In heat 3 of round 4 of the Billabong Pipeline Masters, three gorgeous Backdoor drainers rolled through the lineup. Gabs Medina had priority and he gave all three of those beautiful waves some serious hungry eye, the kinda hungry eye you see guys giving girls at a club. Some might say Gabby motioned towards at least one of those drainers. Flores had lust written all over his face. He wanted one of those pits. To slide inside and become one with. But Gabby’s lack of desire for those hotties was displayed a fraction of a millisecond too late for Flores to swing round and drop in. And nobody wants to risk the peril of a late drop, especially not at solid 6 foot kegging Backdoor. Lest you get shoved into one of those famed crevices, snap your board, or worse, your back. Priority however, didn’t swing, and Flores made his case known with the judges. Throwing his hands in the air! Displaying his utter disgust towards the decision. Sparking a modern French Revolution at the Banzai Pipeline.
J-sizzle finding his way through a round 4 winning wave. ©: WSL / Damien Poullenot
J-sizzle saw red, and when Flores sees red, it can go either way. He can either blitz a wave start to finish, or he could try blitz the wave start to finish, fall, and end up storming the judges tower. But on this occasion, it was the former that prevailed.
With just over three minutes to go, J-sizzle responded to Gabby’s incensitivities by backdooring a Backdoor nugget, hopping over the foam ball, pumping through multiple sections, and emerging victorious as the wave regurgitated him out the other end.
After holding Jeremy off on three drainers, Gabby fell into this beast of a wave. He emerged with the spit and a tremendous roar from the crowd. This wave only served to enrage Jeremy Flores that much more. ©: WSL / Damien Poullenot
Jeremy continued his acts of vexation against Gabby in heat 3 of the quarterfinals by blitzing the Brazilian once again. Gabby lost the heat, presenting JJF with his second consecutive World Title and J-sizzle went on to win his second Pipeline Masters Title. Moral of the story, don’t piss off Jeremy Flores when you’re going for a world title, especially not at Pipeline.
The King congratulating the Prince. ©: Steve Sherman
Who wrote this over-worked piece of prose (for a lack of a better word)… utter crap.
But that aside… Barton Lynch was entirely correct when he on numerous occasions stated live that Jordy Smith simply does not have the mental strength to aptitude to ever win a title and join those that do past and present.
Watching him too afraid to look Slater in the eyes collecting their boards, his yet again failure to sit in the impact zone with the master of finding waves… not to mention the capitulation that was his European tour… Barton (and a few others) are spot on.
This has got to be one of the worst pieces of surf journalism I have ever read.