12 July, 2014 12 July, 2014

Goofyfoots Dominate Day 3 (J-Bay Open)

What a surprise it was to witness a clean 5-foot set rolling down Supers’ famous point at first light this morning. We had to rub the sleep from our eyes to make sure we weren’t seeing things. And we weren’t, it was cooking!

Kolohe
In the water at first light, Kolohe Andino carved hard before competition got underway.

With the forecast not looking epic a few days ago, many had questioned the decision to put the contest on hold yesterday – especially since there were some contestable waves all day – but what greeted us this morning vindicated that decision and the event was called ON!

That first set did flatter slightly because the waves had settled into the 4-foot range as the first heat paddled out, but with conditions groomed by the South Wester that had pulled through overnight it was still highly contestable.

Wilko
Matt Wilkinson was blasting hard on his backhand in the first heat of the day.

Up first was a match-up featuring Australians, Matt Wilkinson and Bede Durbidge. Considering his form from seasons past, Bede was our dark horse pick for a surprise victory at the J-Bay Open, but the smaller surf appeared to favour the goofyfoots as six of the eight heats contested today were won by backhanders.

Owen Wright (AUS) took care of business against Dion Atkinson (AUS) in the second match-up of the day – Heat 6 of Round 2. It was a relatively low-scoring affair as the ocean calmed some more, but Owen’s backside hooks and floaters easily dispatched of his fellow countryman while the crowd started to swell on the beach.

Alejo
Alejo Muniz emerged victorious in Heat 7.

It was an all Brazilian forehand battle in the third heat of the day, as Alejo Muniz faced Filipe Toledo in Heat 7. Filipe struggled to find a good score, which left the door open for his compatriot to grab the heat win and advance to the next round.

CJ Hobgood (USA) then got things rolling for the goofyfoots again by defeating Tiago Pires (POR) in the following heat, before Brazilian, Miguel Pupo, came out on top against countryman, Jadson Andre, in Heat 9.

While Hawaii’s Sebastian Zietz paddled out at the keyhole to take on Jeremy Flores (FRA), Zag paddled out for a surf down near Salad Bowls just past Impossibles. Although there weren’t many good waves coming through along that section of the long point, it did offer a unique perspective on the following three heats. We watched Seabass snatch victory in the dying minutes with a brilliantly surfed 6.67 on his last ride, while Jeremy pulled into a tube with no exit on the heat’s final ride as he looked to grab back the lead.

Seabass
It wasn’t only Seabass that was stoked on his victory.

We heard the local crowd roar as Travis Logie ran down the beach to face-off with Fred Pattachia (HAW). Trav looked sharp from the water perspective as he smashed the lip repeatedly to rack-up the points, but as we turned to paddle for a good-sized set we watched Freddie tucking into an impossibly-long tube, which he came flying out of to a huge roar from the crowd and a heat-winning 9.93pts. We imagined they were cheering for us as we stroked into the wave further down the point. It was rad.

Check out Freddie’s winning ride below:

Ace Buchan (AUS) then got the better of compatriot, Mitch Crews, in the final heat of Round 2 before the contest director called a halt for the day. Up next when competition resumes will be Round 3, where Joel Parkinson (AUS) will be up against Adam Melling (AUS) in Heat 1.

Check out all the results, heat reviews and more on aspworldtour.com.

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