Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach 2025: Day 5
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach 2025: Day 5
Well overhead onshore Bells Bowl delivered an afternoon of enthralling pro surfing as the final three heats of the men's Round of 16, women's Quarters, and first two men's Quarters were concluded.
It was a surfing contest that wasn't strictly decided by surfing. Burgers and wide sets rumbled off the Bowl with no opportunity. Smaller insiders were weak and lacked big sections. A few waves per heat offered proper Bells Bowl sections and if you weren't on them, through impatience, bad reads, your opponent kept you off them via priority or foxing you into shittier waves, then you lost. Ethan Ewing being the prime example. Everyone wanted to see him flay the Bowl, send the new villain on tour Kanoa Igarashi packing and take it all the way to a second bell. The natural consequence of Bells greatness is multiple titles. Steph Gilmore has four, as do Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning. Parko has three. Sally Fitz has two. You've got to back it up to make the first one really count as more than a fluke.
Ethan surfed a really bad heat. Kanoa started with two crappy little non-scores and Ethan answered with a solid mid-ranger which he surfed up to a 7. From there, and the majority of the heat ahead it should have been a simple equation for the Queenslander: wait for the good waves and surf them well. Kanoa caught the next wave with priority and tagged the Bowl with a big fin drift in the lip for a 7.50. Ewing now with P simply had to convert the next set. Inexplicably, he allowed Kanoa to sucker punch him into a small, shitty wave with 22 minutes remaining.
Kanoa (WSL/Miers)
The one thing the normally composed Ewing would not do is be suckered with priority into a crappy wave. Kanoa was on the cleaner, bigger, better wave behind - the one Ewing should have been riding. That spread between Ewing's 5.83 and Kanoa's 7.90 was decisive. Another inexplicable Ewing mistake followed, likely as a result of the first cascading into consciousness and it became apparent he had screwed up. He overcooked the opening turn on a crucial wave and went over the handlebars. In the end the final scoreline was flattering to Ewing. Igarashi thoroughly smoked him. Snake would have been overjoyed with the strategy employed by his Japanese/American charge.
Even though you won't find wave size anywhere in the judging criteria or event by event notes (incredibly detailed) it was well established in the opening three heats. Particularly Jake Marshall over Yago Dora. You could make an argument Dora did the more progressive surfing. It was certainly more modern with fin drifts and tail blows everywhere. Jake stayed immobile as an Easter Island Mo'ai while Dora collected 6's. Looking shoreward, as well as ochre coloured cliffs he would have seen nothing but fins and spray. That took some composure to wait it out. Eventually the big set came, a proper Bowl wave and he surfed it solidly for a heat winning 7.
Winning waves didn't have to be over-surfed. You just had to be on them. Jack Robinson played the game flawlessly with two prime set waves to hand a huge L to Filipe Toledo. “Two minutes of surfing,” he said later “and twenty-two minutes of competing”. Again, you could make the argument Toledo did the spicier, more progressive surfing but when one competitor is in the big pool and you are in the kiddy pool it doesn't matter what you do.
Jack (WSL/Miers)
Are we seeing any progression at Bells? Apart from a sharpening up of tactics (coaches have to do something in between rounds of golf) there's nothing the current top 34 are doing that wasn't being done 10, 15 years ago. Mick Fanning, retired for seven years and a real estate mogul, beer baron, and softboard proprietor, would have been competitive in every men's heat yesterday. As would Carissa and Steph in the women's draw.
I don't see that as a negative. You could argue the progression of Rugby League, for example, is similarly stalled in the State of Origin series which does not diminish the spectacle. It's still a pinnacle event. Bells occupies a similar position in the mainstream sporting consciousness.
Jordy (WSL/Miers)
Judges may have taken the best wave factor too far in the womens Quarters. Sally Fitz surfed the best but judges paid a Brisa bomb, well overs for the surfing that was done on it. Same for Luana.
Isabella Nichols was a definitive winner over Gabby with the best waves and the best surfing after Gabby overcooked a crucial ride. Power is one thing. The application of power is another.
Isabella (WSL/Sloane)
Tyler snuck past Betty-Lou in a close heat.
Best heat of the day was Morgs getting past Jordy in a very tight contest.
Morgs to take the Bell.
// STEVE SHEARER
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Men’s Round of 16 Remaining Results:
HEAT 6: Samuel Pupo (BRA) 12.17 DEF. Ian Gentil (HAW) 10.60
HEAT 7: Jake Marshall (USA) 12.76 DEF. Yago Dora (BRA) 12.37
HEAT 8: Jack Robinson (AUS) 16.53 DEF. Filipe Toledo (BRA) 12.26
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Women’s Quarterfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Luana Silva (BRA) 12.17 DEF. Lakey Peterson (USA) 9.33
HEAT 2: Brisa Hennessy (CRC) 15.40 DEF. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 15.17
HEAT 3: Isabella Nichols (AUS) 15.94 DEF. Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 10.67
HEAT 4: Tyler Wright (AUS) 14.00 DEF. Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 13.20
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Men’s Quarterfinal Results Heat [1 - 2]:
HEAT 1: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 15.40 DEF. Ethan Ewing (AUS) 14.43
HEAT 2: Morgan Cibilic (AUS) 13.83 DEF. Jordy Smith (RSA) 13.80
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Men’s Quarterfinal Remaining Matchups [3 - 4]:
HEAT 3: Griffin Colapinto (USA) vs. Samuel Pupo (BRA)
HEAT 4: Jake Marshall (USA) vs. Jack Robinson (AUS)
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Women’s Semifinal Matchups:
HEAT 1: Luana Silva (BRA) vs. Brisa Hennessy (CRC)
HEAT 2: Isabella Nichols (AUS) vs. Tyler Wright (AUS)
Comments
If I was judge , Jordy was the winner
if I was a judge, Sally was the winner
Jordy for sure
I reckon surfing was the winner, and Ronnie is the judge
:) thanks for bringing that image to reality. Ronnie and Vaughano should do all events. Loved the dancing with Russell Coight/Kel Knight too
The pros are making it look good
It's tough out there, foamy lips are not your friend, speed bumps and rail turns, mortal enemies, if we see a clean rail engagement it's excellent surfing.
Someone will have to beat Kanoa
He's from the beach of endless whitecaps
I’m in the minority, but I thought Jordy won too. Morgs surfing is spicy, but it doesn’t have quite the heft needed imo.
And I thought Brisa’s wave was worthy of the score just because it was a lot better than Sally’s. The scale was cooked no doubt.
Smashed it harder than any of the other women on big sections.
Been so much better having Vaughan on the glass getting the surfers to smile and have a laugh, not the sickly corpo bullshit we usually get. Same with Ronnie and Rosie back in the booth. On another note, it seems to me that Flippy still has some demons to overcome and no amount of hyperbole from Joe is going to fix that. Jack and Izzy for the win
Having the Blakey bros there just elevates the entire experience as a viewer.
Just rewatched the Morgs/Jordy heat- I think they got the right result.
Morgs just on the strength of a few bigger turns out of the lip and closers.
Anyone else getting a Cheyne Horan/Lazor Zap vibe from Morgs and the board spray he has?
Yep I’ve been thinking Ryan Burch pickle fork (ie what Bryce young rides) - just in the way the purple spray blends the rails and makes the front half of the board look so different from afar
Based on form, I reckon Kanoa is gonna be hard to beat.
I said he'd win the other day half joking. It could prove prophetic.
I don’t really get how Izzy gets it done - super meat and potatoes surfing - just consistent I guess? No real flare on that side of the draw when Caity out - Could Layne win a heat or two? Chelsea Hedges and Sofia Molanovic could
To what extent does Bells determine/enforce the surfing then? Sunset selects a certain way of surfing it, certain boards I imagine. Izzy's interview about longer board rail/slowing down was informative. Over the years people have invented cool things like Kellys air 360 in the bowl, or been rewarded like end section/shorebreak big moves (don't see rec surfers doing the shorebreak much). Or is the point to push what can be done, with the wave, and inspire everyone. The rail carving perpendicular to the face has been pretty inspiring for me. Going back to Joel P footage someone put up, it seems more fluid and more connected turns back in the 00s, and for me Occy is the absolute standout of the pros.
I've seen some wild lines out there by anons, I remember one bloke turning into the bowl just turned vertically 90 degrees from the bottom of his bottom turn, almost like a stall but going up the face, and put himself right under the tube, then was traversing under it again a 90 degree change of course, totally shacked until the shoulder. It all happened so quickly I was like damn, still haven't seen any pro do something like that.
I don't think Brisas 9.4 wave was worth 1.23 points more than Sallys 8.17 wave. They showed them side by side (only once) and Brisas was better but only just; the wave was a bit bigger, and her second turn was vertical, but Sallys second turn was full rail sideways under the lip. And given that Sal had a 7 versus a 6 for back up she'd actually surfed the better heat and could have been given the win by about 0.23. But that said it is what it is. Funny how the numbers worked out. Sally is awesome example to all and is still a force.
Maybe surfing has reached the ceiling of progression, newer board design better materials etc but is it that much better than years gone by.........not sure ...probably not a lot
Doesn't having set judging criteria limit what is and can be done
Yep @ FR, Morgs board made me think Cheyne Horan, not just the spray but for some reason it looked thicker and more buoyant and flew over dead water like in the 80's.
i think the venue determines the level of progression over the years . Places like Pipeline , Teahoopu , even J bay at times have seen insane levels of progression in recent years , whereas Bells , Snapper , Margys , you could comfortably argue the high water mark has been reached on and off for many years . John John at Margs reached levels a few years ago that may never be topped ?
Nothing wrong with that as Steve said , its just bloody good surfing
I thought Sal was ripped off. The 9.44 for Brisa’s wave was way over cooked. I think if she was given a 9, which was still overcooked to me, she would have lost.
That was probably the only heat I saw where the judging really affected the outcome.
Lots of really close heats which you could argue one way or the other, Jordy and Morgs the best example, but someone has to win and the judges have to make a call.
I can live with those, but Brisa’s 9.44, no way.
Sal’s a great ambassador for surfing. To be honest though here style is hard to watch. The arms on every top turn. Her surfing is hardly progressive,
harsh on the eyes and is not with the current era of surfers. I’d subtract a point on every wave for those arms in the air.