More Stu Kennedy! Vintage Parko! Adriano Grinds!

Photos by Peter King

A bizarre protest to open round five gave way to a Joel Parkinson pointbreak masterclass today at the Quiksilver Pro. The Snapper local wound back the clock in a vintage display against Brazilian rookie Caio Ibelli.

“Interesting heat,” said Parko. “You don’t often surf Snapper alone for an hour.”

Caio Ibelli certainly made Parko’s job tough.

A 20-minute lull to begin the heat saw two re-starts and a bizarre protest from the two competitors. Parko and Caio paddled to shore in solidarity against the decision to call the event on in poor conditions. They were instructed back into the lineup by the WSL, with Parko getting the best of the opening exchange, dropping an eight for a vintage top-turn power slide, followed by a run of impeccably flowed wraps and hooks down the line.

“I thought it was gonna be slow with the tide,” he said. “I thought it was a real suck of the tide and sometimes it takes the swell away and for 20 minutes it did. We chatted after the first one, ‘If this happens again let’s get out of here.’ It’s unfair to nobody, someone will have one opportunity and you’ll lose to the conditions.”

It was classic Parko today.

Parko kept the ascendancy with a second eight for much of the same, and never looked back. He lines up against form surfer of the event Filipe Toledo in the quarters, in what’s shaping up as the heat of the event (likely to run first thing tomorrow morning in a rising swell and low tide conditions. Do. Not. Miss.).

How can you fault this man’s tenacity?

Rookie Conner Coffin fell agonisingly short of topping world champ Adriano De Souza in a dramatic round five heat heat. After opening with an eight for a devastating run of hacks and re-entries, the Santa Barbaran sat on priority for 85 percent of the heat, leaving Adriano to go to work on inside runners. Experience paid off for the world champ as he racked up a series of mid-range scores, applying the blow torch to the rookie. The strategy worked as the priority curse kicked in and Conner passed up numerous scoring opportunities. It wasn’t until the last minute he acted, rolling the dice on a waist high grower that didn’t grow, leaving him to a series of futile wraps and a meek 4.77. Not enough for the win.

Flight of the Condor, clipped in the fifth. It’s been real tho.

“I needed to fight so hard to come back this heat,” said Adriano. “Conner is a super talented kid and he started the heat super well with that eight. I realise the only opportunity I have, I have to push as hard as I can every single turn and that’s where the emotion came through. Everything I did over here I say I’m gonna do, I’m gonna do, I’m gonna win, I’m gonna win. As soon as the heat was over then I realised I won the heat and that’s why I exposed myself,” he said of his hooter celebration.

Ace continues to quietly achieve.

In other results, Australian Ace Buchan eliminated rookie Kanoa Igarashi while Stu Kennedy put his world-beating frontside to work, coming up with yet another round-topping heat total (17.76) to eliminate Sebastian Zietz. Relentlessly explosive on the face, he opened with a superbly controlled fin-whip flowed into a series of power hooks and stabs down the line, for his highest scoring ride, a 9.00.

Stu, who is competing as injury replacement for Bede Durbidge, also revealed that he will be surfing on tour for the better part of the year, with Bede’s shattered pelvis likely to keep him out for the season.

“Every heat has been so fun, except for the first one. Luckily we’ve been blessed with swell for the whole waiting period. In that one I felt a lot more comfortable. I’m just glad the waves turned on,” he said.

Stu jams with shaper Tomo.