On the long road up to the Supertubos World Surf League superstructure, in one of the many striations of the complex VIP algorithm, each surfer has their own, poster-identified parking spot. In the hyper-competitive world that is professional surfing, even those parking spots are allocated based on CT rankings.
Nearest to the contest site, and so the shortest drive up the beach (the surfers don’t want to walk and, to be fair, parting the 5,000-strong crowd of Portuguese surf fans could take at least an hour and maybe a limb) was John John Florence. The two-time World Champion had the Yellow Jersey courtesy of Pipe runner-up and a fifth at Sunset.
He surfed the very first heat of the day when the wind had finally fucked off after a week of gales and allowed a return to Supertubos. The tide was so low you could have landed a jumbo jet on the beach and cracked an egg on the takeoff spot.
“The bigger sets come in, and (they are) half the size when they break cause there is so little water, and the smaller ones seem to grow,” said Ryan Callinan, after a freesurf, having yesterday been one of the more surprise exits in the elimination rounds. But Florence was confident, and purposed, racking a couple of tubes and an easy win.
By the time he surfed his second heat, the Round of 32, eight hours of overlapped heats had elapsed and the tide had risen by 11.6 vertical feet. The waves were better for it. More Notubos than Supertubos, but oily and powerful with plenty of opportunity. By the time Florence exited his Round of 16 heat, his carpark place had been bumped about 50 feet further north. Jake Marshall, a serial Portugal performer (his win at the Ericeira Challenger in October had booked his place here) had knocked John John out of the event. Florence will now go on to lose the yellow jersey and, even worse, his parking privileges.
Who will take them will be decided in the next one or two days. Getting an accurate forecast is like trying to find a wave, or a virgin, on the Gold Coast. Gabriel Medina can’t go yellow just yet, but he was today’s best performer. On the first day, he had parked his car in his 26th spot, below the cut, sandwiched between Eli Hannerman and Samuel Pupo. But all week he’s looked both coiled and relaxed, oozing calm. He’s won here multiple times at his sponsor’s event and is the undoubted crowd favorite.
“He needs pressure, he needs jeopardy and needs something on the line,” his coach Andy King told me. “That’s what happened in Puerto Rico. When it matters, that’s when he comes alive.” His early rotations and alley-oops never looked like missing as he dismissed Miguel Pupo dismissively. Later he would accelerate his credentials against Jack Robinson. His low seed gave Robbo the hardest lines. Medina was going with massive risk, and zero mistakes, cocktailing huge airs and carves and even throwing genuine claims of surprise at just how good a surfer he is.
“Things can change here, and quickly, you gotta be alive, you gotta be flexible,” Jordy Smith had said earlier. He was proved right as Cole Houshmand took the World No. 4 down in the last few minutes in the Round of 32. On the broadcast, Kaipo gave their combined height of somewhere near an ancient Redwood, but like other members of the top 10 such as Conor O’Leary, Barron Mamiya, Liam O’Brien, and Robinson it was Smith who was felled, his strong Hawaiian start woodchipped in the shifting Portuguese sands.
That top 10 real estate was gobbled up eagerly by some of the sport’s best surfers and clutch performers. Ethan Ewing stayed true to the rail and de-electrified Italo’s airs. Leo Fioravanti scored the first of the tubes on the buzzer as the low tide dropped with the setting sun, and eliminated Igarashi. Colapinto played to the crowd, and with the waves, and looked dangerous. A shout out to Ramzi Boukhiam too, and his backhand, one of the best on the planet.
I’m typing now, with two heats remaining of the day’s scheduled 16 (which included a two-hour tide break) and there’s too much free cold beer and waves to watch, to keep this mess going. There are eight men and women surfers left in the event (the women whittled down to finals heats on day two, above), and some smaller, though contestable, waves on the horizon. Portugal, and the world’s best surfers, delivered today. And there’s more carpark bragging rights to come.
Women:
Quarterfinal Heat 1: Tyler Wright v Gabriela Bryan
Quarterfinal Heat 2: Bettylou Sakura Johnson v Tatiana Weston-Webb
Quarterfinal Heat 3: Caroline Marks v Lakey Peterson
Quarterfinal Heat 4: Luana Silva v Johanne Defay
Men:
Quarterfinal Heat 1: Jake Marshall v Crosby Colapinto
Quarterfinal Heat 2: Ethan Ewing v Italo Ferreira
Quarterfinal Heat 3: Gabriel Medina v Leo Fioravanti
Quarterfinal Heat 4: Griffin Colapinto v Joan Duru
