The Nova Schin Festival presented by Billabong is stalled in Brazil due to a lack of contestable surf. A new, head-high swell is supposedly hitting tomorrow, but in the meantime surfers at the top of the Foster’s WCT rankings are
The Nova Schin Festival presented by Billabong is stalled in Brazil due to a lack of contestable surf.
A new, head-high swell is supposedly hitting tomorrow, but in the meantime surfers at the top of the Foster’s WCT rankings are left with plenty of time to contemplate their situations.
Currently Kaua‘i’s own Andy Irons sits in the No. 2 spot behind this year’s tour champ Kelly Slater, who wrapped up his eighth world title last month in Spain by accumulating so many points that nobody can catch him.
In the opening round of the Brazil event, Irons, a three-time tour champion himself, stumbled through his heat, as did some of his closest peers in the top 10, including Florida’s Damien Hobgood and Australians Joel Parkinson, Tom Whitaker and Dean Morrison.
The rest of the top 10 who surfed the opening round — Taj Burrow (-58 points behind Irons), Mick Fanning (-500), Bobby Martinez (-505), Tom Whitaker (-1400), Taylor Knox (-1468), Dean Morrison (-1492) — all breezed through to Round 3.
Irons and the other Round 1 losers had to show up and recover some ground in Round 2 against local trials competitors from Brazil and the WQS.
In deteriorating surf, Irons managed to slip past his Brazilian opponent by a slim margin, thus keeping him alive to finish the contest with a high enough placing to retain his runner-up position.
If Irons can hold on to his position as the tour moves to Hawai‘i for the final event at Pipeline, he will be the favorite to end the season in the second spot. In his ninth year on tour, Irons has won at Pipe three times, in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
Sure, the old cliché promise that nobody remembers who finishes second, but ask any of the guys on tour if they would rather take 2nd or 6th, and odds are every single one of them will say the former. It comes down to fan perception, next year’s endorsement value and a competitor’s individual sense of pride.
In this case, Irons is no different, and he will do anything he can to retain his position.
“It definitely feels weird once the title is decided,” Irons said. “The pressure is gone and anything better than 9th means I’m bettering a result. I’m just trying to stay top two.”
With a solid swell on the horizon and only 500 point between Irons and the fifth-ranked Fanning, the rest of the Brazil event should provide plenty of high drama before hitting the home stretch Dec. 8 on the North Shore of O‘ahu for the start the Rip Curl Pipeline Masters.
• Jay Heffron, sports reporter, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 257), or kauaisports@kauaipubco.com.
