Chopes

There had been some movement amongst the big wave movement on Twitter the last few days with people like Laird Hamilton and Maya Gabeira tweeting from airports. The results have been slowly coming through on the net.

This video is ten minutes of pretty raw footage which shows the swell build and the crowd drop. The others are shorter

Teahupoo Tahiti 13 05 2013 by 1ere-polynesie

Surfline have some great pictures here.

Or check the live webcam here.

Judge for yourself

Does claiming pay ?




Chopes is such a one dimensional wave that judging is so difficult. Every pit that someone makes is basically the same so winning is more pot luck that really beating someone. I don't think Fanning's waves were better or worse than Parko's but I much prefer Parko's smooth style to Mick's poo stance.
Chopes is a world class wave on it's day but is it a world class competition wave ? Especially when we move on to two more barrel riding contests before years end, Supertubos is Portugal and the real left hand tube riding test Pipeline.

Mick wins

Mick worked his way out of a combo with 4 minutes to go to beat Parko at Chopes.

As predicted the surfer making claims after each wave came out on top. Mick could have been Brazilian ! The super deep tubes helped as well !

Mick vs Joel

Joel just beat John Florence and will meet Mick Fanning in the final after a short rest.

The waves are nice but inconsistent. As usual with Teahupooo each ride is either a eight or a two so its anyones event.

Final

Second semi in the water.

Mick Fanning is the first finalist up against either Parko or John John.

Up to five

The Billabong Pro finally got back in the water in inconsistent but contestable waves. With one wave sets and every wave being either a 8+ or a shut down winning has a little luck involved. It does seem that claiming gets you an extra point as was seen by Ricardo dos Santos' Slater killing wave.

Taj is in round five against dos Santos so will need to do something he never does and double pump after every coverup. The lineup remaining is probably the highest class seen in ages. Basically the top ten minus Slater and adding Perrow and the Brazillian. Hopefully the waves will improve.

BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 3 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.17 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 8.34
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.83 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 9.37
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.04 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 11.00
Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS) 18.30 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 17.50
Heat 5: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 18.30 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.17
Heat 6: Ricardo dos Santos (BRA) 18.34 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 16.44
Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.83 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 4.47
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.60 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 12.60
Heat 9: Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.10 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.93
Heat 10: John John Florence (HAW) 13.30 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 13.17
Heat 11: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.60 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 4.73
Heat 12: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 16.87 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 10.67

BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 4 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.60, Taj Burrow (AUS) 9.10, Julian Wilson (AUS) 2.80
Heat 2: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 16.76, Owen Wright (AUS) 15.60, Ricardo dos Santos (BRA) 9.67
Heat 3: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.23, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 17.77, Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.47
Heat 4: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17.83, John John Florence (HAW) 7.00, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 3.23

BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 5 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 1: Ricardo dos Santos (BRA) vs. Taj Burrow (AUS)
Heat 2: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 4: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)

No hurry

Bit late with the post but the waves were iffy anyway. There is some swell and the banks at Juniors, BP and the groyne are still squeezing out lefts and rights.

The wind was flukey with a fair bit of north in it and is still light. If you still want to get wet you'll probably still get a wave or two.

If you're wondering where the Billabong Pro updates are the event has been on hold since day two due to a complete lack of swell. The forecast is for a bump over the next two days, the last of the waiting period.

0.57 @13

Surf Movie Sunday

Decided to take the handplane and mal our for a little play so the movies are a little late. Anyway you should be outside doing jobs and leaving this pretty poor collection to this afternoon when the weather moves in.


Jay "Bottle" Thompson launched his new website bottlesurf with some WA goodies.


Some arty tropical shooting



When Teahupoo goes wrong



And that will have to do you for this week.

Billabong Pro

Inconsistent waves for day two and round two. Most of the top ranked surfers got through with the exceptions being a rapidly fading Bede Durbridge and Jordy Smith, who would have been to big for the little tubes. Yadin Nichol also dropped out and adds another 33rd to his season.

Round three looks like this -

Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 5: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Ricardo dos Santos (BRA)
Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 9: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)
Heat 10: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 11: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)
Heat 12: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)

Much will depend on the conditions but Mick Fanning and Joel need to look out. If it is big Taj and Adriano will have a tougher day.

Watch the highlights from the first two days and look for Josh Kerr's double barrel right on day one !

Billabong Pro

The Billabong Pro Tahiti has started in inconsistent head height surf at Teahupoo.

So far all the top seeds other than Mick Fanning are straight through to round 3. Adriano DeSouza scored 19+ in his heat.

It's an early morning time zone for us and you can watch online, through the Billabong and ASP apps or on FuelTV.

Surf Movie Sunday

Bit of a mix of longer videos for a wet, stay at home Sunday.

We'll start with the second episode in Billabong's pre-Chopes series



Bruce Irons got smashed during last year's massive Chopes session. He talks to Surfer Magazine but I can't embed the video so click here.

Fox has released a feature movie of its sponsored surfers.



And finally nothing to do with surfing other than it was in the water. Regardless it is pretty amazing !

Surf Movie Sunday

Here's this weeks efforts

Dean Morrison in Africa



Ry Craike in Java



And finally the Billabong has released the first of its pre-event videos before Chopes (which is two weeks away). Something warm for when the wind and rain comes here.

Some videos for a crappy weekend

I'm posting these Chopes videos because I'm predicting Sunday will be crap and hoping that I jinx myself and the offshores mention in one weather report come true.










Or if you've got a spare three hours view the tow day as streamed live

Slater wins again

Kelly has just won the Billabong Pro Tahiti, beating Owen Wright in clean overhead surf.

In his 61st final Slater held a nine and high eight to win by just over a point. Owen had a nine and a high seven. Slater took a couple of poundings including going over the falls backwards as he tried to hustle Owen towards the end of the heat.

With the rest of the top six losing early Kelly is back in the title race after missing J-Bay to stay in Fiji.

The next event is in New York starting later this week. The event infrastructure is being rebuilt after having to be taken down due to Hurrican Irene.

Toooooooooooooooo big

Tahiti was too big for the third round of the Billabong Pro. A government "red alert" meant that there were restrictions on boat traffic and using the contest tower but didn't stop some tow crews.

The Billabong Pro website continued to webcast the action despite there being no contest and there were some massive and ugly waves. Even towing was very hit and miss.

Round two was run a few days ago and some big names went down. Taj, Parko and Bede all lost in round two and Julian Wilson in round three. In most heats the higher ranked surfer lost. Slater, Jordy and Fanning are still there.

Chopes isn't a very good contest venue. Despite what it looks like on video the waves don't pump constantly they come in very defined and staggered sets. Each heat will get a small number of these sets so if you blow a wave there isn't necessarily another around the corner. When waves do come through they will always barrel but not always let you get out. It is a place where you are either going to come out and get a 7+ or get pinched and get a 2. There is no in between and no building momentum. This is why there is often carnage amongst the seeds as they are just as likely to come on the bad side of this 50/50 shot as the good one.

Taj can pretty much write off his chances of winning the world title this year. I'm hoping that I will be eating these words in December but with two 25th finishes and a third round exit already he will have to hold the 17th. Not to many people have taken the lot with one of those left in their hands. On the plus side the waves at the next few contests should suit him and he will probably be re-seeded so he doesn't keep meeting Slater in the third round (especially with two events in the US to come)

Billabong Pro starts

The Billabong Pro Tahiti has run round one in nice waves at Chopes. Waves were around the four foot plus size with nice open barrels and light winds.

Every heat bar one has had plent of waves coming through and some good scores have been dropped. Unfortunately Taj has continued his career long problem with round one heats losing his but he'll get another shot in round two.

The last heat of the day is in the water at the moment. FuelTV is broadcasting the event along with the usual webcast and iPad apps. However most days start about 4 am WA time.

The forecast is for a massive swell next weekend and the event organisers are worrying about there being too much swell. With another 11 days left in the waiting period it could become a classic event.