Sifting for Fool’s Gold at the Rip Curl Pro

As a wet haired, salt encrusted Ronnie Blakey eased us into the morning show, you could have been forgiven for thinking that Bells was firing. Behind Ron straight up lines were pouring in, groomed by the softest of offshores. But it was fool’s gold. As soon as Mick Fanning rode the first wave of the day scales were quickly adjusted, and one thing was apparent, Bells was sure lacking in push. It was far from dull however, and here’s what stirred us from our chocolate induced stupors: Adam Melling is a straight up weapon on a 2 foot right-hander. Melling snuck past Bede Durbidge by .17 of a point in the tightest and highest scoring heat of the day. While others struggled with timing and flow, Melling went top to bottom in the tightest of arcs, and whilst it might not have been the cutting edge of progression, it sure was effective. Being a goofy footer doesn’t do you any favours at 2 ft Bells. The only goofys to win heats were Matt Wilkinson, Jadson Andre and Freddy P, and they did so against fellow goofy footers Adrian Buchan, Miguel Pupo and Kai Otton. After his heat Wilko summed it up, “Natural footers can do small turns on the flat sections, but there’s nothing a goofy footer can do.” Filipe Toledo is the most electrifying man in surfing right now. Filly, as usual, approached his heat by going mach ten on every wave and putting his all into every swoop, pump and end section jump. The highlight of the day came when he took off of a medium sized wave, sliced one off the top, landed a full rotation air reverse straight into a sizzling roundhouse and then pumped his way onto the inside and landed another respectable rev. 9.17, bravo Filly, Ross Williams is the best commentator we’ve got. We already knew this, but Ross calling of Filipe’s nine was absolutely vintage. “At some point, when athletes get to a certain level, they’re just straight up weird. Felipe’s joined that category.” There’s some tasty match ups coming up in round three, place your bets now! Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Round 2 Results:Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS)  11.00, Joe Van Dijk (AUS)  8.84Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 16.27, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 15.54 Kai Otton (AUS) 6.00Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.27, Ricardo Christie (NZL) 15.27Heat 4: Keanu Asing (HAW) 14.66, Michel Bourez  (PYF) 5.40Heat 5: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 17.10, Dusty Payne (HAW) 15.10Heat 6: Kolohe Andino (USA) 11.00, Glenn Hall (IRL) 8.10Heat 7: Adam Melling (AUS) 16.17, Bede Durbidge 16.00Heat 8: Jadson Andre (BRA) 12.33, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 10.17Heat 9: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.67, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 8.66Heat 10: Matt Banting (AUS) 14.60, Wiggoly Dantes (BRA) 11.84Heat 11: Frederick Patacchia (HAW) 12.43, Kai Otton (AUS) 11.80Heat 12: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 17.24, Italo Ferreira (BRA)11.10 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Round 3 Match-ups:Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Keanu Asing (HAW)Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Frederick Patacchia (HAW)Heat 3: Adriano De Souza (BRA) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Matt Banting (AUS)Heat 5: Kolohe Andino (USA ) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)Heat 6: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Mason Ho (HAW)Heat 7: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs, Brett SimpsonHeat 8: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Nat Young (USA)Heat 9: Jordy Smith vs. Matt WilkinsonHeat 10: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)Heat 11: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Sebastien Zietz (HAW)Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA)