Some video for a rainy day

Haven't blogged for a long time because I'm using Instagram (@bunburysurf1) and twitter (@bunburysur1) but I'm killing time before heading overseas for a holiday in a few days and thought I'd up date some of the videos of the year so far.

SUP World Tour event in a wave pool
If you thought you were good enough to paddle a 7 foot SUP then watching this event would have changed your mind. These guys are super fit and skilled and struggled to stay upright while paddling. Good to see a WA SUPer on a WA SUP competing internationally.


There were more than a few videos floating around from the pros around the Margies Pro
Jordy from O'Neill

The alleged shark in the wave shot of Kelly via GoPro


And finally a three part doco series on Taj and Kerzzy by Red Bull

Finally Finals

The event that seems to have gone on forever has to finish tonight. Yesterday they ran three rounds in waves that look good in the video but were disgusting. If they weren't made to surf them I doubt anyone would have bothered. Still they were better than the onshore storm slop of the day before that round 3 was forced into.

As usual Rio and more widely Brazil has been a massive flop. The women had there whole contest run in 2 foot closeouts where two moves got you a 7 and three 9 but at least it was offshore. The men have had size but thats about it.

Taj and Yadin are out. Taj scored two 9 in non-elimination round 4 but got stung with an interference. This meant Slater in round 5 and the exit door. He now has a few knuckle marks in his Mayhem (watch the video)

The video shows just how great some of these surfers are and how good some of the lower ranked surfers are in crap when they can do airs on and aren't expected to do proper turns. Watch for the Superman, Slater and Jordy.

Nice

Morning but no surf again.

If you're still off it might be worth a run down south right now or watch Bells instead. Taj is into the semi finals in a few minutes against rookie Nat Young. If Taj wins the final he'll take the number 1 spot on the 2013 ratings.

0.27 @ 12

Bells on

Bells is on with round two for the men in double overhead surf. Taj is through to round three after beating WA grom Jacob Wilcox.

The call at the moment is for the women's final around lunchtime Victorian time. Both Tyler Wright and Carissa Moore have been smashing it all event. Carissa had a 10 in her first heat and has been the stand out. The big swell will suit her but Tyler already has an event win. Should be good.

As usual it's on Fuel TV and online.

Round Four

Taj, Fanning, Slater and Julian Wilson have all won their round four heats at the Quikie Pro and are straight through to the quarter finals.

The waves were short for Snapper Rocks but clean and rippable. The rumour is that there is a swell coming from a passing cyclone and the finals might be run in rifle speed tubes at Kirra.

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST REMAINING ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.23 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 13.34
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 15.00 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 12.50
Heat 9: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 12.63 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.37
Heat 10: Brett Simpson (USA) 12.16 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 9.53
Heat 11: Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.44 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.43
Heat 12: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.67 def. Nat Young (USA) 16.36

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 18.06, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.83, Adam Melling (AUS) 10.07
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 16.60, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.53, Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.13
Heat 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.27, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 16.60, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 16.44
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.40 Travis Logie (ZAF) 13.60, Brett Simpson (USA) 8.23

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 5 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 3: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 4: Travis Logie (ZAF) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS:
QF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. TBD
QF 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. TBD
QF 3: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. TBD
QF 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. TBD

Betting

Got asked today by a guy with some money to bet for his betting club who to put the cash on the win the Quikie Pro. My answer Taj (at $11) or Josh Kerr (at $26).

Taj is the defending champ and has won four times (in the Quikie and QS Breaka) at Snapper over the last couple of years. Surely he has to catch a break and win a world title soon.

Kerr is the total package and now has a wiser head. If the waves are at Kirra you can write off all the goofies and the power face surfers so Kerr will come into his own.

There's some pretty good odds, even the favourite Kelly Slater is paying $5.50. I think Fanning is a bit over rated at $7 and the third line of betting. Jordy Smith at $10 is strange. Its been a few years since he was on his game and he's never won here. Seabass Zeitz is $41 in his first world tour event above people like Michel Bourez, Bede Durbrige and both Hopgoods, all people with wins and years of experience on the world tour ?

I'm sure I have jinxed my picks but what can you do.

Quikie Pro

A missing superbank and brown water but still some high class surfing at the Quiksilver Pro. Round one of the men has been done and the women are all the way to the quarters.

Taj, Parko, Josh Kerr and Owen Wright all missed out in round one with Slater winning in the heat of the day. He was against Dane Reynolds and Kolohe Andino.

The event is on hold for a midday (local time) call today

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.50, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 12.70, Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.94
Heat 2: Travis Logie (ZAF) 18.20, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.10, Dusty Payne (HAW) 12.07
Heat 3: John John Florence (HAW) 15.00, Kai Otton (AUS) 14.80, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.40
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.24, Willian Cardoso (BRA) 14.57, Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 12.10
Heat 5: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.04, Kolohe Andino (USA) 15.73, Dane Reynolds (USA) 12.34
Heat 6: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 17.76, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.73, Brent Dorrington (AUS) 15.37
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.67, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 14.97, Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.20
Heat 8: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 15.60, Nat Young (USA) 11.90, Josh Kerr (AUS) 10.13
Heat 9: Julian Wilson (AUS) 12.15, Adam Melling (AUS) 11.63, Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.40
Heat 10: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.43, Owen Wright (AUS) 15.67, Filipe Toledo (BRA) 14.50
Heat 11: Brett Simpson (USA) 15.13, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 14.76, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.23
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.93, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 16.63, Glenn Hall (IRL) 15.07

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Brent Dorrington (AUS)
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Willian Cardoso (BRA)
Heat 4: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 5: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 6: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Raoni Monteiro (BRA)
Heat 7: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 8: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Nat Young (USA)
Heat 9: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 10: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Filipe Toledo (BRA)
Heat 11: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Glenn Hall (IRL)
Heat 12: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) vs. Kolohe Andino (USA)

ROXY PRO GOLD COAST QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs. Courtney Conlogue (USA)
Heat 2: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs. Alana Blanchard (HAW)
Heat 3: Bianca Buitendag (ZAF vs. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)
Heat 4: Carissa Moore (HAW) vs. Pauline Ado (FRA)

Pipe

Parko in the water at the moment hoping to get through and closer to a world championship. He is up against Pipe local Kalani Chapman.

In the first three heats of round three all the highest seeded pros have lost, including John Florence and Julian Wilson. Slater takes on Billy Kemper in heat nine, while Taj has Yadin in heat 10 and Mick Fanning has the hard task of Shane Dorian in the last heat of the round.

Conditions are pretty good but a bit smaller than yesterday. There is some wind messing the lefts a little.

Pipe Masters

The Billabong Pipe Masters is on with round one in good conditions. Plenty of big sneaker sets landing on the competitors heads.

The double heat format is being used which gives plenty of action. The current rumour is that the swell will hang around and the event will run three days straight.

Parko and Slater don't surf in round one or two. From the WA point of view Taj misses rounds one and two while Yadin has won his heat. He'll meet Matt Wilkinson in round two.

The action is online and on FuelTV but you have to press the red button to get away from the UFC.

Taj wins

Taj Burrow as won the Coldwater Classic, beating Matt Wilkinson in the final. It's Taj's second win for the season.

Parko made the quarters and Slater round five which means it will all be decided at Pipe. Fanning has a slim chance but would need both of the others to drop out early and while he keeps going. My quick calculations have Slater currently leading on 48450, Parko 44700 and Fanning 38450. To guarantee win number 12 Slater would need to win one more heat than Parko. Parko would need to get at least ninth if he was to go out in the same round.

Lets hope for waves at Pipe.

Cold Water

Parko and Taj through to the Quarters. Yadin out in round three again. Slater is in a very difficult round five heat against Adriano.

Travis Logie is having his annual good event, into round five.

Matty Wilkinson is the form surfer of the event so far.

The event will run tonight (11 pm our time) to crown a champ. Waves look ok and with a fair bit of size.

Tricked

Looking at the surfcam first thing in the US morning it didn't look like there would be much surfing going on at Steamer Lane overnight but it cleaned up.

Round two and most of round three were done and resulted in the World Title will go to Pipeline, with Slater and Parko through to round four. However John Florence was knocked out of the race and Mick Fanning's chances took a kick with both losing in round two for 33rds.

Round one wasn't good for the top seeds and round two wasn't better. Round three was pretty bad as well.

Taj is still in the event and Yadin is in the first heat of the day.

O’NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.83 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 12.17
Heat 2: Travis Logie (ZAF) 14.67 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 11.13
Heat 3: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.53 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 14.77
Heat 4: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 11.10 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 10.23
Heat 5: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 13.33 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.30
Heat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.63 def. Nat Young (USA) 12.43
Heat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.84 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 14.77
Heat 8: Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.40 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 5.27

O’NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 11.20 def. Jason Collins (USA) 9.40
Heat 2: Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.10 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.06
Heat 3: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.50 def. John John Florence (HAW) 8.66
Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.43 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 11.50
Heat 5: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 14.44 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.67
Heat 6: Owen Wright (AUS) 10.63 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 8.27
Heat 7: Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.50 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.94
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.47 def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.53
Heat 9: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 18.33 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 12.60
Heat 10: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 12.17 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 10.53
Heat 11: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 15.10 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 15.06
Heat 12: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.40 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 9.07

Lay day

Lay day two at the Cold Water Classic.

Coldwater Classic

The O'Neill Coldwater Classic at Steamer Lane has started in pretty decent surf. Taj has just won his round one heat and is only the second top seed to make it straight through to round three so far. Parko was the other one.

That means that the other three title contenders (Slater, Fanning and Florence) are into the elimination round two.

The webcast is at http://www.oneill.com/cwc/ and its live on FuelTV. Being in the US its late at night going into the early morning.

Parko gone

Gabriel Medina will meet the winner of Wilson v DeSouza. Julian has thrown down two nines already so I'm leaning his way.

Finals day

Pretty clean conditions for the final day of the Rip Curl Pro Portugal.

Mick Fanning was taken down in round five, giving him a ninth and 2250 more points than Slater in this event. Parko met John John in the quarters and won. This gives JJ a fifth and 3450 points over Slater and 1200 over Fanning.

Parko will meet Gabriel Medina in the semis, with the other between Julian Wilson and the winner of the quarter in the water at the moment.

At this stage the Mick's ninth is a keeper, John John will have nothing lower than a fifth. Regardless of what happens from now on Parko will have nothing lower than a third.

My literally back of the envelope calculations tell me that Parko would have to win to overtake Kelly after dropping the worst two events to this stage.

Kelly Slater - 45 400
Parko - 3rd 43 500, 2nd 45 000, 1st 47 000
Fanning - 43 500
John Florence - 38 600

Kelly's two bad events (really three) only drop his raw total by a small amount compared to the others (especially Parko) who drop big points. His four finals and three wins are keeping him in the race against the consistent but not winning Parko. Looks like it might go down at Pipeline, hopefully in some decent waves.

Insult

It's cleaned up since they went on hold and while it is still inconsistent there is enough tubes to make it fair.

Yadin in the water against an over scored Fanning.

Stupid

Just watched the Taj and Kelly heats on demand. What a joke.

Taj only got two waves in the whole heat, neither much chop. Kolohe got a clean throaty barrel and came out clean so deserved his 7.0. Compared to what was to come it probably should have been an 11.

Kelly's heat was worse. Both surfers had a wave in their two scorers that was a close out barrel that they didn't make it out of. Raoni's was a 3.7 with one judge giving it a 4.0. If there were decent waves he would have been lucky to get a two. He just took off and stood straight while the wave collapsed on his head. He was never ever getting out. His second scoring waves was three little lip hits that I could do and he gets a 5.5 with one judge giving it a 6.0 !

Kelly got a little backhand coverup, coming out clean and got less than the close out he pulled into and almost made out the doggie door. He had more chance that his opponent's 3.7 and got  a 2.67. Neither surfer deserved to win because they shouldn't have been out in those conditions but Slater's made wave was probably a 0.1 better than the Brazilian's.

They put the event on hold straight after the heat.

This ridiculous heat could have cost Slater his 12th title.

Upset

Slater out, losing to Raoni Monteiro. Bad waves cause these types of upsets. Slater's scoring waves were both twos and the Brazilian didn't even get a double figure winning total. Days like this suck badly and aren't good for surfing.

Parko is already through to round four, Mick takes on Yadin in the last heat and John Florence got through last surfing day. Slater will now have to hold a 13th in his final eight scores.

Portugal on

Portugal has started in pretty marginal surf. There is size but it is messy from yesterday's storm. Winning heats will come down to fluking the two good waves a heat. Or if you are Brazilian claiming after each wave (Alejo Muniz) !

Unfortunately as predicted yesterday Taj was sent out to test the conditions and lost. This will basically knock out his slim chances of winning the title this year as he will need to hold a 13th and two 9ths.

As usual its on Fuel TV or webcast.