Wilson teeters at Bells

COOLUM'S Julian Wilson faces a sudden-death heat after struggling to tame the tricky conditions at Bells Beach yesterday.

COOLUM'S Julian Wilson faces a sudden-death heat after struggling to tame the tricky conditions at Bells Beach yesterday.

Wilson finished last in his three-man opening-round heat after the choppy 1.2-metre swell caused havoc for the progressive surfer as he tried to find some quality waves during the first day of competition at the Rip Curl Pro.

He finished with a two-wave total of 9.83 (out of a possible 20), behind Brazilian Adriano de Souza (14.60) and Chris Davidson (10.83).

Wilson will come up against Davidson again today in the second round but the waves are likely to be more forgiving, the winds having moved offshore late yesterday.

Joel Parkinson, the 2009 Rip Curl Pro champion, put in a sensational performance to secure the day’s highest scores.

He locked in the highest wave score and the highest heat score, 17.74, to advance to round three.

“I fell off twice on the bowl,” Parkinson said.

“It was really hard to ride. It’s great to get that opening-heat win, especially at Bells.

“You never know what conditions you’re going to get in a heat, so to be able to skip round two and maybe get a day off is a huge advantage.”

Originally published as Wilson teeters at Bells