Goodbye Matty Wilko and Julian Wilson

At first light, Kieren Perrow made the call and heat 12 of round one commenced. The surf was chest-head-high, user-friendly and to surf it with one other gentleman is something the average surfer from San Clemente will never experience. Even if it was onshore and flat.

The first heat featured our previous yellow jacket holder, Matty Wilko and a face we’ve been missing, Brett Simpson. Wilko needed a win here, but Simpo surfed well, took to the air and his knowledge of the California pointbreak prevailed. Matt’s backhand wasn’t enough. Maybe it lacked variety, and the judges have grown bored of his heel side attack. But Brett opened up the floodgates for John Florence and Gabriel Medina to widen the point gap as the title race comes down to the final events. 

Alex Ribeiro’s rookie year’s been tough, to say the least. But, today, the Brazilian had his second heat win of the season, his second post heat interview and he did it with style over world number five, Julian Wilson. Alex took to the air and mixed it up with a few pocket carves. Jules stuck to his rail and the judges rewarded Mr Ribeiro for risking the space above the lip…although, he’s more proficient in the air than on rail. Jules lost by .04. 

After Wilko, Julian and Adriano de Souza lost in round two (to Kai Otton), Kelly Slater’s road to a potential title race was further cleared. He’s got the taste of blood on his tongue, and his dead competitive spirit has fresh life. Kelly’s won six times at Lowers and has won at least once at every event from here to the end of the season.

“I’m just surfing for Woody,” said Kelly on his friend’s death, after his heat. “It’s weird without him here. Every time I’ve won here and every time I’ve lost he’s always been with me. We’d have dinners afterward, and it’s just hard to be at this event without him.” 

Mick Fanning surfed the best heat of the day vs Matt Banting putting up a heat total of 18.60. Mick’s in a funny position this year. He’s not sure if he’ll return and is still surfing at the highest of his ability. This is his fifth and last event of the year. With a win, a third and fifth place finish, Mick’s currently sitting at world number ten, and with a good placing at Lowers, he’ll solidify himself a spot on tour next year (if he hasn’t already). That’s if he decides to come back.  

It’s possible that Kolohe Andino has broken the local curse. In his heat against Jeremy Flores, he shined at his home break. And it almost came down to the final two waves. After Kolohe had tallied up a solid nine with a critical air at the closeout section, he had the lead. In the dying seconds, Jeremy needed a high seven and ripped the guts out of one. J-Flo made the most of what was at hand, but what was at hand was not enough. Kolohe’s on to round three, and you could see the passion in his surfing. He wasn’t going out in round two at Lowers again.