Round 1 Wrap Up With Surfer's Sean Doherty
(Sunday, April 4, 2010)
Sean Doherty Laments The Completion Of Round 1 Of The Rip Curl Pro.
By Sean Doherty
Standing in the pre-dawn dark yesterday, a cup of acrid instant java in left paw, and the waves don't sound promising. As the darkness is peeled back over the next 10 minutes the waves reveal themselves to be just that. It's Bells after all, and in 50 years it's never delivered epic waves two years running.
The forecast looks dire. Easterly winds coming. Swell dropping. Contest Director and the winningest man at Bells Beach, Damien Hardman, spent most of last year's contest buried in the racing form guide. He'd simply turn up each morning, survey a perfect six-foot line up, wave his hand and sit back and pick a winner at Race 6 in Taree. This year he's earning his crusts. It's an early Easter this year and unseasonably warm, both harbingers of mediocre waves. He's going to have to manufacture something.
Andy paddles out against Dane and the Rip Curl Pro is on. Andy looks far from sure. Halfway through his first turn – a huge grabrail blast – he still looks unsure. The swagger isn't quite the same, but Bells feels like home and at least he looks more sure-footed here than he did on the Gold Coast. Bells isn't quite as kind to Dane's hi-fi act, and it's Andy who wins and escapes the loser's round. The rest of the day is nondescript. The tide fills in, the swell laps at the foot of the Bells cliff. Heats need to be run, the cogs grind, and everyone who should win does with the exception of Bede Durbidge. It's not pretty, but not much this week will be.
This morning, Bells, a southwest windswell on a southeast devil wind. Bad as it gets. So bad in fact, it was actually good. The lazy pointbreak has been transferred into a wedgey little beachbreak. Sitting in the contest director's office with Pancho Sullivan we muse that Dane Reynolds – who is due to surf an early heat in round two – will want to surf. He could have some fun out here. Two minutes later he materialises inside the demountable cube. "Let's run this thing!" It had Dane's number written all over it, but the decision is made to finish round one and start scouring the coast for something better.
The six heats today are run in the staccato rights and prove surprisingly entertaining. They got even more so when Fred Patacchia (pictured above) takes out Aussie rookie Owen Wright. It seems too many Wrights can make a wrong when they're coming hyperbolically from the commentary booth. When interviewed post-heat, Freddy less-than-subtly insinuated that the commentators were teabagging Owen's nuts, talking him up and creating a self-fulfilling prophecy on the judges' sheets. He copped a fine, but Fred's outburst was instructional of one thing – when mid-table guys are interviewed this year and tell you they're happy about the infusion of fresh blood tour rookies like Owen and Dusty provide, they're not. With a third of the surfers on the tour being banished to qualifying purgatory in August, and every heat this year having something riding on it, an era of unprecedented chumminess on tour might be coming to an end.
Where it's going from here? Print a map of Victoria, tape it to the wall, close your eyes and stick a pin in it. Yesterday it was looking a dead certainty that it would go to three hours drive east to Phillip Island, but instead somehow stayed put at Bells. The word now is that it's likely to go two hours west to Johanna. The banks aren't great, with no single bank offering a universal tidal solution. It may resemble a French event, with topless women replaced by dairy cows.
Just as Dooma Hardman has disposed of his racing form guide, so too should you dispose of your form guide for Bells. At 5am tomorrow morning, we're heading into the Great Unknown.
REMAINING RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 11: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 14.84, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.33, Jay Thompson (AUS) 11.16
Heat 12: Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.63, Adam Melling (AUS) 12.43, Taylor Knox (USA) 12.33
Heat 13: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 9.93, Brett Simpson (AUS) 9.23, Jadson Andre (BRA) 7.83
Heat 14: Dusty Payne (HAW) 13.26, Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.50, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 10.34
Heat 15: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.94, Owen Wright (AUS) 10.83, Drew Courtney (AUS) 7.50
Heat 16: Roy Powers (HAW) 12.84, Dean Morrison (AUS) 9.50, Luke Munro (AUS) 8.34
UPCOMING RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Stuart Kennedy (AUS)
Heat 2: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Gabriel Medina (BRA)
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Adam Robertson (AUS)
Heat 4: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Neco Padaratz (BRA)
Heat 5: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Blake Thornton (AUS)
Heat 6: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Marco Polo (BRA)
Heat 7: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 8: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Tanner Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 10: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Nate Yeomans (USA)
Heat 11: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Jay Thompson (AUS)
Heat 12: Daniel Ross (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 13: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 14: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)
Heat 15: Jadson Andre (BRA) vs. Luke Munro (AUS)
Heat 16: Ben Dunn (AUS) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)
(Sunday, April 4, 2010)
Sean Doherty Laments The Completion Of Round 1 Of The Rip Curl Pro.
By Sean Doherty
Standing in the pre-dawn dark yesterday, a cup of acrid instant java in left paw, and the waves don't sound promising. As the darkness is peeled back over the next 10 minutes the waves reveal themselves to be just that. It's Bells after all, and in 50 years it's never delivered epic waves two years running.
The forecast looks dire. Easterly winds coming. Swell dropping. Contest Director and the winningest man at Bells Beach, Damien Hardman, spent most of last year's contest buried in the racing form guide. He'd simply turn up each morning, survey a perfect six-foot line up, wave his hand and sit back and pick a winner at Race 6 in Taree. This year he's earning his crusts. It's an early Easter this year and unseasonably warm, both harbingers of mediocre waves. He's going to have to manufacture something.
Andy paddles out against Dane and the Rip Curl Pro is on. Andy looks far from sure. Halfway through his first turn – a huge grabrail blast – he still looks unsure. The swagger isn't quite the same, but Bells feels like home and at least he looks more sure-footed here than he did on the Gold Coast. Bells isn't quite as kind to Dane's hi-fi act, and it's Andy who wins and escapes the loser's round. The rest of the day is nondescript. The tide fills in, the swell laps at the foot of the Bells cliff. Heats need to be run, the cogs grind, and everyone who should win does with the exception of Bede Durbidge. It's not pretty, but not much this week will be.
This morning, Bells, a southwest windswell on a southeast devil wind. Bad as it gets. So bad in fact, it was actually good. The lazy pointbreak has been transferred into a wedgey little beachbreak. Sitting in the contest director's office with Pancho Sullivan we muse that Dane Reynolds – who is due to surf an early heat in round two – will want to surf. He could have some fun out here. Two minutes later he materialises inside the demountable cube. "Let's run this thing!" It had Dane's number written all over it, but the decision is made to finish round one and start scouring the coast for something better.
The six heats today are run in the staccato rights and prove surprisingly entertaining. They got even more so when Fred Patacchia (pictured above) takes out Aussie rookie Owen Wright. It seems too many Wrights can make a wrong when they're coming hyperbolically from the commentary booth. When interviewed post-heat, Freddy less-than-subtly insinuated that the commentators were teabagging Owen's nuts, talking him up and creating a self-fulfilling prophecy on the judges' sheets. He copped a fine, but Fred's outburst was instructional of one thing – when mid-table guys are interviewed this year and tell you they're happy about the infusion of fresh blood tour rookies like Owen and Dusty provide, they're not. With a third of the surfers on the tour being banished to qualifying purgatory in August, and every heat this year having something riding on it, an era of unprecedented chumminess on tour might be coming to an end.
Where it's going from here? Print a map of Victoria, tape it to the wall, close your eyes and stick a pin in it. Yesterday it was looking a dead certainty that it would go to three hours drive east to Phillip Island, but instead somehow stayed put at Bells. The word now is that it's likely to go two hours west to Johanna. The banks aren't great, with no single bank offering a universal tidal solution. It may resemble a French event, with topless women replaced by dairy cows.
Just as Dooma Hardman has disposed of his racing form guide, so too should you dispose of your form guide for Bells. At 5am tomorrow morning, we're heading into the Great Unknown.
REMAINING RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 11: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 14.84, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.33, Jay Thompson (AUS) 11.16
Heat 12: Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.63, Adam Melling (AUS) 12.43, Taylor Knox (USA) 12.33
Heat 13: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 9.93, Brett Simpson (AUS) 9.23, Jadson Andre (BRA) 7.83
Heat 14: Dusty Payne (HAW) 13.26, Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.50, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 10.34
Heat 15: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.94, Owen Wright (AUS) 10.83, Drew Courtney (AUS) 7.50
Heat 16: Roy Powers (HAW) 12.84, Dean Morrison (AUS) 9.50, Luke Munro (AUS) 8.34
UPCOMING RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Stuart Kennedy (AUS)
Heat 2: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Gabriel Medina (BRA)
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Adam Robertson (AUS)
Heat 4: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Neco Padaratz (BRA)
Heat 5: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Blake Thornton (AUS)
Heat 6: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Marco Polo (BRA)
Heat 7: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 8: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Tanner Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 10: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Nate Yeomans (USA)
Heat 11: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Jay Thompson (AUS)
Heat 12: Daniel Ross (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 13: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 14: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)
Heat 15: Jadson Andre (BRA) vs. Luke Munro (AUS)
Heat 16: Ben Dunn (AUS) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)
