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HURLEY PRO TRESTLES: DAY ONE
Slater, Dane, Simpo light up in beachbreak-like Lowers in Round One; Burrow sent packing
Except for the bigass Hurley tents and the scaffolding and the pro surfers and hangers-on milling about, today started out looking like a bad morning on the Central Coast: Pissy south wind, nagging fog, shifty peaks with either zero wall or too much wall, big hunks of kelp littering the lineup -- almost a world-class surf spot. Just needed some elephant seals and more mustachioed gnarly local guys and any Morro Bay local would've felt right at home. Put it this way: Damo won his early morning heat with a 7.27 total wave score. Put it another way: some punters even suggested that Bob Hurley used up all his epic-wave karma at the US Open.
Of course unlike the Central Coast, which'll generally start out bad and get worse, Lower Trestles is unique in the whole state in that it can actually get better as the day goes on! Fancy that, beachbreak diehards. Which is sorta why running nine hours of heats made sense today -- especially considering the less-than-stellar forecast.
There was never any debate on old vs. new format here -- contest director Pat O had always maintained that Lowers always had more than enough surf to have the three-man R1 + loser's R2. Which is true. And it makes for more surfing by the world's best, but a little less drama, too -- like, for example, even after 18 heats, only two surfers are sent packing -- wildcard Kai Barger and world number four Taj Burrow, who were beat by Parko and Machado respectively in the late afternoon R2 heats.
Just 'cause there were hardly any losers doesn't mean it was a boring day or anything. Mick Fanning has been on fire here in freesurfs lately, and was as fast and nimble on these bumpy walls as his 'White Lightning' moniker would suggest. "It was pretty difficult for what we're used to at Trestles," he said after his heat. "But there's still some scoring potential."
(For those who have been following the so-called 'Rebel Tour' developments, we asked Mick, who's the surfer's rep, about a possible announcement of something here at Lowers -- and he was politically neutral, as everyone's been. "We've been talking, and there's some good things from both sides, but nothing's set in stone," he explained. "We can't really say anything till we go back to all the surfers and see where they want to go -- plus, things are constantly changing all the time. But at the end of the day, whatever happens, it'll be great for surfing. It was starting to get a little stagnant there -- and any kick in the bum is a good kick in the bum.")
Speaking of surfing getting stagnant, someone forgot to tell Dane Reynolds. Everyone figured he'd do great out here in these conditions, but you never really know with that guy. Especially when he was up against Adriano. But the Ventura Kid went out there on his stubby little CI and sent the squaretail over, above and beyond the lip, and took down De Souza and Phil Macca in the weirdly peaky surf.
Mr. Kelly Slater is not a big fan of stagnant surfing, either. And in case anyone was wondering about the King of Trestles, no need to wonder much longer. Dude paddled out and blasted a 9.0 on an average left and a 9.5 on a good right within the first five minutes of the heat. Up until then, no one had broken a high eight, and hardly anyone had gone right. He was riding a weird board (surprise!) with dual stringers set a few inches in from the rails, and a carbon strip down the bottom. "I like the flex and pop of having the stringers closer to the rails," he explained yesterday about a few new boards in his arsenal. (Check back later this week for the full story on his new quiver.)
"I think those two waves were probably two of the best that broke all day," Slater said. "There haven't been too many rights all day, but I was able to grab a couple of really good ones to start out. I didn't think I was going to better a nine out there, so I came in and went for a board change to try something a little different towards the end of the heat."
The other drama of the day, and we may be a little biased 'cause we claimed him as our Dark Horse, was wildcard Brett Simpson, who took down Aussie tour vets Taj Burrow and Dean Morrison right after Kelly's heat. Brett's coach Ian Cairns explains the strategy: "This isn't like a south swell where you wait for bombs. I told Brett to catch as many waves as possible 'cause you don't know what the wave'll offer once you stand up."
Brett was understandably stoked. "I wanted to stay busy," he explained. "There's not tons of great waves so you have to maximize the ones you're on -- and I felt I did good at that."
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September 13, 2009
