7 Things from day three of the 2015 Fiji Pro

Words by Damien Fahrenfort We got spoilt in 2013, and since then Fiji has been pretty lame. Brazil might be more exciting. I know, I complain about the shit waves of Brazil and then the perfect waves of Fiji. But truth is today was quite boring, minus a few rides. I stand by my claim the girls had better waves in the scheme of things. Today, during the end of round two and the start of round three,  it was a wave catching contest, f’realz. Occy is in the lineup but not on the webcast team, despite being a champ? I can’t see it but the only logical explanation is he turned it down. Undeniably one of the best commentators ever, past event champion, world champ and he wasn’t on the webcast, even if it was just for one heat. C’mon WSL, the man is far more of an icon than Pottz and he’s a breath of fresh air. Irreverence is something you need and something we enjoy. Julian’s got nerves of steel and might end up winning this thing. So Jules came back in both heats today. He held his nerve to the very end and came through with a high scoring wave. Usually the guy who just sneaks through or leaves it to the last second the whole event ends up winning. So who knows, he’s got the ability and Slater has been known to be the best all event and lose in the final so just maybe…. Win or lose Jules should dominate like this every event. Flores is a boss. It was a pretty amazing comeback earlier against the rookie. Not for a second did Jeremy look as though he might lose. This year Jeremy has been on a tear and that little discrepancy last year (where he got frisky at J-Bay) might have been the best thing he’s ever done. Other than putting his back against the wall and fighting through it, the judges know, don’t fuck with Flores cause he will bash ya. Anyways Jeremy looked great today and I hope he goes far in this event. Poor Freddy (/Slater = God)All the pros had been singing Freddy’s praises about his skillz in the surfs leading up to the event. Problem is, he ran into Kelly Slater. The man must have met up with the devil at Route 66 and made some sort of deal where he becomes a wave God. Side note, he also surfs the waves he gets better than anyone could but still, how are those waves? Dane’s back back, but not really. Because, he never went anywhere. First Kerr now de Souza… “upsets” – but are they really? Marginal surfers in comparison. When I wrote my picks for the event, there were a ton of haters but a lot of people were pumped on Dane which I was stoked on. His film Sampler had a ton of good feedback too, which is rare for the Stab comments platform, so I’d like to pretend this is the reason for his success but the truth is he’s been surfing like this since always and we’ve only seen him surfing shit waves for the last while. Per Dane’s interview, catching waves around the comps ain’t easy and I think this might be the reason for his slight disinterest in the world tour. They got strider out of the polo. I’d like to be an ego maniac and pretend it was because of the hating, but in reality it’s because it was cold and windy. Either way he looked good today. Fiji Pro Round 2 Results:Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.50 def. Inia Nakalevu (FJI) 6.87Heat 2: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 10.70 def. Aca Ravulo (FJI) 8.86Heat 3: Dane Reynolds (USA) 15.00 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 14.10Heat 4: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.70 def. Jay Davies (AUS) 9.47Heat 5: Owen Wright (AUS) 10.10 def. Aritz Aranburu (ESP) 9.03Heat 6: Julian Wilson (AUS) 12.93 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 10.67Heat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 15.67 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 12.70Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.00 def. Glenn Hall (IRL) 8.87Heat 9: Adam Melling (AUS) 17.60 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 12.50Heat 10: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 12.27 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 5.70Heat 11: Jeremy Flores (AUS) 17.70 def. Ricardo Christie (NZL) 17.47Heat 12: Kolohe Andino (USA) 16.70 def. Matt Banting (AUS) 12.30 Fiji Pro Round 3 Results:Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.16 def. Keanu Asing (HAW) 6.36Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.93 def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 13.34Heat 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.57 def. Fredrick Patacchia Jr. (HAW) 10.17Heat 4: Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 15.36 def. Nat Young (USA) 13.94Heat 5: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 12.93 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 11.80Heat 6: Dane Reynolds (USA) 18.34 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.64 Upcoming Fiji Pro Round 3 Match-Ups:Heat 7: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Sebastian Zietz (HAW)Heat 9: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)Heat 10: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)Heat 11: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA)Heat 12: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Adam Melling (AUS) **** Want a little piece of Fiji yourself? You’re in luck. Corona is taking over Namotu Island for seven days and looking for one very, very lucky winner to handpick nine pals and come along for the ride.  You’ll surf til you can’t surf anymore and then drink from an endless supply of icy cold Corona. Life, eh?  To win, just go buy a Corona at selected venues across Australia in June, head here, enter your details and unique product code to get in the mix with a chance to win. ENTER HERE