Editor’s Note: From Kolohe Andino’s arrival to Kelly Slater’s return to world number one form, there was a lot to learn in Brazil. Here are five tour takeaways from Rio.
It has felt like a long wait to see Kolohe Andino finally ascend to his seemingly expected position in the finals of a tour competition. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
1. The Spartan is hewn from granite
There was no real reason why Michel Bourez would do well in Rio. Thick, lumpy waves that offered little room for his frontside power jams to wind up in looked to cancel out his signature scoring weapon. The abundance of air sections, meanwhile, seemed to play directly into the hands of many of his competitors, with Bourez having little to draw on from his aerial repertoire.
So how on earth did he end up walking away with the Billabong Pro Rio? It was mostly on account of his backhand, which proved itself to be made out of cast iron. The Spartan’s coiled up backside lip attacks were the difference today, keeping him within striking distance before he was able to seal several crucial heats with some clutch last ditch tube rides. We shouldn’t be that surprised. The guy did spend all of his formative years at high school in France surfing their world famous beach breaks. Still their weren’t many tipping the Spartan coming into Rio.
2. The pressure valve releases
You could see it with every successfully completed maneuver. The pressure of one of the most high profile junior careers, followed by two very poor years on tour, was melting off Kolohe with every turn and successful fin huck. It was a great performance from a kid with plenty to lose, and if Kolohe does go on to enjoy a long and fruitful World Tour career from this point on, we can look back at his round five heat with South African Travis Logie as the turning point.
Down an interference call following a classic piece of 1980s gamesmanship from the South African, Kolohe had it all to do. With good waves at a premium in their heat, however, Logie was unable to find a backup for his 6.5 meaning if Kolohe could just keep his composure and find a nugget with a corner he had a shot. Where the old Kolohe would have been crying to the heavens and punching his board, today he knuckled down and kept his head in the game. He was rewarded with a last minute shot at an under the lip backside take off and a run at a heaving double-up drainer. He stuffed it and got the score. From therein he looked unstoppable, manufacturing scores from nothing and icing his rides with just enough flair to get what he needed.
His highlight will undoubtedly be his remarkable clutch win over Kelly Slater in a frenetic last five minute duel. Compared to past performances, the Kolohe of today defied belief and provided testimony to the remarkable power of confidence to unlock an athlete’s true potential. No one ever doubted Andino’s ability but it wasn’t until today we saw it.
3. Rio is the winner
There were plenty of World Tour surfers complaining about the “pot luck” nature of the waves at Rio during the event — and that, to use Josh Kerr’s description, they didn’t offer “equal opportunity” to competitors. But it was pretty entertaining to me. From barrels ripped straight out of the Off The Wall Greatest Hits handbook, to ramp sections and rippable runners, it looked to me like your classic beach break event. Surfers had their every faculty tested, in particular their mental resolve to keep on putting themselves in the mix, and the result was a tense highly exciting affair. The complaints may be due to the fact World Tour surfers aren’t often forced to surf shifty, junky, stormy beach breaks whereas I, along with the rest of the world, surf that shit almost every day.
With so many of the favorites knocked out, it was no surprise to see only Kelly and Taj still in the event come the end of round five. Both have plenty of variety to draw on in their repertoire and are renowned for their creativity and quick reflexes in challenging conditions. The good money would have been on either of them to take it, yet they were both beaten by radical spurts of inspiration from two surfers in the form of their careers.
Kelly Slater is back to finding those hidden barrels and it bodes well for the tour stops to come. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
4. Kelly’s Intensity
Those who saw Kelly’s body language following his loss at Bells to John John Florence (in which the champ was left answerless in a clinical destruction by the young Hawaiian) could have been forgiven for thinking this might finally be the end for the champ. He put those fears to rest at Rio. You could see it in the way his voice dropped and his demeanour went from jovial to piercing and intense following his quarterfinal win over Nat Young.
Riohad presented a golden opportunity for Kelly to launch straight back into the number one contender position. He thrives in conditions like this, where anticipation, oceanic knowledge and creativity are paramount (three skills which are greatly benefitted form age and experience). He found hidden barrels where others couldn’t, positioned himself better when they came his way, and got busy with his rail on little runners to keep the pressure on.
He was beaten fair and square by a Kolohe Andino in the best form of his career, but with the world number one ranking next to his name and Fiji, J-Bay and Tahiti up next, we could well be about to see one more history-making run from the greatest of all time.
5. The Tour takes shape
The tour hasn’t been this talent saturated and unpredictable in a long time. Rio demonstrated just how long we have to go in this race and how many twists and turns their promises to be. The two form surfers of the year so far, Medina and Fanning, were both knocked out instantly from the contest while only Taj and Kelly remained from the big five (Parkinson, De Souza, Fanning being the other three) following round five. It was the likes of Seabass, Andino, Jordy Smith, Bede and Bourez that announced their arrival in the 2014 title race at Rio, with all putting on entertaining and highly credible performances. Keep an eye on Seabass in particular as we head to Fiji and Tahiti. His backside tube riding in this event was among the best seen in a long time and eerily reminiscent of a young Bruce Irons. Which is no coincidence given they’re both from Kauai.
