So I’ve Surfived another round. I picked Medina. If I did my math correctly, there should be 54 people left after this event.
If you’ve never heard of Surfival League, its similar to an NFL football survival league – you pick one team (surfer) to win (make it through Round 2) each week (event). You cannot pick the same team (surfer) twice. Last one standing wins. The prize for this year’s Surfival League is a few Panda surfboards, I think 3. This is my first year participating, and I’m pretty stoked on my run so far.
But, enough about me.
Day Two of the Fiji Pro at Cloudbreak was a bit smaller than yesterday. 13 heats ran – 12 men’s and 1 women’s heat, and the goofy footers continued to run the table. Ramzi is the only right foot forward surfer that lost in R2, and that was to Miggy Pupo (also goofy). The smaller this wave is, the more difficult it looks to surf on the backhand. Most regular footers could only fit in 2, maybe 3 maneuvers.
Connor O’Leary and Kauli Vaast both looked really good, both dropping 16+ point heat totals. Miggy Pupo continues his magical run this year; he’s going to be in the Title Race until the end. Jack Robinson really continues to struggle – he lost to Barron Mamiya who had a rad backside floater. And I will not be giving any notice to Filipe’s 16 point heat total (Loss) out at Cloudbreak. It was maybe head high.
I can not stop watching Gabe Medina’s 7.17. Is that the fastest any human has ever travelled on a surfboard? How about that fucking down carve. When I first saw it, I let out a guttural sound that caught suspicious glares from my wife. Insane turn. I liked this wave better than Griffin’s 9.50 earlier in the day. Brother Crosby was eliminated by Kauli Vaast in a notable loss, and Carissa beat Sally Fitz in a battle of the veterans before the event was called off for the day.
That’s about all I’ve got for you. There was some good surfing, mostly highlighted above, but mostly it felt like a bit of a slow day. I’m sure everyone that surfed enjoyed a heat out there, but it wasn’t exactly what we as fans want and expect from Cloudbreak. I’d like to see big tubes and big turns. It was performance surfing out on the face today. Barrels were high and tight, or racing down through the inside shallow section, mostly unmakeable for a regular foot.
I’m not going to listen to a word said about any forecast, because I was expecting 8-10 on Day One, and that’s not what we got. We’ll play it by ear.
Round 3 Men’s Matchups to watch:
Heat 1 – Seth Moniz vs Cole Houshmand
- Classic goofy vs regular battle.
Heat 5 – Italo vs O’Leary
- Should be fireworks.
Heat 7 – Miggy Pupo vs Kauli Vaast
- Darkhorse heat. Whoever wins this one will be up against Medina in the Quarters.
We already spoke about the Women’s R2 matchups to keep an eye on. If they run tomorrow, it should begin with Women’s R2 H2 – Luana Silva vs BettyLou.
Until then.
Cheers,
hwilsin
Drew Stanfield