his 200th W, then an L
• Tubes abound
• Jordy Smith reveals J-Bay cheat codes 
• WSL shafts Carissa Moore
• Women’s Semifinalists decided

Overview

There surely must be a correlation between the amount of surf content one consumes and the amount of hours actually spent surfing. These day-long broadcasts have definitely been leaving me lacking in the latter category. On the upside, the rapid-fire 3-day format ⁠— only possible after the Mid-Year Cut ⁠— eliminates some of the tedious drag of yesteryear. 

Unable to conceal his excitement, Travis Logie gave competition a thumbs up on what has been the biggest day of the waiting period thus far. Following a 3 year hiatus, the J-Bay we deserve!

Joshe Faulkner and Filipe Toledo kicked off the Men’s Elimination Round in what felt like a warm-up session for the rankings leader, clinching his 200th heat win in memorable conditions. 

With the judging panel still setting the scale for the day, some of Toledo’s searing down-carve combinations seemed a bit underscored. However, it was refreshing to see Filipe adjust his tempo to the wave’s for his best ride: a cruisy glide into a long barrel through Supertubes, punctuated by a critical hack on the inside section: 7.33. The best surfer won. Honorable mention goes to Joshe Faulkner for bringing goat boat vibes to a CT heat. Historic.

Italo was connecting long rides and fist pumps to advance comfortably into the Quarters, leaving teenage wildcard Luke Thomson in his wake. He would later take down Nat Young with the day’s highest heat score total (17.64). Nat put on a solid performance and narrowly missed the landing on a risky end section floater. His chest was compressed into the deck of his surfboard in an unusual dismount. It’s anyone’s guess how his ribs are still intact. “He’s a solid customer”, exclaimed Ronnie Blakey. 

Griffin Colapinto beat Jadson André with a convincing performance, only to be barred from the Quarters by Jordy Smith, who put on a great show earlier against Kolohe Andino (thoughts and prayers to his ankles for a hail mary floater to reentry attempt). Colapinto still holds a privileged position in the Final 5, but a strong finish in Tahiti is imperative if he wants to become the second Trestles local to secure a place in this year’s finals.

Time flies when you’re having fun, but some heats just feel much longer than others. Caio Ibelli dodges elimination against Jake Marshall, who went belly up attempting to hop off the rocks. A telling premonition to his heat’s outcome.

Bobby Slater was seen in a Quiksilver wetsuit and riding a stickerless board, which he later revealed to be an old faithful. It looked flickery on rail, until the back third of his match up against Barron Mamiya, where he connected with its sweet spot and reeled in a 7.3 to advance. 

Everyone’s favorite giant slayers ⁠— Callum Robson and Jackson Baker ⁠— met once again. As exciting as it would’ve been to see them crush some top seeds into the event, it was Callum who moved through to the Round of 16 where he was to be obliterated by a Sammy Pupo in superb form (16.94 heat total).

Kanoa Igarashi, whose motivation to win his heat yesterday didn’t seem to go beyond sending a message in Japanese during his post-heat interview, wasted no time putting Caio Ibelli in a combination. His confidence is building and a win over Italo tomorrow could see him break into the Final 5. A total of three languages were spoken in his post-heat interview today. 

Connor O’Leary, a man that holds dual right-hand point local status (Lennox and Cronulla), took out Miguel Pupo in the all-goofy affair. Could Stace’s prediction ring true?

Jordy and Matthew McGillivray, sharing overlapping heats, mobilized the hometown crowd for a tube show. Matthew’s 8-point ride could’ve gone north had he completed a beyond-vert end section reentry, following one of the day’s longest tube rides to the roar of the crowd. 

Jordy made the inside runners at Supers look like a sloped wall at Lowers. It’s impressive how he fits tail-to-the beach rail carves on sections that would have seen a lesser surfer speeding past. During his post-heat presser, feeling elated, Jordy shared some J-Bay secrets with just a little under 20.000 live viewers: “On the higher tide everyone’s kinda been hunting down the bigger waves still, but it’s the smaller waves on the high tide that are the better ones, the ones that hug the reef.” 

The most exciting heat of the Quarterfinals is between Jordy and Ethan Ewing, a surfer that will handle any angle a wave can throw at him, and he’ll do so insouciantly. 

The women’s finalists were decided in the afternoon with Tyler Wright winning her heat against Johanne Defay with solid carves and the occasional signature crouchback. Gabriela Bryan’s lack of experience was evident against Stepanie Gilmore, who freesurfed her way to the Semis with stylish swooping carves and stand-up tubes.

Come-ups

Peak performance: Jordy, Jack, Italo, Tati? Impossible to pick!
Hit replay: Jack Robinson (15.77) vs. Kelly Slater (12.87), R16 H2
Monster maneuver: Italo Ferreira’s 9.17 @ 04:10 in R16 H4
One-liner: “Today’s scraps, boy, they’re a delicacy!” – Peter Mel

Filipe Toledo surfs J-Bay better than anyone could mindsurf it, but was ultimately disarmed by Yago Dora with a heat-turning 9.5. Yago took off on a solid set wave and didn’t let any of it go to waste. Two consecutive barrels (out of sight for a few sections on the second), followed a poised critical turn combination. Definitely worth a few replays.

On the same program as Dora, Jack Robinson has grown into his own skin and is on a giant-killing tear. With an unflappable demeanor, Jack didn’t look the slightest bit fazed by meeting Slater in R16. With three minutes to go, Slater took off on a medium-sized wave to link multiple maneuvers, a longish barrel and a controlled reentry to “no-claim” claim. The heat was done but as Slater surfaced, Jack had already been barreled and about to enter and exit a much longer one, finishing off with a seamless down carve and vertical reentry combination. Placed second in the world and ever the contender at Teahupoo, it is safe to say that Robinson is a shoo-in for this year’s finals.

Tatiana Weston-Webb was a standout on the women’s side, showing her backhand belongs on solid surf. Her power and commitment was unmatched by Brisa Hennessy. Could Stace go 2-for-2??

Let-downs

Caught behind: Griffin Colapinto’s forced interference over Ethan Ewing
Blind mice: Bracket/Seeding alterations mid-event
Say what?: “They’re really getting violently erupted underwater!” – Strider on (surfers) getting pounded at J-Bay

It seems as though the WSL altered their bracket/seeding system during this event. Whereas in past events, the progression from Round of 16 to the Quarterfinals was linear (R16 H1 winner vs R16 H2 winner and so on…), the matchups seemed to have been reshuffled leaving viewers, announcers, and some of the surfers confused. 

Griffin Colapinto’s interference over Ethan Ewing in the dying seconds of his heat seemed unnecessary and borderline confrontational. Griffin needed an 8.98 to advance and took off on a wave that would’ve hardly provided the score. Ethan sits in 5th, a place behind Griffin. Was this a tactical move?

Carissa Moore got caught inside paddling out to her Quarterfinal heat against Caroline Marks.

In an unprecedented situation, Carissa snapped her board before her heat started. She looked to shore hesitantly as if waiting for a replacement option that didn’t involve a swim-in, a run-up the point, and another paddle-out. Her husband was about to jump into 8’ surf with nothing but a replacement board and his Dickies, but the beach announcer was quick to advise against it. Carissa opted for the long route and didn’t get back in the lineup until eight minutes into her heat.

This seemed farly egregious on the WSL’s part, as Carissa’s board had broken before their heat started, and daylight didn’t appear to be an issue. They could have easily taken a 10-minute break to let Riss gather a new board and get out the back, so that she and Caroline would start the heat on even footing.

Despite everything working against her — time, depleted energy, and a new board that seemed to lack a suitable wax job — Carissa still took the win over a lost Caroline Marks. Champ behavior.

Miscellanea

Calling in live, Shaun Thomson appeared to be wearing a lampshade on his head due to a perspective trompe l’oeil. Sounding less 1977 world champion than geriatric calling the internet company for tech support, Thomson adds to a long list of surfing’s past legends whose live interviews could provide invaluable source material for comedy skits (looking at you, Raglan).

Competition came to a brief halt over a possible shark alert. Likely, by higher directive, Paul Evans had to skilfully chicane around the ‘Big-S’, not once using it. Even though the situation didn’t last for more than a few minutes, competitors were encouraged to hop on their respective sleds for a reset.  

Filed under the category of ‘Things We Wish A Really Big Fish Would Eat’, Caio Ibelli’s surfboard has stripped Sammy Pupo’s Saquarema eye-sore for the worst airbrush on tour in 2022.

Gamble Ramble

Well, Mikey C did something incredibly stupid to recoup his losses from yesterday, and it (mostly) paid off. 

Heading into the elimination round, Betonline.ag gave Filipe Toledo -1000 odds against local wildcard Joshe Faulkner — that means, in order to win $100, you’d have to bet $1,000. A fool’s wager, considering the myriad factors that could lead to an aberrant result in surfing. 

Mikey took the bet. All of it. 

Making his biggest wager of the year by a 5x margin, and risking his entire earnings from the 2022 season, our so-called ‘gambling prodigy’ (who went 1-8 yesterday, 2-7 today) dropped a full stack ($1k) on Filipe against Joshe, winning $100 for his reckless efforts. 

He then proceeded to lose all of those winnings (and then some) by the end of day 2. Unless Jordy or Steph wins the event, it’s not looking good!

Event winner picks: 
– $20 on Griffin Colapinto at +1000 LOST
– $20 on Kanoa Igarashi at +1400 QF
– $30 on Johanne Defay at +800 LOST
– $30 on Stephanie Gilmore at +600 SF
– $50 on Jordy Smith at +800 QF

Men’s Round 2 / Women’s QF picks: 
– $1,000 on Filipe to Toledo at -1000 to win $100 WON
– $10 on Luke Thompson at +230 to win $23 LOST
– $20 on Seth Moniz at +105 to win $21  LOST
– $20 on Jackson Baker at +145 to win $30 LOST
– $30 on Kelly Slater at -115 to win $26 WON
– $50 on Johanne Defay at +105 to win $53 LOST
– $10 on Gabriela Bryan at +200 to win $20 LOST

Day two earnings: -$34
Event earnings: -$199

Results

Corona Open J-Bay Men’s Elimination Round 2 Results: 
HEAT 1: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 14.33 DEF. Joshe Faulkner (ZAF) 6.76
HEAT 2: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.30 DEF. Seth Moniz (HAW) 11.66
HEAT 3: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 13.34 DEF. Luke Thompson (ZAF) 11.84
HEAT 4: Caio Ibelli (BRA) 14.07 DEF. Jake Marshall (USA) 11.83
HEAT 5: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 15.00 DEF. Jadson Andre (BRA) 11.03
HEAT 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 12.26 DEF. Barron Mamiya (HAW) 9.23
HEAT 7: Callum Robson (AUS) 12.93 DEF. Jackson Baker (AUS) 10.40
HEAT 8: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.93 DEF. Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.80

Corona Open J-Bay Men’s Round of 16 Results: 
HEAT 1: Yago Dora (BRA) 15.17 DEF. Filipe Toledo (BRA) 12.83
HEAT 2: Jack Robinson (AUS) 15.77 DEF. Kelly Slater (USA) 12.87
HEAT 3: Samuel Pupo (BRA) 16.94 DEF. Callum Robson (AUS) 11.00
HEAT 4: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 17.64 DEF. Nat Young (USA) 14.74
HEAT 5: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 16.26 DEF. Caio Ibelli (BRA) 11.77
HEAT 6: Connor O’Leary (AUS) 12.77 DEF. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.97
HEAT 7: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.77 DEF. Griffin Colapinto (USA) 7.27
HEAT 8: Ethan Ewing (AUS) 15.76 DEF. Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) 14.00

Corona Open J-Bay Men’s Quarterfinal Matchups: 
HEAT 1: Jack Robinson (AUS) vs. Samuel Pupo (BRA)
HEAT 2: Italo Ferreira (BRA) vs. Kanoa Igarashi (JPN)
HEAT 3: Yago Dora (BRA) vs. Connor O’Leary (AUS)
HEAT 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Ethan Ewing (AUS)

Corona Open J-Bay Women’s Quarterfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Tyler Wright (AUS) 14.00 DEF. Johanne Defay (FRA) 11.76
HEAT 2: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 16.26 DEF. Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 12.17
HEAT 3: Carissa Moore (HAW) 14.50 DEF. Caroline Marks (USA) 8.93
HEAT 4: Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) 17.20 DEF. Brisa Hennessy (CRI) 13.67

Corona Open J-Bay Women’s Semifinal Matchups:
HEAT 1: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
HEAT 2: Carissa Moore (HAW) vs. Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA)