“I didn’t know what the right was doing, and I knew after five minutes went with no waves, that when a wave came through we’d need to hassle for it,” said Whitaker.
“I guess I was just on the wrong side of it really. If I had been on the other side it would have been on him. He fell off, but I don’t know if it was because I bumped him off. I think he just fell, and it made me look like the big bully,” added Whitaker.
“I was actually waiting for the call to go the other way – against me! Luckily for me it didn’t,” confessed Fanning.
“It was a tense wait sitting there together waiting. We both knew the other wasn’t going to hold back, so we both ended up going the same wave together.”
Even without his second best scorer, Whitaker kept pressure applied. It’s hypothetical after the fact, but on paper with all scores locked in, and without the loss of his second wave, Whitaker would have otherwise won the exchange.
“The pressure was kept on. If he’d got another high score, he probably would have beaten me, especially if I didn’t get my last wave. It was a touch and go heat,” verified Fanning.
Fanning went on to offer that he was not concerned about surfing against Andy Irons again tomorrow in round four, after beating him soundly in their round one, as well as winning their quarter-final exchange in the first event of the year on the Gold Coast.
“It doesn’t bother me at all, who I’m going up against next. It’s just another coloured jersey to me,” said the focussed Fanning.
“I don’t keep tallies on the scores between Andy and I, but I think I’ve only got two up on him in the last few years,” continued Fanning, sounding somewhat listless.
“The waves out there were quite weak. I felt wobbly and not that great out at all. I’ve got to go home now and re-assess what I just did,” said Fanning before walking off towards his car.
“I’m looking forward to surfing against Mick again,” offered Irons after comboing wildcard Jamie O’Brien in the following heat.
“It’s still early in the contest and I’ll get a lot of momentum if I beat him. It’s going to be big heat for sure, and I’m not going to take it lightly. He’s definitely the guy to beat right now. Hopefully I’ll get some good waves and a couple of lucky breaks,” said Irons.
After such an exhaustive day, and surfing one and a half rounds, it’s hard to pinpoint what was a day of inspiring performances, but the best of the rest definitely included Luke Egan who racked up a 9.6 on his third ride against Brazil’s Marcelo Nunes, who would have otherwise been happy after scoring two sevens and a high eight, but was still needing a 9.38 ride.
Cory Lopez was also on fire, surfing the long lefts on hyper-speed to end up with a 9.63 and 9.0 against Australia’s Phil Macdonald who sarcastically offered that he might only surf in speedo’s so as to reduce his weight in the small conditions. As it turned out, with just one wave underbelt, his comical offer might not have made much difference.
Cory’s fellow Floridians, the Hobgood brothers, also continued their winning form, CJ again on heat catching nine waves including a 9.67 and 8.67, while Damien was a clear winner over Taylor Knox.
The USA west coasters had a bad day overall. Taylor got 9.1 for massacring one clean high tide right, but still lost to Damien Hobgood, CJ took out Beschen, Slater went down to Durbidge, and last event’s runner-up Chris Ward had no answer for a stylised charge from Australia’s Daniel Wills.
To add even more fire to American woes, we saw Darren O’Rafferty take out Hawaiian Sunny Garcia, Trent Munro get by Kalani Robb, and Jake Paterson stop Fred Patacchia’s run in a great tradesman like exchange.
Brazil also fared badly with Nunes, Rosa, Ribas, and Padaratz all losing out.
We go into tomorrow’s fourth round, and possibly all the way to the final of the Rip Curl Pro with 12 Australians, three Americans and one Hawaiian. Who will ring The Bell?
“It’s no less sweet not being at Bells,” commented defending Rip Curl Pro champion Joel Parkinson.
“Everyone knows there’s still 1200 points up for grabs and a Bell to be rung. In the end it’s not going to matter where it’s rung, but who rings it!” said Parkinson.
Tune in to www.ripcurl.com and watch the action unfold.
We’re in for another early start tomorrow, so the next report for the Rip Curl Pro will be in the Woolamai car park at 6.00am for a 6.30am start on (Thursday morning). Heavy!
Pray for surf! (From Paul Sargeant) ENDS
