Four things from five round two heats, 2015 Fiji Pro

Round two of the Fiji Pro – or at least, five heats of round two – went down at Cloudbreak today. The waves were testing, and the biggest standouts were Kelly Slater and Dane Reynolds. Below are four more things of note from today, care of South African lover/hater of professional surfing, Dooma Fahrenfort…

Words by Damien Fahrenfort

WSL/Stephen Robertson

1. Adriano and Filipe stay alive.
By default, there was no chance they were gonna lose with the waves that size. Not because they’re scared, but because the only chance the local guys had was if it was big. Adriano de Souza’s delayed bottom turns looked amazing and his turns were really drawn out and powerful. The big walls of Fiji really clean up his style. Filipe Toledo surfed great too. I also thought he did so on the first day for the waves he got. He might have been getting slightly underscored, but I suppose the judges have to leave the scoring open in case of a good barrel ride. In an interview after the event, Filipe acknowledged the fact that everyone has been talking about him in waves like Fiji, Chopes and J-Bay, and his response was great, casually saying he was going to, and wanted to, charge.

WSL/Kirstin

2. Dane Reynolds, hey?
I mean, dayum. How good is it seeing Dane in proper waves, surfing good and looking loose? He was soaring and looked as good as he ever did on tour. Minus tuberiding Dane has the best backhand in the world when it comes to turns. His boards looked good and he threw the tail out the back. And, Dane’s up against Adriano in round three, if my terrible calculations are right.

WSL/Kirstin

3. Kelly Slater is the king of the ocean.
Who’s going to beat this guy in Fiji and where did those waves come from? The 9.93 was so much bigger than any other waves this morning it almost caught the ski inside. The ski torched the end part of the wave but Slater managed to dodge the turnt water and get another turn and barrel in. After the heat, it went flat again. The man is incredible, a God, and it would be a shame if he lost to anyone in this event.

WSL/Stephen Robertson

4. The judges repaid their debt.
By scoring Owen Wright properly today. Yesterday was pretty heavy and you could see Owen wasn’t happy after the heat, he repeatedly smashed his board with his elbow. It wasn’t Seabass’ fault he won, but when a timid Ross Williams thinks the judges got it wrong, they definitely did. Today though, in a wave-starved heat, they gave him the nod and he progressed over Aritz, which ain’t an easy draw in left barrels.

Oh, and Strider’s still wearing his WSL-assigned water proof polo.
Taking orders ain’t easy. Poor guy.

Fiji Pro Round 2 Results:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.50 def. Inia Nakalevu (FJI) 6.87
Heat 2: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 10.70 def. Aca Ravulo (FJI) 8.86
Heat 3: Dane Reynolds (USA) 15.00 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 14.10
Heat 4: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.70 def. Jay Davies (AUS) 9.47
Heat 5: Owen Wright (AUS) 10.10 def. Aritz Aranburu (ESP) 9.03

Upcoming Fiji Pro Round 2 Match-Ups:
Heat 6: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. C.J. Hobgood (USA)
Heat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Glenn Hall (IRL)
Heat 9: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 10: Miguel Pupo (BRA) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 11: Jeremy Flores (AUS) vs. Ricardo Christie (NZL)
Heat 12: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Matt Banting (AUS)

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