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 It's
a bit of a heresy, I know, but I quite like watching comps of this calibre go
off in substandard beachies. Dream Tour be damned - nothing tests the technical
and tactical ability of the surfing athlete like a thirty minute heat in pus conditions.
Somehow, it's more pure - the quality of the surf never distracts your attention
from the quality of the surfing.
Today at Narrabeen
there was absolutely no risk of the waves taking any of the spotlight, and if
you were prepared to pay close attention, there were some very absorbing battles
fought out in the gutless 1-2 foot wind chop on offer today.  But
before that could happen, we started off with the two heats that comprise round
two of the Women's side of this competition. Personally, I just can't see the
point of this - surfing our way through rounds one and two for the sole purpose
of exiting two surfers from the eighteen-surfer opening day line up seems like
a waste of time, but there you have it.
Today the two hapless
girls to leave us in last place were South African Tammy Lee Smith and our own
Jessica Hickson. Truth is, it won't be until the quarters that this field starts
to get whittled down to the significant talents, and the temperatures begin to
rise.  Judging
from yesterday's heat, there are but a few. Steph Gilmore, Nicola Atherton and
Airini Mason we know about, but to that list let's add Coco Ho, daughter of Hawaiian
legend Michael. Struggling in her heat last night, Coco snagged one of more lined
up lefts of the day and managed to do what few of the women before had achieved
- taking apart a wave with rhythm, aggression and technique.
In
the men's first round, not every surfer of consequence was able to secure their
round three berth with a win, this was their chance to right the wrongs. For the
Aussie contingent, this was reasonably successfully accomplished.  In
the waveless opening heat on the peak of the high tide, sole local hope Sam Page
efficiently dispatched the young South African talent Klee Strachan, using priority
perfectly. Behind after the initial salvoes, Sam waited patiently with full command
of the line up before taking the only semi-decent wave of the heat, a right that
allowed for a couple of muscular lip slams. Without priority, Sam got busy and
finally put the heat out reach with a well surfed left in the final minute. Sam
looks to be running into some nice form and could be a force to be reckoned with
as things move forward.
But first, he'll have to get through
one of the hardest match ups of the next round. Through the quirky seeding used
here, Sam's next opponent is Coolum hot rat Julian Wilson. Julian had a poor first
round, but found a wave in his second round heat that had curves in all the right
places for one of the better scores of the day. Julian's victim in this heat was
Trials winner James Wood, who just couldn't find the pockets.  The
other trials entrant up today was South Coast goofy Luke Cheadle. Luke's surfing
over the past week has been eye-opening and while his heat yesterday against the
rampant Adriano de Souza was low key, today he returned to the style that saw
him oust WJC favourites Jordy Smith and Matt Wilkinson in last week's warm up
event, the Aloha Hornet (check here
for the event overview and pics).
Luke is the only contestant
using a quad fin set up, and to my eyes he's finding lines and angles in his turns
that are fresh and vibrant. More than a few of his mates have fired off orders
to their shapers on the back of Luke's surge, but it's clearly a lot more than
the board. Currently without a major sponsor, Cheadle is starting to turn into
the Cinderella story of this comp, but like Pagey, his next heat is a tough all
Aussie bout with another Sunshine Coaster, Mitch Coleborn.  Also
from the Sunshine Coast, Wade Goodall was better today against injured Floridian
Sterling Spencer, but it was Wade's wave selection as much as his surfing that
gave him the win. Getting the few bombs to come through really helps, and a win,
as they say, is a win.
Along with Woody, we did lose two others
today. Two weeks on from a major shoulder injury, Laurie Towner never looked right
in this comp, and while he led for much of the heat against zippy Japanese competitor
Nobuyuki Osawa, the door was wide open. Nobuyuki walked right through with a nice
right on the bell. Young wildcard Heath Joske wasn't in his
heat against Frenchman Marc Lacomare until, with twelve minutes to go, he slapped
down a neat air reverse. With a sniff of renewed hope in his nostrils, he paddled
around with great energy but little strategy for the rest of the heat, while Marc
shut down his every possible out with the dead hand of priority. Meanwhile,
there were a couple of heats that really flared up. In the early morning glare,
one of the event favourites, Hawaiian Ola Eleogram looked to have an easy task
against the very young, very small Tahitian Tamaroa McComb, and a 6.67 in the
first few minutes of the heat would have had him feeling pretty smug. But smugness
is never a wise demeanour, and behind him Tamaroa had paddled into one of the
better rights of the day. It's one thing to get the wave,
it's quite another to do it justice. Tamaroa simply slaughtered it - a blistering
series of top turns returning an event high score of 9.17, and just like that
Ola was rudely ejected. Tamaroa really looked the part on that one wave, very
reminiscent of this year's WQS winner, Jeremy Flores, when he was turning heads
at a similar age. But for crying out loud he's only 14 years old. Surely he's
far too raw to be able to push on far in this comp … isn't he? For his efforts
he picks the top seed Adriano de Souza, who, come to think of it, was only a smidgen
older than this when he rampaged his way to the title two years ago. Intriguing. Also
impressive was French surfer Pierre Valentin Laborde, who sparked a lacklustre
looking last heat by taking apart a couple of carbon copy rights with some whippy
backhand hacks for the day's highest total. As the swell forecasts
continue to soften in the longer term, it's looking more like the next world junior
champ might be king of the slop. It's a pity, but the thing is going to be no
less fiercely fought, and no less fascinating, because of it. If you can, get
down there and support your local boys - it makes a big difference for them, and
you'll see some stunning surfing, no matter what the conditions. | 
