Conditions calmed down overnight and the morning showed promise for a full-day of clean but smaller surf. And a full day it was–with a three hour hold in the afternoon, the competition ran until the sun went down.
The smaller surf, still in the head high to 1-2 foot overhead range, shifted the playing field from a barrel fest to an air show.
Julian Wilson started the trend, taking to the air right away in the first heat of the morning against Brett Simpson. After a nice first turn, Wilson raced down the line and really put his all into an air reverse, earning a 7.00 for his efforts. Simpson struggled to find a solid score, only earning two scoring rides and an equal 13th place finish.
Kolohe Andino got the message loud and clear, and came flying into his heat three match up with Kelly Slater like a fighter jet. Right out of the gate, Andino was on a wave chasing a closing section right into a launch ramp that sent him to the moon. At least five feet in the air, he looked very comfortable as he spotted his landing and stomped one of the biggest frontside punts of the year. An 8.50 for one move and worth every single point.
Slater wasn’t going down without a fight, though, scoring two seven-point rides and landing an alley oop of his own. He even caught seven waves in the last 5 minutes, but with the shift from barrels to airs, Andino had the advantage and capitalized.
That could be the last heat we see Slater surf until Pipe. He has had two freesurf beatings in France that shook him up quite a bit and he said in his post-heat interview, “Short of it looking like 8-foot Supertubes, I think I’ll be going home.”
Heat 5 was an all-out brawl between Bede Durbidge and Adrian Buchan, both scoring nine point rides and Durbidge backing his up with another. Julian Wilson went as far as claiming it “Heat of the Year” on his Instagram account. Between the two surfers, there were also six waves scored above a 6.00 but didn’t factor into their final heat totals.
Buchan opened the heat with a flawless backhand attack, earning a 9.23 and then it was on. Durbidge found himself a 9.20 to answer back at about the halfway mark. Then, on his next wave Durbidge surfed his way to a 9.17.
The two veterans traded wave after wave, going left and right, not holding an ounce of energy back. In the end, Durbidge left Buchan chasing a 9.14 and after scoring an 8.17 with eight minutes to go, there was nothing left on offer and Durbidge would move into Round 4.
World No. 1 and 2, Mick Fanning and Adriano de Souza, struggled to narrowly defeat their wildcard competitors and keep their title hopes alive.
Rolling with the confidence of defeating Filipe Toledo the day before, the French Wildcard Maxime Huscenot started off his heat against Fanning with two solid scores. He was one of the few surfers to get a solid barrel and adding a couple turns, he earned an 8.37.
With one minute left, Huscenot was still ahead, but decided to take off on another wave which wouldn’t end up factoring into his final heat total, leaving Fanning by himself out the back.
As the clock ticked down a set approached and Fanning bolted into action, and with 10 seconds left, Fanning’s hands had left the rails and he was gunning down the line looking for a 7.24. He did much more than that, making an ecstatic claim knowing it was enough, the scores came through at a 9.03.
De Souza had it a bit easier in his heat. Although Tomas Hermes gave him a scare early on, scoring an 8.23, the Brazilian Wildcard couldn’t find a back-up score and De Souza moved on comfortably into Round 4.
After a three hour hold in the afternoon, the event was back on a little after 5PM local time. World Champion Gabriel Medina would paddle out to surf against C.J. Hobgood in an all goofy grudge match. After going blow for blow, the champ put the nail in the coffin after scoring back to back nine-point rides (a 9.00 and a 9.70) and earning the highest single wave score and the highest heat total of the day, 18.70, edging out Durbidge’s 18.37.
As the sun sank to the horizon, Matt Wilkinson and Owen Wright would be the last two surfers to earn their spot into Round 4.
