Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Day 5

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Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Day 5

Jordy Smith, 3rd at Bells Beach and 3rd in the rankings

Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Day 5

24 Apr 2011

Just as predicted, the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach ran straight through to completion without any waiting or messing around. There were solid eight-foot waves to be had, the winds were favourable, and the boys were sent surfing.

The quarter-finals saw three out of four seeds advance, with the Australians Joel Parkinson and Mick Fanning advance along with our Jordy Smith. The lone Brazilian Adriano de Souza was the surfer who eliminated Kelly Slater, and did so fairly convincingly with 18 points alongside Slater’s 11.24 (out of a possible 20). All four surfers were natural-footed surfers (left foot forward), perfectly suited to the funneling right-handers running down the Bells line.
Semi one saw Joel and Adriano face off against each other, but the Australian took an early lead and maintained it throughout the heat for victory. Adriano was left scratching around for another high scoring wave, but it never came.

The second semi was an electric affair, with both Jordy and Mick finding form. Mick got the ball rolling with a massive 7.33 opening ride, showing his determination to win the heat and the event. He followed up quickly with an even bigger 9.17, leaving Jordy deep in a combination situation (Smith needed a combination of waves to get ahead of Fanning). Smith was undeterred and answered back with a 7.70. It was game on. The open-faced waves were allowing the surfers to maximize their turns and really impress the judges, which Jordy did on his next wave, scoring an average of a near perfect 9.53. Unfortunately Jordy was in need of a combination of waves and a single score wasn’t enough to get him into the lead. Still, top end performance from both surfers with heat scores of 18.87 (Fanning) and 17.23 (Smith).

“It was a nice last wave, but it was a pity I didn’t get any before that,” Smith said. “I’ve felt off all week so to get a 3rd is pretty good. I’ve got two 3rds now, which is kind of frustrating because you want to make the Final, but that’s how it goes sometimes. 3rd is better than 5th.”

The final was another exciting affair, with Parkinson hooking an 8.53 scoring ride inside the opening two minutes of the heat, then backing that up with a 7.6 ten minutes later Fanning was sitting out the back waiting for the biggest wave possible, and he finally got a good wave with just six minutes remaining, scoring a 7.93.

Fanning then needed an 8.21 to take the lead, the type of score he had been achieving all week without a problem.

As time ticked away, it all came down to inside the final minute. A set of great waves rolled through. Parkinson had priority, so he needed to keep Fanning from catching anything. He did just that, dropping in on Fanning as he attempted to paddle into a winning wave.

Then, to bang the nail in the coffin, Parko rode the wave to the beach as the final hooter sounded, picking up the only 10-point ride of the event.

Final Score: Joel Parkinson: 18.53 def Mick Fanning: 13.26.