Three Days At Snapper

THREE back-to-back days at Snapper for the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast sees 2012 kick off in a desperate hurry to finish in the remaining available swell. The waves aren't great, the sand isn't quite there and the forecast is looking average till after the final weekend. There's talk of the contest going on hold for a couple of days to wait for a better swell but the charts aren't showing much love. Tues and Wednesday are guaranteed to be contestable in the dropping wind swell and not running over the following couple of days would be a brave decision. As soon as day one kicked off in Sat, Feb 25th, anyone who didn't put Kelly Slater in their fantasy team will be kicking themselves. Kelly looks limber, relaxed and winning in third gear. He shone on day one alongside John John Florence. He didn't surf on day two for that reason and in day three cruised past Freddy P. Like so many years previously 2012 is still the Slater show if he wants it to be. Yawn. © 2013 Quiksilver

Day two dawned much like day one but with a last chance saloon full of names who don't feel comfortable propping up that particular bar. The winners were all Rd 3 stalwarts: Joel Parkinson, Taj Burrow (Dane's executioner), Julian Wilson, Jordy Smith, Kolohe Andino, Josh Kerr, Jeremy Flores, Matt Wilkinson, Bede Durbidge, Kieren Perrow, Travis Logie and surprise package Yadin Nicol. Yadin knocked out two-time 2011 winner Gabriel Medina. Nicol qualified for the elite ASP World Championship Tour during last year's mid-year rotation (as did Medina), but was forced to give up his spot due to an ankle injury. "It was a frustrating six months being injured and missing the events," Nicol said. "The last five minutes of that heat was nerve-racking, so to get the win, I'm over the moon. I'm stoked. I wasn't really nervous, but I was focused on winning that first heat on tour. I didn't want to be the guy who goes the whole year without a win, and now I don't have to worry about that now I'll see what I can do from here." © 2013 Quiksilver

Day three, the third consecutive day at Snapper Rocks looked like a carbon copy of the first two days with a contestable but bumpy swell hugging the point. Julian Wilson found form against Adam Melling posting the highest heat total of the day. Miguel Pupo caused the biggest upset of the event thus far by eliminating perennial event favourite and local boy Mick Fanning. "I just tried to find good waves because it's pretty tough out there," Pupo said. "I had to win that one, to be on tour you have to beat the big boys. Mick surfs so good. He's got a couple of ASP World Titles and I knew that it would be a tough one. I tried my best." Biggest controversy was Owen Wright verses Matt Wilkinson. Wright won by a mere 0.40 and Matt was not a happy bunny having the robbery (in his opinion) confirmed by a post heat chat with the judges. Kelly Slater defending champ, once again put on a dominant performance. "Everyone always makes a big deal about weather I'm going to keep going on. When I'm going to quit I'll tell everybody, how about that?" © 2013 Quiksilver