The Oakley Pro, Bali (part three)

Words by Craig Jarvis

The text messages started coming through early: “Where is Travis?”, “Has he gone missing?”, “Is he in hospital?”, “Has he been found?” Even I started getting mildly disconcerted about my chum. A few quick calls revealed that he was back in Cali and recuperating after grating a third of his torso skin onto a Fijian reef. His absence gave local kid Putra Hermawan a slot into the event, and boy did he capitalise on it!

Obviously knowing the wave well, Putra found some sweet lines inside a few Keramas barrels and came out just ahead of Brett Simpson – the first ASP WCT heat win for an Indonesian in the history of the sport. When Robbo from ASP went looking for him after the heat for a few interviews, Putra was hanging with his friends underneath the competitor’s area, far away from the limelight, with a huge toothy grin on his face. “Waves are so fun,” he was heard to say, with that smile that’d deflect the most severe baseball bat. Let us hope he can keep retain that joyous approach when he takes on Kelly in his next heat.

Matt Wilkinson overcame Kolohe Andino by cracking some serious lips on his backhand, and then the contest was over for the day. At the end of the heat, Brother removed his jersey, threw it to Wilko, and Wilko rode in with it in his teeth, like lion with infant gazelle in fangs. “I was surfing all morning and the waves were really fun,” said WIlko. “I was pretty vocal about having them call it on as there was lots of opportunity to get some great scores. There are waves that offer lots of manoeuvres and other ones that offer a few hail marys. Psyched to have a good heat and really happy to be in Bali.” Freesurfers entered the lineup, and we all comprehended the fact we must now wait for another call to be made.

But, this evening there will be a nighttime surf! Komune has flood lights set up that can illuminate the whole lineup. Watch it here.

OAKLEY PRO BALI REMAINING ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 11: Putra Hermawan (IDN) 12.00 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 11.07
Heat 12: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.90 def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 13.50

UPCOMING OAKLEY PRO BALI ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 2: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
Heat 3: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)
Heat 4: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Filipe Toledo (BRA)
Heat 5: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) vs. John John Florence (HAW)
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Putra Hermawan (IDN)
Heat 7: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Yadin Nicol (AUS)
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 9: Nat Young (USA) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 10: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 11: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)