Connor Coffin
On the velvet-smooth, round four faces you could watch Connor Coffin replays all day. His appeal hinges on the fact that his lines are interesting and fresh while simultaneously making a nostalgic reference to some classic version of surfing we use to love. He throws the arms wide and accelerates out of turns with well-organized body torque that doesn’t break his flow, and he’s done his homework. He realises that at Bells the judges drool when they see you hold the rail and extend the carve for as long as possible on those stretched canvasses. Accustom to surfing silky Rincon (Californian not Bells) walls after the morning fog clears, Connor admits “he loves clean faces” and some of his advantages will be neutralized if it’s a little ruffled on Sunday as forecast. Still, he has the secret weapon that has been making the judges’ jaws drop all week. “When shit hits the fan I just do a layback…” he told the press earlier this week. So far that plan has been working.
Wiggolly Dantas
Wander down to Bells on a cold, onshore lay day and there is one guy you are sure to see putting in his time – Wiggolly Dantas. He’s usually rocking his startling, marbled red wettie and rolling with his staunch older brother. Although he doesn’t disown his Brazilian brethren, Wiggolly is a lone wolf on a mission to become a hail-stone rather than a rain drop in the Brazilian storm. Aside from John John no surfer on tour spends more time in Hawaii than Wiggolly and he revels in the push and grunt of the Bells walls. Big Wigs will combine slow drawn out bottom turns with precise, lightning sharp hooks. He is the goofy-foot equivalent of Jordy in terms of his capacity to get it done with two giant jams. However, he’ll have to be at his best to steal Wilko’s mojo.
Matt Wilkinson
Wilko’s entertaining adventure on the yellow roller coaster continues, complete with double claims and dizzying tail drifts. Now guaranteed to retain the yellow jersey into WA, he will be able to surf with even further abandon. Against an in form Julian in the quarters there were other significant things besides bright rashies to take away. He now knows he can lose and bounce back (round four was his first flop for the year), that he can turn it on with his back is against the wall on the buzzer and most importantly he knows what turns equate to a high nine at Bells. Reflecting on the tied heat he won on a count-back he commented, “It’s unreal to get a score so close to perfect and to know that if at the end of a heat whatever I need I can pretty much get it … If you need a flat nine you’re sitting out there thinking ‘If a good wave comes I’m going to get this’ but a high nine is a pretty scary… that wave was pretty perfect and I felt like I surfed it as good as I could have.” There’s an aura around Wilko right now and it’s all yellow.
Italo Ferreira
The Brazilians are really like a team of cyclists on the Velodrome. One drops to the back and someone else assumes the lead. With Medina eliminated andToledo still trying to learn to touch his toes again, Italo is expected to be the front-runner for the Brazilians. Italo surfed smart in round four to leap frog into the quarters. The non-elimination round is designed to inspire next level, video part surfing. Occasionally this comes off, but at a place like Bells, where the waves are often slow, it presents an opportunity for savvy surfers to take the low road and chisel a victory. It’s not all about surfing for the fans in round four and Italo controlled the sleepy heat from the outset. Against Nat Young on big Sunday it will be a battle of two wide-legged cowboys, rodeoing through the Bells bumps.
Nat Young
Nat Young won points for being the most precise backside surfer of the day. No one hit the sweet spot, bulls-eye like Nat, who likens Bells to his homebreak, Steamer lane. He digs the cold, doesn’t feel encumbered by the layers of rubber and knows exactly where to aim his machete chop, backside hooks. He’s also confident about the forecast bump in the swell. “I feel like I excel when the waves get bigger.” Adding variation to the line in his backside hacks could prove critical against Italo. “I think backhand you end up getting stuck doing a very similar turn every time, but at Bells you can mix it up a little more because there’s a bowlier section and a facier part,” he insisted confidently.
Michel Bourez
Michel Bourez is kind of the dark horse in this whole equation, particularly given we are likely to see the finals day go down in bigger, less perfect conditions when a new swell arrives on Sunday. Michel is well aware that his meat-clever hacks are most destructive when the swell jumps and his less robust competitors are in danger of getting swallowed. “I really want to surf the biggest conditions. I feel like it’s more positive for me to surf in big conditions because I can show more to the judges and get higher scores.” Like Connor Coffin, Bourez is a layback snap aficionado. He knows the judges have developed a fetish for dropping the hammer at Bells and will play that option all day long. “To me it’s one of the easiest manouevres because you don’t need to go in the air and you just stay in the water and you can push as hard as you can. I feel like it’s just a big turn that judges reward.”
The way the draw plays out it will be goofies vs goofies and Naturals vs Naturals. Connor will face the winner of the heat between Mick Fanning and Davey while Michel will shape up against the victor between Caio and Jordy. On paper the wins go to Mick and Jordy but after the round three, rookie revolt anything is possible.
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Round 4 Results:
Heat 1: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 14.00, Nat Young (USA) 10.93, Julian Wilson (AUS) 8.60
Heat 2: Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 15.37, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 12.20, Mason Ho (HAW) 10.93
Heat 3: Conner Coffin (USA) 16.86, Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.44, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.30
Heat 4: Michel Bourez (PYF) 13.36, Caio Ibelli (BRA) 8.00, Davey Cathels (AUS) 6.43
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Round 5 Results:
Heat 1: Nat Young (USA) 16.83 def. Mason Ho (HAW) 11.67
Heat 2: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 16.57 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 16.57
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Remaining Round 5 Match-Ups:
Heat 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Davey Cathels (AUS)
Heat 4: Caio Ibelli (BRA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)