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"\"&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Started with a bang, ended with a whimper.&lt;\\/b&gt; That\\u2019s the second to last day of the Rip Curl Pro. The day began with Joel Parkinson and Danny Wills smashing perfect sunny walls, and finished with Andy Irons and Bobby Martinez scratching their heads in a cold flat lineup.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt=\\\"\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/image.surfingmagazine.com\\/f\\/news\\/surfing-world-championship-tour\\/31363344+w545+st0\\/lineup-bells-beach.jpg\\\" title=\\\"lineup-bells-beach\\\" class=\\\"alignnone\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;The Ten Year Swell being called for by event forecaster Ben Matson tried to show today. It pulsed, it semi-barrelled off the Rincon point section, it almost made the grade to Classic. Then around midday, with AI and Bobby in the lineup and ready to rip, it sorta shrugged and gave up.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;The surfers were caught totally short by this unseemly behavior. Only moments earlier, they\\u2019d been waving their arms at event director Damien Hardman, who\\u2019d wanted to call a halt. Now they were stuck with the heat and barely a wave was breaking.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cI thought it\\u2019s gonna be 20 minutes till the next one and we\\u2019re gonna look like dickheads, throwing tantrums in the water going \\u2018Come on run it!\\u2019\\u201d groaned Andy afterward. \\u201cThen Bobby got a little wave and I thought \\u2018Oh man, what\\u2019s he doing to me? He\\u2019s gonna get a five or whatever. I\\u2019ve shot myself in the foot here.\\u2019 But I just went patient and got an open face and got a five then a six something.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cIt wasn\\u2019t great sport but enough to make it right now.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Yeah, just. AI survives to fight again in conditions that do look as if they might be about to produce one of 2006\\u2019s finest events.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Gale-force offshore winds are one of the best swell predictors at Bells Beach, and today they howled like banshees, tormenting more than one competitor with up-the-face chop, and causing plenty of dug rails in the process.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Pancho Sullivan was a victim. Pancho fell foul of a subtle flaw in the Bells wave face \\u2013 a slight bump that holds a lighter surfboard high in the lip for a fractional extra second. This, combined with the wind, nullified his spectacular open face carves and let Luke Stedman fly past on better wave choice.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Bruce Irons and Paulo Moura fell foul of something much simpler, local knowledge. Bede Durbidge and Shaun Cansdell, the two young Australians, have been down to this cold part of the country numerous times. \\u201cBecause of all the junior series events we\\u2019ve done, I\\u2019ve probably been here 15-20 times,\\u201d said Bede. \\u201cAll that experience helps I think, because all these other guys only come down here once a year.\\u201d And indeed, sleek Brucey did look irritatedly unfamiliar with the Bells Bowl\\u2019s wobble.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Ten heats now remain to be decided, and if the Ten Year Swell does raise its head, some of those heats will stagger the imagination. This event is ridiculously stacked. On the bottom half of the heat draw, AI, Taj Burrow, Occy, Mick Fanning, Mick Lowe and Parko are all gazing at each other, wondering what the hell they\\u2019re gonna have to do to make the final. On the top half, Stedman, Cansdell and Durbidge share the real estate with \\u2026 yep, guess who&amp;#8230;Kelly.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt=\\\"\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/image.surfingmagazine.com\\/f\\/news\\/surfing-world-championship-tour\\/25965539+w545+st0\\/parkinson-rip-curl-pro.jpg\\\" title=\\\"parkinson-rip-curl-pro\\\" class=\\\"alignnone\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Slater is one win off equalling the great Tom Curren\\u2019s all-time tour total of 33 event victories. Despite this, there doesn\\u2019t seem a lot of attendant pressure on the skin-headed superman. His heat with Taylor Knox today seemed relaxed, the surfers staying level almost to the end before Kelly turned it up a notch on his final ride and pulled away for the win.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Once upon a time, say ten years back, it might\\u2019ve been fiercer. \\u201cIt was just more serious then,\\u201d Kelly says thoughtfully. \\u201cI was more focused. It sorta meant more, somehow, personally or something, back then. I was out there just now thinking, whether Taylor or I win, it\\u2019s no big deal. Obviously I wanna win my heats but to see my friend win heats is kinda cool too. He\\u2019s competitive but I know when I go see him now he\\u2019ll give me a hug and laugh, he won\\u2019t be bummed.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Kelly\\u2019s riding one of his magic Simon Anderson pintails. Most modern high performance boards surf best off the back half, but Slater seems to be able to ride his Simon from the center \\u2013 a real asset at windy, hard-to-penetrate Bells. The board, made last July, is unquestionably the most beaten-up piece of crap in the contest. It has a crease just forward of the front foot and a scattering of other small dings, fixed with what appears to be a loose application of Solarez. \\u201cDo you have one of these?\\u201d KS7 asked your correspondent. \\u201cDo yourself a favor.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt=\\\"\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/image.surfingmagazine.com\\/f\\/news\\/surfing-world-championship-tour\\/31363347+w545+st0\\/slater-rip-curl-pro.jpg\\\" title=\\\"slater-rip-curl-pro\\\" class=\\\"alignnone\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;br clear=\\\"all\\\"&gt;Do the other guys a favor, buddy. Snap the thing tomorrow morning in the warmup. \\u2018Cause if not, we\\u2019re looking sideways at number 33.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Results&lt;br \\/&gt;Round three&lt;br \\/&gt;Heat 15: 1 Mick Lowe 15.17, 2 Trent Munro 14.17&lt;br \\/&gt;Heat 16: 1 Joel Parkinson 17.67, 2 Danny Wills 16.2&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Round four&lt;br \\/&gt;Heat One: 1 Luke Stedman 12.6, 2 Pancho Sullivan 11.34&lt;br \\/&gt;Heat Two: 1 Shaun Cansdell 15.6, 2 Paulo Moura 15.03&lt;br \\/&gt;Heat Three: 1 Bede Durbidge 14.9, 2 Bruce Irons 14.56&lt;br \\/&gt;Heat Four: 1 Kelly Slater 17.1, 2 Taylor Knox 15.27&lt;br \\/&gt;Heat Five: 1 Andy Irons 12.5, 2 Bobby Martinez 10.5&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Still to surf&lt;br \\/&gt;Heat Six: Taj Burrow vs Mark Occhilupo&lt;br \\/&gt;Heat Seven: Mick Fanning vs Greg Emslie&lt;br \\/&gt;Heat {{{Eight}}}: Mick Lowe vs Joel Parkinson&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.surfingmagazine.com/news/rip-curl-pro-carroll-041906/>