With a massive and long barrel ride, Tahiti’s Michel Bourez put the dagger into his competitors in the Vans World Cup of Surfing final Friday at Sunset Beach.
Bourez, ranked No. 5 on the world tour, scored a 9.93 on the clinching wave with 10 minutes left in the 35-minute final against three from Hawaii, Dusty Payne, Sebastian Zietz and Ian Walsh.
"I’m going to celebrate at a barbecue with friends, not get too crazy," said Bourez, who earned $40,000 for the win in triple overhead conditions with faces as big as 20 feet.
Bourez finished with a two-wave total of 18.13 and moved into second place in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, which will wrap up with the last of three events starting next week in the Billabong Pipe Masters.
Payne, who won the first leg of the Triple Crown in the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa last month, was second with a 14.60, followed by Zietz (8.93) and Walsh (4.90).
Payne found a barrel on his first wave in the final and nearly caught a second one.
"I just got under the lip, so maybe I should have stalled a little more to get in it," said Payne, who scored a different kind of victory by earning enough points to qualify for 2015’s World Surf League, the new name of pro surfing’s highest level formerly called the Association of Surfing Professionals’ World Championship Tour. Payne was on the tour in 2010, ’11 and ’12 before falling off with injuries.
Honolulu’s Keanu Asing, who just missed making the Sunset final when Walsh scored a 9.0 for getting shacked in the last minute of the semifinals, also qualified for the WSL.
"It’s pretty crazy to reach my goal," said Asing, 21, who got a kiss from his girlfriend, Kailin Curran, after his semifinal heat. Curran is the first female fighter from Hawaii to be signed by the UFC. "It should be a big learning experience … learn as much as I can and push my surfing to a new level. And set new goals."
Bourez, who has three tour wins this year, credited his physical conditioning with trainer Yannick Beven as the biggest push to the victory in the massive Sunset surf.
"We do a lot of cardio and jiu-jitsu," Bourez said. "And the jiu-jitsu is more for the mentality side of things. When you’re in a bad situation and you feel like maybe you’ve lost all your strength, you learn to not worry. In jiu-jitsu, you are taught that there is always a solution.
"You have to be physically prepared to surf Sunset. Sometimes you get smashed and have to fight your way back out. Training helps you focus and do the right thing."
When asked about the winning wave in which he set up the barrel with a bottom turn and a slight stall, Bourez said, "Really, it was just a perfect wave. I’ve been surfing my whole life, so it’s a matter of reading it right. I made the right choice by taking that wave."
Now, all eyes are on Pipeline, where the Triple Crown winner as well as a world champion will be determined. The holding period starts Monday and runs through Dec. 20.
"Pipe is a scary wave," Bourez said. "Sometimes, I feel shaky out there. That’s why I’ll be out there every day (practicing) and trying to get the biggest ones. I’ll get smashed by those so I can get used to it to be able to get the best ones when they come in (at the contest)."
Australia’s Mark Richards, a Hall of Fame surfer and four-time world champ (1979-82), was impressed with the display of power surfing in power waves Thursday.
"Michel and (the other finalists) were absolutely tearing it to pieces out there," he said.
Three surfers will be vying for the world title at Pipeline, No. 1 Gabriel Medina of Brazil, No. 2 Mick Fanning of Australia and No. 3 Kelly Slater of Florida.
Medina, who was ousted in the fourth round at Sunset, is going for his first world title. Fanning has won it three times, and Slater is an 11-time world champion.
Slater is recovering from two broken toes, and Hawaii’s John John Florence, who missed the first two Triple Crown events with a strained hamstring, will also be gunning for a Pipeline title.
