Well, round one of the ASP Samsung Galaxy Fiji Pro is in the books, and it was a banger. Cloudbreak didn’t offer up the all-time conditions we all hoped for, but the forecast is looking up, although only slightly. Of course, Cloudbreak is still Cloudbreak, and barrels were found, sometimes in the oddest places. The world’s best surfers certainly are good at surfing.
A few things stood out while watching, the first of which is obvious:
Jordy Smith is really, really good at surfing. His nipples might be too close together, but maybe that’s got something to do with it. I don’t know. He’s got something the other competitors don’t. He had the highest heat score of day one. His heat nine competitors, Miguel Pupo and Aritz Aranburu, were basically just surfing against each other while Smith surfed around them in circles, doing whatever he wanted to the wave, like a drunken high-schooler with a blow up doll, only less gross.
Freddy P looks like he used to look. In his heat against reigning three-time ASP World Champion Mick Fanning, he looked hell-bent on winning. It’s not normal to be able to feel a surfer’s determination through a tiny computer screen from thousands of miles away, but his need to win pretty much punched me in the face.
Anyone else starting to feel a little bad for Kolohe Andino? I want him to win, just so I don’t feel bad for him. He’s a really good surfer, but honestly, no one could have lived up to the hype he had around him, except maybe John John. He almost got a win in Rio, and I was excited for him. Now he just looks a little lost again, paddling around and putting his heart into it, but things just never seem to go his way. I find myself cheering him on for the same reason everyone like the movie Rudy: he’s just a kid with heart and a whole bunch of bad luck. Except of course, Kolohe doesn’t have to sleep on a cot in the janitor’s office like Rudy did. He gets to sleep in Fiji. Jerk.
Fiji Pro Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 11.90, Kai Otton (AUS) 10.16, Tiago Pires (PRT) 1.57
Heat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.83, Brett Simpson (USA) 14.76, Filipe Toledo (BRA) 11.33
Heat 3: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 16.03, Mick Fanning (AUS) 12.83, Glenn Hall (AUS) 12.67
Heat 4: Mitch Coleborn (AUS) 12.96, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 10.23, Taj Burrow (AUS) 9.83
Heat 5: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.50, Mitch Crews (AUS) 9.00, Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 6.97
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.50, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.86, Isei Tokovou (FJI) 4.40
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.44, Kolohe Andino (USA) 8.27, Dion Atkinson (AUS) 7.73
Heat 8: Sebastian Zeitz (HAW) 12.07, Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.93, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.67
Heat 9: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.13, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.70, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.10
Heat 10: Owen Wright (AUS) 10.77, Nat Young (USA) 10.46, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 10.00
Heat 11: Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.00, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.50, Jadson Andre (BRA) 9.73
Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) 12.17, Travis Logie (ZAF) 11.77, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 10.54
Fiji Pro Round 2 Match-ups:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Isei Tokovou (FJI)
Heat 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Wiggolly Dantas (BRA)
Heat 3: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Glenn Hall (IRL)
Heat 4: Nat Young (USA) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 5: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 6: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Dion Atkinson (AUS)
Heat 7: Miguel Pupo (BRA) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)
Heat 8: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Aritz Aranburu (ESP)
Heat 9: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 10: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 11: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 12: Mitch Crews (AUS) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA)
