JOHANNESBURG – Two world champions were eliminated on an eventful day at the Corona Open J-Bay – a World Surf League (WSL) event, taking place at Jeffreys Bay in the Eastern Cape.
The day started with rookie Frederico Morais of Puerto Rico posting a last-minute perfect 10 point ride in a come-from-behind quarter-final upset over reigning WSL champion John John Florence of Hawaii.
SA’s Jordy Smith, Filipe Toledo of Brazil and Julian Wilson of Australia paddled out to re-surf their Round 4 heat which was abandoned on Wednesday, when a shark was sighted breaching in the vicinity.
Smith, who was leading the heat when it was abandoned, started well on Wednesday morning, but was overtaken by Toledo. The Brazilian did a 360 degree aerial for a 9.0 and then repeated that with two similar manoeuvres on the next wave to earn his second perfect 10 point ride of the event, advancing directly to the quarter-finals and relegating Smith and Wilson to Round 5 elimination battles.
With overhead waves pouring through the line-up, current no 1 on the leader-board, Matt Wilkinson of Australia outpointed Conner Coffin of the US and Michel Bourez of French Polynesia to secure his quarter-final berth.
In Round 5, world champions Mick Fanning of Australia and Florence put paid to the chances of Joan Duru of France and Owen Wright of Australian in Heats 1 & 2 to set up quarter-final clashes against Gabriel Medina of Brazil and Frederico Morais respectively.
Smith did battle with Coffin and defeated the Californian before Julian Wilson applied his patented sweeping turns to great effect in his duel with Bourez.
WSL Commissioner Kieren Perrow then put the event on hold for two hours over the high tide.
During the break, a decision was taken to re-surf Heat 3 of Round 5 after video evidence was produced that showed that part of one of Coffin’s rides had not been seen by the judging panel and the young Californian had been awarded a score that was too low.
Restarting in classic conditions in hollow tubes and an offshore breeze grooming the faces of the waves, an in-form Smith opened with an excellent 9.37 and quickly backed it up with his third Perfect 10 of the event.
Two excellent scores from Coffin were not enough and his was eliminated in 9th place, while the two-time event winner advanced on to the quarter-finals where he will face Toledo.
“I’m pretty stoked to get that one out the way,” said Smith.
“Filipe (Toledo) surfed a great heat this morning and went absolutely mad. I tried my best but Filipe took to the air and did what he does best. You have to start fresh every day and it’s pumping out there, so you just want to try and dominate.”
The first of the quarter-finals saw 2015 WSL Champion Gabriel Medina (Brazil) in sync with the set waves, carving vertical backhand turns to bag a pair of eight point rides.
His opponent Fanning, the three-time world champ and four-time J-Bay winner, needed a combination of two rides totalling 17.41 for the win, when the contest was put on hold after a great white shark was spotted 300m away at the Lower Point.
After 20 minutes, with the shark moved on, the heat resumed with five minutes remaining. No waves were ridden and Medina advanced to the semi-finals, while Fanning was eliminated in equal fifth place overall.
Fanning said: “We had a slow start to the heat and I made a few mistakes but Gabe (Medina) is just surfing so well at the moment. It’s been such an incredible contest though. I think we’ve seen some of the best surfing to see how many 10-point rides have gone down. What else could happen here?”
Morais, who caused an upset by defeating WSL Champion Florence on Tuesday to reach the quarter-finals, upset the reigning WSL champion again to earn a spot in the in the semi-finals for the first time this season, where he will face Medina.
Florence put the pressure on early with two big nine-point rides. The rookie rose to the challenge and selected a beautiful wave to score 9.77 but Florence answered back and improved his situation with a 9.10.
With three minutes on the clock and first priority, Morais let go of all the pressure, found a perfect-looking set wave and was rewarded with a perfect 10-point ride, his first on the Champions Tour and the eighth of the event, to eliminate the world champion.
“The waves are so much fun out there,” Morais said.
“We had a little adventure out there with the shark at the beginning but everything was great and we’re safe and taken care of. Every time I surf against John (Florence), we have really close heats and really tough match-ups.
“He had me on the ropes until the last minute, but I had priority and I used it well. This heat was a big challenge and I loved it - and I’m into the semis.
“It’s my first 10-point ride on the Championship Tour and a day like this – and against John – is emotional.”