New Kid on the Block: Part One

Unknown Australian 20-Something Takes Down the top Surfers to win the Boost Mobile Pro Presented by Hurley

 

Going into the final day of the Boost Mobile Pro Presented by Hurley, all eyes were not on Bede Drawbridge, or whatever his name is. All eyes were on the Big Three – Kelly Slater, Taj Burrow and Andy Irons - who were in a dead heat in the ratings for the Association of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour.

 

The young Australian was just another face in the crowd, sitting in 19^th on the WCT circuit going into the Trestles event. He was one of many Australian 20-somethings, obviously a hot surfer to have made the WCT in 2005, but with only two WQS wins to his credit, he had never made it past the semifinals in a WCT event. He barely made the 2006 WCT because Richie Lovett pulled out for cancer treatment and now he was a journeyman in his second year in The Bigs, but not even close to the focus of attention at Lowers.

 

As usual Kelly Slater was the focus of attention at Lowers. Slater and the latest round of his Celebrity Death Match with Andy Irons – a love/hate thing that had been profiled by Dan Duane in the New York Times on August 20, and a rivalry that has pushed Slater and Irons to higher heights, and left just about everyone else in the dust.

 

Taj Burrow was hanging in there though, a wildcard in the master struggle between AI and Slates. Slater was the favorite at Lowers, because All Who Know, know that Slater has a long relationship with the spot, going back to 1990 when Slater introduced himself to the world at the Body Glove Surfbout III. Way back then, Slater was just out of high school, had turned pro and inspired a bidding war that embarrassed him. With so much money and attention being thrown at him, Slater was determined to show the world that it was all true, and he did it in absolutely perfect, offshore, lime-green overhead surf at Lower Trestles. Slater surfed the place like a man in love, easily won the event, blew everyone away and pretty soon he was in videos, on his guitar, singing “Goodbye old school” to Martin Potter, Shaun Tomson, Tom Curren and the Thunder Lizards who had dominated pro surfing through the 80s.

 

Slater was the very model of a modern major talent and now, 16 years later, he is the Mother Goose leading around dozens of goslings in his wake, a whole generation of surfers who, like Slater, are all around 5’ 9” and 165 and who all surf very fast, close to the pocket, getting vertical wherever possible and throwing in tail slides and airs, but keeping it clean and smooth and stylish. Like Slater.

 

Lowers was Slater’s ballgame, everyone knew it and the final day started at 8:00 sharp with eight, 30-minute, man-on-man Round Four heats.

 

Mick Fanning, Dean Morrison and Joel Parkinson were a trio of Aussie 20-somethings who won the first three heats and then Slater went up against Shaun Cansdell who is, surprise surprise, a 23-year-old goofy foot from Mullaway, New South Wales, Australia.

 

In spite of the strong Aussie attack, all eyes watched anxiously as Slater slashed his way through heat after heat, as usual convincing everyone that he is Mother Nature’s Favorite Son, because the ocean just loves him and cooperates. But even with all that, Slater just barely made it out of this Fourth Round heat. Cansdell needed a 7.02 to go ahead at the end, and he got an 8.0 on a left. But Slater is the ocean and there was a right behind that left, and he ripped it to get a 7.93 and win the heat by a whisker.

 
Who is this guy? What kind of name is Bede? Is he Dutch? Swedish? Afrikaans?

Andy Irons did not have the same luck in the next heat. He was not the ocean. With 1:30 left, Andy needed a 5.79 to get past this Aussie upstart with a funny name – this Beetle Bailey or whatever. As the clock was ticking down, and a set was coming in, a sport fishing boat came in toward the lineup, getting too close to the surf zone and sending the lifeguards out after it. Andy took off and did a big turn as the fishing boat turned out to sea. He only needed a 5.79 and this wave was worth that much at least. Irons did two big floaters but fell at the end. Did a boatwake effect the World Title race? Irons got a 3.43 and Burdridge had killed his first giant of the day.

 

Coming in, the crowd were aware enough of Iron’s Wolfpack emotions to leave him alone as he picked his way over the cobblestones. Durbidge got a little mobbed by people who probably just wanted to ask what was up with his name. The surf was good for Round Four: Overhead sets, consistent, bowly lefts and longer rights. The wind was offshore, the lighting was perfect and people began to pour onto the beach to enjoy the show.

 

The second quarterfinal was the rerun of a grudge match between Joel Parkinson and Kelly Slater, two incredibly radical surfers who met in the final in 2004. Slater does not like losing, and that is just one thing that makes him very hard to beat. But at that final that year, Parko pulled it off just under the buzzer, and in Slater’s mind probably tattooed a bullseye on his back.

 

Slater might have still been stinging from that, because by the end of the heat, Parkinson needed an 8.85 to pull another upset over Slater, who ripped the heat from go to woe. At the end of the heat, Parkinson and Slater bellyboarded the same wave to the beach. Slater swerved over to play bumper cars with Parkinson, who clearly wasn’t into it.

 

They shall meet again.

 

In the third quarterfinal, observers in the Media area started Googling Bede Durbidge when he practically spelled his weird name with a zillion huge turns on a long right, and scored a 9.33. Ward needed a 6.84 to take the lead at the end, but the ocean went flat and Burdridge raised eyebrows as he took down the local boy.

 

Who is this guy?

 

Victor Ribas had a shocker in the fourth quarter, letting Taj Burrow combo him to make it to the semis where he would go up against the guy whose nicknames were “Durbo” and “The White Fijian” according to the www.aspworldtour.com website.

 

In the first semifinal, Slater went up against Australian 20-something Dean Morrison, a goofyfoot and potential threat in the high-scoring lefts. Slater started with three decent scores of 6.83, 4 and 6.33 to leave Morrison struggling the entire heat.

 

During the heat, a swimmer went off the beach around the orange buoy that was about 200 yards offshore – not such a smart thing to do in September, when the White Sharks return to San Onofre just as the swallows return to Capistrano in the spring.

 

Slater got a 7.03 toward the end of the heat, leaving Morrison needing an 8-something to take the lead. Morrison took off on a left, hit the lip twice, fell on the third and that was that.

 

Slater in the final, at Lowers. Surprise surprise!