The best and worst from the 2015 Quiksilver Pro, Gold Coast

Words by Jed Smith

It was excruciating at times, hilarious (and a little shocking) at others, with still a little room for some mind-blowing theatrics at the death. The 2015 Quik Pro gave us a lot to talk about, and with a few days until the 2016 World Tour kicks off on the Gold Coast, here’s a brief glance in the rearview to get you in the mood.

1. Freddy’s Rock Hop aka the best way to lose a heat… ever.

This was right on so many levels. After 10 straight days of no waves, the Quik Pro finally resumed in some of the worst waves in the history of the event. The bank was punctured with holes. Imagine waiting all that time for the chance to hop around in waves as strong as a service station cappuccino? You’d be fucking livid. And Freddy P expressed it with the kind of creative spontaneity we’ve come to expect from the man who once claimed live on TV that Rip Curl Pro commentators had Owen Wright’s “testicles so far up their mouths.”:

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2. Gabriel Medina’s Micro Spray to roundhouse Gillette commercial

Why not? You cop an interference, a heat loss, and a spray to go with it, from a man you could easily beat the shit out of. So you say so live on television in the post-heat interview. Don’t be so surprised. Surfing has a long history of quasi-violent stand-over men and supplementary tactics. Busting Down The Door, Johnny Boy Gomes, Sunny Garcia, Andy vs Mick Campbell, it was all red hot and entertaining as shit. Medina’s credibility as a hardman was cruelly stripped, however, following the event when this full-body-shave commercial for Gillette was unearthed. I don’t care what anyone says. That’s weird as shit.

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3. Even Kerrzy cracked it.

Possibly the best indicator of just how frustrating last year’s event was: Josh Kerr is one of the jolliest men on the planet. Ten waveless days in Coolangatta, however, and he’s pure fury.

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4. Filipe Toledo and Julian Wilson put on small wave performance clinic

Come finals time all was absolved when Filipe Toledo and Julian Wilson put on this genuine showstopper to close. This 12-minute highlight reel is some of the most progressive real-time contest surfing you’ll ever see. Filipe’s no-aerial 9.6 at the six minute mark, featuring a run of brutal gaffs, destroys his myth as just an air guy. Julian stuck with him with the cleanest, powerful, perfectly stylised surfing, falling just short on account of a just-missed fin throw combo to kick off the heat. Filipe Toledo had arrived.

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5. Carissa goes POW!

How Carissa Moore managed to combo Steph Gilmore in the final of the Roxy Pro, at home, in head high rippable Snapper/Rainbow walls tells you something about this woman. Especially when you see how Steph opens up the heat. The Hawaiian answered with relentless tapping of the Snapper coping, with some clinical hooks and wraps putting her two scores into the excellent range.