Rip Curl Pro 2011 The Outsider: The Killer Inside Me

In: Rip Curl Pro 2011 by Steve Shearer 7 Comments Sun 24th Apr '11

Tags: joel parkinson , adriano desouza , kelly slater , The Outsider , Mick Fanning , Rip Curl Pro , Bells Beach

This was a win for the true believers.
-Paul Keating after the 1994 Australian election.

Don't worry. The title of the article is ironic. When I woke this morning with a tight knot in my stomach familiar to all Parko fans I was hoping that Joel would enable the inner assassin.

The 'hero' of the 1952 crime novel, The Killer inside Me, expressed his sociopathy via the benign habit of platitudes and cliches. No cheeseball Easter resurrection cliches here. Promise. The result is known, hopefully the post mortem may yield some knowledge.

Joel Parkinson is a prince and a poet of Australian surfing was my first waking thought as I headed for Bells. It really was. You can check my notes if you don't believe it. There was a cacophony of excited birdsong in the flowering gum outside the door and a violent sunrise was smearing the sky in it's bloody embrace.

I took those to be positive signs.

I got to Bells as Joel was preparing for his paddle-out in the Quarter Final against Owen. He was huddled down talking softly with Luke Egan, waxing the top of his feet which resemble large flippers. He rode four waves to eliminate Owen, who's ultra tight vertical angles of attack didn't quite do justice to the Bells Bowl. In terms of Parko's total energy budget for the day, he "only took a few sips out of the drink". Egan confirmed that "warmth was the key".

Those were the last words I spoke to the Parkinson camp. I wasn't prepared to interrupt in any way the free flow of thoughts, feelings and emotions which contribute to a winning mind-set for Parko. Yes, that is subjective. Mailer felt the same way when witnessing Ali v Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle. A desire for natural justice lies at the heart of all writing worth reading, and a Parko victory at Bells Bowl fits that mold perfectly.

A Portuguese surf-writer took issue with my descriptions of the deep-seated roots of style. He made the point that Fabio Gouveia was as smooth as they come. And that De Souza was determined to take it to Slater and show that the Brazilian approach could be adapted to the Bowl. There's history between Slater and De Souza. Slater took umbrage with the aggressive approach that De Souza bought to the comp at Puerto Rico on the Title winning day. De Souza feels Slater hasn't shown him the appropriate respect. De Souza destroyed Slater in a heat that featured a very rare phenomena: a Slater meltdown. Was it equipment as we mentioned yesterday? Some rare emotional/mental blockage which caused the choke? Time will tell whether this was a significant strike on the supply lines of Slater's confidence.

His response was rock'n'roll. He stormed past the media with a face as dark as sin and smashed his board on the famous steps. Later, when the emotion had soothed his analysis was more sober. "Adriano (De Souza) is one of the most intense guys on tour, he's really passionate and never gives up. You can have him in a tough situation in a heat and he never doubts himself, I've never seen him give up in a heat. He's really improved in all aspects of his surfing since he's been on tour, he's not somebody to underestimate."

Bet on a fiery encounter next time around.

There was some heat in the Jordy/Davo clash. Seems Jordy didn't quite dig the lines Davo was drawing in their Round 4 clash yesterday and there was some rare loose emotion from the Bru before the webcast interview. Jordy looked unconvincing all event. He was bringing losing surfing and winning heats. It wasn't until his massive close-out floater smash against Fanning that he lit the crowd up. He's lucky to be 3rd behind Parko and Slater.

Fanning peaked in his semi against Jordy in a swell that was building beyond forecast expectation. It was a heat that Jordy made little impact in, save the manoeuvre described when he was soundly beaten.

I stood beside Egan and Wes Berg for the Final. They were grim-faced and tight-lipped. Parko started strong, with a keeper and continued to build momentum. He had Fanning comboed by the halfway mark. There was a response from Fanning with three minutes to go that lifted the combo bar and gave him a scent of victory.

I couldn't look. I ran up the stairs, and with ten seconds to go and counting down Parko and Fanning both paddled for a wave. Fanning took it but Parko had priority and came square off the bottom and pulled in....emerging to throw down the hack of the contest for a ten point ride. It was a moment of pure sporting perfection. Bottle this one and put it deep in the cellar. It will be a vintage worth savouring for a very long time.

I celebrated the Parko victory by running madly around the carpark trying to borrow a wetsuit. I even asked Rip Curl head honcho Neil Ridgway I was that frothed out. Finally I obtained one and spent a glorious hour in lightly crowded 6-8 foot Bells Bowl. The mercurial Victorian sun sent delicate tendrils of light behind the clouds in the valley behind Bells and the world felt very, very right.

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The Outsider: Remembrance of Things Past
The Outsider: Prologue