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HickmanPro slalom skier Bill Susi is covering the 2010 Moomba Masters for waterskimag.com. He’ll provide daily updates with results and commentary, so stay tuned to waterskimag.com.
It’s Sunday, the day of the Moomba Masters semi-final round here in Melbourne, Australia. Today we finally got a glimpse of the massive crowds that come through to watch our contest. Yesterday’s storm put a damper on things, but not today. I wasn’t sure how long the weather would last so I decided to get some sight seeing out of the way.
The Eureka Sky Scraper had been calling my name ever since I heard about it, so I headed for the building before the Masters kicked off. Of course, like everything else in Melbourne I had to pay, but it was definitely worth it. On the 89th floor there is a balcony that overlooks the entire city and bay. By the time I reached the top, Men’s tricks had started so I got to spectate from a bird’s eye view. After snapping some pics, I noticed another competition going on between trickers. It was the 3rd annual Birdman Competition, which is Australia’s answer to Red Bull’s Flugtag. It was Halloween meets High Dive and it was hilarious.
There weren’t many surprises in Men’s Slalom except Jr. Masters Champ Zane Nicholson nailing 38′ off and making his first Pro Final. It was awesome to see him step up with the crowds watching. Will Asher, Chris Parrish, Aaron Larkin and Marcus Brown all had the best 38’s but CP and Will were the only guys to nearly run 39′. CP went out the front at 6-ball and Will mysteriously popped the handle at 4, even though he was in better shape.
The slalom crash of the day goes to Mike Morgan. He was really late heading into 6-ball at 35’ off when he went out the front and smashed head first into the water doing cartwheels towards the starting dock. Now for those of you who don’t know Dr. M, he wears small tight spandex shorts when he slaloms. The impact ripped those little shorts down to his knees and he ended up mooning the crowd as he tumbled — priceless.
Jump was typical jump, all Freddy — and on his opening jump he snatched the lead. Everyone looked good, though, so I still think its up for grabs. Of course, Freddy is the clear favorite but lots of guys went late today to try to feel it out so if any of them get a hold of one it will be game over.
Zack Worden had the worst jump crash, going out the front. He did a complete front flip smashing down on his back during his first jump. Zack shook it off and jumped his way to tomorrow’s final.
Right as we finished the day, clouds came out and it began to sprinkle — perfect timing. Tomorrow will be the finals, with bigger holiday crowds.
