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DAY TWO UPDATE
by Brendon Bosworth
SurferMag.com Correspondent
The devil wind is puffing lightly, creating nasty ribs on the face. But as the cherished south-westerly starts to feather, raking the surface clean, a solid set rolls through straight out of the south, bypasses Bone Yards completely, and jacks up tall at Supers. A red-vested American strokes into it, a coil of backhand energy waiting to unleash. He drives hard off the bottom, intuitively sets his line, pumps once or twice, and flies straight through the teeth of a grinning Supers barrel. He emerges a few seconds later, like a gold-plated idol, gleaming in the coppery morning sun. The man is Bobby Martinez. The score: a perfect 10. "One of the best backhand barrels I've seen at J-Bay," Shaun Thompson called it.
Yesterday was packed full of nines. Even though the waves slowed down today, and the frequency of wide ones made it difficult to match the long shunting walls of yesterday's orgy, there was plenty of action to behold. Following up on his first round 10-pointer, Parko proved exactly why he's a man to watch out for. Joel has definitely got the shine on at the moment.
In a closely contested match-up, Kai Otton managed to put a stop to Jihad Khodr's fundamental attack, even though the Brazilian was seen floating hard over the bricks. Travis Logie and Tim Reyes went pound for pound, trading blows and taking turns at displacing multiple cubic metres of ocean into the clean morning air. "Wave selection was a huge factor out there today," said Travis, who is fresh off a second placing at the QS Mr Price Pro in Durban and took the heat with a technical 8.17 in the final seconds. "It was hard to determine which would be the good ones ‘cos almost every wave at J-Bay is a good one. That's normally my problem. I get too excited and try to get every wave."
Mick Cambell placed comfortably over Damo Hobgood, who will not be joining his brother in the third round. "It was great to surf against Damo again, cos he's amazing on his backhand," said Mick after his heat. "I was a little disinterested in my first round, but I put a bit more aggression into this heat for sure."
The Rookie meltdown saw Heitor Alves dismissing Dane Reynolds, who couldn't find the waves to match Alves' 16.66 posting. Meanwhile Dane's contemporary, Mr. Jordan Smith took the crowds and judges hostage in the most anticipated and watched heat of the day. Smith opened proceedings with a 9.0, showing his agility and inventiveness on the rail. Padaratz copped one right from the outside and raced fast, but only started turning it up further down the line. Seems he felt a touch cheated by the 6.83 which echoed from the tower and indicated his angst by gesticulating in the universal sign for "bigger" as he paddled back out. Smith's tightly-choreographed 9.6, which saw him drawing solid turns before proceeding to climb up and down the lip like Spiderman on the inside, sealed the deal, sending him through to Round 3. "I was really lucky to get those waves," said Jordy. "I didn't get into any sets in my first heat, so I made sure to wait for the sets this time."
All quiet on the Western Front for the weekend. It'll be beers, cruising and psyching up ‘til next week.
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Click here to view Exclusive photos from Day Two.
Return to SURFER's Exclusive J-Bay Coverage Landing Page.
Watch Bobby's 10 point ride here.
Conditions:
2 to 5 foot, crawling in quite slowly from the South. Erratic.
Rounds
Round 2
Highest Heat Score:
Jordy posts the roster with a more than respectable 18.60
Wave of the Day:
Bobby Martinez claims the only 10.00 of the day by piloting his way straight through the teeth of a racy Supers cylinder.
Biggest Fan:
The whale that cruised past twenty meters from the backline to check out the Jordy Smith/Neco Padaratz showdown.
Innovator of the day:
Wardo getting the fins out on a bunch of turns, sliding the tail, and generally throwing it around something fierce.
Award for Chivalry:
Neco Padaratz gives Jordy the full handshake/hug combo and graciously accepts defeat.
Trailer Park Tale of the Event (As told by an concerned punter on the sand)
The kids aren’t alright. When Damian Hobgood snapped his board yesterday, some of the local delinquents decided to show their class by destroying it in full public view. One of the gannets got up to his guts in the water and pilfered the fins before the freshly snapped stick touched the sand. Then two of his hoods carried the carcass onto the boardwalk and went about punching holes in it. Real tough! What happened to hero worship? What happened to ferrying the board home and mounting it on your wall, then calling all your mates round to ogle it? Two posters outside the local supermarket, extolling the hazards of ketamine and heroin use, indicate that the kids of the Bay might have some issues to work through.
Quotes:
“I don’t really have a strategy. As far as am I’m concerned we (the backhanders) are all in the same boat. Especially when it’s small like this… a lot of the time it just feels like a close-out when it’s small. It’s so fast. But I’m still really new out here so I can’t give too many pointers.”
Bobby Martinez modestly explains how to ride Supers on your backhand after causing the half-awake crowd to choke on their coffee with his perfect 10 pit tactics.
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