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RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH: DAY SEVEN
Bede, Bobby, Tanner, Simpo pull the 13th Beach Shuffle to complete Round Two
Contest Director Damien Hardman has Pancho Sullivan under his wing at Bells this year, grooming him for a future in the role. I didn't get a chance to speak to Pancho today, but I'd forgive him for having second thoughts about his career direction.
I mean, man, there were there some nervous faces on the beach this morning. Pained, even. Pancho seemed to be taking it all in his stride and was looking characteristically cool, but these guys haven't been getting by on much sleep, and with the forecast testing the absolute limits of patience (and the miles you can put in driving the Victorian coast), they're earning their paychecks.
On Monday night, everyone involved with making the decision had bitten the bullet and decided the contest would run on Tuesday at 13th Beach. No second guesses. It was where all the guys had been freesurfing anyway, there were reliable banks that could (hopefully) handle a whole day's worth of tide changes, and instead of being a two and a half hour drive away like Johanna, it's 20 minutes.
But very first thing, it wasn't at all clear that this reliable beachbreak could offer up a contestable wave. The 7am call was put back to 7:30, then to 8am, 8:30...but the swell would start to pulse around 9 and the first heat was sent out.
And you know what? Nobody needed to have worried about nothing. Sure, the early heats were held in small waves, but as cool as it is to see the world's best surfers in great waves, it's just as cool to see 'em in the same average beachies that most of us spend our lives surfing.
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