WSL Loses Heat Against The Internet In Opening Day At J-Bay

“’J-Bay is an easy wave to surf, but a difficult wave to surf well.’” -Shaun Tomson” -Martin Potter

Pottz pointed this out many times today and it is true. Or at least it is true for the average surfer. For us pedestrians, J-Bay is equal parts beauty and bitch. But for the CT, it is the most attractive canvas this side of Skeleton Bay.

At the Corona J-Bay Open today, even a 4.38 was enough to make you yell something inflammatory that would leave the people in your vicinity questioning your overall contributions to society. The surfing was powerful and bold and core as fuck — when the webcast worked, that is.

Today was the first day of the WSL’s exclusive deal with Facebook and people were very mad online. The English feed was spotty, even missing a gap of the action in the morning. During that time, all you could see was this image and a stream of frowning emojis cascading across the screen. 

A portrait of modern professional surfing.

The switch to FB also brought up some questions about viewership. The new platform shows you exactly how many people are watching and that shit was lighter than a Michelob Ultra. The webcast is broken up into different feeds but, still, it’s not a good look to have less than 5K people kicking around on the English feed (although you could blame it on PST, AEST, MST, PTSD, LSD and HPV).

Overall, the Internet defeated the WSL today. But it was a spectacular day of surfing. Now, the action.

Kelly Slater lost a heat against his surfboard but won a heat against Joel Parkinson. In all honesty, the surfboard didn’t look that bad. Just kind of bad. Still, wouldn’t it be nice to see him win the comp on it?

The surfboard industry needs a shake like that.

Speaking of shakes, let’s talk Parkinson’s retirement. Or, like everyone else now, Kelly Slater’s retirement. Today, the champ decided to announce that next year would be his last year on tour — a year and a half before he actually retires. Thunder thievery at its finest.

Conner Coffin’s 8.37 would bring a tear to Sunny Garcia’s eye. Except Sunny Garcia doesn’t cry because crying is for people who can’t gouge the fuck out of a wave at 10-foot Sunset.

Sebastian Zietz and Michel Bourez had a great heat. Michel got a 9, but Seabass still won. You could almost categorize them together as underappreciated power-horses. It’s unlikely that either of them will ever win a World Title, but it’s equally unlikely that they’ll ever bore you in heat.

Gabriel Medina was one of the few goofyfooters who won today. Yago Dora won too, but Connor O’Leary gets the Occy Award (three pints and a $10 voucher for pokies) for putting up over 15 points.

Filly and the art of not doing back-to-back alley-oops off the face of dear Jeff.

Filipe Toledo got the highest score of the day, a 9.17. He just keeps on proving that he doesn’t need a ramp to win. I still think he will surprise everyone if Teahupo’o gets big this year and will likely lose money gambling on it.

Fellow World Title chasers Italo Ferreira and Julian Wilson couldn’t make it happen in Round 1. Italo even went so far as to lose in Round 2 at the hands/redwood legs of Wiggolly Dantas. Julian Wilson was able to redeem himself against wildcard Matthew McConaughey, though.

We should be back on tomorrow for more. Hopefully the webcast will be, too. 

Men’s Corona Open J-Bay Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Frederico Morais (PRT) 11.93,  Jordy Smith (ZAF) 10.17, Michael February (ZAF) 7.24
Heat 2: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 14.03, Michel Bourez (PYF) 13.67, Ian Gouveia (BRA) 6.66
Heat 3: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 13.50, Italo Ferreira (BRA) 11.94, Kelly Slater (USA) 8.73
Heat 4: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 11.83, Tomas Hermes (BRA) 7.83, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 6.73
Heat 5: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 13.84, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 12.14, Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 10.67
Heat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 10.10, Julian Wilson (AUS) 9.90, Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) 9.86
Heat 7: Willian Cardoso (BRA) 12.30, Keanu Asing (HAW) 11.76, Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 11.06
Heat 8: Conner Coffin (USA) 16.14, Joan Duru (FRA) 15.67, Owen Wright (AUS) 12.73
Heat 9: Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.87, Mikey Wright (AUS) 13.26, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 6.00
Heat 10: Yago Dora (BRA) 13.23, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 11.67, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 11.23 
Heat 11: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 13.63, Wade Carmichael (AUS) 12.23, Jesse Mendes (BRA) 10.94
Heat 12: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.80, Connor O’Leary (AUS) 15.07, Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 10.96

Men’s Corona Open J-Bay Round  2 (H1-2) Results:
Heat 1: Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.43 def. Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) 13.50
Heat 2: Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 11.77 def. Italo Ferreira (BRA) 9.73

Men’s Corona Open J-Bay Remaining Round 2 (H3-12) Matchups:
Heat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Kelly Slater (USA)
Heat 5: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Ian Gouveia (BRA)
Heat 6: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Michael February (ZAF)
Heat 7: Michael Rodrigues (BRA) vs. Keanu Asing (HAW)
Heat 8: Wade Carmichael (AUS) vs. Joan Duru (FRA)
Heat 9: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 10: Mikey Wright (AUS) vs. Jesse Mendes (BRA)
Heat 11: Ezekiel Lau (HAW) vs. Connor O’Leary (AUS)
Heat 12: Tomas Hermes (BRA) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)

Women’s Corona Open J-Bay Round 1 Matchups:
Heat 1: Johanne Defay (FRA), Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Sage Erickson (USA)
Heat 2: Tyler Wright (AUS), Silvana Lima (BRA), Bronte Macaulay (AUS)
Heat 3: Lakey Peterson (USA), Malia Manuel (HAW), Bianca Buitendag (ZAF)
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), Nikki Van Dijk (AUS), Macy Callaghan (AUS)
Heat 5: Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA), Keely Andrew (AUS), Courtney Conlogue (USA)
Heat 6: Carissa Moore (HAW), Caroline Marks (USA), Coco Ho (HAW)