Mick’s Bells Wrap

What a week! The waves were pumping at Bells and I was stoked to be a part of it. I am sure that Joel is beaming now with two wins from two starts. I ended up getting a 5th, losing to Jordy Smith in the Quarters. It was a hard loss to take because I was feeling really good for Bells this year. Sometimes you get a vibe you’re going to do well too and I had the vibe going but the vibe didn’t have me.
After each event I try to look back and see what happened and learn from it all. But this one was hard, I felt I didn’t make mistakes, it sort of come down to one wave really. Jordy sat and waited as I kept surfing and ended up getting the only big set and he scored a nine. I was still in the lead at that stage but with five minutes to go a small insider came I thought I couldn’t have bettered my score on it but Jordy went and needed just under a sic. I did have priority but with five minutes to go I thought another set would roll in but it wasn’t the case. I am still trying to figure out what to take out of this one.
I thought the judging was pretty hard going for this event as there were very few 9’s thrown and with the waves pumping I was thinking what else did the surfers have to do. I saw surfing that I thought was a little underscored and then some I thought was overscored. I was trying to figure out what they were looking for but I was stumped on this occasion.
Anyway, let’s talk about the standouts. Obviously Joel was surfing great but the big story was Adam “Robbo” Robertson making the final after winning the trials. A second place finish would be a great result for anyone but for a local kid without a major sponsor it was massive. I’m sure the runner-up finish will give Robbo a huge confidence boost and hopefully he’ll qualify this year. Well done, Robbo!
Owen Wright deserves a mention too. He took down some very big scalps in Dane Reynolds and Kelly Slater. Owen has been ripping and impresses me each time I see him surf. I wouldn’t be surprised if he qualified this year and I definitely think he is World Champion material in years to come. And what makes it even better is he is a really cool kid.
Now it’s time to get ready for Tahiti. Looks like there’s a swell coming this week so I might head over early and chase some waves and get some practice. I’m searching for a monster result there this year. Gonna be tough, the wildcards are always a pain there but if you want to win you have to beat everyone!
Cheers again for the support during Bells, hope you all had a great Easter and scored a heap of waves. MF

Joel Parkinson is still the current World Tour ratings leader after another win at the Bells Beach Rip Curl Pro. © Getty Images