Lowe tops Irons in stormy contest

RICK FIGNETTI

The focal point of the surfing world for the big boys this week was

in Australia for the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks.

The event, which saw a huge storm come through right smack in the

middle of it, saw some heavy winds and 10-foot-plus storm surf,

forcing some days of cancellation. When it did clear up, it was

overhead with light off-shores, and featured some rippable walls.

Australian Mick Lowe proved to be unstoppable in these conditions,

busting straight-up moves several times in heat after heat till the

finals. Lowe met up with world champ Andy Irons there, pulling an

almost perfect score, a 9.17, which gave him the win and the $30,000

first prize. Lowe also took down a fired-up Taylor Knox, from

California, in the semis and East Coaster Kelly Slater in the

quarters with two waves in the nine zone.

Irons was looking like the man to beat through the whole event,

pulling the only perfect-scoring ride of the contest in his semi,

with four mega-snaps on one wave and finishing it off with an air

alley-oop that left commentator and former world champ Martin Potter

speechless. Irons won $16,000 and is second in the tour standings in

the early going. Placing equal third were Aussie Tom Whitaker and

Knox, and equal fifths were Aussies Mark “Occy” Occhilupo and Jake

Patterson, Slater and Brazilian Victor Ribas. Former world champ C.J.

Hobgood was equal ninth with Australian new schoolers Joel Parkenson,

Dean Morrison and Taj Burrow.

The women’s Roxy Pro was held at the Super Bank, with some

workable, contestable surf too. Jacqueline Silva from Florianopolis,

Brazil, threw an assortment of carving turns on her first wave to

score an 8.6, taking an early lead that she never gave up. Silva

defeated Kauaiian big wave standout Rochelle Ballard for her first

win of the 2004 season.

Equal thirds went to Australians Chelsea Georgeson and Melanie

Redman, who had some nice heats. But the big news and heat drawing

the most attention was six-time world champ Layne Beachley defeating

the U.S.A.’s three-time world champ, and wildcard seed into the

event, Lisa Andersen, in the round before the quarters on Andersen’s

35th birthday.

Andersen came out of retirement to surf this event, which usually

has some pretty epic surf. Beachley and Andersen have pretty much

dominated the title race scene on the women’s tour for the last 10

years.

At that United States Surfing Federation event at the H.B. pier a

couple weekends ago, Japan transplants to Huntington, Kenjo Satomura

and Kaoru Murayama, finished second and third in the men’s division,

respectively, and Darcy Delao won the open men’s and placed second in

masters, too. The grandmasters was won by the Figster, who got on a

roll with the sets, and Jay Boldt placed fourth with some nice

exchanges. In the girl’s event, Long Beach’s Sophia Bartlow finished

fourth overall, and in open women’s, Surf City’s Jill Hawtrey placed

third to wrap it up.

See ya in the lineup. Fig over and out.

* RICK FIGNETTI is an eight-time West Coast champion, has

announced the U.S. Open of Surfing the last nine years and has been

the KROQ-FM surfologist for the last 17 years, doing morning surf

reports. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at

(714) 536-1058.