Mr. Rail, Conner Coffin, Dominates Round Four

With a crouching descent, deep bottom turn and severe opening carve, Californian rookie Conner Coffin clocked the highest single wave score of round four (9.13) on his way to another upset victory over event favourite Mick Fanning, and Jordy Smith.

“The waves are insane today,” he said afterwards. “I went out this morning and it was so dreamy. To get to surf a heat in waves like that is unreal.”

Pumping (albeit lull-y), head-high to overhead conditions set the scene for some of the best power surfing seen on tour this year. Conner was joined by a Brazilian goofyfoot onslaught in round four, with Wiggolly Dantas and Italo Ferreira both progressing straight to the quarters. Dantas knocked over current ratings leader Matt Wilkinson in their heat.

“I just got here this morning and the waves are pumping, so I knew it was gonna be a hard heat,” said Wiggolly. “I just wanna sit over there and wait for the bombs. I know Wilko has a lot of confidence after his win. I just wanna go out there and make big turns.”

In the women’s, Sally Fitzgibbon has progressed to the semis over Hawaiian Alessa Quizon, while Carissa Moore cruised to victory after dropping a 9.43 and 8.60 against Stephanie Gilmore in quarterfinal two. The event looks set to run all day in pumping Bells. Tune in now for a look at what this wave can do.