JJF Banks 17.93 Points In Five Minutes, Slater Breaks ‘Slump’ To Beat World #1

Kelly rolled up behind the Woz’s scaffolding in an eggshell white Genesis GV70 this morning. 

“It was pumping, I just want to wrap this up and get back,” he guffawed to some local fencers in the car park (referencing his Margies warm up at cooking Snapper). Slater was class today – made the fencers giggle, beat World #1 Joao Chianca convincingly and was engaged and insightful in his interview with Stace G. His foam climb where he rotated beyond 12 o’clock was vintage Kelly at his best. The 11x World Champ has had pretty spotty results in WA and he’ll need a QF finish here to be guaranteed safety from the cut. Side note: He has already signed up for the forthcoming Gold Coast Challenger Series event — interpret that how you will.

No one got cut in the men’s opening round, obvs. 5/5 Australian wildcards came last in their heats. John Florence put on another Main Break clinic, Kolohe looked amazing, Yago proved you can still get scores on lefts, Italo won with an old-school countback. 

Great viewing.

TLDR

• Kelly breaks four event ‘slump’, beats World #1 Joao Chianca
• John Florence blows Main Break to bits (again), banks 17.93 points in five minutes
• Australian wildcards go perfect – 5/5 into the elimination round
• 15 point + club: John Florence, Gabriel Medina, Jacko Baker, LOB, Filipe Toledo
• Connor O’Leary and Matthew McGillivray make cut – 11 spots remain

Fun fact: Margaret River is the first tour stop where seeding is based only on current year results. It’s why we saw Filipe Toledo and Carissa Moore seeded ahead of Jack Robinson and Molly Picklum at Sunset and Bells respectively. Ironically for current #1 Joao Chianca, that meant drawing Kelly Slater – who broke his four-event slump today, winning his opening round heat and completing a wild, torqued-out foam climb. 

Caio Ibelli made two strategic blunders today. The first in the opening three seconds, paddling for a closeout that instantly gave him last priority. The second when he chose to paddle back out instead of taking the ski. Zeke rode right past him and took the waterhorse back out. They arrived in the lineup at the same time but priority was handed to Zeke. At Pipe earlier in the season, Zeke had been on the wrong side of a controversial interference call in a heat against Caio. Today, the Woz tipped the scales today in the Hawaiian’s favor. “It’s hard to tame this beast when he’s on,” Zeke told Stace after getting the w.

“Margaret River is a premium wine region and that was a full-bodied frontside hack,” said Ron of Jackson Baker’s opening carve. Poetry from the Mullumbimby High School Captain. Both Jacko and Ethan Ewing dispatched of young pup Jarvis Earle today. Big dogs gotta eat and all the Aussie wildcards left with nada. 

John Florence won his heat with more than 25 minutes left on the clock. Banked 17.93 points with an 8.60 to boot. Florence now has 41 excellent scores to his name at Margaret River. Seth Moniz got through in second.

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Come-ups

• Peak performance: John Florence (17.93)
• Hit replay: H5, H7, H10
• Monster maneuver: Kelly Slater foam climb, Seth Moniz reverse
• One-liner: “Jackson Baker looks like a character out of the Office” – Ronnie 

Kolohe vs Yago vs Kanoa was a great matchup on paper — all of them have that extra gear on their days and can win heats with big single moves. Kolohe kicked things off with an aggressive oop to end-section lip bash. He continued to build relentlessly with fast hacks and a massive rotation attempt. I really enjoyed Brother’s surfing today. The beard looked great, as did the Epokhes — the eyewear of choice when eyewear contracts fall over (Connor O’Leary too).

This year’s SITD surfer Italo Ferreira is being coached by Jay Davies – a pairing more jarring than ribeye and orangina. “Stab in the Dark was one of the best things I’ve done this year,” said Italo on the broadcast, “It was a really interesting challenge to try new boards at one of my favorite places”. Was beautifully teed up by Stace Galbraith — whose dripping-wet interview skillz + Rainman recall of obscure, granular surf facts is unrivaled. 

Let-downs

• Caught behind: Michael Rodriguez (8.90) – the only surfer who didn’t make double digits
• Say what?:  “You can order Chicken Skewers and they’re some of the best ever!” – Erik Logan on West Australia

“On the glass with *insert pro surfer*” has strong methy undertones. Definitely not appropriate for the World Masters.

In E-Lo’s glowing review of West Australia he used the adjectives “unbelievable” and “indescribable” to describe the 2.646 million km² state, both of which left the mind’s canvas a little blank. Realizing his broad strokes he attempted to over-correct by picking out something more provincial, “You can order Chicken Skewers from the shops and they’re some of the best ever!” Jesus Christ. 

Miscellanea

Overlapping heats should be mandatory for the non-elimination round. If you’re going to run 12 heats with no losers, the least you can do is speed it up and fill it with more surfing. Six people in the lineup at once would be highly entertaining. The more the merrier.

Griffin cracked the fin box of his Driver 3.0, replacing it with a Sabotaj mid-heat. Right part of the world to be on TB’s model. Worth noting: Griffin had two scoring rides that went unseen. Think about coming back from a commercial to see Don Bradman hit a century while Allianz sold you insurance?

Gamble Ramble

Mikey C. picked pretty well today, barring a borderline blasphemous bid against the GOAT. When will he learn?

Men’s R1
$20 on Zeke Lau at +265 to win $53 WON
$40 on Sammy Pupo at +215 to win $86 WON
$100 on Griffin Cola at -140 to win $71 WON
$20 on Jacko Baker at +230 ton win $46 WON
$20 on LOB at +400 to win $80 WON
$100 on Joao Chianca at -105 to win $95 LOST
$20 on Leo Fioravanti at +165 to win $33 LOST
$20 on Rio Waida at +275 to win $55 LOST
$20 on Michael Rodrigues at +300 to win $60 LOST
$20 on Barron Mamiya at +250 to win $50 WON
$20 on Yago Dora at +250 to win $50 LOST

• Day 1 total: $90
• Day 2 total: $206
• Event total: $296

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Results

Western Australia Margaret River Pro Men’s Opening Round Results:
HEAT 1: Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 15.60 DEF. Ian Gentil (HAW) 13.10, Caio Ibelli (BRA) 10.10
HEAT 2: Samuel Pupo (BRA) 14.73 DEF. Ryan Callinan (AUS) 12.40, Jacob Willcox (AUS) 12.00
HEAT 3: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 13.67 DEF. Nat Young (USA) 13.16, Reef Heazlewood (AUS) 11.10
HEAT 4: Jackson Baker (AUS) 15.00 DEF. Ethan Ewing (AUS) 13.43, Jarvis Earle (AUS) 9.47
HEAT 5: Liam O’Brien (AUS) 16.07 DEF. Filipe Toledo (BRA) 15.00, Jerome Forrest (AUS) 7.53
HEAT 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 14.17 DEF. Joao Chianca (BRA) 13.84, Jack Thomas (AUS) 12.66
HEAT 7: John John Florence (HAW) 17.93 DEF. Seth Moniz (HAW) 13.17, Carlos Munoz (CRC) 11.76
HEAT 8: Kolohe Andino (USA) 13.50 DEF. Yago Dora (BRA) 12.96, Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 11.23
HEAT 9: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 13.94 DEF. Jake Marshall (USA) 13.93, Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 12.46
HEAT 10: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.00 DEF. Maxime Huscenot (FRA) 12.23, Rio Waida (INA) 10.70
HEAT 11: Connor O’Leary (AUS) 14.67 DEF. Jordy Smith (RSA) 10.66, Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 8.90
HEAT 12: Barron Mamiya (HAW) 12.34 DEF. Matthew McGillivray (RSA) 11.87, Callum Robson (AUS) 11.67

Western Australia Margaret River Pro Men’s Elimination Round Matchups:
HEAT 1: Caio Ibelli (BRA) vs. Jacob Willcox (AUS) vs. Jack Thomas (AUS)
HEAT 2: Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) vs. Carlos Munoz (CRC) vs. Jerome Forrest (AUS)
HEAT 3: Callum Robson (AUS) vs. Michael Rodrigues (BRA) vs. Jarvis Earle (AUS)
HEAT 4: Rio Waida (INA) vs. Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) vs. Reef Heazlewood (AUS)

Western Australia Margaret River Pro Women’s Round of 16 Matchups:
HEAT 1: Molly Picklum (AUS) vs. Courtney Conlogue (USA)
HEAT 2: Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) vs. Bronte Macaulay (AUS)
HEAT 3: Carissa Moore (HAW) vs. Sophie McCulloch (AUS)
HEAT 4: Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) vs. Lakey Peterson (USA)
HEAT 5: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs. Johanne Defay (FRA)
HEAT 6: Gabriela Bryan (HAW) vs. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
HEAT 7: Caitlin Simmers (USA) vs. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)
HEAT 8: Caroline Marks (USA) vs. Brisa Hennessy (CRC)