ARMS RAISED.
Supertubos Pumps for a Truly Great Day in Competitive Surfing
by Tim Fisher
It’s
7.30 am on Tuesday, October 27 and world number five-ranked surfer Bede
Durbidge is walking down the beach towards Supertubes. He hasn’t seen
the waves yet. He’s a man of few words, but he’s frothing. Fred
Patacchia runs past in his wetsuit, board under arm. The boys nod good
mornings. “You going a bigger board, Freddy?” Bede asks. “Yeah, two
inches,” replies Freddy before he’s gone, heading for the lineup in his
own bubble of stoke.
There are three
surfers in the water; Joel Parkinson, Mick Fanning and Patrick
Gudauskas. It’s coming up to high tide and breaking anywhere from six
to ten feet. Bede pulls up where Jordy Smith is standing with his dad
and Red Bull’s Andy King. Jordy and Bede remark on just how similar it
is to Off The Wall. They’re right. It looks exactly the same as
Hawaii’s Backdoor to Rockpiles stretch at the same size and tide. Even
the water color is the same. It’s glassy, slightly backwashy, and very,
very straight.
Jordy says that since
he’s been watching, no one has made a wave. Bede stands with him for
half an hour, and not one barrel is successfully negotiated. Every wave
looks like a double-up, and Mick, Joel, Pat and Freddy have to put
everything into it just to make it under the ledge.
“You
couldn’t score more than a two out there,” says Jordy as he watches
Parko make it to his feet on an eight foot straighthander. “Although if
the comp was on they could give Joel a four for making that drop.”
No-one
envies Damien Hardman, though everyone has an opinion about how he’ll
call it. Today, no lesser authority than the Portuguese Air Force had
called a Fog Alert and the wind is forecast to blow onshore from the
south east.
But Supertubes isn’t a
high tide wave, and that onshore isn’t forecast to come up strong. And
these massive barrels detonating on the sandbar are what we came for.
The
tide keeps coming up. A wave washes up under the webcast truck,
covering cables and wires. No-one freaks out. The contest staff
continues to work on getting everything in place for a start. Someone
mentions how good Molhe Lest is down the beach. Apparently the wedge
against the wall is perfect for high performance surfing this morning.
But it’s not barrelling. It’s not Supertubes.
The call-time of 8am comes and goes with no decision.
Bede
is surfing against Tom Whitaker in the second heat of the day. Tom
paddles out around 8.30 and makes a couple of beautiful clean barrels.
Pat Gudauskas is still in the water, pulling into huge closeouts, and
ejecting over the falls on others. If surfers at this level aren’t
making drops then things are serious. Mick comes in, then Parko. Mick
isn’t keen on starting the comp. It’s too straight. Parko doesn’t have
a strong opinion. This is the first time he’s surfed Supertubes, and
he’s happy to see what happens. Kai Otton airdrops into double-up
closeout after closeout on his backhand, going crazy. Stoked to be in
real waves. Timmy Reyes goes out on his shortboard and snaps it.
Tom
Whitaker gets to the bottom of a crazy, crazy right, pulls under the
lip and travels for what seems like 20 metres as a huge section folds
over him. The crowd on the beach roar and whistle, and Tom emerges from
the spit. Head judge Perry Hatchett is asked what he’d score the wave.
“Ten,” Perry says.
The comp is on.
Twenty
minutes before CJ Hobgood and Jordy Smith’s first heat, Owen Wright
paddles out on his 6’3” shortboard. Less than fifteen minutes later,
he’s swimming back to the beach after going over with the lip. Owen
didn’t even make it to his feet, then came up with his board in half.
“I got nothing but beatings out there. They’re SO hard to get into,” he
says, before running off to get his 6’6”. If only he knew what was
coming.
C.J. snaps the first board of
the contest, and Jordy makes the first barrel, muscling his way to the
quarters. C.J. never finds a backup score. After his loss, C.J. goes
for a surf by himself on the next bank down from Supertubes and gets an
insane right that has the crowd on their feet.
Bede
beats Tommy in the next heat. Neither gets a good second wave, but
Bede’s opener is an eight-three-three. The heats are 35 minutes long.
There aren’t many good waves in 35 minutes, but the good ones are
amazing.
Bobby beats Drew Courtney
with a mid five and a mid four for a wave he didn’t make. It’s slow
going, and hard to find a wave that stays open.
Joel
scrapes by Kai Otton, who tweaks his knee. It’s the closest heat of the
day, and Kai is understandably bummed. Bede walks into the beach
marshall’s area to check the score breakdowns for his heat. He studies
the printout intently.
The waves turn
on or Owen and Dane’s heat. Dane leads all the way through with a seven
and an eight-five. With less than ten minutes left, Owen needs a nine.
He gets barrelled for a high seven. He needs an eight. He gets a
longer, bigger barrel, and is scored a high nine. Dane Reynolds,
sitting in the lineup, snaps his head forward as the score is read out.
He thought he had it.
The tide starts
running out, and rips appear everywhere. The heats through the middle
of the day are ugly, but scores are high. Damien Hobgood gets past Taj
late in their heat, just like Owen got Dane. Mick dominates his heat
with Freddy and Timmy Reyes ends Adriano de Souza’s title hopes and
puts himself into contention for requalification. There are so many
stories happening today.
We move
straight into the Quarters. Against all forecasts, the wind swings
offshore. The sun is out. The first quarter is the big men. Jordy Smith
gets a nine, then Bede gets a 10.
“I needed a
9.6 and I was thinking to myself, I am going to get a 10, I am going to
get a 10,” Bede said. “I willed it and it came.”
By
now the waves are properly amazing. Bobby pulls into the biggest, most
twisted, most below-sea-level drainer of the day against Joel.
“I’ve
got so much respect for those boys,” Pottz said later. “I actually went
and found Bobby to take my hat off to him for that wave.”
Then Parko gets his 10. It is a huge, huge barrel and the reaction of the massive beach crowd is incredible.
The
surf is macking. Serious. People who have been to Puerto Escondido say
this is heavier. At eight feet, Puerto has more water over the sandbar
than Supertubes, which is thigh-deep and dredging. Guys are kicking and
paddling their guts out and still being sucked up the face.
Owen
surfs against Damien Hobgood in the second last heat of the day. It’s
huge. There are waves that look and behave exactly like Pipe.
For
the third heat in a row, an Australian surfer scores a ten. I’m
standing with Damien Hardman, event manager Scott Hargreaves and Rip
Curl International Team manager Gary Dunne when Owen pulls into a
mutant left. His dad Rob, who films all his heats with a little
handicam, takes his finger off the record button. Former ASP head judge
Renato Hickel also gives up on him. We all do. Were looking into the
barrel, and he’s not there. Then, somehow, there he is. Again we roar,
arms to the sky. The whole beach does.
Owen
sideslips into one and doesn’t come out. He is underwater a long time.
He comes up, and wears the next one on the head. Something’s wrong.
“Owen, give us a wave if you’re okay,” the beach commentator asks over
the P.A. Owen doesn’t give us a wave. He staggers up the beach,
clutching his head. ASP medic Chris Prosser is running down the beach,
as is dad Rob and a host of helpers, and Owen is put on the back of a
beach buggy and raced away, obviously in pain. We find out he has
ruptured his eardrum. Possibly done something serious to his neck. But
on the beach, he’d asked if he could go back out and finish his heat.
There
are ten minutes remaining and Damien Hobgood needs a seven. He is by
himself in the lineup. There are waves, but not the one he needs. His
last wave is not one of the biggest of the day, or the deepest, but he
rides it well. One judge scores him a seven. Another gives him a
seven-five. The other three judges give him a six-five, and his total
score is 6.67.
Owen wins the heat while getting into an ambulance.
The
last heat of the day is Mick’s quarter against Timmy Reyes. Both boys
are exhausted. The waves are still huge. Getting out is a big ask, and
three times they have paddle-battles back into the lineup for priority.
Timmy goes straight on a huge right that’s too fast for him, then wears
the next two waves on the head. He doesn’t even attempt to duckdive,
ditching his board and hoping for the best. Both boys are charging.
They march into huge closeouts. Neither are finding many that stay
open. In the last ten minutes, Mick spots a huge left. He’s late and
very deep. The crowd are on their feet. People are willing him not to
go. He’s in the lead and doesn’t need to kill himself. He goes, getting
to his feet under the lip, right hand never off the rail. He sets his
line and drives. As the entire wave begins to fold, he takes his hand
off the rail and straightens out and again we all roar.
“I’ve
been reporting on surfing for 20 years. This is the best, heaviest day
of competitive surfing ever in Portugal. Ever,” says Miguel Pedreira,
Portugal’s most respected surf journalist. No-one disagrees.
We
have two heats to run tomorrow. Owen Wright will not contest his
semi-final with Mick Fanning, so Joel Parkinson and Bede Durbidge will
surf their semi, and the winner will meet Mick. | 
