Kai Lenny takes the Champions Trophy Thruster division

Kai Lenny takes the Champions Trophy Thruster division against a stacked field including and on fire Wilko, Kerrsy, Parko and Pele. It’s a shred fest

3x World Champion Mick Fanning Tears His ACL In South Africa

Just got this painful news in from the Rip Curl crew … we sat down with Mick in France recently, interview in the upcoming end of August issue, he was on top form. Knees are surfer’s Achilles’ Heel with JJF and Coco Ho also out with bung hinges. Feel better soon champ.

Over the weekend 3x World Champion Mick Fanning injured himself on a Stab In The Dark magazine trip in South Africa. After an immediate flight home and a trip to the doctors, Fanning has confirmed he has torn his ACL, which will require surgery and a 6-12 months recovery process.

“I was in South Africa and I was coming out of a tube,” Mick explains when asked how the injury occurred. “I was going to do a layback cutback, drop-wallet carve sort of thing, and midway through the turn, I just felt my back knee pop out. You can see in the footage where the thing just collapsed, instant pain, just my whole leg was in pain. But once I got to the beach the pain had already subsided, which made me think… okay, that’s bad. So I went home, showered up, rang all my favourite doctor friends and booked a flight home.

“I got scans yesterday and I see the surgeon tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll get surgery in the next week or so. Then from talking to doctors, I think I’ll be in a brace from 1-2 weeks, a full locked-out brace, then hopefully off crutches after that. Then the rehab starts. They say that can take anywhere from 6-12 months.”

This ACL injury comes nearly 15 years after Fanning ripped his hamstring straight off the bone – an injury widely known as one of surfing’s most brutal. However after this hamstring injury in 2004 Fanning came back more powerful than ever, using the incident as fuel to his fire.

In true to Fanning form, Mick is already talking about speeding up the recovery process to get in the water sooner, stronger.

“Timeline wise, I’ll be aiming to be back in the water by January or February. That’s when cyclone season starts up here on the Gold Coast, and I would like to be ready for that.

“To be honest I’ve been pretty lazy for the past year or so – and I am sort of excited to be going down the path again of getting the body flowing and keeping the age barrier at a minimum. I’m fired up to get the body moving and feeling really good.

“I’ve still got big plans of Searching and now I’m even more fired up to get back to JBay!”

The 3x World Champion will have to take a step back from Searching for the next few months during his recovery process. Stay tuned.

Josh Kerr pulls a pretty miraculous “club sandwich” to take out an onfire Parko in the Four Seasons Champions Trophy.

Josh Kerr claimed Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy for the second year running with an unbelievable performance scoring 19.26 and pulling one of the moves so the year; a pretty miraculous “club sandwich” in the final to take out an onfire Parko.

He and Parko won the single-fin and twin-fin divisions respectively to book their spots in the Grand Final matchup, despite both earlier falling in the semi-finals of the thruster division. The pair’s third and deciding battle for the week lived up to the hype with the two Championship Tour veterans going blow-for-blow in a gripping encounter worthy of the occasion.

Parkinson kicked off proceedings with an 8.5 and a 7.27 to take an early lead, but things were just getting started. Kerr opened his account with a 7.17 and then a 9.33 to move into the lead, before it quickly swung back to 2012 World Champion Parkinson when he unleashed a series of trademark swoops and vertical stabs up into the lip for a 9.17. Kerr was on the wave behind, however, and pulled off the most incredible manoeuvre ever witnessed at the Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy: an explosive grab rail reverse (also known as a Club Sandwich) performed on an incredibly critical opening section of the wave. The dynamic display netted 2001 World Airshow Champion Kerr a near-perfect 9.93, and won him the event.

“I already had a couple of good scores,” said Kerr after his win, “so I decided to put everything I could into my next wave and see if I couldn’t put the final nail in the coffin. It was a steep, gnarly section, as I was bottom-turning I was thinking to myself, ‘what are you doing?’ but went for it anyway. Somehow I came out of it really clean and had the biggest smile on my face for the rest of the wave, it was really cool.”

“Kerrzy went to town on me!” said Parkinson at the presentation. “I thought I started really well, then next thing you know I was on the ropes! Kerrzy had a 9.33 and nearly a perfect 10, and even though I had a 9.17 of my own I was still chasing a combination and pretty much packed it in and headed back to the boat with four minutes to go. This week’s as much about the beauty of the Maldives as the surf contest though, and to get to share all of this with my family is really special. Riding different boards was incredible too! I’ve been asked a lot over my career and never been able to choose, but I’m pretty sure now that my twin-fin is the board I’d ride for the rest of my life if I had to pick one!”

“Obviously the prize money and the trophy are cool,” said Kerr, “but getting to come back here to Four Seasons Maldives is the real reward. Today is my 13th wedding anniversary, lucky number 13, so that’s a great anniversary present for my wife, as well as having the kids here. I didn’t win too many events during my career, so it’s extra cool to win this in front of them.”

In the final of the thruster division, 2019 Waterman Of The Year, Hawaiian Kai Lenny, took out three-time Championship Tour event winner, Matt Wilkinson, from Australia. After non-stop waves saw Lenny and Wilkinson knock out Kerr and Parkinson in the semi-finals, the ocean then went to sleep for the thruster division’s decider. Famed for his big wave surfing and multi-board heroics it was an ecstatic Kai Lenny who claimed the win with a 12.00 total after Wilkinson only caught one wave in the encounter, a 6.33.
“When I saw the roster for this event I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep up,” said Lenny. “But, with each round I got more confident, and come the thruster division I was definitely feeling more comfortable. I was watching the rest of the guys closely, and felt like I was improving with every wave. I’ll definitely take some confidence from this win, especially in really good waves up against a Championship Tour field.
“I was blown away by how good the single and twin-fins were, they seemed magic! We were surfing some decent sized waves and I was doubtful, but the performance level was different, and there’s something really refreshing about the lines you have to draw. The Maldives are the ultimate playground, they offer every type of condition for every type of activity, and even when the surf is supposedly no good it’s still firing!”

“I really wanted to make the final today,” said Wilkinson, “so was fired up for the semi-final with Joel. I’ve always loved surfing against him, so to beat him at a perfect right point is pretty nice! It was a pretty slow final and I didn’t get too many chances, but I’ve loved my week here in the Maldives and will go home with a lot of great memories.”

After Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) withdrew from the event, Kerr and Wilkinson received first round walk-throughs today. In the second of the three-man round one heats, Parkinson and Kai Lenny defeated local wildcard Mohamed Fayaz, who went down swinging and put on his best performance of the event. “I don’t know what to say,” said Fayaz, “This week has been so fun. I always used to watch these guys on tour and in all their movies, but this is the first time I’ve got to see them in real life and it’s just been so exciting.”
The Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy is hosted aboard Four Seasons Explorer – the Maldives’ ultimate surf vessel. Fans can get up close to the action with onboard VIP passes while the ‘surf tour’ experience continues with nightly events back at Four Seasons Kuda Huraa, which plays host to the contest’s competitors, judges and Tropicsurf partners.

Grand Final
Josh Kerr 19.26 def Joel Parkinson 17.67

Thruster Division Results 
1. Kai Lenny (HAW)
2. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
3. Joel Parkinson (AUS) equal with Josh Kerr (AUS)
5. Mohamed Fayaz (MDV)

2019 FS Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy Leaderboard
Josh Kerr (AUS) 2700pts
Joel Parkinson (AUS) 2700pts
Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 2500pts
Kai Lenny (HAW) 2500pts
Mohamed Fayaz (MDV) 2300pts

Parko beats Kerrsy in amazing twin fin final at Four Seasons Champions trophy

Well today was pretty amazing….

The twin-fin division of the Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy was run and won in clean head-high tubes at Sultans this afternoon, with competitors revelling in the dreamy conditions on offer at the right hand point break. After meeting in the final of the single-fin division on Thursday, it was again Australians Joel Parkinson and Josh Kerr who squared off in the last heat today to decide the twin-fin champion for 2019.
After an incredible afternoon of surfing blessed with the cleanest waves of the window so far, the final was the icing on the cake as Parkinson and Kerr went back and forth, exchanging long tubes, vicious turns and the lead a number of times. There could only be one winner, however, and as the final hooter sounded it was 2012 world champion Parkinson who gained his revenge for the earlier single-fin loss with an incredible 17.36 two-wave total to better Kerr’s 16.64, and claim the second of the three divisions. Parkinson did the damage with consecutive waves at the halfway mark, backing up an 8.33 with a 9.03 for a long, double-barrelled drainer. With Kerr already sitting on an 8.67 he spent the rest of the bout on the hunt for an almost identical 8.69, and although he had a number of opportunities he couldn’t quite overhaul his fellow Queenslander, a 7.97 the best of his attempts as the waves continued to cook.
“That was amazing,” said Parkinson, “Wave after wave after wave. They’re the finals you dream of. There were two waves in every set, which was even better. You could get back to the top and say, ‘you have the first one, I’ll have the second one!’ It was an amazing day of surfing. The whole Four Seasons experience has been incredible, the hospitality, the staff and just how luxurious it is, it’s really something I could get used to. I see myself and the family spending a lot more time here in future.”
Kerr rode the final on a surfboard he borrowed from Hawaiian Kai Lenny, after knocking a fin out in his semi-final showdown with Matt Wilkinson. “Obviously I would like to have been on my own board, especially as the waves got so good during the final. They’re easily the best conditions we’ve had so far; it was epic. Obviously Joel was in rhythm, whereas I probably was forcing it a bit hard on a board that wasn’t built for me. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow though, we could be finishing with a bang if conditions hold up.”

The first semi-final was the day’s slowest heat, Parkinson accounting for Lenny on the strength of an 8.27 and a 7.00. Lenny had a 7.07 on his opening wave but couldn’t find a backup, and was forced to settle for a third place. Things heated up in the second semi-final as Wilkinson, famed for his incredible backhand, unleashed a string of sizzling re-entries to lock in the highest scoring wave of the day, a 9.17. Kerr countered with a 7.60 and an 8.17 to narrowly edge in front. With Wilkinson chasing a 6.60 to make the final he came up agonisingly short, missing out by 0.1 in the closest heat of the event so far.

Due to Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) having to withdraw from the event, Kerr and Parkinson received first round walk-throughs today. In the second of the three-man round one heats, Wilkinson and Kai Lenny defeated local wildcard Mohamed Fayaz, who was thrilled to once again come up against some of surfing’s icons. “It’s such a great opportunity to me to get to surf with some of the legends of the sport,” said the man who is nicknamed Pelé. “It’s a dream come true, I’m so happy! I wasn’t nervous at all; I was just excited. I had so much fun. The guys have all been so nice and so friendly; it’s been really special. Maldivian surfing is getting better and better, and hopefully through me getting a chance to compete in this event I can show some young kids of the level that it is possible to get to.”

Conditions are primed for an epic final day tomorrow as the surfers revert back to the modern weapon of choice, the thruster. At the end of that division a grand final will be contested by the two surfers with the highest points, and while Kerr and Parkinson each have one foot in the ultimate showdown, Wilkinson, Lenny and Fayaz are all still within striking distance. We’re all set for a great day, stay tuned!
The Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy is hosted aboard Four Seasons Explorer – the Maldives’ ultimate surf vessel. Fans can get up close to the action with onboard VIP passes while the ‘surf tour’ experience continues with nightly events back at Four Seasons Kuda Huraa, which plays host to the contest’s competitors, judges and Tropicsurf partners.

Twin-Fin Division Results 
1. Joel Parkinson (AUS)

2. Josh Kerr (AUS)

3. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) equal with Kai Lenny (HAW)

5. Mohamed Fayaz (MDV)

2019 FS Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy Leaderboard
Josh Kerr (AUS) 1900pts

Joel Parkinson (AUS) 1900pts

Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 1600pts

Mohamed Fayaz (MDV) 1500pts

Kai Lenny (HAW) 1500pts

Seaplane Surfing