One of the best comps of the year? Got to be right up there!
Another perfect Maldivian sunrise at Kuda Huraa set the scene for the twin-fin division of the Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy to run in non-stop four-foot waves at Sultans today, Wednesday August 23. Despite the flawless weather it was raining eights and nines in the water with Joel Parkinson walking away victorious over Adriano de Souza for a second day running.
Unlike the contrasting styles on show in yesterday’s single-fin final, where Parkinson hunted the barrel and de Souza tore into turns, today the two world champs went blow-for-blow both behind the curtain and in front of it.
“It’s harder to do turns on a single-fin but you can hide in the tube,” said ever-cunning competitor Parkinson, “whereas twin-fins are shaped so well now that you can surf them more like a modern board and be a lot more confident in attacking the lip and using the face of the wave.
“I’m a twinny guys these days,” admitted Parkinson, and his numerous excellent scores today support his admission that he feels an advantage on the craft he surfs more than any other. “It’s not going to last though,” he laughed, “I got lucky, but in the thruster division you’re going to see the field do some damage, and I might be the damage!”
Although Parkinson got off to a flying start in the final, dropping an 8.9 and a 9.63 to leave de Souza chasing a combination of scores, the Brazilian surfer came roaring back into the picture with a 9.7, the highest score of the event so far, for a deep, clean barrel that he backed up with a string of powerful turns.
With time running out and de Souza chasing an 8.83 he found the opportunity he needed and launched into one of the turns of the event on the first section, before the wave backed off a little. De Souza stuck with it and unleashed an arsenal of manoeuvres on the inside when the wave stood tall once again, and although he couldn’t have done more with the cards he was dealt the final score came in as an 8.47, agonizingly short of his requirement.
“That barrel was insane!” said de Souza, “I put on a show and almost got a 10, so even though I lost I’m proud of myself. Joel has been amazing, but tomorrow’s a new day, and I’ll be happy to wake up in paradise at the Four Seasons and go to work once again.”
In the earlier heats all of the Surfing Champions Trophy competitors put on a show, with Maldivian wildcard Hood Ahmed threading one of the longest tubes of the event on his backhand to lock in an 8.83.
“I was so happy with that wave!” said Ahmed, “I think I disappeared behind the foamball twice, and maybe if the barrel had a cleaner exit I might have been closer to a 10. After yesterday I knew tubes would be my best chance of good scores, and I’m proud I got the chance to show off what I can do.”
Once again Hawaii’s favourite siblings, Mason Ho and Coco Ho, threaded tube after tube with style to burn to find themselves in the semi-finals, where they lost to Parkinson and de Souza respectively.
“Lately I’ve been hooked on thrusters,” said Mason, “So I’m really loving this event because it’s reminding me how much I enjoy my single and twin fins. The roots!”
While all of the competitors feel fortunate to be enjoying life at the Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa, Conner Coffin might consider himself slightly hard done by in competition, finding himself one wave short of advancing in both of his heats so far.
“I’ve never wished I was older until this week so I could have a few more minutes in the lineup!” laughed Coffin. “I’ll take my thruster for a warmup this afternoon and might have a word with the wave gods while I’m at it! I’m loving this event, I’m so stoked to be here and am looking forward to another great day tomorrow.”
The Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy runs from August 21-28. The forecast is still looking pristine so stay tuned for more updates when competition resumes with the thruster division and grand final still to come.
Twin Fin Division Results
1. Joel Parkinson (AUS)
2. Adriano de Souza (BRA)
3. Coco Ho (HAW) equal with Mason Ho (HAW)
5. Conner Coffin (USA) equal with Hood Ahmed (MDV)
2023 FS Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy Leaderboard
1. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 2000pts
2. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 1800pts
3. Coco Ho (HAW) 1600pts
3. Mason Ho (HAW) 1600pts
5. Hood Ahmed (MDV) 1400pts
5. Conner Coffin (USA) 1400pts
Emmy Awards Nominated filmmaker Mikey Corker’s multi award-winning documentary SAVAGE WATERS starts its UK and Ireland theatrical release with a special string of pre-release screenings in Cornwall and Devon over August and September.
The film chronicles renowned sailor Matt Knight’s quest to use a 19th century treasure-hunter’s journal to seek out and surf a mythical, never-ridden wave in some of the most remote and dangerous waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Accompanied by world-class big wave surfer Andrew Cotton, Matt, along with family and friends board the catamaran Hecate and follow clues to this ‘perfect wave’. However, life never goes exactly to plan with injury and life-threatening challenges testing the crew’s resilience along the way.
SAVAGE WATERS is narrated by the legendary actor Charles Dance and beautiful scored by AVAWAVES, the duo composed of prolific violinist Anna Phoebe and pianist/producer Aisling Brouwer.
Ahead of the film’s October 27th release in the UK and Ireland by UK distributor Tull Stories, a series of summer previews across Cornwall and Devon take place.
Director Mikey Corker will be present at the first screening at the Lighthouse Cinema in Newquay, on Sunday 27th August at 7pm.
“I’m delighted to have Savage Waters’ UK release on the way and we’re thrilled to kick things off with this tour of one of our favourite parts of the world. We can’t wait to take our film to cinemas all over the UK this autumn!”
Joel Parkinson (AUS) defeats Adriano de Souza (BRA) in the Single Fin Final.
The Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy kicks off in fine fashion in flawless four-foot Sultans, with single-fin surfboards the order of the day at the world’s most luxurious surfing event.
The Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy kicked off in fine fashion at flawless four-foot Sultans on Tuesday August 22, with single-fin surfboards the order of the day at the world’s most luxurious surfing event.
“Look at this, it’s incredible!” said Adriano de Souza as he saw the empty lineup for the first time. “Just to be in this contest is a blessing, but with waves like this too? Wow!”
At day’s end 2015 world champion De Souza finished runner-up in the single fin division to 2012 world champ Joel Parkinson, who as a previous Surfing Champions Trophy competitor looked comfortable both at Sultans, and with the format. The Surfing Champions Trophy sees competitors battle it out in single fin, twin fin and thruster divisions. Start times are staggered from oldest to youngest and in 2023 Joel Parkinson will surf 31-minute heats while Adriano de Souza will enter the water at the 28-minute mark, Mason Ho a minute later, Coco Ho and Hood Ahmed a minute after that, while Conner Coffin joins the field at the 25-minute mark.
“Today was firing!” said Parkinson. “It’s amazing to be back here. I know it’s a competition, but it only goes for three hours every day and it feels like a holiday the whole time. To make the final and get the win after coming second to Josh Kerr the last time I came here was really rewarding. I feel like I’ve put a lot of time into my single fin surfing these past few years. Hopefully I can be as competitive in the next rounds but once the boards get a little more high-performance I think my surfing might get left behind.”
De Souza started the day with a win over Hawaiian surfer Coco Ho and local wildcard Hood “Hoobs” Ahmed, who unlocked plenty of opportunities on his backhand. While De Souza needed the first half of his first heat to adjust to his equipment, once things clicked he engaged contest animal mode, finding barrels and aggressively attacking the lip to comfortably advance with a 15.50 two wave total.
Ho quickly found her groove atop an XOCOCO single-fin, one of many offerings from the new surfboard brand she has founded with shaper Matt Parker. “It’s about time surfboards were designed for women,” said Ho, “and that doesn’t just mean ‘shrink it and pink it’, that means making boards that actually work.” Ho’s words rang true, the tubes she weaved through the course of the rounds the ultimate proof of concept.
In the second heat of the day Parkinson came up against Ho’s brother, renowned Hawaiian freesurfer Mason Ho, and Californian style master Conner Coffin, who only recently announced his retirement from WSL competition. “I’m new to this,” laughed Coffin, “so I thought I’d better get over here and let Joel show me how it’s done!”
At day’s end 2015 world champion De Souza finished runner-up in the single fin division to 2012 world champ Joel Parkinson, who as a previous Surfing Champions Trophy competitor looked comfortable both at Sultans, and with the format. The Surfing Champions Trophy sees competitors battle it out in single fin, twin fin and thruster divisions. Start times are staggered from oldest to youngest and in 2023 Joel Parkinson will surf 31-minute heats while Adriano de Souza will enter the water at the 28-minute mark, Mason Ho a minute later, Coco Ho and Hood Ahmed a minute after that, while Conner Coffin joins the field at the 25-minute mark.
Parkinson did just that, blazing through the opening rounds with a pair of eight-point rides to take the win. The Surfing Champions Trophy came alive at the 15-minute mark of the affair with a four-foot set broadsiding the Sultans reef and rousing the early morning crowd in the channel. Parkinson, already sitting on an 8.5 opener, pulled into a long, deep tube, backed up by a series of trademark carves on the first wave of the exchange. Coffin let his rails sing on the second, before Ho wrangled the foamball on the third. As the judges went to work another three waves turned inside out and spat into an empty channel. With minutes to go Mason found another gem, navigating a long tube to kick out in the channel with the 7.3 he needed to relegate Coffin to third place safely secured.
In the first semi-final Ho and De Souza went back and forth exchanging exquisitely ridden barrels and vicious carves from start to finish. While Ho threaded the best wave of the heat to lock in an eight after bowing to the Gods while kicking out, Adriano’s mixture of turns and tubes saw him advance with a pair of sevens.
The second semi saw Parkinson put on a tube riding clinic. The opener, a barrel sandwiched between trademark swoops earned him a 6.5 before Ho had entered the lineup. Once she did, Ho sat and played the waiting game while Parkinson went to work under priority, a 7.5 for a smaller yet hollower inside drainer putting plenty of pressure on the Hawaiian. Ho’s opener was a long, deep tube that she just missed the finish of, leaving a huge score behind as she got a little high and cartwheeled away.
Parkinson’s technical takeoff skills then earned him an 8.1 for a deep drainer that he threaded from the moment he found his feet. On the wave behind, with Parkinson looking straight into it, Ho again flew threw a huge tube, before again getting clamped.
The last set of the encounter saw Parkinson take off deep on a boat wake-ribbed wave, come from behind the peak and thread the pit to perfection. This resulted in the best wave score of the day, a 9.27, and a front row seat as Ho threw peace signs in the tube on the wave behind, her never-in-doubt exit earning her a 7.1 and plaudits from her opponent, and the channel. “I saw that barrel from the boat!” said de Souza, “It was insane, so good.”
In the all-world champion final, Parkinson (2012) took on De Souza (2012), though the three-minute head start for the elder statesman from Queensland amounted to nothing when the ocean went flat for the duration. After a slow start Parko got the ball rolling with a wider wave that didn’t look like much off the bat, but ended up a 6.43 as it grew down the line and let Parkinson sink his JS single fin into a series of strong turns. De Souza replied with a big set that offered no wall after an impressive drop, and he quickly aborted the mission to regain priority.
Parkinson took up residency on the wider peak while de Souza stationed himself at the top off the lineup. The contrasting tactics were on full display on the next set, de Souza taking off deep and reaping little reward, while Parkinson threaded a deep tube to perfection for a 9.07 and a handsome lead. With Adriano needing two fresh scores tube-pig Parkinson went to work burying his snout in every barrel that dared rear its head, occasionally paying a visit to the open face for a turn or two. Adriano found a late consolation 8.43, for a series of wild hacks, but to the victor go the spoils and Parkinson took out the single fin division to light up day one with his Cheshire Cat grin.
A win is the best way to kick off the working vacation, isn’t it?” laughed Parkinson. “I’m really looking forward to enjoying the afternoon, and doing it all over again tomorrow. You beauty!”
The Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy runs from August 21-28. The forecast looks good for the rest of the week so stay tuned for more updates when competition resumes with the twin fin division.
It’s not often a World Title contender goes on The Search mid-season. But, when Mick Fanning let Gabriel Medina know where he was heading with Mason Ho, it was too good for Gabby to pass up. Medina adjusted his plans, slid into the mission, and shifted gears to hunt some wild slabs in the wildly remote coasts of Australia.
This was no luxury trip either. The crew stayed in vermin-infested cabins in the middle of nowhere and survived off two-minute noodles and sausages in bread for dinner. Medina ate nothing but cheese sandwiches for most meals. Mason Ho even woke up one morning to find his toothbrush had been totally devastated by rats. Despite these challenges, the surfers had an incredible time. It’s what The Search is all about.
“That was the stuff I dream of,” says Mason Ho about the trip. “I couldn’t believe, not one person around or out. Then surfing with those two guys, they’re not only surfing world champions, they’re like human world champions too.”
The Kangs takes you on The Search through a wide, open land…
Directed by: Vaughan Blakey and Nick Pollet Filmers: Nick Pollet, Mikey Corker, Rory Pringle and Stuart Gibson Photography: Hayden Richards and Stuart Gibson Producers: Johnny Hawken and Lachlan McNish
18 seconds period, straight south swell, high-tide in the morning, very raw, almost out of control sets. That’s what I’m talking about, hell yes. They do say if you don’t go, you wont know, click into the highlights from 6 hours of footage of this epic Nias session.
Skeleton Bay, located on the southwestern coast of Namibia, is now renowned for being one of the world’s premier surf destinations. The name “Skeleton Bay” is derived from the nearby abandoned diamond mining settlement, but the bay itself is pumping with the energy of powerful waves generated by unique sandbanks and ocean currents that pound the coast. Surfers are drawn to this natural endless wave pool and its ever-changing ocean conditions, hit play to watch Nate Florence dig in.
