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Brazil has traditionally
been the least favorite stop for surfers on the “Dream Tour.” To keep
attendance and spirits up, the ASP decided to move the Hang Loose Santa
Catarina Pro from the end of the 2009 schedule to the middle, making it much more
important to the title race while also (unfortunately) reducing the number of
tanned Reef Girl butts on the beach (Brazil lies in the Southern Hemisphere, where
it’s currently the beginning of winter). But the earlier run date ensured
plenty of swell would make its way into Imbituba from June 27th to July 3rd,
even though the three to four-foot lefts here were still mushy and soft —
like a reverse Bells Beach. One commentator accurately compared the waves to
Florida, opining, “It’s breaking really fast down the line and really slow to
the beach,” while Florida personality and East Coast contest MC Travis Ajay
even sent longtime compadres CJ and Damien Hobgood an online message saying,
“Looks like RCs on steroids out there.”
With St. Augustine, FL,
representative Gabe Kling still sidelined by a knee and ankle injury,
Wrightsville Beach, NC, good guy Ben Bourgeois received a wildcard into the
event. But due to his low seeding, Benny B. drew top dogs Bede Durbidge and
Dean Morrison in Round One, before getting duly smoked by superfreak Jordy
Smith in Round Two. CJ, Damien, and Kelly Slater all struggled in Round One and
were relegated to elimination heats. But luckily, local wildcards Guilherme
Ferreira and Bernardo Miranda were no match for CJ and Slater, respectively,
while Damien handily defeated German rookie Marlon Lipke (Slater even won his
Round Two heat on an asymmetrical, self-shaped quad-fin).
In Round Three, Damien
destroyed rankings bottom feeder Heitor Alves, 12.0-4.5, while Kelly decimated
Aussie Ben Dunn, 15.5-10.46, and CJ obliterated Frenchman Mikael Picon, 16.17-9.24.
Round Four saw Damien fall to on-fire Top-16 standout Bede Durbidge, while CJ
survived a nail-biter with Mick “Ginga Ninja” Campbell and Kelly secured
the highest wave score of the event (9.6) to defeat Tom Whitaker, 17.37-11.67.
“I was more relaxed in that heat than any other heat this year,” Kelly remarked
after that win. “I just have to take my time and, once I’m on the wave, be
patient and wait for the section. You can’t try to overdo anything — you
can only do what the wave gives you.”
Once the quarterfinals began,
the pumping Brazilian lineup began to peter out. Kelly defeated Taj Burrow,
13.6-13.17, by nabbing priority out from under Taj early in the heat and then
simply waiting for the clock to run out. Slater’s top score came on the
strength of a backside carving 360, prompting contest announcers to question
whether they were watching a skateboarding competition or a surfing contest. “I
snuck my better one under Taj’s priority,” Kelly laughed. “He probably
shouldn’t let me get waves when he’s got priority. I’ll have to thank him for
that.” CJ’s quarterfinal against Mick Fanning followed the same tack, with nearly all of the heat’s
scoring rides coming early on. The last goofyfoot standing in the event blasted
several turns over the crumbling lip to earn a 7.87 and a 5.0, but Fanning could
only cobble together a total heat score of 9.17. “These last few heats have
been brutal to the person needing a score,” CJ said. “Mick needed a 6, which is
not hard work for him, but the ocean never delivered.”
CJ’s victory unfortunately
set up a Floridian’s nightmare — Semifinal #2, Kelly Slater vs. CJ
Hobgood, Cocoa Beach vs. Satellite Beach. The winner had Brazilian Adriano de
Souza waiting in the wings, as current World #1 Joel Parkinson couldn’t stop de
Souza in Semifinal #1. Against CJ, Slater caught the first wave, driving out of
solid bottom turns to lodge a 5.33, before snagging a rare, wide right and
landing a no-grab frontside air for a 5.0. CJ dropped into two lefts that
looked like solid scores, but the first one mushed out for a 3.0, and CJ could
only muster a 3.93 on the second. Kelly retained priority for the last big set
of the heat, widening his lead with a 6.83 before CJ linked into a last-ditch
left that only came in at 5.9. Although he missed the final, CJ kept up his
string of consistent ’09 results and catapulted to 3rd-place in the rankings.
With the local crowd frothing
over Adriano’s possible win, Kelly again caught the first wave of the 35-minute
final, unleashing 12 explosive turns for a questionably low 6.0. Adriano quickly
topped that with a questionably high 6.67 for a series of uglier turns executed
on a bigger wave; maybe Adriano’s repeated double-fisted claims had something
to do with the extra 7/10 of a point. Adriano’s next ride featured five cookie-cutter
turns with a vertical (head) snap thrown in at the end, and the judges again
rewarded him with an inflated 8.0. Kelly narrowed Adriano’s lead with a multi-bash
combo punctuated by a fins-out tailslide for 6.83 at the halfway mark of the
heat, before Slater finally broke out and annihilated a roping left to retake
1st-place with a 9.27. Kelly then put the nail in the coffin with two minutes
remaining in the heat, stringing together impossible floaters and explosive
backside smashes to outrace the Imbituba sections and solidify his lead with an
8.67, resulting in the highest heat total of the event, 17.94.
Although the thousands of
spectators gathered on the beach simultaneously gasped in disbelief at de Souza
falling to Slater, Adriano still earned a trip up the beach on the shoulders of
his amigos, in addition to rocketing from #5 to #2 in the ASP World Tour
rankings. But The Champ had the last laugh, proving wrong the doubters who
questioned his 2009 commitment, the haters who second-guessed his board
choices, and overenthusiastic surfers like de Souza who may have claimed
victory before it was fully in the bag. “I thought I was surfing against Pele
or something — the whole country came down to the beach and supported me
until I surfed against [Adriano],” Kelly laughed.
“You don’t want anything less
than a quarterfinal [finish] when you’re trying to get up there and shoot for a
title,” Slater added, after learning he soared from #25 in the rankings to #9.
“I can feel my focus getting a lot clearer. It’s nice to [leave] here with a
real result. I’m building throughout — obviously I peaked in this event,
but I still feel like I’ve got more.”
For full results, photos, and videos visit www.ASPWorldTour.com
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