The surf has been pumping in Vicco lately. But there's no point in bragging, by the looks of it the waves have been pumping all around Australia. Each coastline has been getting it's quota as the autumn season kicks into gear. The lads at Torquay are certainly getting their fill. This morning I paddled out at Winki long before the sparrow had farted and there were already five fellas sitting on the Uppers take-off. Solid 6' sets cracked down the reef in the darkness and each one of them was ridden. It was a good time to get the wave count up. Half an hour later there were forty frothers in the water at Winki so I headed up to Bells to grab a few. The crew up there were a shade less rabid than the before work Winki mob, and the load was also spread between the Bowl and Rincon. Great waves were being ridden everywhere I looked, and I reckon every reef on the Surf Coast would've been firing too. After the gluttonous morning freesurf the first quarter final between Parko and CJ was, quite incredibly, starved for waves. There was a fervour going around the comp site, but without the waves, it was a dud heat. With a minute to go CJ needed just three points to progress. He took off on a wave and scored a 6.5. Unfortunately for him Parko also caught a last-minute wave, blew up big-time, and extended his lead. CJ was out. All the waves that didn't break in the previous heat lined up out the back at the start of Mick and Jordy's quarter. In the opening exchange Jordy tore apart a wave for 5.17 points. On Mick's next wave he scored 5.67 for two trademark (i.e not varied) turns before falling off on a foam climb. Now I'm no conspiracy theorist, but these two waves just didn't compare. As I was contemplating the injustice of it all, and working myself into a feeble rage, Jordy rode his second wave. A fairly average affair that the judges rewarded him a healthy 9.17 for. Take note kiddies: two wrongs do make a right. The score put Jordy back in contention, needing just 5.17 to overtake Mick. He waited patiently till one stood up on the bowl and let him unleash his now patented Bells top turn. Not unlike Mick or Parko's in it's execution – a top turn to cutback to foam bounce performed in one single flowing move. Jordy scored 6.33 for that wave and Rip Curl's poster boy was out of the comp. From a distance Kekoa Bacalso looks just like Sunny Garcia when he lays down his frontside hack. If anything it's even more extreme as he has a lower centre of gravity so can lay back further and use that force to push harder against the face. Think a switchfoot Occy surfing like Sunny. Kekoa had been using that move to great effect all competition. He also unleashed it a few times in his quarter against Adam Robertson, and the judges were again giving it the thumbs up. For his part, Robbo was 'keeping it simple', as he told the interviewer after his round three heat the day before. When you know where to sit, what waves to catch and where on the face to turn, Bells can be pretty simple. His surfing however, was anything but. Not that it was reckless and loose either, but he probably made the best use of the wave than any other surfer, and he also had a tail-tweaking reo that no other surfer could consistently pull off. Robbo took it out over Kekoa and the crowd went crazy. Just quietly though, keep an eye on this Kekoa fella this year, he really looks the goods. Fred Patacchia had the highest heat total yesterday but couldn't build his showdown with Kieren Perrow into anything exciting. Freddy P won, but it was a dull affair and I don't have much to say about it really... Got a bit to say about the first semi but. Parko versus Jordy was a match up of the two form surfers of the contest. But despite the expectation the start wasn't promising;  Jordy pushing too hard on his first wave and falling, and Parko also falling and then catching a few smaller waves. He had a plan though, did Parko. He got his groove going on the smaller waves and slowly collected himself. He found his feet fifteen minutes in when he spanked one to the beach, looking as smooth as he had all contest. Jordy, in reply, took a mid-sizer but turned it into a large score with hearty lip smacks and extended section floats. He then followed that up with a  proper set wave - taking off deep and only making it through by belting half-pitched lips and icing it with a layback snap in a closeout barrel. Very tidy work indeed. Parko got himself off the ropes by picking off the biggest wave of the heat, slicing it to bits and finishing with a sliding cutty that ended with his tail pointing the beach. He swung it back around and, with an 8.50, also swung the lead back his way. Jordy sat and played the waiting game - holding steady and waiting for the bombs that had served him well throughout the contest. However, it didn't work this time. Jordy's cup ran dry and Parko was into the final. In the second semi things weren't as simple for Robbo as past heats. Freddy P got off to a flyer and caught three waves before he'd posted a score. Then, when he did catch a wave, he looked a wee bit off kilter. He got going mid-heat and unleashed his tail tweak reos to chase the Hawaiian's lead. No-one else was game to use the move but Robbo had a 100% success rate with 'em. With thirteen minutes to go Robbo needed a 6.03, and he waited. And waited. And waited. The tension on the beach was torturous and the crowd agonised as he let mid-size waves go and the clock counted down. Till he spun on a set, wailed the wall to the shorey, and chalked up 7.70 points. The crowd went wild! But then Freddy scraped into a set with just ten seconds to go. He needed 7.47, scored a 5.10, and the crowd went wild again! You've probably seen all the vision of the final by now but, if it wasn't apparent on the nightly news, it certainly was in real life. Robbo ripped but Parko dominated. Every turn was fully extended and ultra-critical, and, whether it be a rock and roll floater or reverse 360, he finished each wave in style .The final was all Parko's and he has an aura of dominance about him at the moment. Robbo was hardly shamed though, he'd just come second against the best 45 surfers in the world and was USD$24 000 richer for it. It was a win/win final held in some of the best Bells in years. Now bring on Teahupoo!// STUART NETTLE