Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Day 3
More like this...
The 2009 Billabong Pro at Jeffreys Bay comes to a close with Joel Parkinson taking victory in perfect 4-6ft waves at Supertubes.
His victory over Floridian Damien Hobgood further cements his lead at the top of the world ratings in what will go down as one of the greatest contests in Jeffreys Bay history.
The morning started early once again to take advantage of a perfect but declining swell. The first round to hit the water was Dane Reynolds against Michael Bourez. With an early morning North Westerly wind creating chop on the long wave faces, conditions were testing but it was the American who managed to advance to the next round. Next up, completing the third round of competition was Kelly Slater taking on old friend Taylor Knox. Both paddled up the point together and a good size set swung in right on the hooter. Knox took the first wave executing several tight turns before exiting a quick barrel for an eight. Slater took off on the next wave and got shut down, scoring a low 3 and loosing priority. From there the ocean went flat and left the nine times world champ scratching for a score which never came. Knox played his priority wisely and King Kelly was out.
Moving into the quarterfinals and the north-westerly wind continued to test the surfers as they struggled to complete their turns. Kai Otton ousted Dean Morrison in a tight display of backhand surfing and Joel Parkinson surfed well to move past a powerful backhand display from Bobby Martinez who, like Slater, eventually fell to the long lulls and Parkinson's clever use of wave priority. The third quarterfinal pitched local hero Shaun Holmes against an on-form Dane Reynolds. With his smooth rail-to-rail carves it was always going to be hard for Holmes in the choppy conditions. Holmes soon found himself outclassed after Reynolds locked in the day's first 10 for a long tube ride then backed it up with a 9.2 - taking not only the heat but the Nixon award for the highest combined heat score of the day (and pipping Kelly Slater's near floorless display yesterday). In the fourth quarterfinal, Damian Hobgood proved too potent on his backhand for Taylor Knox, going down to the Floridian despite some long tubes and trademark power carves.
With the semifinals came the switch in the wind and Supertubes turned into groomed perfection for the Parko vs. Otton match up. Paddling all the way to the top of the point, Parko took off on the first wave of the heat right on the buzzer and disappeared into three long tubes, boosting out of the end section as the judges rang out the 10's. 1 minute gone, advantage Parko. After a long lull and several small scores an unfazed Otton pulled into a set of his own claiming two deep tube rides and several huge backhand re-entries to earn a 9.8 and retake the lead. With Parko in priority and 10 minutes left it was a question of whether another set would emerge. With the swell backing off the lulls became longer and longer and a nervous Parko was relieved to see a set appear in the dying minutes, taking off to secure the win and a place in the finals.
Semi-final two between Dane Reynolds and Damian Hobgood was a similar affair with the two trading mid scores as the sets became more and more inconsistent. With the heat into the dying stages it was anybodies for the taking, Reynold's needing only a 3.0 to re-take the lead. Again, right on the buzzer Reynolds paddled into a set and took off to secure a low 6, enough to retake the lead and surely the win. However, on the wave behind, Hobgood swung late and smashed a series of critical backhand snaps to earn a 7.0 and a last gasp victory.
Under bright skies and light offshore breezes the final was extended to a 40 minute affair to take account for the inconsistent conditions. When they came, the waves were flawless. Again, on the buzzer, Parko took off on a set at the top of the point, racing the first section before carving, floating and pulling into a tight barrel to earn a 9.2. Backing it up with a low 4, Hobgood was comboed and was left waiting out a long lull. After 20 minutes he finally caught his first wave, a mid-sized set which stayed a bit too flat to allow him to secure the big score he needed. Losing his priority, it was down to Parko to close out the win, which he did in style bagging the next and final set wave, riding all the way to the channel and kicking out for the win.
It's been a wonderful three days of surfing with some of the most perfect conditions ever seen at Supertubes for a WCT event. We saw Slater on fire, Reynolds live up to the hype, perfect 10's galore but in the end it really was all about one man. This has been Parko's event from start to finish and 2009 must surely be his year.
Subscribe to HUCK for six issues
Only £20 (UK) / £43 (EU) / £58 (Rest of the World).
Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Day 3 (text) by Tim Conibear is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.Comments (1)
Please note: Your comment may be held in moderation for approval by an administrator to prevent spamming. This usually doesn't take long, please be patient.
Parko surfed above and beyond and deserved to take the event out. Dane Reynolds was stand out for me as I am sure he was for many people and I was super stoked to see him get the Nixon WTA - a Parko v Reynolds final would have been the icing on the cake.
Great to also see Otton doing it for the Insight boys (and goofy footers) whilst sporting some full on facial hair in the process!
Was also great to see Billabong displaying some green credentials and continuing to highlight their climate change awareness that they continue to demonstrate through their work with David Rastovich - http://www.billabongpro.com/jb.....ck=bs02