The waves were crashing and the crowd was cheering on 6 April, Good Friday, at Bells Beach. The Melbourne area has once again proved itself ‘The Sports Capital of Australia’ by hosting this exciting competition. The weather could not have been more perfect for the day of the men’s finals, and the waves were rolling in.
The semi finals began with Kelly Slater and Jeremy Flores facing off in the surf. Slater being the favourite and most renowned, opened with a great score of 9.93, which could not be surmounted by a less experienced Flores. While Flores did put on a show, he dropped in on Slater’s wave early on in the heat, costing him his best run yet as ‘interference’ was ruled against him. In the end, Flores could not come back and Slater went on to the finals.
The second match up was defending champion Joel Parkinson and underdog Mick Fanning. This round there were not a lot of waves to choose from and, with only three attempts each, Fanning was able to come out victorious. Fanning’s second wave scored him a solid 8.33 — one of the highest scores for the semi-finals. Both surfers showed a lot of patience with the waves and made each score count.
This left the 11th time world champion Kelly Slater against a twice-winning Mick Fanning. It seemed clear who the crowd favourite was, as Slater ran across the beach in between the heats, children were chasing after him and everyone was taking photos. They paddled out to the tune of ‘Hell’s Bells’ by AC/DC, a fitting tune for the venue, and the excitement was mounting. Fanning began with a great score of 9.1 after riding a wave out until the end.
Slater answered strong with a perfect 10 after completing a successful 360 degree carve maneuver and managing to stay standing, despite a rocky landing. The commentators extolled his ‘committed, progressive, radical and controlled’ skill and the crowd went wild, standing and clapping. A 360 degree carve is pretty much what it sounds like; swinging yourself and the surfboard around in a complete circle over the waves and landing it, and it’s not easy to do.
Confident in his abilities and likely excited by the spectator response, Slater began taking wave after wave, always trying to finish in a 360 again, but he did not complete it a second time. Scoring in the high sevens was not enough for Slater to compete with Fannings 9.1 and subsequent 8.6 rides. In the end, Fanning came out victorious! His patience to take only the best waves, and allowing Slater to take some mediocre ones, contributed to his triumph.
Fanning gave a humble speech at the award ceremony and thanked Slater for being ‘a gentleman and a great competitor.’ Fanning was rewarded $75,000 dollars for his efforts, and the honour of calling himself Rip Curl Pro 2012.
Julia McDonald is completing her Masters of Global Communications at La Trobe University. Follow her on Twitter @Jules_mcdonald.
