2. Bells Beach

April 7 – 19 The Rip Curl Pro Bells beach Victoria Australia

Intro
This is one’s rich in history, to be the winner of the bell; our sport’s most iconic trophy means you have made history. Originally held in January of 1961 the Bells beach classic as it was known back then was won by George “Ming” Smith.  George’s 1-pound prize marked the beginning of professional surfing as we know it and since then the event has been renamed and rescheduled. Now entitled The Rip Curl Pro, Bells is unrivalled as the longest running professional surfing event and in it’s time has enjoyed the prestige of the world’s elite and other highlights such as Simon Anderson introducing the thruster to the world Via his win of the 1981 Bells Beach Classic.
The wave
Originally named after a family of farmers who owned the land surrounding it Bell’s beach is highly reliable over the Easter holiday period. The break consists of 2 main sections of reef that operate on opposite swell and tide conditions.
Rincon runs closely along the foot of the cliff and is more favorable in smaller conditions and on higher tides. It is a fast wave with many unpredictable sections, notoriously Rincon lacking power and could be said to bare an unfair advantage for the natural footers in competition.
The Bowl is the bells we have all come to know and love. The bowl needs at least 4 foot of swell to start doing its thing but once it is over that size the tide’s effect is a little less noticeable. The bowl is not a perfect wave, it is unlikely that surfers will be looking for the tube at bells but it does offer a very large open faced canvas for our top 45 Asp world tour surfers to display their art form on.
Equipment
Bells is a long way south of the equator and aside from in summer months it rarely reaches temperatures in the late teens so surfers will be warming a little extra rubber down here. Their choice of suit will be a full suit either 3/2 ml or 4/3 ml thick and on colder days some surfers may opt for booties. Because of the extra weight from the extra rubber it is not uncommon to see surfers boost their board sizes up at bells. Some opt for a little more thickness or width but on the open faced walls of Bells Bowl an inch or two longer can sometime allow you to draw your turns out that extra bit longer.
Keep your eyes on
Bells is not user friendly in fact she can be a very harsh mistress at times which usually gives locals a distinct advantage. The only local in the mix this year is Nic Muscroft so he could be out to cause the upset of the season if he uses his local knowledge to good effect, but many of the WCT know bells well enough to possibly surpass Nic’s advantage. Kelly Slater is the guy I feel will be most deadly out there and his list of rivals would read Bede Durbidge, Bobby Martinez, the Hobgoods, Jordy smith, Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson.
My pick
Kelly Slater