Shark Helps Filipe Toledo Win The Corona J-Bay Open

They say that timing is everything.

This not only explains why surfers on the Championship Tour would risk taking a bullet from Shaun Tomson just to do a double-pump bottom turn but also plays into fate.

For example, by taking the time to read this, you are altering the timeline of the rest of your day. This, right now, could save you from being at the wrong place at the wrong time and being involved in a fatal car crash or having to watch a longboarder get a good set.

On that note, a shark cruised the lineup in the first heat of the day at the Corona J-Bay Open and it changed everything.

The WSL blew a major opportunity to increase their viewership by calling the contest off for a little while. Paul Speaker wasn’t perfect but, coming from the NFL, at least he knew the value of bodily harm. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if Saphire Goldman only hates surfing or if she hates fun as a whole.

Being on the right waves is a key to winning at J-Bay — a battle in which relies heavily on timing. With the shark incident, the timing was off. This helped some people and it hurt others.

Conner Coffin, Julian Wilson, Gabriel Medina and Sebastian Zietz all went down in the Quarterfinals.

Here’s how:

Give this man a hug. 

Conner Coffin: Couldn’t out Wade Carmichael Wade Carmichael in a slow heat.

Julian Wilson: Kept on getting heat totals ranging from 12 – 14 points and it only almost worked against Jordy.

Gabriel Medina: Read your comments.

Sebastian Zietz: Did worse surfing on worse waves than Kanoa Igarashi.

Speaking of Kanoa…

He was still on that different level today…it just didn’t work against Filipe. In a post heat interview yesterday, he said that the back half of the season is usually kinder to him due to events like Tahiti and Pipe. While his results at Pipe (Backdoor) are undeniable, the Tahiti thing makes me think that he has become possessed by the consciousness of Dean Bowen and that has somehow made him the world’s most complete surfer.

It’d be dishonorable for Kanoa Igarashi to stop impressing and progressing.

Jordy looked good in the Semis — power surfing, perfectly modernized. Seemed like he hired Derek Rabelo to be his wave selection coach though. Wade Carmichael outsmarted and out-surfed him.

So the final was set: Filipe Toledo Vs Wade Carmichael. A record-breaking 21,000 people joined me in watching it.

Wade didn’t make it that far by reinventing the wheel. Wheels are circles and circles are 360s and there was no way Wade was going to win this thing with a full-roter. He just fucking power housed his way to the podium. It was good to see.

And what, really, can you say about Filipe?

He was better than everyone all event. Aside from one heat (in which he got two 8s), Filipe dropped 9s in every single heat he surfed. Makes you think that the concept of slowly heating up your surfing on the way to the final was a myth invented by Kelly Slater to scare the younger generations out of beating him in Round 3.

Without the shark delay, though, Filipe would have lost.

Wanna know why?

Because a power surfing wookie — who is sponsored by a clothing brand called Piping Hot, who has less Instagram followers than your local coffee shop, who’s act might seem bland to anyone other than a true connoisseur — winning this event would have been the perfect summation of the WSL’s maiden affair with Facebook as they try to make surfing more appetizing to the mainstream.

It would have been a beautiful moment for the core, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Regardless, I have a new favorite surfer now. And his name ain’t Filipe.

Seriously, don’t you want to hug this man?

Men’s Final Results:
1 – Filipe Toledo (BRA) 16.80
2 – Wade Carmichael (AUS) 15.33

Men’s Corona Open J-Bay Semifinal Results:
SF 1: Wade Carmichael (AUS) 13.77 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.30
SF 2: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 18.90 def. Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 14.17

Men’s Corona Open J-Bay Quarterfinal Results:
QF 1: Wade Carmichael (AUS) 12.87 def. Conner Coffin (USA) 10.40 
QF 2: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.43 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 12.96 
QF 3: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 17.50 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.03
QF 4: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 15.17 def. Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 12.44

2018 Men’s WSL CT Jeep Leaderboard (After the Corona Open J-Bay):
1 – Filipe Toledo (BRA) 35,900 pts
2 – Julian Wilson (AUS) 31,960 pts
3 – Gabriel Medina (BRA) 25,685 pts
4 – Italo Ferreira (BRA) 25,415 pts
5 – Jordy Smith (ZAF) 21,910
6 – Wade Carmichael (AUS) 21,80
The Women’s Corona Open J-Bay event window will open Friday, July 6. 

Women’s Corona Open J-Bay Round 1 Matchups:
Heat 1: Johanne Defay (FRA), Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Sage Erickson (USA)
Heat 2: Tyler Wright (AUS), Silvana Lima (BRA), Bronte Macaulay (AUS)
Heat 3: Lakey Peterson (USA), Malia Manuel (HAW), Bianca Buitendag (ZAF)
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), Nikki Van Dijk (AUS), Macy Callaghan (AUS)
Heat 5: Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA), Keely Andrew (AUS), Courtney Conlogue (USA)
Heat 6: Carissa Moore (HAW), Caroline Marks (USA), Coco Ho (HAW)