Globe WCT Fiji Finals Day:

Troy Brooks

For the third day running we got through a full day's surfing here at the Globe 'CT at Cloudbreak today, and there's a slim chance we may even wrap this thing late tomorrow Fijian time. Only problem is that anything on "Fijian time" rarely happens on the day it was originally scheduled, so we may have to wait until Monday - or beyond - to get this thing done.

With the field wittled down from 32 to 16 today, we saw a heap of guys bomb out... and a heap of guys go straight to the bar. The job tonight for the 16 guys left in the contest will be to avoid the 16 guys who went out today. The calm before the storm will be broken tonight and there is guaranteed to be some loose units exhibiting pirate-like behaviour on both islands tonight.

The surf had dropped slightly from the previous afternoons eight foot widowmakers, into a far more manageable and groomed five foot, and Cloudbreak was looking mighty fine indeed as the day commenced. Mainly this thing went to script today, but not to say there were some high profile casualties. First of those was Parko, who lost in the last three seconds of his heat with Troy Brooks this morning. Brooko drilled an 8.83 barrel to knock his Namotu roommate out of the event and straight into a fishing boat. Cory Lopez, usually a sure thing in lefthand pits, got done up next when he couldn't find his way out of any of the aforementioned lefthand pits. The next big name to fall was Bruce Irons, who broke two boards but surfed well... just not as well as Timmy Reyes, who surfed out of his skin to chalk up a win. Andy got through no worries over wildcard Pete Mendia. As Pete climed onto the contest mothership, griping about his loss, Andy walked past and chirped, "Ahh, get over it." Those within earshot were split 50/50 as to whether they thought he actually meant it or not. AI's heat was the first one that experienced the no-wave doldrums, going flat for 10 minutes at a time. From here on what had been a barrel riding contest became all about turns, as the swell dropped and the tide filled in. No one else got barrelled all afternoon.

Nathan Hedge

With the bitter sting of victory fading (well, technically being anaesthetised by a few beers) Parko and Occ made their way out into the lineup for the afternoon to cheer on their mates surfing heats. These two took the opportunity to combine spectating with a spot of fishing, and they soon both had lines over the side of the boat while they were watching heats. At one stage Occ managed to snag the bottom, and Parko volunteered to dive down and unhook the thing from the reef. Meanwhile Aussie Jarrad Howse was out off the back of Wilkes Pass hauling in a 60lb wahoo that took the island record.

Picking a favourite from the bunch of guys left probably isn't easy. If it was going to be big and gaping and spitting, you'd bet the house on one of the Hobgoods or Andy, but it looks like we may not see those conditions again as we're on the backside of the swell. CJ gets Mick Fanning in round four tomorrow, and that might be a good place to start looking for a winner.

Tonight the Australians on both islands are decked out in either maroon or blue as the State of Origin rugby league match goes on at 10pm. It's the annual game between the states of New South Wales and Queensland, and probably the closest thing you guys in the US have to it is the Pro Bowl. Accordingly we Aussies take this one very seriously indeed and use it as a great excuse to get tanked. So around midnight tonight, there's sure to be 16 guys rolling around in bed wishing to hell the Antipodeans would just shut the hell up.