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Joel for the win
Stab: You surfed in the Search event at Mexico. You've scored and you also know how hard it is to run an event at a different location every year.
Jake Paterson: It’s a great concept. I’ve surfed Peniche as well. It’s not that easy to get that wave on. It was great that they ran 35 minute heats. It was good that they didn’t say, let's run in 30 minutes and just run through the event quickly. It’s pretty awful at the best of times. A lot of closeouts and very rippy and the odd corner.
But all of the best caving beachbreaks in the world are usually closeouts. That's what gets you the craziest ones: the ones you think will close.
Yeah, and they scored unbelievable waves. It wasn't as good as Mexico but it was epic. It was a fresh thing for the tour and it has you already thinking where is the tour going next?
Was yesterday the best waves on tour this year?
Ha! You've been buying into the hype. J Bay was as good as you’ll ever get this year. What about Michel Bourez’s barrel against Mick Fanning? People said it was the best J-Bay in 30 years. And Billabong nearly scored. They were trying to run their event a week later but couldn't because of this event. You saw how fucking phenomenal Mundaka was right?
What was the most impressive thing you saw yesterday?
Owen Wright. I was very impressed by how clever he was in the way he matched his knowledge and tactics with his ability. Dane had him on the ropes and he competed very smartly. He is 19 years old and he is responsible for ending Kelly Slater’s title run, basically. (Owen took down Kelly at Bells).
It certainly does add to Mick's fantastic run if he gets a walk-though.When things go your way it just never stops, does it?
Mick’s not fazed. He wants to surf. He’s a genuine title contender who wants to win it the right way. If things go his way they go his way. He’s put in the hardwork to be where he is. Mick’s pretty much been the standout all event and he’s been getting the big scores.
Has Joel found early-in-the-year rhythm again?
Obviously. He looked like in Mundaka he had done something serious. In France he was surfing good but in Mundaka he didn't look one hundred percent. He's on in this waves. From here, it's all Pipe, Pipe, Pipe!
What a fairytale finale if both Joel and Mick make the final?
It's already going to be an incredible way to finish the year. It would have been a bummer if one of these guys had have got a 17th or a ninth here and the other two were in the semis. If Joel loses in the semi, and Mick wins, it’s still the fairytale. Going in to Pipe Joel will just need to finish two places than Mick. It’ll be so exciting.
It certainly would have been interesting having Mick or Joel facing Andy as a wildcard at Pipe in an early round. As it turns out, Andy still has seeding points and they won't face him early. That would've been a real disadvantage being seeded against him.
They're both facing wildcards, though and they're the huge spanner in the works. The Pipe wildcards are like the Tahiti wildcards. Anything can happen there.
If you were a gambler who'd you be riding?
It’s a tough one. Do you go with the guy in form or the guy who is coming back to form. You go back to the fact that Joel has more of a chance of a 10-point ride in him, whereas Mick is more calculated. If Parko does get a ten, Mick’s gonna have a couple of eights where Joel with have a ten and an eight. It could be a carbon copy of the Quik pro at the start of the year. Mick had a solid heat, and then Joel turned it around on a ten. He will look at a wave and say I’m gonna turn this closeout into a ten. If he doesn't get one, Mick will have his eight and a nine without question. And, that'll be the difference. They're both paying $1.90. I'm going Joel for that unknown.
.jpg ". Supertubes, Peniche. Photo courtesy of balealsurfcamp.com")
Posts: 11
Reply #11 on : Mon November 02, 2009, 16:43:45