Taj Burrow has claimed his spot in the venerable fraternity that is the Pipe Masters. The surf may have been on the way out but Teebs was the man today, adapting from barrels early on to aerial flaring in the final. Kelly looked the dogs in the quarters and semi but it fell apart for him in the final and he didn't even break double figures...
So. What news from today? A day when the ASP may consider changing it's name to Australia's Surfing Professionals so total is their domination (Mens and Womens: Triple Crown, World titles, event wins in Hawaii. Mens WQS champ (2nd in the ladies) Longboarding champ and who knows what else... 7 outta 10 WCT events this year and all). Well...
Dean Morrison has been intertwined with the Backdoor barrel like a lustful lover for the whole event and had 'finals berth' pretty clearly stamped on his forehead. Sadly the Backdoor shunned him today and the dropping swell just wasn't playing ball. His quarter will be debated in great length due to the...
Ding-dong-with-Damo. They were all over each other in the fiercest hassle battle of the event. Paddling on top of each other at points. The key moment that's got tongues wagging is the Burkhart style leash pull by Dingo on Damo at the end. 'Accidental' according to the head judge and Dingo. Looked suss to the rest of the world. But it was Deano's priority on the wave in question so..?
The bald one sailed through his heat against Flynn 'Backdoor? What Backdoor?' Novak whose tactic of waiting for decent Pipe waves that blatantly weren't there was a bit of a bad move. At that point most people considered KS to be the favourite.
Bede and Taj's quarter saw a brief spurt in swell and some decent kegs at Backdoor. Teebs obviously came out in front but Bede woulda won the first or fourth quarter with his score... His consolation prize is picking up a new sponsorship from Fox- about time one of the most professional guys on tour got the real estate on the nose of his board covered up.
CJ couldn't lift the mood in the Hobgood camp and went down to Dane in the last quarter. Small tricksy backdoor ain't no fun on your backhand. Expecially when Dane's busting out crazy turns on the end section like...
This. Which he kinda stuck but couldn't ride out of the whitewater...
On to the semis and the waves really started getting weird. Kelly went for a skydive in the noble tradition of Parko and Mick but it didn't stop him going through. Deano couldn't find a decent Backdoor wave and that was that.
Taj pipped Dane in his semi then switched from barrel mode to wheely mode in the final and stuck two sick airs to take the win. Kelly got underscored on one nice keg but then seemed to go into rollover mode. He has a bunch of Pipe Masters titles anyway. Nice to spread the wealth. This is the first punt that scored big...
And this is the second...
And here's one very stoked Teebs... Being lifted by his trainer and some fella called Mick Fanning...
So that is that. The Triple Crown, the Hawaiian contest season wrapped. Expect a mass exodus from HNL airport shortly and a massive sigh of relief from the locals that the circus has packed up and moved on... In a fitting way the surf is going poop for the rest of the week- onshore, small bleh waves until the weekend. It's been a hell of a season already so no ones gonna complain too much.
