Jeremy Flores, victorious in the final heat against defending event champion, Gabriel Medina. Photo: WSL
Teahupoo is not a place we’ve come to associate with calmness and normalcy, but the 2015 Pro Tahiti provided it nonetheless in light of J Bay’s shark-gate. It wasn’t the thundering, sheet-glass Chopes we expect; it entertained in a different way. The wave gave us every kind of tube over the course of the contest: fat ones, skinny ones, wedge-y ones, west ones, chandelier-y ones, backdoor take-offs, classical Chopes thunder slabs, thunder slabs with sketchy-as-shit take-offs, and easy take-offs with down-the-line thunder slabs — any I miss? The result was a rare treat for surf fans, giving us the chance to watch the world’s best wrangle with the kind of waves most wouldn’t wanna touch with a 50-foot selfie-stick.
Rounds three and four, in particular, showed us the outermost limits of treacherous tube-riding, with a slabbing, bone-dry Chopes pushing surfers to the limit. So sketchy were the conditions that several surfers opted not to warm-up with a free surf in the morning, preferring self-preservation. It didn’t work, at least not for everyone: Kai Otton earned himself a pretty little Tahitian tattoo courtesy of a run-in with reef; eventual semi-finalist Owen Wright claimed it was some of the sketchiest, driest Chopes he’d ever surfed.
Highlights from that day included CJ Hobgood’s surreal foam-ball rodeo for the event’s only perfect ten.
Then there was the Brazilian superheat between Bruno Santos, Gabriel Medina, and Italo Ferreira as they went tube-for-tube in a shootout for the ages.
Santos’ jaw-dropping late drop into a stand-tall effort straight through the foam ball for a nine looked to have him the heat. But that was before Medina flexed his muscle with what many are calling the wave of the event — a steep, way-deep drop, with a radical pump under the slab, giving him just enough speed to get through a thundering section and a barrel full of foam for a 9.97.
Medina turned the four- to six-foot Chopes into a video game at times with his deep, deep, impossibly deep tube-riding made possible with the kind of speed control and spatial awareness that is unparalleled in left tubes up to six foot. When combined with his mastery of the priority battle, it was a near untenable situation for his competitors. Except for the Frenchmen.
What a journey it’s been for Jeremy Flores. Once the most hated man on tour following a string of tantrums (and one infamous voice-over courtesy of Floridian pro Sterling Spencer), his career hit a low point two months ago after he suffered a headfirst collision with the reef in Indonesia resulting in a fractured eye and cheekbone and 35 stitches to the head (not to mention the mercy dash to find some good quality healthcare in Indonesia). In what would have seriously tested the nerves, he returned in the sketchiest version of Chopes, the Frenchman donning an old-school Gath Helmet to give him some added confidence throughout the event. And what a performance it was. The rudest of side-slip take-offs under the lip did the damage against Slater in the quarters. He showed again why he’s considered one of the best backsiders ever to surf Chopes with flawless positioning through a pair of warping wormholes to beat Tour journeyman and eternal people’s champ, CJ Hobgood*, in the semi.
*The event is also CJ’s last at Chopes with the 2001 world champ and 2015 A.I. Award winner revealing at the start of the season this will be his last on Tour.
Flores then held off Medina in the final, even winning the opening priority tussle, a rare loss for the Brazilian World Champ who’d dominated the early disc battle throughout the event. Flores found the wave of the day shortly after, committing from way deep to a blustery, heavy tube, and letting the wave spit twice before emerging for a 9.87.
It was an exceedingly humble Flores who turned out to accept the winner’s trophy. And truth be told, he is an exceedingly humble character, despite the occasional flare up.
More importantly, his win, combined with the losses of several world title contenders, means De Souza still somehow retains the gold leader’s jersey heading into Trestles. It’s also made the Tour leader board a log jam with none other than Kelly Slater quietly slipping into sixth place and legitimate contention for a 12th title.
Want more from Jed Smith? Don’t forget to watch his show The Pipeline! And be sure to listen to his surfing podcast, Ain’t That Swell.
