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Posted on Friday March 13th 2009 at 1:17 p.m.
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Joel Parkinson (born 1981) is an Australian surfer who competes on the world tour. Known as Parko, he grew up on the Gold Coast with fellow surfer Mick Fanning. He won the Quiksilver Pro in 2002 and the Quiksilver Pro France in 2006. He won the billabong pro at J-bay at 17 years old as a wildcard. During December 2008 Pipeline Masters third-round heat in Hawaii, Parkinson matched Kelly Slater's 2005 record of two perfect 10-point rides under the world tour's two-best-waves scoring system.
Mick Fanning , 27, learned to surf at the age of five in coastal New South Wales at a town called Ballina, but did not go full on until his family moved to Tweed Heads when he was twelve. He grew up with fellow professional surfer, Joel Parkinson. On the edge of the Queensland border, Fanning had access to epic surf north and south and he began to make a name for himself. former ASP World Champion (2007) and two-time past winner of the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast ('05, '07). Victorious when he took a wild card entry at the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach in 2001.
One of the all-time classic Kirra match-ups played out:
Joel surfed a pair of decent scores early on and the pressure was on Mick to answer back. So Mick did that. But first he stroked over the ledge on a board breaker, pulled in and broke his board. He was back in the lineup in a few mins with a replacement boardbord, jet-ski assisted and was immediately into a bomb for a 9.43 and took the lead. Then this exchange took place in under 4 mins:
Mick 8.23
Joel 8.07
Joel 9.93
Joel 10.00
Mick 7.93
Parko rode out of dumping, monstrous tube knowing he had nailed it.
"Cyclone Hamish turned it on for us," Fanning said. "It's one of those days where you can have one of the best surfs of your life or one of the worst surfs of your life. It wasn't the best surf of my life, but it was definitely up there. I didn't see Joel's 9.90 but I saw his 10," Fanning said. "When his head popped out, I knew. I said to myself I would give that a 10. Congratulations to him, he surfed an awesome heat."
The hometown favorite returned to the lineup for the final against Adriano de Souza to collect a bevy of high scores, including a 7.50 and an 8.17, before nailing his second perfect 10 of the day, pushing his heat total to an unsurpassable 18.84 out of a possible 20.
"I was thinking it has been a long time between drinks [ASP World Tour event wins]," Parkinson said. "Until the hooter blew, I didn't know what emotion to feel. It's the kind of thing where you're surrounded by a lot of people and it's not until you pull yourself back and you're together with family and friends, that's really when you feel all of your emotions. Right now I'm on a high and I'm buzzing, it will be a few hours to let it all sink in."
Parkinson now sits atop the ASP World Tour ratings, in excellent position for his 2009 campaign for the ASP World Title.
"There's still a long way to go and there are a lot of dangerous surfers out there," Parkinson said. "I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. It is a long year with a lot of stops. It is going to be a great year."
Last year Joel Parkinson was the best surfer in Hawaii during one of the best seasons there in over a decade. He has the second perfect heat score in history and the Triple Crown trophy to prove it but there was more to his dominance than just the comps.
When is Joel Parkinson the smoothest surfer on tour going to win a world title? Just ask nine-time champ Kelly Slater, who says Parko's the biggest threat to his tenth in '09.
Joel Parkinson is a man in complete control of his own destiny...