It was the day that we were all hoping it would be. The first day of the Volcom Fiji Pro kicked off in 6-10ft surf. We saw plenty of upsets, barrels as well as injury. It was nothing short of insane as the worlds best took on Cloudbreak.
Jordy Smith took on Freddy P and Brett Simpson in the first heat of the day. Jordy set the tone by scoring a 9.0 early on to set the tone for the entire event. The next two heat winners are surfers comfortable in the waters of Fiji. They are also two of the favorites to win this event. CJ and Damien Hobgood won heats two and three after CJ beat Josh Kerr and Pat Gudauskas and Damien beat Taj Burrow and Taylor Knox. CJ and Damien were referred to when Volcom interviewed the surfers prior to the event. They are two surfers who have left their mark on others on the tour as experts of Cloudbreak. I must note that I made a last minute change to my fantasy roster as I replaced Jeremy Flores with CJ. I wanted to pick up Damien as well, but I could only choose one. I would not be surprised if one of these brothers, if not both, make it to the final. Kerr sustained a Grade 2 tear in his left ankle after an attempted barrel that he did not make. It came on his second wave of the heat. Many thought that it he would be done with the event, but later in the afternoon, Kerr was interviewed and he said that he would surf in his Round 2 heat. I had Kerrzy going far in this event, it will be a shame to see him go down early. A good result here will life him higher in the rankings and putting him in a good position going into Tahiti to win his first World Title.
Adriano de Souza took Heat 4 over Bede Durbidge and fellow Brazilian Willian Cardoso. But the entire day was about Heat 5. Kelly Slater was set to take on Kai Otton and event wildcard Mitch Coleborn. No one saw what was coming. Otton, fresh off of a second place finish at the Quiksilver Pro Saquarema in Brazil was looking to carry this momentum over to Fiji. His forehand surfing and intelligence when picking waves will suit him in this event. Coleborn, who made his name known in Kai Neville films such as "Lost Atlas" and "Modern Collective", is underestimated when it comes to competition surfing. He is very smart and extremely dangerous in waves such as Cloudbreak. Coleborn beat 11-time World Champion Kelly Slater and Kai Otton after posting the days highest heat total. He scored a 9.27 early on and an 8.1 on a last second buzzer beater barrel to over come the two tour verterans. This win launches him into Round 3 and forces Otton and Slater to surf in the Round 2 elimination round.
From this point, the boys were going mad as they watched the other competitors surf perfect Cloudbreak from the boat. The next four heat winners were men in contention for the World Title, specifically two. Heats 6, 7, 8 and 9 were won by Parko, Owen Wright, Mick Fanning and John John Florence - respectively. Parko, the current ASP leader will most certainly pull away from the rest of the pack with a solid finish here in Fiji putting him even closer to the World Title. Do not count Mick, Owen or John John out as they all excel in waves like Cloudbreak, no one more, though, than John John. He feels right at home here and I do not expect him to let up.
Heat 10 consisted of Julian Wilson, Kolohe Andino and Heitor Alves. At this point in the afternoon, winds shifted causing wave quality to decrease and making it really hard to find the right wave to go on. No one in this heat had more than 10 points. I saw Julian taking this heat easily, but the unexpected winner was Heitor Alves, who then sent Kolohe and Wilson to the elimination round.
The last two heats faced really hard conditions to end the day. Heat 11 consisted of Jeremy Flores, who is battling illness, Gabriel Medina (a first time Cloudbreak surfer) and Travis Logie (an experienced surfer at this wave). Flores took this heat; growing up in Reunion Island, he is used to surfing these difficult reef breaks which he proved last year in Tahiti and this year in Fiji. He is a major threat for this contest. The last heat of the day was finished by Alejo Muniz, Michel Bourez and Adam Melling. I fully expected Tahitian Michel Bourez to take this heat and advance to Round 3, but he was upset by young gun Alejo Muniz, a surfer more well known for his hacks and aerial maneuvers.
It was an epic first day of competition. It truly is the Dream Tour with this stop now on tour. Volcom is doing an excellent job so far with the commentary, broadcasting and execution of the event. I hope that they are able to keep this event on tour for the coming years. The boys are frothing and it shows in their surfing and on their faces. It barely seems as if they are competing against each other - they are smiling and going bananas after they get spit out of the barrel and high-fiving each other after each wave. It is really good to see these guys laid back and enjoying an event that is the epitome of the Dream Tour.
Round 2 could make or break my Fantasy Surfer team as I only had two surfers advance to Round 3, John John and CJ. With 6 surfers in Round 2, as well as many top name guys, a lot of rosters could be done after tomorrow.
Round 2 is as follows: H1(Kelly Slater/Isei Tokovu); H2(Taj Burrow/Willian Cardoso); H3(Josh Kerr/Taylor Knox); H4(Julian Wilson/Pat Gudauskas); H5(Michel Bourez/Fred Pattachia); H6(Gabriel Medina/Yadin Nichol); H7(Miguel Pupo/Matt Wilkinson); H8(Adrien Buchan/Kieren Perrow); H9(Tiago Pires/Kolohe Andino); H10(Brett Simpson/Travis Logie); H11(Bede Durbidge/Adam Melling); H12(Kai Otton/Raoni Monteiro)
I see these surfers winning their Round 2 heats: Kelly Slater, Taj Burrow, Josh Kerr(if he feels healthy), Julian Wilson, Freddy P, Yadin, Wilko, KP, Tiago, Travis Logie, Bede Durbidge, Kai Otton.
I am not sure if the contest will run tomorrow and if it does how long it will run for. Based on the expected swell, I wouldn't be surprised if it did. Nonetheless, the swell forecast for the entire waiting period looks to be firing so any day the competition runs, it will be fantastic.
What do you think of the contest so far? Comments? Thoughts?
Note*** this post was written last night, I thought that it had posted but it did not. Sorry for the delay!
Watch the contest here at www.volcomfijipro.com
Watch the video recap here:
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