TAJ BURROW WINS THE CONTEST WITH A BESERK PERFORMANCE:

Tokolosh is back, with his diary and unique perspective on our planet´s major contests. This week he´s at the Quiksilver Pro event on the Gold Coast.

Saturday 17 March 2001; Snapper Rocks, Australia:

Disneyland, is what Snapper rocks was today for the young up and comers from the Gold Coast, But It was Taj who stole the show from the local boys.

The swell did pick up overnight , but just not enough for the prime breaks of Burleigh and Kirra, even though they did look fun it was a bit small for the contest, so after much debate the contest was called on for Snapper rocks which had some fun fun sections as well as a tube or two. The quarters were stacked but none as heavy as the second with Mick Fanning, Taj Burrows, Joel Parkinson and Jay Phillips, with Taj being the only non local at Snapper. Mick Fanning went into hyper drive and blew up which only forced Taj to go even harder, leaving Parko and Jay behind in the best heat of the day, a battle of the young guns.

Occy also at home showed the kids a thing or two with an all power display to go all the way to the final along with a smooth tube riding display by Zane Harrison.

Before the final the last of the MSF expression sessions was held in perfect 3-4ft speedy lauching pads, Kelly at last pulled an incredible aerial 360 on the siren , it was amazing but I think no one else saw it as he didnt even win the most futuristic move, but the star was Joel Parkinson who went ballistic with an amazingly high rail grabbing 10ft air, unbeleivable, the crowd went wild.

Taj must have sensed the atmosphere and in the final went beserk, total abandon surfing attacking everything that moved he did it all carves, airs, tubes the whole shooting match, an untouchable display. Mick Fanning went off too but was nowhere near Taj, Occy was 3rd and Zane 4th.

Like I said it was like taking the kids to Disneyland and they definitely enjoyed the rides.

Friday 16 March 2001, Duranbah, Australia

Another hot humid day at Duranbah, the surf was pretty fun when the tide came in for a few heats otherwise it was pretty average, with a lot of close outs and very few quality waves to be found, but the worlds best surfers know how to surf and put on a good show for all the gromms who obviously did´nt go to school as the beach was packed. Taj won the second MSF air show with Slater once again not making any radical moves in the dumping 3-4ft D Bah peaks. It looks as if the quarters , semis and final are a go tomorrow at D Bah again but the swell was showing signs of an increase in the evening and you never can tell, but the final day at Kirra is too much to hope for.

Thursday 15 May 2001: Duranbah, Australia

Nice waves at Duranbah this morning, 3ft with a few 4 foot sets offshore and hollow, very fun and rippable. The round of 96 was surfed off without any real surprises, but the main attraction of the day was the first heat of the money round with the reappearance of King Kelly. He had on paper a relatively easy heat and should of had no problems, but this is the wqs and Paulo Mauro and Favio Silva burst out of the blocks immediately with big backhand bashes on 2 back to back righthanders. Slater just sat and waited, while both Silva and Mauro got another good wave each, Slater just sat. He finally caught his first wave with only 10 minutes to go with the 2 Brazilians by now having built up a huge lead, he seemed edgy and nervous and surfed safe and soft and battled to get more than a 5 point ride. With 5 minutes to go the writing was on the wall Kelly was gone the brazilians had just given him a lesson on wqs heat tactics. Slater is the master of 2 man 25 minute heats but a 4 man 20 minute heat is a whole world apart and he had the lesson drummed into him. His comeback should be easy but the wqs is a hard school, I can still remember Occy almost throwing in the towel in 96.

The swell seems set to remain small and it looks as if we will be at the beachbreak of Duranbah to the finish with another full day set for tomorrow it looks set for a Saturday finish with no more classic Gold Coast point break barrlels.

Wednesday 14 March 2001 Burleigh Heads Australia.

Well I lost my bet and am glad, Duranbah was shit this morning, it had picked up and the SE was blowing pretty hard making things even worse, we sat around until 12 noon debating going ahead at first at D Bah then later at Burleigh but it was too big for D Bah and way too small for Burleigh. The weather was cloudy with a few drops every now and then and the wind which is supposed to bring a new swell was also unpleasant. Tomorrow its do or die time and we will be running no matter what the conditions.

Tuesday 13 March 2001 Burleigh Heads Australia

Hot and sunny but no waves on any of the point breaks so the contest called off for the day. We jumped straight into the car and headed south towards Byron bay in a hunt for some waves, but the roads were closed due to the recent flooding and we went for a surf at Cabarita which was like always a little disappointing, it was a perfect day however and we had fun before the south wind picked up and killed the surf. On the way back we stopped off at Duranbah which was looking very fun as well as extremely crowded, I will bet money on the contest being run there tomorrow. In the afternoon it was back to a bit of fishing which turned out even better than yesterday, 8 bream, 1 flathead and 3 whitting, its all for fun though and they are all still swimming safe and sound.

Monday 13 March 2001 Burleigh Heads Australia

Well the sun finally came out today but the surf definitely did not and it was almost flat all day. The contest was cancelled eventually after a few looks at other spots but it was not really up to scratch. I went for a surf out at Burleigh in the morning but it was a bit pathetic, but the water was warm and not too crowded. In the afternoon I went fishing and had a great time and caught 10 bream, 9 went straight back but one is in the pan, yum.

Sunday 11 March 2001 Burleigh Heads Australia

Strange call today to go ahead with the event, the surf was much worse than yesterday , smaller and less consistent along with an onshore SE wind it was not a very pleasant day of surfing, but its Sunday and you cant dissapoint all of those customers, the contest was even put on hold for an expression session at lunch time. Ross Williams absolutely blew up on one wave, by far the best surfed wave of the day and Kelly went for some bizzare Alley Oop, Rodeo clown or whaterever, those ridiculous aerial 360 inverse, upsidedown things are called he got the crowd excited but didnt manage to land one. A young new Brazilian guy took the honours though with a very high controlled air. It was a strange day, very, very hot and humid with bursts of sunshine and showers of rain, the swell seems on the decline, lets hope tomorrow is an improvement.

Saturday 10 March 2001 Burleigh Heads Australia

Another day of pouring rain and onshore surf, so the contest was called off for the day. I had a surf in the morning but believe me, Saturday morning on the Gold Coast is no time to go for a surf, if you want to have fun. What a zoo, hundreds of guys who all can surf going all out to get a few waves while the swell still stays around and all very pissed off that the really good waves were surfed when they were all at work during the week.

But enough of that, last night was the infamous Tracks party and if you have ever read a Tracks magazine you might understand that no holds are barred, free food and beers in Australia means look out. On my way out I saw one of my friends a little past his sell by date grab a nice young girl and suggest a very unnatural act to her, which suprisingly she refused, so he walked over to her car and vomited in the front seat. Aah Australia the land of if you cant rocking roll dont fucking come.

Friday 9 March 2001 Burleigh Heads Australia

It was too good to be true a huge storm front moved in over night and the wind turned onshore and turned the waves to mush. The contest was put on hold until 11am before being called off for the day. The news was not all bad however as at a press conference at 12 the ASP announced the signing of a mega deal with SSM a sports media group who should be bringing surfing into all of our lounges in the near future.

Thursday 8 March 2001 Burleigh Heads Australia

Awoke at first light to the sound of the ocean, we are staying in an apartment with the best view in town Burleigh point all the way to Surfers Paradise in the distance. The surf was perfect once again, a little smaller than yesterday but cleaner and more lined up, and if possible more perfect than yesterday. The crew at Quiksilver had to be laughing 4 straight days of Gold Coast perfection, and today the main event was set to start. The atmosphere at the contest was electric as the surfers in heat after heat got barreled over and over again, but barrel of the day goes to Paul "Antman" Paterson who got so, so deep for so, so long it was unbelievable. All in all 2 days in Australia and 2 classic days of surf. The weather however is a little horrible as the offshore wind is bringing in a few rain squalls, but it can rain every day as long as the surf stays like this.

Wednesday 7 March 2001 Burleigh Heads Australia

The flight to Australia is hell, 30 hours of torture and airline food, but it was worth it, the Gold Coast was going off.`It was absolutely pumping 6-8ft and ballistic, what a sight. All signs of my jet lag took a back seat for a while as the excitement of perfect dredging barrels got my mind and body into overdrive. But alas the contest trials were on and luckily for me I didnt get to get into the water as I was in no state to surf, I was exhausted. I watched a few heats and it was sick classic perfet Burleigh barrels.