|
I’ve always wanted to have a threesome.
Of course, wouldn’t you know mine would go down via Facebook
Chat… and be totally duded out. Local Outer Banks photographers Matt Lusk and Daniel
Pullen started getting busy with me long before Buxton, NC, firefly Brett
Barley’s first-ever contest heat at the Banzai Pipeline — the deadliest,
most celebrated surf spot on earth, and thus the break he’s pledged himself to for
the past three winters. Fellow journo Matt Walker jumped in bed with Pullen,
Lusk, and me shortly thereafter, making for a digital creep-a-thon of Weird Science proportions. Chalk it up
to a fragile romantic state, a downsized libido, or the coldest, most brutal
Outer Banks winter I can remember — but this was as good an orgy as I was
gonna get. And it got pretty nasty.
With eight to ten-foot Pipe detonating on our modems
— Pullen watching from Buxton, Lusk and Walker engaged in Kill Devil
Hills, and myself plugged in at my cousin’s Elizabeth City home — we plucked
and pulsed a half-moon of electronic stoke around northeastern North Carolina as
one Round of 96 heat on Friday brought a buzzer, a bomb, a Backdoor, and Brett.
It was something like the 20-year-old’s third or fourth
ever ride at the right, definitely his first time riding that JC surfboard (which
he later admitted wasn’t even shaped for him — “All my boards are
hand-me-downs”), and he scored a perfect 10. Dare County sports history written
in 20 minutes. Brett then backed that up with a 9.67 for the highest combined score
of the event. With a record snowstorm approaching, I was trapped inside with
three colleagues click-click-clickiting our own unique brand of journalistic
discourse and my cousin’s wife Joanna inquiring as to what I was screaming
about. I tried to explain to her the magnitude of this accomplishment for
Tarheels, East Coasters, Mainland Americans… basically anyone who doesn’t rule
Pipe for a living. I chanted and paced and foamed at the mouth explaining that,
“This arena, Joanna, this here is like Wimbledon, the Daytona Speedway, and the
Roman Coliseum all wrapped up into one primal flume of tectonic madness.” Of
course, being somewhat surf-ignorant, Joanna’s beautiful blue eyes colored an
otherwise vacant look.
“Well, that’s cool,” she said.
Yeah, cool. Three days and thousands of refreshed
wireless servers later, Brett has taken his heartwarming Volcom Pipeline Pro
campaign all the way to this afternoon’s semifinals amidst an idyllic west
swell scenario, pumping valiantly through a suicidal Backdoor closeout on the
heels of a couple mid-range scores only to go out a comboed casualty to Mark
Mathews and Danny Fuller. Brett’s equal-7th result is still the highest ASP
accolade an Outer Banks surfer has attained. Ever.
If you’ve been to the contest’s website, www.volcompipelinepro.com, you need not a stock regurgitation of events that
have come to pass a few hours ago. And if you haven’t taken advantage of the
Heats On Demand convenience, you’re blowing it anyway. But there’s been so much
emotion involved with what contest emcees Dave Stanfield, Chris Cote, and Gerry
Lopez agreed was the feel-good story of the event, Joanna’s assessment seems
appropriate enough. Brett’s watermark feat is pretty damn cool. But what’s the
coolest thing about it?
Is it that Gerry Lopez referenced the Gaia Theory,
where the Earth is an actual living being with thoughts and inclinations and
that it seems to “like” Brett Barley? Yeah, this coming from “Mr. Pipeline”
himself.
Maybe it’s the fact that Brett seemed to be
congratulating Danny Fuller out the back after Fuller posted a perfect 10 in
their semifinal bout today, further testifying to Brett’s humble nature that
was already clearly evident in his interviews, which included such classic aw-shucks
Barley-isms as:
“I’m just
trying to sit deeper and further away from the other guys. I haven’t even put a
dent in this place and I don’t wanna make anybody mad at me out there…”
“Since I was
little I’ve always wanted to surf here with no one out. The fact that all this
has happened is just more layers of icing on the cake.”
Is it that Barley — who excelled in a myriad of death-defying
conditions these past few days alongside such notable East Coast upstarts as
Nils Schweizer, Devon Tresher, and Travis Beckmann — brought so much fresh
attention to his Cape Hatteras homewaters? He even stated in one interview, “When it gets big and heavy at home,
it’s ridiculously challenging to surf. This feels like home, only bigger.” In fact, after Cote fumbled some initial research
with, “Brett pretty much wins all the events over on the East Coast,” the emcee
made good by raining praise on the Outer Banks and its surfers and their
abilities in heavy, hollow waves.
No, the coolest thing is that Brett actually paid attention to the fact
that Walker, Pullen, Lusk, and me were paying attention. In fact, shortly after
our fanatic foursome, Walker bet Barley a fiveski that he wouldn’t wax Spicoli
next time he had the mic in front of him. And wouldn’t you know it? After one
beachside interview, Brett pulled the reporter back to his side, and encored,
“Oh, and one more thing. ‘Danger is my
business.’ You owe me five bucks, Matt.”
Now that’s cool.
For photos, videos, and full results of the olcom Pipeline Pro, visit www.volcompipelinepro.com.
For updated ASP-WQS ratings, visit www.ASPWorldTour.com.
|
