The Margaret River Pro dished up some of the best waves of the season yet, with huge swells throughout the waiting period ensuring the only traditional event of the Australian leg of the Championship Tour more than delivered on expectations. There was an injury to John John Florence, an early exit for Gabriel Medina and a win for Filipe Toledo, and the men’s leaderboard was shaken up in a big way as a result. Now, the Tour heads to Rottnest Island’s Strickland Bay for The Search. In contrast to events like Newcastle and Narrabeen, this event will be held deep in nature, and with minimal crowds set to attend it will be up to the quokkas to do the cheering. The wave itself is predominantly a left, capable of handling hefty swells and is regarded as one of the best in Western Australia, so strap yourself in for another big few days of surfing.
The Favourites
With John John set to miss with injury, favouritism for The Search has been handed to the Brazilian trio of Gabriel Medina, Italo Ferreira and Filipe Toledo. Medina had his first letdown of the season at Margaret River, finishing in ninth after three consecutive finals appearances to start the season. He looked good to start the event but was quickly reminded just how fragile success on this Tour is – for 30 minutes he failed to put together a decent score against Seth Moniz, and that was all she wrote. It’s unlikely that performance was indicative of anything particularly concerning for Medina – in fact he has something of a history of struggling at Margaret River, so it will be no surprise at all to see him respond at Rottnest in emphatic fashion.
Ferreira also had a slightly disappointing finish at Margaret River, albeit not to the extent of Medina. He was knocked out in the quarterfinals, but he actually surfed extremely well throughout the event. He put up scores of 15.57 and 16.57 in the Round of 32 and Round of 16 respectively, and was only knocked out by the barest of margins, going down to eventual winner Filipe Toledo 13.9-13.73. He retained his spot in second place in the world rankings, a fair way behind Medina but comfortably ahead of third, and the quality of his surfing at Margaret River would be more than enough to have him in the mix at Rottnest.
Had that quarterfinal swung in favour of Ferreira, we would be ruing the poor start to the season of Toledo, who would be back in seventh place in the world rankings. Instead, he crept over the line and surfed brilliantly over the next two rounds to take out his first event for the season and catapult himself into third place in the process. If he’s surfing at his best he is always dangerous, but Toledo has historically struggled on lefts and also doesn’t tend to love huge conditions as much of some of his rivals. He will be dealing with at least one of those things at Rottnest, so while he has to be considered a favourite courtesy of his last start win, he’s got a couple of historical trends to overcome.
The Next Tier
Jordy Smith reminded everyone that there is still plenty of life left in those old legs yet at Margaret River, surfing beautifully on his way to a first finals appearance of the season. He did at times continue to struggle to put together really consequential scores, instead regularly putting together 7s and 8s, but a 15.33 in the semis and a 14.23 in the final were solid nonetheless. The question remains whether he can go with the aforementioned Brazilians when they invariably put up scores of 16 or 17+, or whether he is reliant on the best of the best surfing below themselves in order to go all the way.
Local Jack Robinson would have been disappointed to be knocked out in the Round of 32 at his home event, but he hardly could have done more to advance. He looked solid in the early stages of the event and when he came up against Frenchman Jeremy Flores, he took things up a notch, managing an 8.23 and an 8.27 for a heat score of 16.5. It was the third highest of the 32 scores in that round, but unfortunately for him, Flores was responsible for one of the two higher ones. The 17-16.5 loss was hardly a blight on Robinson’s surfing, and with the tour remaining in his home state for this event he will again have the advantage of local knowledge. If he surfs the way he did at Margaret and can avoid the same kind of bad luck, he will be very dangerous.
Speaking of prodigious young talents, it looks as though 22-year-old Griffin Colapinto has taken his surfing to a new level this season. He backed up a semi-final appearance at Narrabeen with another at Margaret River, where he was agonisingly close to beating Jordy Smith for a spot in the final. He did have a little bit of luck with Florence withdrawing after the two were drawn to meet in the quarterfinals, but the way he was surfing he may have won anyway – his lowest heat score of the event was an opening round 13.94, and after that his lowest was 14.66. He is surfing better than he ever has and it would be no surprise to see him still around come the business end of this event.
The Roughie
Morgan Cibilic has shown a penchant throughout the course of this Australian leg of the tour to put together big scores, and he is exactly the kind of surfer who could spring an upset at Rottnest. It feels like he scores in excess of 14 every time he jumps in the water, and that helped him towards third and fifth place finishes at Newcastle and Narrabeen respectively. He was knocked out in the Round of 32 at Margaret River, but it was hardly his fault – after a poor performance in the Seeding Round he was sent to the Elimination Round, where he promptly scored 14.74 to advance to the Round of 32. There, he put together a 14.84, but unfortunately for him Seth Moniz went marginally better with a 15.03. The powerful goofy footer should relish conditions at Rottnest, and he is capable of not just causing an upset or two, but of going all the way.
These guys aside there are a number of other chances to take out the inaugural Search at Rottnest, including the likes of Julian Wilson, Kanoa Igarashi and Conner Coffin. Regardless of who ends up winning though, it promises to be captivating viewing throughout. Unruly conditions in one of the wildest locations on tour will make for a thrilling event, and the absence of fans will only add to the spectacle.
