The Oakley Pro, Bali (part two)

Words by Craig Jarvis

I had the pleasure of giving a lift to Jack Robinson and his mom and dad on day one of the Oakley Pro Keramas, and they seemed like genuine people, with the old man having a good yak and uttering a few exclamations as our driver ‘Echo’ took a lot of very serious chances in the early morning traffic. That afternoon Jack was a bit overpowered by the solid Keramas waves, onshore conditions and a dominant Dooma Hobgood and a frothing Slater. Early this morning he was again beaten by Slater, but no shames to the kid, he just needs to fill out a bit and get to the stage where he’s more aggressive and wields more power. He was beaten solidly in the first heat by a tube-hungry Jimmy, and it was back to business for the title-hungry freak.

Had Robinson come up against Bruce Irons it might have been a different story. It seems BI isn’t an early morning person, and had attended a function the night before. “It’s fricken early, isn’t it?” he was heard muttering to Taj, who crushed him in the early morning offshore conditions.

Jack Robinson’s heat score in heat one = 3.43.

Brucie’s heat score in heat two = 3.14.

Taj found a few slices in his heat, but definitely seemed to be pushing a bit hard or seemed to have too little tail on his small wave shooter, blowing the tail out on two good turns. Still, he persevered and won comfortably.

The ever-cocky local lad Oney paddled out and killed it on his first wave in his heat against Joel, moving around like he owned it. He went big, as he’s prone to do, and pulled off the first big air of the day – a huge reverse with critical landing, getting the nickname Rubber Ankles for his recovery. Although it was gigantic, the spectators and judges alike were still in a dazed state of agogness (no such word exists, but it is great to describe the mass effect of John John’s biggest alley oop ever) and only scored him a 7.13. Joel was also cracking the lip, and doing those ultra-tight wraparound hooks that he does so smoothly, and he beat the local wildcard. Oney could easily transform into another Medina overnight. It happens. We all know that. He also told Parko in a warning tone in the water, “Do you know what I’m going to do if I get a set?” We like such style!

Soon after, Keramas started doing her tidal thing, as she is wont to do, and Tommy Whits started getting a bit pensive. The contest was put on hold for a while, and then The Oakley Surf Shop Challenge finals hit the water. The sun came out however, and people with big Indonesian straw cones on their head were shown respect, while shade became the most valued commodity on the beach, more so than chilled Bintangs, with the Bintangs a popular second.

After much musing, swell watching and navel gazing, the decision was almost to close shop for the day after the Surf Shop Challenge. On cue, a set rolled through, and everyone started scrambling for shade, for Bintangs, for hats, for sunscreen. Tommy called it on, and the boys were back out there.

The round two afternoon standout was young Gabby Medina, who killed one particular wave for a 9.47 by totally smashing it four times, all the way to the inside. His first move was vertical, while his second was beyond that. There have been some comments that backhand surfers are at a distinct disadvantage at Keramas, but Gabby and Dooma have both shown quite the contrary.

In heat seven, Julian Wilson lit up some very good airs and nearly landed a backside grab loop. “I feel like I’m warming up a bit,” Jules said. “I had a good first heat and got unlucky at the end. I was fired up. had a good free surf before, there are lots of fun sections and that put me in a good frame of mind heading into the heat. I wasn’t looking for a perfect wave, just taking a lot of opportunities and it worked out well for me. Surfing out here is so much fun.”

Ain’t it just? Check back here to see what happens tomorrow morning.

OAKLEY PRO BALI ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.17 def. Jack Robinson (AUS) 3.43
Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.50 def. Bruce Irons (HAW) 3.14
Heat 3: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.10 def. Oney Anwar (IND) 14.03
Heat 4: Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.00 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 11.00
Heat 5: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17.80 def. Willian Cardoso (BRA) 8.77
Heat 6: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 15.23 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 11.60
Heat 7: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.70 def. Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 12.77
Heat 8: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 17.13 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 10.44
Heat 9: Kai Otton (AUS) 14.90 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 8.17
Heat 10: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.77 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.70

OAKLEY PRO BALI REMAINING ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 11: Travis Logie (ZAF) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 12: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)