Mick Slides Through And Jules Gives Up The Yellow Jersey

Surprisingly, on dawn, Bells didn’t look too bad. The forecasters predicted a new swell in the water with accompanying onshores, fortunately however, only the former of these showed up for roll call on dawn. 

It was far from classic Bells – very far – but I have to admit, it did look somewhat fun for the first heat. Well, fun in comparison to the sloppy mush that Sydney’s finest sand serves up over the summer. 

Soon enough though the predicted onshores came gliding in and the incoming high tide consumed the last of any salvageable sections. Unfortunately for the last heat of the day, Julian vs. Pat, they were forced to hop between flat spots and milk waves as if length of ride were still a criteria.

Calling it off was the only viable option. 

Anyway, here’s a brief re-cap for what was another short fixture of mundane turns and overtly excited crowds. 

Wade doesn’t overthink his surfing and when a section arises he’ll give it more than a little tap. Photo. Sloane/WSL

The top dogs fell

Jordy Smith, Kolohe Andino and Julian Wilson.

All gone. 

In the case of Jordy, he was simply out surfed by the Central Coast rookie, Wade Carmichael. The judges wanted “critical maneuverers” as Pottz reiterated and they were lapping up what young Wade was putting down. Jordy’s surfing may have been more aesthetically pleasing, but Wade had a little extra ‘oompf’ and wrapped each hack back to the pocket.

There won’t be any early bell ringing claims from the Zaffa this year; maybe he should’ve considered riding the twinny after all.  

The Kolohe curse at Bells continues.

It wasn’t as if he surfed poorly, honestly, his waves were just shit. He didn’t get the same opportunities as Michel and despite piling on a couple of extra KGs over the break he still didn’t equate in the power department.

Julian’s time on top was shortlived.

There’s nothing more to blame on Julian’s loss than dreary walls, an all consuming tide and slightly worse wave selection. Pat G rode two waves, Jules rode three, all five of which sucked, but Pat’s sucked just that little bit less.

Whilst I’m a big fan of the Sunny Coast wonder, a part of me is glad to see Pat escape his usual fate of coming up against the highest heat total of the day as was all too common during his last stint on tour. 

The crowd peaked at 120dB for this lipper. Photo. Sloane/WSL

Poor poor Seabass

Without a doubt, Mick won that heat, but hell it must be tough coming up against Mick and his 10,000 strong posse at his final event. 

It’s not as if White Lightening was on a tear – he was surfing superbly smooth, yet mediocre – but if your judging was based upon the crowd’s response you would have believed otherwise. 

I’ve never seen so many thousands of people throttle their vocal chords for a re-entry on the Bells shorey. 

All of us Aussies want to see Mick ring that Bell one last time and land himself at the number one spot for Bells Beach wins, but that doesn’t mean we have to go bananas every time he sticks a floater. 

I’m glad he snuck through though and am now hoping we get to see Michael Fanning blow apart the bowl one last time in a seeded CT jersey. 

Well, excluding the wildcard he’ll be thrown each and every year. 

Pritamo likes progression, but this time it wasn’t enough to throw Griff over the line. Photo. Sloane/WSL

Griff met his match

A last second aerial whip wasn’t enough and it appears that strong and consistent backhand jams are the Californian teen’s nemesis.

It is a shame though, Griff’s surfing has been the standout of the tour contingent over the previous days and a final berth can’t be far off for the rookie.

That’s it

Literally nothing else happened. Nothing. 

I wouldn’t even consider re-watching it on the heat analyser. 

Just sit there and hope that tomorrow delivers a slightly more competitive playing field than today. Or that the commissioner makes the call to switch to Winki.

Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Round 3 Results:
Heat 1: Wade Carmichael (AUS) 13.30 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 12.17
Heat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.84  def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 9.66
Heat 3: Owen Wright (AUS) 15.14 def.  Jesse Mendes (BRA) 10.33
Heat 4: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 13.77 def. Griffin Colapinto (USA) 12.33
Heat 5: Mick Fanning (AUS) 13.56  def. Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 9.10
Heat 6: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 10.73 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 9.37

Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Remaining Round 3 Matchups: 
Heat 7: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Ezekiel Lau (HAW)
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Frederico Morais (PRT)
Heat 9: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Conner Coffin (USA)
Heat 10: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Italo Ferreira (BRA)
Heat 11: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA)
Heat 12: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Willian Cardoso (BRA)

Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach Quarterfinal Matchups:
QF 1: Carissa Moore (HAW) vs. Silvana Lima (BRA)
QF 2: Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) vs. Nikki Van Dijk (AUS)
QF 3: Caroline Marks (USA) vs. Johanne Defay (FRA)
QF 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs. Sage Erickson (USA)