Globe WCT Fiji Finals Day:

Andy Irons

If I was Bobby Martinez right now, I would be investing in a fistful of lottery tickets. The reason for this is that at present everything the Santa Barbara rookie touches turns to gold… as witnessed at Cloudbreak today in round two of the Globe WCT Fiji.

Drawn against wildman wildcard Koby Abberton, Bobby didn’t look to be doing anything too special early on. Both guys were struggling to connect with any kind of meaningful barrel out there, as the swell had kicked overnight but also swung more from the west, resulting in a heap of nasty black closeouts. Halfway through the heat Bobby took off way up the point and immediately it looked like he was too deep. Way too deep. He drove through the first section with an instinctive speed pump, threaded a second, before he dropped into a third, ugly, foamy one. From the boats in the channel, Bobby disappeared completely from view, engulfed in the foamball. Water cameraman Mike Prickett was filming Bobby’s wave and gave up on him by this stage. “I saw him drive into that section and just thought, no way, he’s not coming out. Koby was paddling back out behind me so I turned to shoot him and all of a sudden I saw Koby’s eyes open up like saucers.” Bobby somehow busted out of the tube to the disbelief of all and sundry. The judges scores lit up with 10s, a 9.8… and one scrooge who thought it was 9. It averaged out at a 9.93, the highest score of the contest. The most celebrated backhand on tour at the moment doesn’t go too badly when it is spun around and stuffed in forehand barrels either. Bobby gets diminutive Brazilian Pedro Henrique in round three tomorrow and goes into it - on today’s form - as a raging favourite.

Andy had already taken down local ripper Aca Ratu in the first heat of the day (“Aca” pronounced “ar-tha”). Aca is the son of Chief Druku, the main man on Tavarua, and had won his spot in the draw after winning a trials event for the local Fijian boys. Once again it’s super cool that the event is keeping this spot open for these guys. A decade ago you might have scoffed at the thought of Tahitian or Balinese surfers ever getting to the level of the visiting guys from Australia, the States and Hawaii, but time has dispelled that thought. Let’s hope this investment in the future of Fijian surfing does likewise.

The only real controversy of the day came in the heat between Peterson Rosa and Luke Stedman. It was a sick heat, with both guys locking in high eights and low nines, and with seconds remaining Peterson, who needed a 7.10 at the time, took off. He got barrelled, came flying out, and was certain he got the score. Over the PA it was announced Peterson had got the score. The passionate Brazilian was given 30 seconds to celebrate before it was announced that somehow, in the confusion, he’d actually only scored a 7.0 and had lost the heat. He was last seen punching a door on the marshalling ferry, less than impressed with the whole deal.

Shaun Cansdell

Meanwhile, all the guys who had progressed through to round three didn’t have a care in the world. They enjoyed their day off, with most kicking back after a morning surf, sauntering around their five-star islands, and saving themselves for tomorrow. The only one who really exerted himself was Parko, who hardly broke a sweat as he hauled in a 33lb wahoo. “Yep,” exhaulted Parko after later scoring a half-dozen tubes during the dusk Cloudbreak session, “now that’s a day.”

Socially, things on Tavarua and Namotu are understandably still a little quiet, although Tavvy was making enough noise for both islands last night. The Globe guys have boated in an entire set of drums, guitars and amps, loud enough to be heard from the mainland. An all-star band of surf journos kept themselves amused (and the island awake) as they jammed into the night. With the first eliminations from the event happening today though, you can bet there’ll be some crew looking for action tonight.

Tomorrow will be the day when things go up a notch. The swell is expected to hang in there for tomorrow, but we may be struggling a little on Thursday. As your correspondent wore an eight-footer on the head as the sun set at Cloudbreak this afternoon though he began to believe Thursday might be looking okay for a finish to this thing. Failing that, Monday/Tuesday of next week looks our best/last hope for another swell. We’re in the hands of the Fijian gods. Stay tuned tomorrow for the Damien Hobgood/Wardo heat, as well as the Andy/Mendia heat 9 matchup. This will be no wildcard-walk-in-the-park for Andy… Pete knows how to surf this place.