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BILLABONG PRO MUNDAKA: PREVIEW
Title Race Heats Up as World's Best Surfers Head to Basque Country
1. THE STAGE: The World's Most Perfect + Fickle Rivermouth Sandbar
After years of slop and three-heat days, last year finally saw the famed rivermouth wake up, if only briefly, for the world's best. When it's on, there's few better surf stadiums in the world: you can stand on the cliff in the tiny Basque fishing village and see exactly what's happening as the swells march in from the North Atlantic and race across the sandbar. And when it's really on, you can get out the stopwatch and time the barrels -- something few other events on tour offer. When it's not on...see next slide.
2. THE SURF: Wildly oscillating between sand-bottomed Heaven and Hell
On one hand: the sectionless racetrack tubes that scream across the mouth of the Guernika River. On the other: a shifty, exposed beachbreak nicknamed "Slopelana" or "So-poo-lana" by pros. The event can go from one to the other in the blink of a tide shift, making for difficult mental shifts. As last year's winner CJ Hobgood points out, "I love Mundaka, but it doesn't break often enough. Over the last 3-4 years there have been maybe half a dozen heats with good waves." (Note: rumor has it Sopelana's sandbank is actually "incredible and sucking in all sorts of swell" right now. Fingers crossed.)
3. WHO'S HOT: Mick, Dane, Tiago, Bede
Everyone knows Mick Fanning is hot, but he doesn't win everything. For example, after snatching the Quik Pro and celebrating in true Aussie fashion (i.e.: downing more than a dozen beers) he lost a very public footrace through the streets of Hossegor to photog Matt Kelson. "I'm not a sprinter," he tweeted later. Dane, for his part, doesn't twitter, while Tiago came alive in France with familial support that'll continue through the rest of the Euro leg and Bede continued his sponsorless-yet-stylish rampage.
4. WHO'S WARM AS HELL: CJ, Bobby, Taj, Michel
Don't count out World Number 3: CJ Hobgood won out here with a 9.93 double barrel in the final last year, and after having his boards stolen in Hossegor, he's got a whole new quiver. ("Locked up at the Louvre till I surf," he laughs.) Bobby gained some momentum back in France, and is a two-time winner of this event -- especially (and ironically) when it was held in beachbreak crap. Taj is the perennial second placer, who may use the "Aussie tide raising all ships" momentum, while Michel Bourez is using his adopted EuroForce status to inspire a consistently radical backside attack.
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October 2, 2009
