| 
 While
the glamour boys of the WCT play with dream waves in dream locations, the seamy
underside of professional surfing, the dark satanic mill that is the World Qualifying
Series, grinds its way through the dreams and hopes of hundreds of extraordinarily
talented surfers to vault its happy few onto the top tier. It's gritty rather
than pretty, but if it's drama that you relish, the QS has lashings of it.
There
are 42 events on the QS calendar this year, and as always they range from piss-ant
1 and 2 star affairs, good only for a bit of a giggle and a byline in the local
rag, through to the premier 5 and 6 star events, where big points and moderate
purses attract the cream of CT aspirants and a fair sprinkling of current CT'ers
nervous about their place for next year.  One
of the keys to the QS puzzle is the epic Euro leg, four back to back biggies that
inevitably firm up the top end of the qualifiers list and show us some of the
shape of things to come. This year was true to form. Newquay, Lacanau and the
real prize, the Rip Curl Super Series are history now, and with just the final
numbers from the last Portuguese event still to fall into place another big influx
of new and not so new talent has booked its dream tour slot.
Lacanau
saw two big stories emerge. French/Reunion Islander/Newport Plus surfer Jeremy
Flores nailed the first certain place for '07 with some spectacular and ecstatically
received carving. We first saw Jeremy as a 12 year old, a much toted but wispy
and pencil legged wunderkind on the junior series, and he's always been one of
those kids whose superb technical foundations screamed out for some power and
manly strength. We saw at the World Juniors in January that the new beefed up
Jeremy now sports a serious bit of grunt under the hood, and the combination is
deadly. Jeremy takes Adriano de Souza's spot as the youngest ever WCT qualifier,
and Mick Fanning (who has yet to beat the kid in three meetings) won't be the
only nervous star.  Jeremy
finished second at Lacanau to the resurgent nineties hero Mick Campbell. Yes,
folks, the ranga's back - unsponsored, unloved and as uncompromising as ever.
Mick was contained and efficient there - not the best surfer in the comp, but
good enough every heat to get the job done.
The Rip Curl Super
Series at Hossegor is the biggest, best and brightest event of them all. The only
comp with huge points, posting a strong result here leapfrogs you up the ladder,
while bombing out will leave you feeling like you're changing a flat besides a
motorway. If Ginger Mick was efficient at Lacanau, he was ruthless at Hossegor.
In waves that ranged from clean and small to big and chunky and finally to sunny,
peaky and gorgeous, Mick was outrageously on in nailing $US45,000 and 5000 points
in a fortnight's work to muscle his way back into the top tier. Hell, last time
he was there, it was still three to the beach in some sloppy, windblown urban
surfing wasteland.  As
well as returning Mick to the fold, Hossegor did bring the surfing world back
into balance. Coming into the event, Aussie members of the qualifiers club were
looking scarce, but, as is our birthright, we owned this comp lock, stock and
occasional smoking barrel, claiming six of the final eight places and all of the
final four.
In final alongside Ginger Mick was Goldie fly boy
Josh Kerr. Splattered by Mick's overwhelming force de frappe in the final, Josh
has proved this year that while his air act is second to none, he's no one trick
pony. Courtesy of this result he gets his ticket to the majors, and he will not
be out of his depth. Kerr's air act was what nailed him his
semi with Ben Dunn. Dunny, who been the next big thing in Aussie surfing since
he was in primary school, came into this event with a solid but not exceptional
QS year, and needed a very big result to make qualification a realistic possibility.
He outdid himself, and is probably now less than a 100 points from securing his
CT slot. As he showed in Mexico, he will be a CT fixture for many years to come.  Falling
victim to Mick in the other semi was Dayyan Neve. What, you've never heard of
Dayyan? Believe me, you will. Those of us that have watched Dayyan grow up have
always known of his awesome talent, but to be frank he wasted his twenties cruising
blithely through a pro surfer twilight zone, content with a mediocre showing that
was at times barely enough to keep him in sponsorship.
This
year, the loud, cheeky party boy awoke from his daze, shook out his mane and roared
to life. Focussed and hungry for the first time, he jumped from 100 to 4 in the
ratings, and is finally up where he belongs, in the company of surfing's elite.
A laconic, powerful and often inspired surfer, he will stir things up next year,
but he will need to keep the fires well stoked. Dayyan's from
Manly Beach, on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Remarkably, so were two more of our
quarterfinalists, Kai Otton and Sam Page. Kai and Dayyan have been mates forever,
and their quarter was a reprise of countless club finals at North Steyne Boardriders.
Kai's result has put him close, but he's still at least one more strong result
away from the big league. I wouldn't be putting any hard-earned on him yet, but
the CT step up is not out of the question. Top Aussie junior
Sam Page hails from North Steyne's bitter rivals 300 metres up the beach, the
mighty Queenscliff Boardriders Club. He wasn't meant to be here, battling it out
for glory on the final day of the biggest comp of the year, but here he was. Against
all the odds, and after a depressing year by his standards, Sam has found a dazzling
new edge to his surfing. Loose, fast and radical, he carved his way from the first
round through heat after talent-drenched heat to post a career best result. When
Mick Campbell had already locked in of the event's highest heat scores four minutes
into their quarter, Sam took to the air, determined to go down, if that was to
be his fate, with panache. It was a great result for the youngster. He isn't in
a position to qualify - not this year anyway - but he looked very much at home
with surfing's finest. One to watch closely. The '07 Dream
Tour is really starting to take some shape now. At this stage, Aussies Mick, Kerrsy,
Dayyan, and Dunny look in, along with Jeremy Flores and Saffas Royden Bryson and
Ricky Basnett, while US east coaster Gabe Kling just has to fall over the line.
Making up the qualifying numbers are Brazilians vets Victor Ribas (who seems to
have spent lifetime on the CT without ever really doing anything much) and Neco
Padaratz, back with unseemly haste after his wrist slap suspension for steroids
use. Interestingly, Neco wasn't in France. Unlike the ASP,
French authorities (who caught out Neco in the first place) have insisted on enforcing
the two year ban mandated by the World Anti Doping Authority. Would surfing even
have a drugs policy without the French? With ten spots claimed
or very close to it and Ribas the only CT'er qualifying through the WQS backdoor,
once again we are looking at major turnover at the top end. There's a few CT types
lurking in the neighbourhood (Logie, Weare, Brooks and Howse) but they're not
brilliantly positioned and will need to work hard to make the cut as we move to
the final comps in Brazil and Hawaii. And while grins are
etched on these joyous faces, spare a thought for those whose early exits through
this leg mark the end of their hopes. I won't name them here, but there's more
than a few who, with their sponsorship lifelines hanging in the balance, are quietly
and sadly letting go of dreams that have filled their every moment for most of
their young lives. To the fallen and falling, we salute you. It's a cruel game,
surfing. Stop Press: As we publish
this morning, the final event of the Euro leg, the Buondi Billabong Pro, a 5 star
event at Ribiera D'Ilhas in Ericeria, Portugal has wrapped up with local boy,
all round nice and perennial almost qualifier Tiago Piries successfully defending
his title. There were no real changes in the scheme of things.
American Gabe Kling has, as was predicted, fallen over the line to finally qualify,
but other near contenders Ben Dunn and Neco Padaratz fell early and still have
a little work to do. Both will need to post a score of around 1000 (round of 24
in a 6 star event) to secure their spot. CT'er Travis Logie has got himself close
now and looks good, and Troy Brooks is pushing his way forward as well. As for
the final four or five spots, there's 30 or 40 people who could convert a good
run in the final comps in Brasil and Hawaii into a WCT meal ticket. It's going
to happen to someone - the question is to whom. | 
