J-BAY FROM JOEL’S LOUNGE
Posted by Sean Doherty in Photos,Video,World Tour
Shot-shot... Jordy celebrates a big win at home. //Kirstin/ASP
Consigned to the lounge with his gammy foot, Joel watched every heat at J-Bay. Here’s his rap on what he saw…
THE WAVES
The waves were epic. That first day looked unreal and it made it a hard contest for me to watch. The waves looked a lot like last year – my kind of conditions, fast with long walls – and it was definitely the kind of waves I’d been surfing at home before I cut my foot. I found myself mindsurfing everything. The first four heats were really hard to watch because I was getting pissed off that I wasn’t there and it was perfect, but after I got over it I started analysing everyone’s moves and strategies. I was the supercoach on the lounge. I learned a lot sitting on the couch and watching it, all the strategies and tactics from a new angle, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time.
THE RIGHT WAVES
It’s a hard wave to surf when it’s a bit bigger. When it’s four foot every wave is good, but when it’s six foot like it was on the first day some of them can be burgery. You really had to pick your waves. But it’s more the man-on-man heats when you see wave choice becoming really crucial and there were plenty of guys making mistakes… which is easy to say from my lounge. I was ripping on my lounge. There were a couple of things I pinpointed that guys should and shouldn’t have done and it cost them the heat. Bottle did all the hard work against Adriano but then let himself down by taking the wrong wave. There were a lot of crucial wave choice decisions that cost guys heats. You really see the pressure element at J-Bay. Because they’re generally long period swells and you can have long lulls, the scoreboard pressure at J-Bay is really important. If you’ve got one good score at J-Bay you can apply pressure and force the other guy into a dud wave and get him panicking. The scoreboard pressure is one thing I really noticed when I was watching heats, playing the chess game from the couch.
ANDY
Andy was great. He definitely had flow for sure. J-Bay was never his prime wave when he was on tour, despite the fact he won out there before. It was never his comfort zone. It was no Teahupoo for him. Watch him though in this next contest. If they get some good waves this year in Tahiti look out. One thing that never really changes with your surfing is your ability to ride the barrel, and I reckon in Tahiti he’s going to find himself in his first final series for the year, for sure. Every event this year he’s looked better and better, and if he manages to make a final somewhere soon or even wins one, then look out. He’s the kind of guy who feeds on confidence.
DANE
Dane lives by the kind of surfing we saw in J-Bay, it’s all or nothing and that’s what you’re always going to get. He can do every move in the book and he goes for it, but if he doesn’t make it he’s going to end up with a shocker heat like he had against Taj. He probably only needs to pull himself back 10 per cent in some situations and he’d be winning some heats he’s losing, but the way he surfs he’s not going to do it. That’s not Dane. And if he did pull it back then you wouldn’t be seeing those heat scores of 18 or 19, you’d be seeing 15s and 16s, and then again it’s not quite Dane. He’s still the most exciting surfer to watch on tour and he always goes for it… whether he makes it or not depends on how he’s felling.
KELLY
I was pretty surprised Kelly lost. I thought he was looking real comfortable and calm in his first heat, and when he’s comfortable and calm at J-Bay he’s gonna win. But it didn’t happen against Shaun [Holmes]. Maybe he was thinking too much about Shaun. He’s such a nemesis out there and he gets guys so spooked that maybe he got in Kelly’s head a bit. Or maybe Kelly just had a shocker. I wonder if it was board choice even… his board didn’t look that great to me. Sometimes J-Bay doesn’t have a pocket to surf in, and when that happens and you get longer barrelling sections you can see which boards are really going well and which ones aren’t, and it looked to me like Kelly’s board wasn’t really working for him.
UNDERDOGS
Melling obviously was good, and Bottle was really good too. Shouldn’t be a surprise, they’re both pointbreak surfers and should be suited to J-Bay. In that one heat Bottle showed us what he can really do, he showed how good a pointbreak surfer he is. The Burleigh came out in him. But J-Bay’s inconsistency got him in the end… it got a few guys who were in form. Guys who just didn’t get the chance to ride waves. J-Bay can do that to you; you can be the most in-form surfer in the contest but if you don’t catch waves you won’t win a heat.
MICK
Damo has got some form at J-Bay, he’s no slouch out there, but in saying that you’d think going up against Mick, well, you’d have your money on Mick. But I thought Mick would have surfed a little better – read that it was a slow heat and caught a few more waves because he’s so good at turning four and five waves into sixes and sevens. He kinda waited for solid waves I guess, but if he had of surfed what was in front of him he would have won. No one surfs those little rock barrels better than Mick, he’s so fast and can fit turns in quicker than anyone. But in saying that Damo surfed the heat – and the whole contest – well I thought.
BEST HEAT
The Bede and Jordy semi, for sure… a bit of controversy. Jordy definitely got the score he needed on his last wave, but I thought maybe he should’ve needed more. Did he deserve what he got with his Superman on the first score? Probably not. I only watched it once and haven’t watched a replay, so that’s off one viewing, and there’s a big difference between watching it on TV and watching it live on the point. I might have given it to him if I’d been there, who knows. But I’m not much of a Superman fan. I don’t really get off on them. You might as well do a double grab. They just look a bit ugly to me. But it was great to see Jordy get a win, and to get his first win at home too must have been incredible for him. You could see how much it meant to him.
THE WORLD TITLE
Jordy’s got to number one but it’s the one time of the year you don’t want to be. The first thing I thought about when Jordy won and was that first place on the ratings was that he’s going to draw Manoa Drollet at Chopes. And Kelly went down a bit, so did Mick, so they’ll avoid Manoa. You can’t forget how gnarly that guy is at Teahupoo, especially if there’s swell. Once they get to Trestles I think those guys are really going to start firing up – Mick, Kelly, Taj and Jordy are all amazing out there. From Trestles it’s heading into such a heavy stretch. As hungry as Jordy was heading into J-Bay, he’s gong to have to be just as hungry coming into Pipe in four months time if he’s going to win the title, and there’s a lot of surfing between now and then. Every one of those guys still has a good chance at winning the title and I wouldn’t even be looking at the ratings and the numbers right now. They don’t mean a lot.
15 COMMENTS
mark says:
July 20, 2010 at 6:11 amA superman for joe-average means that the air was high enough to do a “trick” whilst up there. I agree though its not beautiful…. yet…….. I reckon the score got helped as it wasnt just the standard punt we allways see, but it was maybe a beginning of what can be done in 10 years. One Word. Cristian Hosoi(or ksps) I wanted to watch the wave again, thats good TV.
riguy says:
July 20, 2010 at 6:55 amyes i agree with that…did anyone see jordys 10 at the nike 6.o lowers pro??? he did a air reverse then a superman than banged off the close out section..jordys defiently getting comfortable surfing contests thats forsure
Job says:
July 20, 2010 at 6:06 pmExcellent reporting, Parko! I look forward to more of this fresh new perspective on competitive surfing commentary.
Scott says:
July 20, 2010 at 6:57 pmYeap, totally agree. Whats the use in holding events in the best possible waves when you can get a 7.5 on a 1 footer??? Did not make sence at all
Catatau BRA says:
July 20, 2010 at 7:08 pmman, it was a big ruth. jBay was not the same without you. missed you. we hope you get better as soon as possible. strength and honor.
Catatau, from Brazil.
Josh says:
July 20, 2010 at 7:49 pm…..”I was ripping on my lounge” baaahahaha! Bit like me in the carpark.
hugo says:
July 21, 2010 at 2:12 amVery nice comments from a “pro” like you. We always learn something and you also, so let’s get better and go back to the competition “mate”!
I think J bay was a very nice competition with great surf and great waves, but i dislike the scores. Some surfers had been overscored, and that’s a pitty. I wont tell names bit i think also a lot of people feel the same. Let’s hope it’s a lot more fair in Teahupoo.
Regards parko
Rob G says:
July 21, 2010 at 5:27 amHope that foot lets you into Teahupoo. Thanks for the insight, I agree on Andy, watch that space. Once he figures it out his new minset will see him become what kelly has been the last few years. He was all agro…he’s gone all positive ( Kelly did this at some stage too). mAybe not this year…but soon.
Slan
Rob
Andy M says:
July 21, 2010 at 1:44 pmparko how do you think jordy will go a Teahupoo? is it really his kinda wave or do you think it will be a non starter for him?
Micks looked better out there in the last few years.
Hows the fishing?
Andy
Drew says:
July 21, 2010 at 2:44 pmWhile I was happy that Jordy won the heat (because I replaced you with him on my FS squad upon the news of your foot) I couldn’t agree more with your comments. Bede looked a lot better in the heat and Jordy’s score definitely got pushed. I was pretty pumped for Andy too… glad to see him have a good outing! Get well and get back out there… can’t wait to see you ripping again!
d
tim says:
July 21, 2010 at 5:36 pmBede got fak’n robbed…dont suger coat it fellas!
Julia Gillard says:
July 23, 2010 at 3:02 amYep Jordys thing of the lip was L…A…M…E… What happened to the ideals of the dream tour???
Julia Gillard says:
July 23, 2010 at 4:06 amwhat i meant to say was, that was the lamest judging i saw since rudbot dropped his daks in a caucus meeting. bede caught waves of consequence and actually surfed them. Jordy should join the snotboard world tour if he wants to go around punting gay little airs like that
Tony Abbot says:
July 23, 2010 at 4:07 amHa ha…nice one redfox
jojo says:
July 23, 2010 at 4:09 amdoctors insure their hands for hundreds of thousands of dollars i bet a surfer could do the same with his feet