Comparing the slog that was Bells with its stop-start days and laydays with Day One of Margaret River where 28 heats were surfed, with 28 pro surfers sent home, calls to mind the famous quote from Lenin: "There are decades where nothing happens and weeks where decades happen.”
28 surfers sent home in one day! That used to feel like it would take decades to happen.
If Bells was a drunken stagger home after a big night out, the opening day of Margies was an extended firing squad, executions all day on the hour, every hour until sunset.
Six to eight foot surf, occasionally bigger set, with glassy/lumpy conditions under a light offshore wind and the girls were sent out. We’ve seen the women close the performance gap at a few locations - small righthand points, the wave pool, to name two but at sizey Mainbreak the gap remained huge. There has been no female John John to reset the template of elite surfing at that location. The girls could not dial in the positioning, the bottom turns were wobbly and the top turns were vague and safe.
Alyssa (WSL/Anderson)
To be fair, the best modern female surfers at Margs, Isabella Nichols and Gabby Bryan did not surf today so chances are we’ll see a lift in performance when they hit the water. Otherwise, rookie Yolanda Hopkins offered the most competent, albeit meat and potatoes, performance out there.
Of the returning women warriors, Gilmore got unceremoniously bounced by Erin Brooks, Carissa got through, Sally just overcame Tya Zebrowski who still looks a little underdone, and Tyler Wright was a late scratching due to injury. The edifice from the old guard is looking increasingly shaky.
‘Our Sal’ got through but the sunshine and rainbows talk in the presser now carries a darker undercurrent. “There’s a lot of pain, a lot of hurt trapped in this place from the last five years,” began Sal on the glass. “It’s so hard for your body to let go of that intense heartbreak. Just to get on the plane is pretty hard. Internally, it’s such a wrestle.”
When asked what it would take for Sal to get on the podium she hosed down expectations. “I’m not trying to challenge the peak of my powers,” she said. “It’s not about winning. I’m here to learn and evolve my surfing.”
I’m no psychologist but Sal’s relationship with competitive surfing is starting to sound a little bit, um, unhealthy. A bit Stockholm Syndromey. If you want to learn and evolve your surfing, expend your precious resources at the best waves in the world - ala John Florence.
Sal comes up against Molly Picklum in Round 2.
Erin (WSL/Anderson)
Confusion seemed the dominant emotion for Steph Gilmore on the steps. A wave ridden with a minute remaining came in just under and Coach Snake was adamant she had ridden the score. Erin Brooks had just that little bit more though and that will be the story for the rest of the year. The new girls will do turns that bit better, they’ll hit sections Steph won’t, catch waves she won’t, and ride left tube she can’t or won’t. Snake was also clipping tickets from Erin so his post-heat analysis for Erin was equally enthusiastic in the other direction- of course you won!
Carissa’s strategy of hiring local coaches seems a lot less conflicted. She won solidly against Alyssa Spencer with a clear-eyed analysis she could have sat deeper and her turns should’ve been bigger. A rematch awaits with Isabella Nichols.
So far, the Bettylou prediction that the young girls were going to smoke the older returning crew looks on the money.
Goofyfoots did the best surfing today. Wildcards Chippo Willcox and Jack Thomas in Round 1 accounted for Oscar Berry and Mateus Herdy respectively.
Mateus (WSL/Anderson)
Chippo looked insane with the come from behind bottom turn and very tight turns in the notoriously unreliable Mainbreak pocket. Chippo must have done something in a previous life to anger the Gods. Fate seems to work against him at every turn. In this instance it was drawing world champ Yago Dora.
Despite the Ghandi-like utterances after his Bells win Dora showed he wasn’t above an old fashioned scrap after a ‘discrepancy in the paperwork’ over a wave. Dora paddled for it, Chippo sat in under him without moving and the two came into contact. It could have gone either way. Two judges called an interference, three said play on. Cameras showed a flurry of arm movements and gesticulations from both men with Dora later saying Willcox had started “giving me shit in the water.”
I make the observation, as a general rule, that trying to get all alpha male with the Brazilians tends to be a losing strategy on every level. Dora, after coming to grips with what he called a “really confusing” situation, deduced he would have to “surf and win it that way.” Which he did.
Yago (WSL/Anderson)
Coming up the steps later Chippo was still chirping away drawing the ire of Dora’s entourage. Where does that go now for Chip? Apologise and lose all that alpha posturing? Carry a grudge and look over your shoulder when Dora and his entourage are in the pub? There’s no long term winning strategy for trying to take the Storm on, on those terms.
Back to the drawing board (again) for Willcox. The most deserving guy to never have a decent CT career.
The Storm goofyfoots were imperious. Dora, as mentioned, who overcame Willcox. Medina in power cruise control took Al Cleland out again - “Step by step, I’m warming up,” Medina warned his peers. Italo was pushed hard by Ramzi Boukhiam, who arguably did the better surfing, before prevailing courtesy of a heat-changing 6.87 in the latter stages of their battle. Miggy Pupo had the come from behind goofy line on lock with both his waves very stingily scored to easily overcome Morgan Ciblic by a judging panel showing fatigue as we got to the end of the day.
Meanwhile, Filipe Toledo was bounced out early for the second contest in a row, this time by George Pittar. Pro surfing is not quite like Rugby League where junior aspirants are clearly told by the organisation that they need to get to 85kg, say, before they will be considered for A-grade teams, but it’s getting there. George Pittar at 6’1” and close to 80 kegs, shifted more water and did bigger turns than the diminutive Toledo. It’s just a simple physics equation where bigger bodies of more mass can displace more water. Afternoon sun provided backlighting to highlight the difference and George pushed past his smaller opponent.
Kelly Slater increasingly found himself on the wrong side of this equation as bigger, stronger guys riding higher volume boards made his surfing on chattery low-volume epoxies look tinny and insubstantial.
George (WSL/Ryder)
Similar themes played out for other smaller guys. Igarashi powered past Eli Hanneman, who had control of the heat for the majority of the forty minutes until Kanoa caught two set waves, while Connor O’Leary monstered Rio Waida in their Heat 10 clash.
Jack Robinson got his year on track with a very tight win over Kauli Vaast. The lead swung back and forth several times through the heat before Jack spiked the winning ride with a few minutes remaining. A clearly relieved Robinson explained, “It meant a lot to get the year going especially after the big break.”
Jack (WSL/Anderson)
The only truly controversial decision, apart from the interference call, was Jake Marshall’s loss to Joao Chianca. Needing a 7 and change, Marshall loosed the turn of the heat on the opening section of a set wave with two minutes remaining and closed the ride down expertly with another turn and closeout smash. That was a mid-7 all day long and should have been the heat winning wave for mine - especially considering Chianca’s chaotic stabs and disconnected lines were nothing like good surfing at Mainbreak. Judges lowballed and Chianca went through.
A massive day, entertaining at times but ultimately proving a point: there’s only so much pro surfing we can absorb in one day.
//STEVE SHEARER