Australia's Surfing Life Magazine

Day 4. The Apocalypse: Yesterday’s News.

Friday, 23 October 2009 00:09

Words: Timmy the Fish. Photos: Roger the Sharp.

The event site and the fishing boat yard that backs on to it!

The destruction of the comp is so, like, passé. To the point where, with the swell still bombing and an opportunity to go document the main site getting smashed up for the second time on the late high tide last night, no-one even bothered. There was nothing left to smash, and, fark, we had bigger news to come. MARLON LIPKE WON A HEAT. Not just won a heat, but the Little German That Could lit it up in the best waves of the first day of competition.

This was cool for a number of reasons.

1. Marlon’s a good lad, and it would be a shame if he went down as the Ricky Basnett of 2009, barely getting through a single first round all year.
2. He might be German, but Marlon was born in Portugal, he grew up in Portugal, his family run a surf camp here and he’s seen as a countryman by the locals.
3. Those countrymen needed something to cheer about after their Portuguese Tiger, Tiago ‘Saca’ Pires, was bundled out in round three.

The Portuguese Tiger getting bundled out in heat three was shit for a number of reasons.

1. Tiago’s heat with Nathaniel Curran had some of the worst waves of the day. (although the heat before was pretty bad. Poor Davey Weare did not deserve to go down in inconsistent pus to Heitor Alves)
2. Everyone on the beach was on the beach for Tiago. Even the mayor of Peniche was giving it some fist shaking in support of his boy.
3. Nathaniel Curren got two ordinary waves, surfed them with very little flair, then sat on his opponent. Game over.
4. We’re running the New Format, so it’s sayonara for Saca. All those viewers on national live to air will be pretty bummed.

So was Tiago, it has to be said. As he ran past the judges after his heat he mock-applauded their work, then hurled his board across the competitor’s area. It was an undignified way for Portugal’s Great Hope to go down, and the comp was put on hold after his heat, which tells you everything you need to know about the conditions.

The mayor of Peniche... A cool dude and he's frothing on the event...

For the next three hours we all stared out to sea and wished we could go for a surf. It was fun out there. Maybe not if you were a World Tour competitor, but for the rest of us, You Bewdy.

But we’re not here to get excited over three foot beachies, and a well-ranked Aussie pro who didn’t have to surf Round One was more than happy to point out the flaws he saw in using the new format at this event. “There’s so much swell right through the waiting period,” he told ASL. “To send guys out when it’s like this doesn’t work for anybody. Tiago is the best thing about the contest for the locals, and (the contest directors) have denied him a chance to surf good waves ... they’ve denied the crowd the opportunity to really get behind their guy. If it was the old format you wouldn’t mind the first round going out in waves like this, or the waves we saw yesterday.” But this isn’t the sort of surf you spend months waiting for, only to be knocked in half an hour at a wave that looked like average D-bah. If it had been kegging, that would have been different. But today wasn’t kegging. Not in the contest area.

This meant plenty of punched boards and frustration from the surfers.

Phil MacDonald’s beautiful, flowing carves were easily the best thing about the sunrise freesurf session. Phil’s surfing was precise and powerful, and he rode a board that looked perfect. But after wrestling control of his heat with Ben Dunn at the midway point, Phil could only scream in frustration as Ben found a wave on the final buzzer that gave him the score he needed to force Phil into re-booking his flight home. Likewise Chris Davo, who was surfing great on a lovely rounded-pin from Simon Anderson, but somehow gave the game away against injury replacement Pat Gudauskas. One day he’s telling you how good the yoga sessions are at his hotel, the next day he’s breaking his board first heat and wondering how the wheels could fall off so fast. Going from a second in one event to a 33rd the next when you’re on the requalification bubble like Davo is must hurt like a bastard.

Herr Marlon, highest heat score of the day, beating an in form Bourez and getting through his second heat all year! Yeeew!

Parko was down on the beach, chatting to ASP medical guru Chris Prosser and happily posing for shots before obliging the Rip Curl TV crew with an interview about his injury. Joel’s feeling 100 per cent again after his intensive in the rehab centre back in France, and he looked it. When he went for a free surf, his ankle was unstrapped.

The rest of the day’s heats went to schedule, notable mostly for Owen Wright’s clinical dissection of his Rippy teammate Kekoa Bacalso. The two surfers are both living proof that physique has nothing to do with your ability as a surfer, but today Owen fit his frame into the small beachbreaks better than his Hawaiian mate, and his heat strategy was flawless. ASL would like to think this was entirely due to the preview screening of our upcoming Hot 100 DVD that we gave Owen and his dad Rob last night. But even though our next DVD is the best thing ever pressed to plastic, it’s probably more to do with the fact that Owen is simply natural born gnarly. To use a tired cliché, the kid has saltwater in his veins. What was coolest about Owen’s heat, the second last of the day, was that we get to show him off a bit to the rest of the world. All of us know Owen is the real deal, We know he’s going to be taking it to Dane and Jordy over the next few years. With any luck, this comp will ensure the rest of the world knows it, too.

First call is back at Supertubes tomorrow morning. Hopefully we’ll have a few more barrels to bring you when you check back then.

Tiago's biggest supporter, Augusto Couto, seeing which way the wind is blowing, and it ain't good. The Portuguese Tiger fell victim to Nate C and slack-ass waves.

“Applauding” the judges, then flipping them off, then throwing your board into the competitors tent. Think he thinks he was ripped off?

Smelly Slater went for an under the radar 'quiet' surf at Supertubes ... it wasn't that good.

Yet one by one, half the crowd found their way down there...

Joel surfed some fun ones in the middle of the beach...

and then wonders why the event is at the wall rather than Supers... Either that or he is wondering why everyone loves Kelly so much when it's his title year...

Okay, Supertubes did have the odd moment...

Dane Reynolds broke cover today for a few punts and wheelies with KS.

There was a WCT on as well - Owen Wright went through without a hitch.

As did Otto.

End of the day saw a mad little freesurf froth with Dingo (pictured) Wardo, Taj, Steph and half of Portugal

CLICK HERE FOR YESTERDAY'S ANTICS.