After an epic round 1, the ocean and good sandbanks seemed to play hide and seek with the contest directors. The waves were fun everywhere except at La Nord and Culs Nus. With shifting, tide & wind affected lineups, the tension was palpable. Quiksilver’s luck was out. There would be no heavenly-sent swells this time…

Added disappointment came from the round 2 elimination of local boy Miky Picon. Miky had been short of one turn on two different waves to qualify for round 3; he didn’t link a cutback properly coming out of a barrel and on his last wave, after a strong first turn, he wiped out doing a powerful bottom turn due to chop in front of the wave.

But two positive things have emerged from this far-from-perfect Quiky Pro:

– First, how good it is to see top pros surfing average-to-poor beachbreak conditions? As opposed to 8ft Teahupo’o or 10ft Pipe, we can all relate to a choppy, full of rip lineup and therefore measure the gap between the pros and us. I have been surfing the Culs Nus banks for over 15 years and seeing Parko pull into two barrels on the same wave and then boost a massive air on the inside blew me away. I also loved watching those guys paddle against the heavy rip of the Culs Nus ‘river’ in 3ft surf, some probably could have used a jetski.

– Secondly, we might have witnessed a change of the guard during this contest. I mentioned Parko earlier, who won the event against his good mate Fanning. Those two guys out surfed everyone in speed, turns and amplitude. Have they finally come to maturity, old and wise enough to claim the next 10 world titles? Not forgetting Bruce Irons, Taj and the third coolly kid, Dean Morrisson!

Or was it just a momentary glitch in the Slater & Irons system? We’ll see during the Mundaka event. Stay tuned!

Parko pulls in before boosting a massive air. Watch the video here.