The Gun Show Hits Town

Taj Burrow – Tearing the bag.

Written by Chris Binns

As the east coast goes batty about the waves they’ve been getting, and the media gets frenzied about the supposed 50 year storm Queensland will soon be served, the Drug Aware Pro in Margaret River is quietly going about its business of being the most consistent surf contest in the country. The last two days of competition saw the touchdown of the big dogs, the six star prime event showing the world the big pro of the one world raking system: the best guys in surfing will have to do more events to keep their position atop the rankings, and the fan is the winner.

Driving to the sou-west knowing the waves are pumping is one of the better feelings a surfer can have. Approaching Dunsborough you look at how the wind’s playing the tea-trees, what the clouds are up to in the sky, whether cars are heading north up Naturaliste Terrace towards Bears or gunning south to Cowaramup Bay and beyond. There are ads for the three types of beer: Export (which isn’t exported), Draught (which isn’t on tap), and Bitter (which is a lager). Coffee-rock flecks the soft shoulder and visiting surfers’ little rental cars take on the appearance of brave worker ants, lugging twice their mass in surfboards.  

Caves Road runs 90kms from Cape to Cape, around every bend a ribbon of bitumen peels coastward, delivering the wise to waves.  Know the winds, know the swell, know the tides, you’re on. If you don’t know any of that, head to Surfer’s Point at Margaret River, and there’ll be waves. The biggest magnet in the sou-west, like Bells, is the haven of the bearded, pintail toting gruff local, and no matter the wind or the tide they’ll be out there en mass. ’Cept for when the Drug Aware Pro (formerly known as the Thriller, the Classic, the Shootout, the You Name It, referred to by locals as the Masters) is in town. Then it’s all performance. Not necessarily hi-fidelity, but the best in the world testing their longer equipment, mowing through chop, and earning their points and dollars throwing buckets of spray.

What happened today? The swell backed off to a miserly four foot, and the onshore stayed away for the first few heats. Today was always going to be the down day which is rich, most events would kill for overhead conditions on final day, let alone the early rounds. Taj Burrow kept his role going, sitting waiting, the new found ultra competitor got the wave he needed on the hooter to send reigning champ Dan Ross out of the event early. Next heat the locals kept the buzzer beating up, Yadin Nicol stealing past American World Tour rookie Nate Yeomans with a crisp air reverse in the clutch.

Damien Hobgood continued a streak of surfers copping an interference only to advance none-the-less, joining Sunny Garcia and Dan Ross in an unlikely and exclusive club. “Might be a record,” chuckled ASP Media Man who is EVERYWHERE, Steve “Robbo” Robertson. Robbo, uncle to Adam “Robbo” Robertson, who was eliminated today, is currently covering a longboard event in Noosa, a junior event in Tahiti, this beast, and is fresh off the back of the Boost comp in Bondi. Next week he’s looking forward to recharging his batteries at the Coldwater Classic in Tassie, before the onslaught of Bells. It’s fair to say there are a lot of tired folk wandering the contest site on autopilot, but the job is most certainly getting done.

Surprise eliminees today were Joel Parkinson, bounced by perennial threat (in and out of the water) Chris Ward, and a rampaging Dayyan Neve. Owen Wright was bundled out by Drew Courtney and an in form Lincoln Taylor, who’s gangly goofy style plays tribute to his flavour of the month mate. Mick Fanning scored $300 for the wave of the day, Sunny Garcia threw spray to South Africa, Adrian Buchan put on a fearsome frontside display, the only surfer to lock in keepers on the lefts.

Tomorrow is predicted to be ON. Big, long, raw lines of swell started pouring into the bay of the afternoon and are going to keep coming and growing overnight. The wind will swing, Fuel will broadcast live, and expect tomorrow to be one of those days that gets talked about for a long time. Who will be this year’s Pauline Menczer and go over on a ten footer? Who will do a Tom Curren and ride through to the Rivermouth? And who will stand up and make a man of themselves in monstrous conditions? Check out www.drugawarepro.com all day for those answers, tune in to Fuel for more, and report back here for the wrap tomorrow night. Get excited, cos this is going to be big.

www.drugawarepro.com

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