Adriano De Souza rings the Bell. You got to win it to ring it. Image: Rip Curl
The 2013 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach proved to be an amazing affair; between Brazilian domination, upsets galore, and Nat Young’s vicious backhand attack, you might call it a success.
Adriano De Souza came out on top over Rookie Nat Young at Bells Beach as the first ever (male) Brazilian to ring the Bell.
De Souza, clad in a Brazilian flag, graciously thanked his sponsors and the locals before ringing the legendary Bell so hard that he broke it straight off its hold (which has happened before to Kelly Slater).
Waves ranged from smaller rip-able Rincon to proper, large Bells Bowl. The ASP top 34 stuck to what the commentators referred to as “big man turns” and “searing hacks.” Big man, searing hacks. Sounds like Bells.
Felipe Toledo and Kolohe Andino took to the air early in the event in excellent displays of progressive surfing, but aerial maneuvers fell short.
Kelly Slater and Joel Parkinson went down early in Round 3 as all six of the Brazilians on tour advanced to round 4. Scores were high throughout the contest even seeing Parko lose to Raoni Monteiro with a perfect 10 and a 9.1 to back it up.
Adriano’s 1st place at Bells bumps him up to 4th in the ASP World Ranking with eight stops still left on the Tour this year. Slater maintains his place at the top of the rankings despite an equal 13th at Bells, and Nat Young stands at 5th place after the second event.
The men have seven days before the beginning of the next event at the Billabong Rio Pro in Brazil.
