ASP World Tour: March 2009 Archives

In an event that's not going to be soon forgotten, Jordy Smith has taken out the WQS 6-Star O'Neill Cold Water Classic Tasmania. With the final day going down in pumping surf at Bluff Reef, Jordy narrowly defeated fellow ASP Dream Tour traveler Damien Hobgood in the Final.

In solid 8-foot swell, offshore winds, Smith and Hobgood showed just why they are two of the top ASP World Tour surfers at the moment. "It was good to get a win," Smith said. "It's been a while. Damo's been ripping this whole event. I looked up to him as a kid so it's great to be out there with one of your heroes."

So, what do world tour surfers do when they're not flaring up in the world's best lineups? Well, from the looks of things they manage to stay pretty busy. Between the Quik Pro and the upcoming Rip Curl Pro at Bells, Jordy Smith found his way down to Tasmania for the first stop of the O'Neill Cold Water Classic Series. After a couple impressive days of surf he's into the Round of 48, surfing against good bru Travis Logie, as well as Dusty Payne and Brad Ettinger. There seems to be a whole army of South Africans in Tazzy at the moment, as Red Bull's Rudy Palmboom is also still in the running, and will be surfing against the likes of Damien Farenfort and Warrick Wright. We'll keep you posted as things progress down there.

Also worthy of note, Adriano De Souza seems to be getting attention for leading the Brazilian charge on tour. ESPN.com just posted a story that's definitely worth a read if you get a chance. In short, the world better look out for Adriano this year. Coming off of the best result of his career, there's no question his pump will be primed for Bells. And speaking of Bells, you know Mick Fanning's going to be ready to go. Who knows, by season's end both Adriano and Mick could be in a dog fight for the world title?

"It was a fun heat," said Mick Fanning, still dripping wet after his quarterfinal against Damien Hobgood. "I was lucky to get the jump on Damo at the start. I wanted to wait for a good opening wave and it came. On that 9.93, I went into it and saw it chandelier'ing so I reset my feet and just tried to hit it strong. It went all white and I was lucky it had an opening. It was pretty fun."

With thumping, short-interval swell, contest organizers had moved the event site at Snapper down to the big groin at Kirra, which suited Mick perfectly fine. And now, with his win against Damien, and Joel Parkinson's win over CJ Hobgood, the two old friends will square off in their own backyard. They take to the water for the first semifinal, which will also happen to be the first heat of the day when things resume.

With the wrath of Cyclone Hamish hitting the Gold Coast right now it would appear we could be in for a stormy, albeit interesting, conclusion to the Quiksilver Pro. Event organizers haven't officially called the contest on yet, but that's the early world out of Australia.

"No rain yet, but it's not far away," wrote photographer Peter "Joli" Wilson in an email I just received from him. He's lived on the Goldy for years and has seen all its various moods. "The comp will probably wrap up today. Overcast and very windy. The weather maps look radical, especially the cloud map. Surf is big and washy and it looks like the contest will run at the Coolangatta/Kirra big groin."

I won't get into all the intriguing match-ups that we're looking at in Round 4--namely Jordy Smith vs. Bede Durbidge, Julian Wilson vs. Damien Hobgood, and Mick Fanning vs. Jeremy Flores--so for now just stay close to the computer.

"I'm over the moon right now," stammered Julian Wilson, shortly after dispatching reigning nine-time world champ Kelly Slater in their Round 3 duel at the Quiksilver Pro. "I was so nervous before that heat just thinking about what I could do to beat Kelly. For so long, he has been unstoppable. I started the heat on the inside and got the first wave, which is what I wanted to do. It feels so good to beat him."

Julian's experienced his fair share of success against the champ (or at least as much as anybody else on the planet). Last year, in their Round 1 meeting at the same event, he also bested Kelly...although truth be told, Kelly would surge back in Round 3 and exact his revenge on the phenom from the Sunny Coast. But the past is the past, and the present is the present, and presently Julian's riding a career high, not to mention enjoying a surge in popularity amongst World Tour competitors, among them Mick Fanning, who also appeared exceptionally in form in his Round 3 win over tour rookie Kekoa Bacalso.

As we speak Category 5 storm Cyclone Hamish is bearing down on the Gold Coast, which means a surge in swell size, but could also bring heavy winds and rain. With a day and a half left of competition there's no doubt it's going to be a wild ride to the winner's podium.

Besides the party scene, things have been relatively quite since the Quik Pro got underway. Without much surf on offer, some have taken to the road. Tim Boal and Michel Bourez are among those who are tired of being cooped up and felt the need to put some kilometers on the odometer and stretch the legs a bit. Yesterday the two Red Bull Rising stars found there way south to the quiet town of Ballina, where yes, they actually found enough surf to keep them entertained for awhile. "It was fun there, it's good to be able to find some better waves than Snappers or D-Bah when the swell is that small," Boal said. "Snappers was barely breaking yesterday and D-Bah is just packed."

We'll keep you posted as things develop at the Quiksilver Pro.

It may not have been classic Snapper Rock, but for the start of the Quik Pro D-Bah did serve up some fairly decent surf...or at least enough for wildcard Julian Wilson to fire past Bede Durbidge and Adriano and Jordy to lock antlers in a classic, full-rail duel. Mick Fanning also found his world champion form, while Tim Boal proved to the world that the Euro invasion is most definitely for real. But enough rambling, check the lightlights from the first day of the 2009 season.