Thanks Akio and everyone else for the support and well wishes. We could feel you all pulling for the Team while we were on the Island
Thanks Jamie for your posts and insights. It was hard to get a feel for the forecasts for surf and weather as it was all word of mouth. We trusted that Surfing Victoria knew the forecasts and did their best to get the comp completed in the window of time available. Once Thursday hit it was obvious we should have gone longer on Wednesday....but would have only gotten in an extra 6 heats probably (if ended at 5 PM).
Although conditions were difficult Thursday-Saturday our Team did not complain but kept on surfing. Both Tom and Bill lost open heats on Thursday but advanced back into the Main Event via the repercharge heat. Tom pulled off two outstanding slashes under the lip on one wave, with speed, that raised eyebrows and drew hoots. Bill surfed radically and consistently to make the Open quarter finals and of course Bob Gove made the top 24 by excelling in the challenging conditions.
Early in the week the surf was small and weak. In Chris Buscemi's first round Open heat he had an outstanding 6.5 on his first wave but couldn’t get a back up wave due to the inconsistent surf. That 6.5 stood as the top scoring wave for a long time on Tuesday morning. He eventually made the semis of the Seniors division. Congratulations to Evan, Chris, Sam, and Cynthia---all Finalists! And of course congratulations to Bob and John for surfing to World Champion in their age divisions in very difficult, mixed up conditions!
Congratulations to David Parkes for his outstanding surfing and win in the Veterans division. One or two heats after Bob and John’s Final, David went out and got two waves both over 9.0 by sitting outside for the big ones and working them through to the inside with outstanding surfing. As he mentioned at the awards ceremony, the locals and long time PI competitors had a bit of an advantage over the International crew. But this was obvious to many of us watching the heats.
And another final congrats to Albert for his big win. He surfed a great Final and consistently went vert and linked many great turns with precision and style, despite the conditions. Chayne, Kyle, and David all had outstanding runs and deserved to be in the Finals and made the most of their waves. It was a fun Final to watch.
Phillip Island is great and the locals are awesome. We felt welcome at every stop throughout the week. Got fun waves at Right Point on Friday (two sessions) after arriving on Thursday, and again on Saturday at Woolamai although it was a bit unruly. Thanks to Red for the Cooper's Cup effort. Jim Brown and his team did an outstanding job putting on a great World Titles! Their two years of work, planning, and persistence was evident every day. It was so fun to renew friendships and meet new people and see some incredible surfing throughout the week.
To Team USA, way to go! It was a blast traveling, surfing, hanging, and rooting with you!
-Brad