The Oakley Pro, Bali (part five)

Words by Craig Jarvis

Keramas today was a shadow of her former self the same time yesterday. Some people in the know were musing over breakfast if we were even going to surf heats today. Then it started kicking. The first set hit about halfway through my omelet komplit. By the time we made it back to the viewpoint the waves were totally firing. Again.

First heat of round four was a Parko, Taj, CJ duel, and it turned into a tube fest of perfect right hand barrels. Parko was taking off deep, right across from the normal take-off spot, and was flying from behind to get the longest barrels and the deepest scores. Taj was trying to hook in, and had good scores all the way through, but was trailing, while CJ wasn’t finding the barrels on his backhand and his scores weren’t in the same region, despite some hard backhand snaps. At the end of the heat Taj was sitting with a 7.5 and an 8.47, excellent scores for a normal heat, but with the world champ on form, it wasn’t enough to get into the lead. Until the last few seconds, that is. So good was the wave that Taj snagged at the end, that I went running to him, mic in hand, to get a breakdown.

Stab: It must be so excellent to compete in such pumping conditions.
TB: Oh yeah, this is as good as it gets, really. Maybe a touch bigger would be sick, but it’s so clean. The good ones are so obvious. They double up and hit the reef just perfect. Everyone’s going to get big scores all day.

That last wave was the one. Did you know it was going to be a 9.83? Yeah. Joel and I were out the back and he knew it was a bomb, and I fortunately had priority, and I was like, ‘sorry, I’m taking this thing.’ I had to go really fast at the end to get through that last slabby bit. Then I just tried to finish it cleanly, and got it done.

That second barrel on the inside was sneaky. Yeah, sneaky little thing. I did that grab-rail hack and it’s hard to go straight into another turn, and it slowed me down perfectly for a little novelty head dip on the inside.

Is TB feeling good on the whole? Yeah, well, I haven’t had a good heat yet, and I’m happy to be in the quarters and I feel like I’m just starting to feel my feet now. I’ve ridden four different boards in all four heats, so yeah, I’ve been a bit confused, but now this one feels good.

Your year so far? You’re holding two ninths. At the start of the year my goal was to be consistent. I’m normally like, I might make a final then get last in the next one. I’ve been pretty hot and cold my whole career. So I guess I have been consistent, with a third, a fifth and two ninths, and a fifth here at least, so it’s reasonably consistent. I would like to get rid of those ninths and make finals from now on (laughs).

Bali. What a tour stop! Oh yeah, I’ve been begging for this one for years. Couldn’t be happier right now.

To continue with the trend of beating the buzzer, but going one step further, Kerrzy had a blinder of a heat against Kelly and John John. While everyone was getting totally barrelled in the sublime perfection that is big, glassy Keramas, Kerrzy was going next level shit on everyone, that culminated with a crazy 10-point ride, to combine with his 9.67 and leave both JJF and Slats combo’d.

So, once again I felt compelled to shove a mic in his face, and he gushed. Hell, I even got the man to explete, which I was pretty proud about.

Stab: Was that the best heat you’ve ever surfed?
Kerrzy: Yeah, probably just because of how many good ones I got (he was throwing away 9-plus rides). All in all, surfing a heat and building a house with better and better scores, I’d have to say yes.

Your first 10! First 10 in a WCT event. I’ve been talking about it, telling people that I’ve never had a 10, that I can’t wait to get a fucking 10, so to get it on the final wave against John John and Kelly was just a pretty good feeling.

Describe your slick new fins. Yeah, I’ve been riding these 3DFins with dimple technology on the sides. They’ve got great control and give this little zing of speed when you need it.

The excitement wasn’t over. Hell, it hadn’t even begun. Joel and John John surfed a heat like few others. The wind stopped, the swell pulsed, and big globs of glass started stacking up on the reef. Joel had found his little corner of the reef to take off and get maximum tube time, but with such bombs coming through it was more a matter of taking off on a set wave wherever. He soon snuck into a solid one that opened up wide, and he stood straight up through the length of the reef to get pushed out and screaming onto the shoulder for a 10. John John was also finding bombs, and was racking up the nines for tubes and huge gouges on the face. Eventually Joel hooked into another ridiculous white water-covered double up that gaped open. He rode it to the inside and finished off with a few hacks for the second 10, and a perfect 20 heat score. So if you’re one of the people who reckon that Joel has been getting over scored, here’s your chance to comment, coz you don’t get higher scoring than that.

With a flick of the switch the game changed, the barrels were over and it was all about turns. Kelly took to the water against CJ, and there were some huge air attempts as well as a few pop-shuvit attempts from the goofy, but his powerful backhand serve saw CJ edge into the lead against Kelly with a 9 and an 8-score. Slater fought a hard rear-guard action, but failed to make his big airs and was eliminated from the event.

The onshore continued to flutter, Adriano lost to Nat Young by a slim margin, and Mick beat Freddy P by even less.

Freddy P was extremely unhappy with the final result and protested vigorously (by slapping the water, as one does), Fanning pretty much goes into the ratings lead with Slater out, and tomorrow looks like it’s going to be all time.

OAKLEY PRO BALI ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 18.30, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.90, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 11.57
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) 19.67, Kelly Slater (USA) 18.60, John John Florence (HAW) 17.10
Heat 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.00, Nat Young (USA) 13.86, Mick Fanning (AUS) 12.50
Heat 4: Michel Bourez (PYF) 18.50, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 17.23, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.87

OAKLEY PRO BALI ROUND 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 20.00 def. John John Florence (HAW) 19.20
Heat 2: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 17.00 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 14.33
Heat 3: Nat Young (USA) 16.93 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.94
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 13.46 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 12.90

UPCOMING OAKLEY PRO BALI QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS:
QF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Joel Parkinson (AUS)
QF 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. C.J. Hobgood (USA)
QF 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Nat Young (USA)
QF 4: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS)