Jeremy Flores Storms The Judging Tower At The Quiksilver Festival
…to demand they give his teammate, Kelly Slater, an appropriate score.
Some people confuse the skill of surf forecasting with the act of checking ten different sites for no reason.
Miky Picon exists on the opposite end of the spectrum.
All he must do is stand on the beach, close his eyes, breathe deeply through the nose seven times, then exhale audibly, and he will know exactly what every bank in a ten-kilometer radius will be doing through every tide for the next 24 hours.
You could have checked a forecast (or ten) and thought today wouldn’t work, but the sand shaman found a way to lead the Quik Fest crew into some of the best surfing we’ve seen in the event so far.
In the morning, he moved the fourth round of the (no small feat) to La Nord — the far bar in front of Hossegor’s La Centrale district of beach bars and restaurants. In 2004, Andy beat Bruce in a Quik Pro France final there. As you might imagine, it was not a very mellow night at La Centrale after that.
The morning’s theme was ‘Best Combo’ but, really, this whole event’s theme is ‘Best Surfing Wins.’ If you surf well, the judges will give you a score regardless of the theme. One man who is widely considered to surf well, Kelly Slater, got the round’s most impressive wave — a 9.10 for a duo of meat-cleaving turns.
Kelly and his teammate, Jeremy Flores, started the day in 12th place out of 14 teams. The crowd very clearly loved the wave, so Jeremy took the opportunity to storm the judging booth to ensure they would adequately compensate his teammate. And they did: It was a 9.10.
Thankfully, Baguette TV’s extensive production team (well, it’s a bit bigger than the Box To Box crew who did ‘Make Or Break’) captured the moment and will air it in the next episode.
Jeremy did his part in Round 4 as well, putting up a 6.8. Other highlights from the morning included Marc Lacomare’s 8.43 for a turn — it wasn’t a combo, but it also wasn’t a section any of us would hit. Hughie was also nice enough to remind everyone of how good he surfs and got an 8, too.
After many things had been said and done, Miky called it off for a few hours before flicking the light green again for Round 5 back at the main comp site of Les Gardians.
Here we see day’s surf highlights.
The theme was ‘Best Turn.’ Kauli Vaast got the highest score of the day (and event) with a 9.27 for a melange of three turns — told you the judges just want to reward good surfing. Local boy Sam Piter kept himself and his teammate Kylian Guerin in the conversation with an 8.77, and Kelly got another 8.33. Jeremy once again backed him up with a 6.8, and they ended up in the lead. They went from last place to first in three rounds. It’s not a coincidence that it happened with a bunch of swells in the water, conditions that an ordinary surf brain would have a hard time making sense of.
Maybe — and only just maybe — a win here would give Kelly an opportunity to depart stage right from the podium and retire wearing a jersey soaked in champagne.
We shall see.
One last round will run tomorrow in smaller, cleaner waves at Les Gardians. With tonight being the last Saturday of the waiting period, the lineup of music at La Centrale tonight won’t make the path to victory easier for many of the teams.
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