Who Came The Hottest Out Of Quarantine?
Five surfers, five pre-event edits. Who ya got?
The world’s best competitive surfers just spent two weeks kooked up in a hotel room. Fourteen days of boredom, weird Instagram antics, and not catching a single wave. It was a brutal but necessary punishment for the sake of professional surfing.
After being released, most surfers hit the water immediately, some more graceful than others. Luckily, we have little interaction with the outside world and obsess over surf clips. We watched every clip released from a CT surfer over the last few days and found whose calisthenic routine paid off.
1. Italo Ferreira exploded out of Hotel Quarantine and didn’t miss a step. Despite the poor conditions, Italo surfing was aggressive, fluid, and perfectly timed. According to Italo, “Surfing is like riding a bike, you never forget.”
Evidently, Italo’s bike is not the everyday cycle. It has both front pegs, back pegs, and a playing card in the spoke; no hand brakes either, Italo is the cool cat with the most flagrant bike on the block, and he sure as hell won’t be caught wearing a helmet.
2. Jack Robinson shaved his head during quarantine for what I can only assume were aerodynamic purposes. Please refer to his air-reverse in ferocious headwinds for context.
While Jack grew up surfing heavy reef waves, he’s the furthest thing from a spoiled, jaded surfer. If you watched his latest Huntington hops then you’re aware his appetite for slop is equal to his hunger for kegs, which is to say: massive. All one needs is to look at his latest IG to see he is chomping at the bit to surf anything, no matter the size. Thankfully for us, it shows.
3. Yago Dora
Yago’s running hot right now. Given the tour’s next two events, this should strike fear into the psyche of anyone who draw’s Mr. Dora in their heats.
With turns as crisp as hotel bedsheets and more swag (and a better stache) than your favorite ‘70s pornstar, it should come as no surprise that Yago walked right out of quarantine and straight into some clips.
4. Jadson Andre scored the best waves by far. Manageable offshore winds and a few sneaky barrels. I’m not sure if Jadson waited an extra day to get his cuffs wet or if he’s just a guru when reading swell charts.
His surfing was pretty solid, lagging on certain sections but nothing to worry about. His peak moments made up for it. The hack at 1:23 pretty much shook off any remaining quarantine rust.
5. Gabriel Medina checked out of Hotel Quarantine and spent the gloomy afternoon at Bar Beach. The waves were subpar, and Medina’s surfing was a tad rusty. A lot of stomping between sections and a bit of hiccup through cutbacks.
That being said, a rusty Gabriel Medina could easily land a quarter-final finish. I’d give it two days for Gabe to recalibrate and find his predatory footing. Or maybe the coach swap plays a bigger role than we thought… we’ll have to wait and see.
Bonus: Caio Ibelli
We’re not counting Caio in the official tally because he only posted one wave. But it was a good fucking wave.
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