The new WSL has been quite a change for old school surfers like me. New rules, new moves and a whole bunch of crazy new ventures in the sport are quite obviously the best thing for professional surfing, as every professional surfer except Bobby will attest to. But it is sometimes quite hard to digest, especially for surfers like us who grew up with Occy, Tom Curren, Martin Potter and Tom Carroll. The only constant for the old-school crew has been Slater. He has been around forever, and is still alive and kicking, rolling with the changes, adapting, and making fools out of most of the young guns.
The Quiksilver Pro has already seen a number of crazy moves; like Gaby’s 10-point air and J-Flo’s underscored Club Sandwich, but what it also has shown to spectators the world over is that power surfing, rail turns and hard carves are still rewarded and can still easily be enough to win heats, no matter what tricks in the sky are being accomplished.
Bede Durbidge, has been around for a long time, and has rarely if ever gone above a lip line to try and get a big score. Sometimes this has counted against him particularly when the waves have been very small. When it is tiny, and all the young whippersnappers are busting massive inverts and flips in 2 foot waves, surfers like Bede are left looking a bit meat-footed, ponderous and slow, and unable to excite commentator, judge, spectator, female or journalist. In fact, it has even been that the responses to a bigger guy with little or no air game in smaller surf can tend towards ridicule.
Yet when the waves open up a bit, like it has been at this event in France, surfers of the ilk of Bede can start to open up, and show the judges all the carves, rail turns or power moves in their arsenals. In this event it’s quite possible that, with all the possible options for assorted moves and with the usual suspects trying and performing all of the non-stop forehand air reverses, the judges are more open to those big open-face carves.
Bede has not let up. He has been dropping nines left, right and center, has been winning heats without airs, and getting his big scores with power turns. Sometimes it’s just two moves that have seen him get awarded nines or thereabouts, and Bede hasn’t attempted anything new throughout.
His post heat interviews, bottle of Rock Star clutched firmly in place, have also shown a new face to the White Fijian. He seems totally relaxed yet focused, and he seems destined for a massive result at this event. It reminds me somewhat of when a surfer just clicks with a surf location, and can’t put a foot wrong. When a surfer gets that – Jordy at J-Bay in the past, Kelly at Pipe, Taj at Snapper and Gabby at Chopes – they’re unstoppable and the results are clear from the start.
That’s the vibe I get at this event with Bede. He’s going to win.
Disclaimer: I have also been known to be very, very wrong at times.
Quiksilver Pro France Quarterfinal Match-Ups:
QF 1:
Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Italo Ferreira (BRA)
QF 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Bede Durbidge (AUS)
QF 3: Adriano De Souza (BRA) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)
QF 4: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. John John Florence (HAW)
