SURFING Magazine, Fiji Pro 2015, Stop No. 5

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FIJI PRO

FIJI PRO 2015,

STOP

#5

STOP NO. 05


THE EARLY BIRD GETS…

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...BARRELED! BULA! WELCOME TO FIJI.


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It looks like he’s laying on clouds. It feels like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is choke slamming him into a bed of nails. Kai Otton, sensory overload during the wipeout of the event.


FIJI PRO

STOP NO. 05

ED I TO R I A L EDITOR | ZANDER MORTON CREATIVE DIRECTOR | CHATO AGANZA PHOTO EDITOR | PETER TARAS MANAGING EDITOR | LEO MAXAM TRAVEL & MEDIA MANAGER | JIMMY WILSON

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ART DIRECTOR | NOA EMBERSON ONLINE EDITOR | BRENDAN BUCKLEY WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER | DAYTON SILVA EDITOR-AT-LARGE | TAYLOR PAUL EDITOR-AT-LARGE | BEAU FLEMISTER

P H OTO S JIMMICANE

C OV E R OWEN WRIGHT


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STOP N O. 5 FIJI PRO

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B Y

T H E

N U M B E R S

437

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Dollars a night on Tavarua

Perfect 10s scored during the event

will cost you

390

4 Perfect 10s courtesy of Owen Wright

Dollars a night on Namotu will cost you

7 Shots of alcohol in a Skull Drag

8 Variations of the word “barrel” used on webcast — tunnel, tube, cavern, cave, pit, green room, cylinder and….devil’s den?

6 Record for Skull Drags taken in one day (Matt Hoy)

0 Heats CJ Hobgood has made this year. And how many people are excited by his retirement

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WITH BRENDAN BUCKLEY

NOT HERE TO The sand is ghost-white in a good way and it’s more comfortable than a $3,000 dollar mattress. The water is perfectly blue and perfectly warm. Drinks are as cold as ice and served with contagious Fijian smiles, free of charge. You’re on a small island and feel a faint disconnect to the rest of the world. Every atom of your body feels relaxed and this is probably paradise. But we’re not here to honeymoon. Neither are the 34 guys who showed up to the most idealistic island in the world with thick boardbags and war in their eyes. The Fiji Pro is an interesting time. It’s a transitional event for the CT season, taking us away from Rio and into the Tour’s classy leg — Fiji, J-Bay and Teahupo’o. That golden trifecta starts right here and right now, right out front of this strip of warm white sand. This year’s event was held solely out at Cloudbreak, a wave that has a track record of hurting people (and not just ankles). But even if it sometimes makes unwelcomed adjustments to CT surfers’ bodies, Cloudbreak is always an utter form of perfection. It’s


HONEYMOON a wave that people regularly pay many thousands of dollars to surf, but for two weeks a year, it becomes a wave that the WSL pays people thousands of dollars to surf. Let’s talk about those two weeks. It started off with a string of lay days. People played bocce ball. They sailed, they swam, they balled. Sometimes, they drank seven shots of liquor through a snorkel in a Namotu tradition known as a Skull Drag — presumably for the hangover. Four days of Gilligan’s Island later, the swell finally surfaced and we saw five consecutive days of competition. Cloudbreak asserted its home in our hearts by producing some of the best waves of the season thus far. Dane showed up. Julian showed up. But in the end, Owen Wright showed up bigger than anyone and not just in stature. Owen penciled his name in history by earning a perfect 20/20 heat score in his quarterfinal. Then he carved that shit in blood by repeating that 20/20 performance in the final. It was the perfect ending to the perfect event. Too bad nobody got married.


Start here.

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EARLY


Finish with a skull dragger.

RNDS

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YOU CAN’T TEACH STYLE.


But if you could, you’d use this photo of Joel Parkinson as an example.

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019 Italo Ferreira and the air of the event. As in, the only air of the event.


Adriano De Souza

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CJ Hobgood


Dane Reynolds

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Drive it like you stole it. Kolohe Andino


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THIS MAGIC MOMENT Not! Kelly Slater lost to Italo Ferreira in Round 5, adding another mediocre result to his 2015 World Title campaign or lack thereof.

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LAY 026

Thug life is overrated. Fiji is not. Dane Reynolds, Namotu.


DAYS 027


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Miguel Pupo reflects on life. And on the face of an early morning tube.


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THE KITE RUNNER

It takes most people a few days to learn how to kiteboard. It only took Mick Fanning a couple beers.


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Lebron James and Steph Curry, they are not.

Caption Name Last caption.

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Filipe Toledo is the new Nirvana baby.

Caption Name Last caption.


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NO SMOKING Close but no cigar. Filipe Toledo.


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Strider Wasilewski, minus microphone. Photo: STU GIBSON

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So.

Many.

Activities.

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The Rum Diaries

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Starring Kolohe Andino and his facial hair.

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It would have been cool if that floater was intentional. Actually, it was still pretty cool. Gabriel Medina.


$10K TUNNEL 046


CJ Hobgood and NOT the wave that won him $10,000 for the best GoPro clip of the event. He forgot to hit record before dropping in.

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Taj Burrow can do no wrong — not even by going right in a land of lefts.

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WIGGLE WITH IT


Sorry. Had to. Wiggoly Dantas.

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Bocce Ball:


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The World’s Most Underrated Sport.


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POP Julian Wilson has it. And if you press your ear to the screen (while stomping on an inflated balloon) you can even hear it.

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Bear Cummings, taking the Namotu rookie pledge. One Skull Drag, compliments...

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...the birthday boy, Mick Fanning.

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AND WE’R 058


RE BACK Did you miss us?

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WILDLIFE Dane Reynolds came into this contest as a wildcard. Then he left the contest as a wildcard who made Round 5.

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You can run but... actually, no you can’t. Julian Wilson.

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Quack quack.


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Joel Parkinson.


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Joel Parkinson, 10.

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Your

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mind.

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Wiggoly Dantas is a rookie. He just doesn’t look like it.

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This is the face Kelly Slater made when asked about his year thus far.


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And this is Julian Wilson, a @worldsleepleague mainstay.


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His foot didn’t even touch the gas pedal. Owen Wright.

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01. Shane Beschen 02. Kelly Slater 03. Joel Parkinson 04. Jeremy Flores 05. Owen Wright

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That’s a list of people who have surfed a perfect heat. And this is Owen Wright’s reaction to making that list.

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Cloudbreak: where the clouds break.

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Julian Wilson


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Italo Ferreira


NEW YEAR, NEW YOU Well, maybe not you. You probably haven’t changed. Jeremy Flores has though. The Jeremy of 2014 always lost and sometimes tried to fight judges. The Jeremy of 2015 has a great attitude and an even better barrel stance. We like that one better.

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Wax on.

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Wax on, too.

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Julian Wilson and Owen Wright, pre-final.


If he was green he would die. Owen Wright.

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If a photo is worth a thousands words,

this sequence is worth thirty-thousand.

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How much time you got? Owen Wright.


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It was the perfect ending. And not in the fairy tale kind of way — Owen Wright literally surfed another perfect 20/20 heat in the final.

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2015 WCT RANKINGS

AFTER THE FIJI PRO

MEN’S 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 08 10 11 12 13 14

Ad rian o d e S ou za Filipe Tol e d o Owe n Wr i g h t M ic k Fa n n i n g Ju lian Wi l s on Taj Bur row N at Yo u n g Jos h Ke r r I talo Fe r re i ra Je re my F l ores Ke lly S l ate r Jo hn Jo h n F l ore n ce Be de D u r b i d g e M att Wi l k i n s on

15 15 17 18 19 20 21 21 23 24 24 2 6 2 7 2 8

J oel Park inson J adson A ndre Wiggolly D antas J ordy Smith S ebastian Z ietz G abriel Medina Miguel Pupo Adam Melling Kai O tton Matt B anting Keanu Asing R icardo C hristie Freddy Patacchia Jr. G lenn H all

B IGG E ST JUMP S

BIGGEST SLUMPS

Kai Otton

+8 p l a c es

J oh n J oh n F l ore n c e : - 5 pl a ces

Jere my Fl ores:

+6 p l a c es

A d am Mell ing:

+6 p l a c es

29 30 30 32 33 34 35 36 37

Mic h e l Bo u rez Ko lo h e An d in o Ad r ia n Bu c h a n Jay Davies Du sty P ayn e Da n e Reyn o ld s Brett Simp s o n Ale jo Mu n iz C.J. Ho b g o o d


UP NEXT YOU A R E HERE FIJI PRO

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NEX T STOP J-BAY OPEN

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RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH

Thanks for

STOP NO. 05


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