Billabong Pro Teahupoo The Outsider: In Loving Memory Of...

In: Billabong Pro Teahupoo by Steve Shearer 108 Comments Tue 30th Aug '11

Tags: billabong pro teahupoo , tahiti , The Outsider

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"Sometimes I can't believe it. I'm moving past the feeling again." - Arcade Fire.

"How's your boy feeling?" I asked Martin Potter early this morning.

"Much better, hey. He was rattled yesterday, he didn't want to surf that re-surf heat. I had to whip his arse to get him out there." Pottz responded about his young charge, Travis Logie.

There wasn't a trace of hesitation in The Log's game this morning as he out tube-rode Teahupoo over-achiever, Brett Simpson.

I'd swum over to the caddy spot to talk to Pottz. Owen Wright was there, preparing to surf against Raoni Monteiro. There's been a kind of cold, mechanical fury in Owen's aura this event. He's been training hard at home and considers himself a genuine title contender. He's been taking losses as a personal insult and this event has seemed one big occasion to remedy the disrespect.

The South Pacific was breathing gently this morning, with smooth swells sliding silkily into the faintest zephyr of offshore breeze coming out of the mountains. Packets of energy were still rearing up and throwing on the reef, but for the first time in a few days it looked seductive instead of treacherous.

Owen took care of business in the brutally efficient, fearless and super-skilled way he'd been employing since the start of the contest and in all the free surfs. By his semi-final bout with The Log his supremacy was becoming so apparent he started to relax and show some joy and flamboyance in his surfing. He was feeling it.

But of course you can feel all you want against Slater at Teahupoo and still get beaten. All were wondering this morning if it was going to be one of those Slater days when that spiritual connection he listens to becomes a roar and it seems no mortal can stand in his way. The day started disastrously for him. A broken board first wave, then a trip over the reef and a lap of the lagoon while Wilko sat and stared, looking around for the champ...you could almost hear the mental process: "Where is he? What the hell is he doing?"

Wilko must strike now or he's cooked, I thought. Remarkably, Slater got back in the line-up and put a huge score on Wilko without priority. Wilko had the champ on the ropes and couldn't lay a glove on him.

That's it, I thought...it is going to be one of those days.

Josh Kerr's emotional intensity seemed to wane with the swell which was becoming listless and moribund. Despite a dominant display all week, Kerr too, couldn't make a mark on the champ. You could see Kelly relaxing in the boat between heats with Raimana, paddling out with a minute before the start. Completely in the moment.

If anyone could threaten him it was Owen. That was the general consensus in the channel. His Semi against Trav was perfect. Maybe too perfect: how can you replicate a performance like that when it comes to the biggest heat of the comp?

I spoke to Slater just before the Final. "You said yesterday there was a spiritual component in your relationship to the ocean. Where do you feel that?"

"Spirituality is not really a physical thing...it comes down to the feeling you have from something and that comes down to where your mind's at. Even if something goes wrong and your minds in the right place I find that I can look at things without judging them. If it goes good or bad it's still good. Bad things aren't bad because you can still learn a good lesson from it."

"So it's a learning process?" I asked.

"Last thing you want to do is consider a surfing contest as a spiritual thing but you get the feedback from your actions, reactions and your results and that guides me in a way. In a heat it would guide me in which waves to catch and where to paddle."

"One of the things you do which distinguishes you from your peers is the ability you have to come back from making wrong decisions and put yourself back in that right frame of mind."

"Sometimes everything is off and you just have to figure out how to get back in that flow of where you should be."

"Speaking of flow, all the title contenders in front of you have fallen, same as last year. That really seemed to coalesce your title campaign last year. Do you have any feeling about that right now?"

"Umm (long pause). I don't feel super fired up for the bigger world title picture...I'm just trying to....people would probably be surprised to know my confidence wanes too, you know. I'm not doing terrible this year but I'm not having the best year. It started out great and I've fallen back six spots. I didn't feel like I surfed very well at Bells. I felt so-so in Brazil, but I wasn't really into it. And when J-Bay was on I didn't feel super motivated either, but for this one...it felt good from the start for this one. Now I'm in the Final and that's where Andy won so I've got to go see whether he's going to give me a blessing or take me out."

"Well, it's an honour to come and watch you surf today. All the best."

"Thank you."

The Final was far from the anti-climax it was shaping up to be. A flurry of sets from a resurgent Pacific saw Owen take command as it had done against Raoni and Travis. He threaded tubes, he hacked the end section, he faded as he came from deep. He had the champ on the ropes in the opening exchanges. Kelly answered back with a deep, long highline tube that had an extremely difficult entry point. It was a masterful ride, perfectly executed and he gave the judges a subtle body English claim to show he was happy with the ride. That it was something special.

Owen answered back with a long threaded tube-ride. It was the heat fans had hoped for - a shoot-out with plenty of opportunity. Kelly bagged some bizarre rides and wipe-outs which would have rattled anyone of normal mental constitution. But as we just learned, the champ laughed them off and got back in the flow of where he should be.

When he rode the foamball on a square sucking bending west bowl and gained the lead it was up to Owen to do something remarkable. The wave came to him. A solid set with an entry ramp. Like he's done all event Owen skilfully negotiated the drop and launched an enormous pump and drive into the barrel. If he came out it was a ten-pointer and the comp was his.

But like it has done all event the wave itself dictated the proceedings and avalanched him in an explosion of spray. The game was effectively over, despite the best efforts of Owen to sneak one from the champ which resulted in the unedifying spectacle of Slater going over the falls backwards. He came up laughing.

Andy did bless him and one gets the feeling that Slater's declaration of love for Andy in their famously vitriolic Title campaign of 2004 was heartfelt and mutual...even if the return affection comes from beyond the grave.

Thank-you linesman. The scaffolding is being pulled down. The beers are flowing in the carpark. Please excuse me while I go surf Teahupoo.

Check all the photos from the final day of competition.

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