Chopes on - Taj out

Round one and a chunk of round two were done last night and this morning in contestable surf.. Round two has been a bit of a horror for the top seed in each heat with most going down for a 33rd.

Taj lost to local wildcard. The heat was close but Manoa got minutely higher scores to win.




Check out heats on demand for the action and Jordy's huge round one one footed air.

Chopes in no chop

Still no action at the Billabong Pro. With no backup venue the event is relying on a very distant call from Surfline of a small swell in a couple of days. 

Chopes has become another Munkuda is the last few years. After a couple of big scary events there has been little swell and one event finished after the waiting period. Like Spain, there always seems to be great waves for the trials and after everyone goes home. Even a change of dates hasn't helped.

Luke Egan also has to weigh up the effect that a poor result in inconsistent waves could do to those on the elimination bubble before calling it on. 

Day 1 - Lay Day

Small and inconsistent waves have resulted in a lay day on day one of the Billabong Pro. Some good heats on paper in round 1 but as it is non-elimination so most will be under whelming. The American websites are talking up Slater v AI v wildcard in heat 10.

Current world number one Jordy is in a hard heat against goofy CJ Hopgood and local Manoa Drollet (who always get a little local push in the scoring). Taj has Tiago Pires and a wildcard while Mick has last event runner up Adam Melling and a local wildcard. With Tahiti 18 hours behind not a lot worth getting up in the middle of the night for in this round.

BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS
Heat 1: Damien Hobgood (USA), Kekoa Bacalso (HAW), Jay Thompson (AUS)
Heat 2: Jadson Andre (BRA), Luke Stedman (AUS), Nate Yeomans (USA)
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA), Jeremy Flores (FRA), Marco Polo (BRA)
Heat 4: Dane Reynolds (USA), Tom Whitaker (AUS), Blake Thornton (AUS)
Heat 5: Adriano de Souza (BRA), Roy Powers (HAW), Tim Reyes (USA)
Heat 6: Bede Durbidge (AUS), Kieren Perrow (AUS), Joan Duru (FRA)
Heat 7: Mick Fanning (AUS), Adam Melling (AUS), Tamaroa McComb (PYF)
Heat 8: Jordy Smith (ZAF), C.J. Hobgood (USA), Manoa Drollet (PYF)
Heat 9: Taj Burrow (AUS), Tiago Pires (PRT), Tuamata Puhetini (PYF)
Heat 10: Kelly Slater (USA), Andy Irons (HAW), Heiarii Williams (PYF)
Heat 11: Adrian Buchan (AUS), Dusty Payne (HAW), Drew Courtney (AUS)
Heat 12: Owen Wright (AUS), Brett Simpson (USA), Neco Padaratz (BRA)
Heat 13: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW), Matt Wilkinson (AUS), Tanner Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 14: Michel Bourez (PYF), Dean Morrison (AUS), Mick Campbell (AUS)
Heat 15: Taylor Knox (USA), Luke Munro (AUS), Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 16: Chris Davidson (AUS), Patrick Gudauskas (USA), Ben Dunn (AUS)

Billabong Pro starts tomorrow

The Billabong Pro Tahiti starts tomorrow. There is a webcast and Fuel TV is showing it live but it is always at a weird time of the night.
There was some big swell for the trials and a few big wipeouts.

The event has been a bit of a bust over the last few years and because it is a barrel only can be a little boring and throw up an upset here and there. Goofies are usually succesful but naturals can use a bit of backhand flare. Expect lots of people to get smashed as everyone has to get impossibly deep to get decent scores.

Taj and Slater have done well here. Jordy hasn't and it has been a bit of a vodoo place for Mick until last year when he did a lot of pre event work. Parko is out probably until Hawaii with his fin gash. Apparently he hasn't even be able to walk on it yet.

This is the last chance for the lower end of the World Tour to get enough points to remain on tour. At the end the tour will be cut from 45 to 32 for the rest of the year. No big names in danger, only those who haven't made it out of the second round.

This is what a big swell looks like

Ry Craike at Tombstones

Tombstones 2010 from Tom Jennings on Vimeo.

Hype the swell !!!!

Coastalwatch is hyping up a massive 40'+ ocean swell that is likely to hit us on Sunday. The weather forecast is for a mostly sunny day with SSE winds so it could be one of those massive clean days down south that are great to watch but not great to surf.

Black is up to 40' !!!

Stormsurf has the swell tracking from deep in the Antarctic and brushing past the south west corner

Wax up the gun !

Never look down

With some shark sightings localy in the last few weeks this footage from the US will just add to your paranoia. Apparently the camerman was shadowed by a shark the day before so decided to take his SUP and a camera on a pole and see if he could find the shark again. Turns out he did and another for good measure, both white pointers. I'd rather not know what is below me.


Me my Shark and I from Chuck Patterson on Vimeo.

East Coast

The east coast had waves today. Not the east coast of Australia like last week but the east coast of WA. With a decent sized swell there is surf on the Dunsborough side of Cape Naturaliste. But with the lack of fronts so far this year and a mixed up swell direction it wasn't top quality.

The swell was inconsistent and with enough size to get the shortboarders (well a collection of fish, mid lengths and normal boards) out. Crowds weren't that big but with the long lulls and strange take off spots it didn't take much.

There were people out everywhere to Castle Rock. Even spots that weren't usually surfed were being tried. I surfed the Rocky Point boat ramp on the mal. One guy at Eagle Bay was getting the odd head height take off. PK wasn't that great and there was a few out off Meelup point.

Could be better tomorrow at some of the northern spots when the wind goes more south west and the swell sorts its self out. Or it could go flat.

Bells was cranking this morning. One digit air temperature and a wind that cuts right through you but what we would think of a classic Bells conditions.

Probably 30 out at Bells but spread out across a few peaks. No drop ins and the waves were overhead and a bit.

Winkipop was also firing. The crowd was about 15 but the take off zone was smaller and there were a few burnings here and there. The waves were a consistent head height but with the odd steamer coming through unridden every now and then. It is a great looking wave.

Looks like there have been some decent conditions locally but does that mean waves ? I'll be back Friday with two more weeks of holidays so it should either be flat, onshore or both !

Surf Report

From the Great Ocean Road.

Bells was big and blowing onshore at a million miles an hour. It was freezing so it is no surprise that there was no one out. Regardless of the mush you could see the potential.

Checked out SurfWorld Museum in Torquay. Nice but not overly packed with stuff. It was probably because I knew most of what they were talking about that kept my trip short but if your a newbie or think Kelly Slater is the oldest surfer in the world then it is worthwhile. There was a cabinet full of surfing books and bit and pieces. I had about a quarter of them in my house somewhere.

The only place there were any surfers out was at Lorne in some nice clean conditions inside the bay. The waves were pretty small and it was pissing down with rain.

Staying at Apollo Bay about half way along the Road. The Great Ocean Road is the windiest road I have ever driven on and it was wet and slippery. Good job I was driving an Audi A4 hire car and it drove like it was on suction caps.

It would be nice if the wind drops but I'm not holding my breath.