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RIP CURL PRO SEARCH: DAY SEVEN
Last three heats of R2 finish in fine beachbreak; Owen Wright goes mental crazy to win TMN Expression Session
Most of Peniche woke up in a thick, dense fog this morning -- and not just from last night's drunken festivities. An actual thick, dense fog hovered over the coast until about 8:30am, completely obscuring conditions at the backup venue of Belgas. Mick and Parko (among a couple others) paddled out in the pea soup for an early morning warm-up surf. "It was great to see, they were smiling and chatting," said ASP's Brodie Carr, who was out doing some field research. Good to know that the two locked into a title race -- one that's guaranteed to go to Pipeline now -- are still civil to each other.
If yesterday was Woodstock out here in the farmlands and coastal cliffs north of town, today was The Hangover. Driving to the event site through the briny, sticky fog, cars were parked all askew and every-which-way along the road, some having full-clothed and sleeping inhabitants, some with doors open, a few with tents perched on top -- and all with some kind of wave-riding device on the roof. Once we got to the dirt tracks, more cars, campers and once we got to the dunes, more tents, sleeping bags, and fully-clothed, passed-out people. And at the event site, as the fog lifted, it seemed that more than a few people didn't even make it off the beach after yesterday's contest. Hundreds of surf fans were already on the sand before the horn sounded.
The surf had picked up a bit overnight, and the sandbar offered up some tubes and whackable sections for the last three heats of R2, which went kinda like this: Fred Patacchia nearly combo-ed Ben Dunn in the first heat of the morning by pulling into and making it out of a couple said tubes. "I kinda let Dunny fall apart and it worked," Fred said afterwards. "I knew where I wanted to sit and what I wanted to do -- it's the best surf we've seen on the Euro leg so far, so I was stoked."
Adriano took down buddy and compatriot Jihad Khodr by surfing low and fast and precise in the down-the-line lefts and occasional rights. He's never made it past R2 in a Rip Curl Search event, which made the win especially sweet. "It's true I have pressure," he said when asked about the fact that he's technically in the running for the title. "But it's the first time I've ever been in this position, so it's not too much pressure."
Next up, Timmy Reyes surfed a smart heat against Kieren Perrow, catching the wide lefts and tail-wafting the hell out of 'em. "I think this is the first heat of the entire year that I've had that's been glassy," he laughed afterwards, clearly stoked on the win. "This is a necessary result for me, I don't want to be trapped heading into Hawaii."
The first heat of R3 -- CJ vs Jordy -- was put on hold after Reyes' win for officials to assess conditions. Five minutes later, Bobby Martinez paddled out for a freesurf and snagged a standup barrel across the sandbar and got spit out. The crowd cheered. And then waited for a half hour while Bobby, Owen Wright, CJ, Jordy and a few more pros tore the sandbar into shreds with barrels, airs, carves, etc. It was a great show, worthy of applause, and many folks -- including your humble correspondent -- were surprised when the decision came down that the contest was off for the day. R3 would have to wait.
"We're deciding world titles out in these conditions," explained contest director Damien Hardman. "We've got a good swell forecast for Tuesday/Wednesday and I'd prefer to roll the dice and have a chance to finish the event in six- to eight-foot barreling offshore beachbreak waves."
While Dooma's was telling me this, Bobby got another barrel and Jordy punted a big air on the next wave. "When you see freesurfing, there's ten guys catching every single wave," he explained. "But as soon as you have two guys out there you don't see as much action. They definitely make it look better when there's more in the water -- it's perfect conditions for an Expression Session."
If some folks were still a little dubious on the call, turned out the surf fans on the beach didn't seem to mind either way. The crowd swelled to thousands by noon. And with like ten guys out going as big as they possibly could for a chance to win some cash, there was no shortage of applause and cheering and whistling and chasing down the beach. Owen Wright, freshly re-signed with Rip Curl, went berzerko in the left closeouts, punting and landing the highest airs of the day, hands down, and taking the win at the TMN Expression Session -- and a bunch of Euros home to Oz. He goes up against Dane in R3, which should be a smoker.
There's a 7:30am local call tomorrow; the girl's event waiting period starts as well -- check back for the full report. And see below for the official forecast.
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October 25, 2009
