Fanning finds mojo
Cooly Kid looks most likely as Jeffreys Bay delivers sublime conditions
MICK Fanning has started his quest for a fourth consecutive J-Bay Open final in style, dominating the opening round to show he is the man to beat at the famed South African break.
Fanning has won four J-Bay titles, as has Kelly Slater, although Fanning could already have a fifth title under his belt if it wasn’t for the great white shark that interrupted his final against Julian Wilson in 2015.
Fanning won titles either side of that no-contest, as well as in 2002 and 2006 and his effort to dispatch Sebastian Zietz and Joan Duru in Round 1 showed he is again in tune with the wave at Supertubes.
“It’s really nice out there,” said Fanning, who mastered the overhead conditions for a heat total of 17.23 out of a possible 20.
“J-Bay is one of my favourite waves and what better place to come to.
“I was really nervous because the waves were so good and the conditions are pretty ludicrous out there.
“It’s one of those things where you’ve just got to try to calm the nerves and really just focus on the job at hand.
“But once you get those couple of waves under your belt, you just try to catch everything.”
Fanning needs to win at J-Bay to have any shot of adding to his three world titles after a slow start to the year.
And while there were better scores – world champion John John Florence went close to a perfect heat with his 19.37 effort – few look as comfortable as Fanning.
Slater was also strong, notching a 9.10 with his opening wave to win his heat against Wilson and Kanoa Igarashi.
World championship leader Matt Wilkinson was beaten in his heat and will have to progress through a suddendeath Round 2 heat, as will fellow title hopes Owen Wright and Jordy Smith.
Florence trails Wilkinson by just 250 points in the title race and his heat showed he will also be hard to beat in the event he finished runner-up in to Fanning last year.
“That was some of the best J-Bay surfing we’ve seen,” commentator Peter Mel said of Florence’s effort.
Florence said it was the best conditions he had ever seen at the famed break.
“You can position yourself exactly where you want to be on the wave,” he said. “You just have this big open canvas in front of you.”
Gold Coasters Joel Parkinson, Jack Freestone and Bede Durbidge all won their Round 1 heats, with Lennox Head’s Stuart Kennedy, Tweed’s Josh Kerr and Stradbroke Island rookie Ethan Ewing pushed into Round 2.