The Billabong Pro @ J-Bay will be remembered as the event of the year. First, the waves absolutely pumped for most of the contest! The sand bank that formed gave these guys some of the best tubrides seen in competition on a long time. Second, it was the contest that put the nail in the coffin for all other contenders and pretty much secured Parko his first world title. That is unless he has a complete meltdown and get’s 33rds for the rest of the year. And finally, it will be known for the Clash of the Icons Heat between Curren and Occy!
Let’s Just Review the comp quickly. Slater looked on fire in his 3rd round heat against Nic Muscroft. They guy threw away 2 scores in the 9+ range. He looked lie the man to beat until his shocker of a heat against Taylor Knox. It was awave starved heat with Taylor opening up early with a beautiful wave that just suited his surfing perfectly. Then they waves disappeared and Slater decided to wait for the set that never came. Parko’s #1 foe was now out and probably out of contention for the season.
Fanning, and Taj all lost early in shocking heats. After those two there really wasnt anyone left to challenge Parko for the title. Dane was the biggest threat and he has been having rough start to the year. Hopefully he can turn things around after this event. His surfing was smooth and clean throughout the contest and after he took out Jordy, Dane became the darkhorse to watch.
Then there was Parko. His surfing was made for this wave! Just perfect smooth buttery goodness all contest long. One of his tens he claimed was one of the best waves of his life. A pretty big claim for the future world champ. Damien Hobgood was the suprise of the event and made it all the way to the final but you could just see that the momentum was in Parko’s favor. Damo had to fight to get to the final. Parko just cruised, looking confident and pre-destined to win. And now with this win, the psychological edge is in Parko’s favor. Parko has a good record at Trestles and I wouldn’t be suprised if we see him at least make the semis and wrap up this title by Spain.
Now for the Clash of th Icons Heat between Curren and Occy. Kudos to Billabong for putting this thing on. It takes a lot of balls to pit your iconic surfer against his rival and risk having them lose and be known as the lesser to Curren. The build up to the heats was going nuts all over the web. Everyone was tlaking about it. But then the heats happened and there was not a peep out of the media. I dont get it. The press releases for the days competition gave 2-3 sentences to their heat and that was it. The heats on demand took forever to get up on the sites. And there is very little written about the significance of this heat. This could be a new format in surfing for the retired pros. But not a word. Curren took out the first heat with some smooth surfing but the waves really didn’t come for that heat. It was few and far between sets. Then the second heat had better waves but still the ocean didn’t deliver. Still, the surfing was timeless and Occy looked a bit crisper. Curren was smooth but tenative. He looked like he never really had a chance to let go and unleash on the waves. Occy had some good belts off the lip and just sqweaked past Curren by the narrowest of margins to take the second heat and make their overall heat tally 9:9. Looks like Rip Curl is going to have to put these guys up at Bells for a rematch.
As for the Fantasy Surfer Standings, it was “The Big Hurt” who took out the win with a score of 861! The Big Hurt was definitely an underdog. They are currently sitting around the bottom of the rankings at the moment but it looks like they missed the first 4 events. I see a possible catch up the rest of the year. NYRipper, last year’s overall champ is holding down the lead once again and looking to take the title again this year. Can anyone overtake him. There are a few knipping at his heels. Look out.
The Big Hurt, please reach out to me to collect your prize for the event.
[email protected]Get set for Trestles next as we run into the homestretch with 4 events back to back. I’m calling for Parko to take it in Spain.
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