With dismal conditions for the first five days of the waiting period of The Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, the mens event is looking to get underway today in less than stellar conditions. The CI team has still been making the most of the waves on hand, trying out a few different boards to see what suits the long drawn out wave of Bells Beach. Dane’s car is stocked full of Dumper Divers, a Rookie he rode up at the Goldy, and an MTF Altered. Dusty has his quiver of Rookie models, while Kelly tried out a roundtail Whip and a swallow tail whip at a secluded right point. Check back for more updates.

The trek down to Bells has been a rainy and flat one , but the area never lacks color , everything seems like its to the extreme, sunrises , sunsets ,full moons , rainbows , all except the waves.

Dusty and Dane pull up bright and early to try and get a surf in at Winki between rain squalls.

Dane pops the trunk to check some of his equipment.

At this point the guys didnt know if they would run or not , Dane gives the rookie he rode in the quarters at Snapper a once over , as it was sent from the goldy to torquay for him , and Dusty looks over Danes Diver.

“Maybe I should give this one a go for you” Dusty says.

Everyone who surfs knows , even though it doesn’t always hold true once you ride them , It really feels like you can tell a board works just by grabbing it and holding it under your arm.

Who knows if it stays this small and moves to Winki , Dane might need to ride this dumpster diver.

“Ha… Dane what the heck happened to your MTF side fin its all grinded down flat,” Freddy P borrowed her yesterday for a surf at Jan- Juc, ouch but he said he liked her alot…

Next stop was the Quik shop to meet Kelly and say hello to Zeb and check out the large selection of boards they have in stock.

Zeb handles the board side of things at Quik and said the guys around Torquay cant get enough of the Black Beauty . I bet it stems from that 86 Curren vs Occy heat at Bells. Well we get to see a rematch this week!

A few hours later with the tide high and a good 30 minute drive , the sun came out , There was some wind but at least Kelly found a place to surf and test some boards.

Nobody ever gets tired of checking out his boards, at least three people stopped by to have a look . One guy ,nice one at that , asked Kelly if he was paddling out Kelly said ya , he said great I will join you.

The swallow tail whip is always a great option , the concave deck looks pretty cool too.

seriously not to many people get into trying as many fin set ups as this guy!

Here’s the tri fin set up he will ride on his whip.

The two for today, both 5-9 whips , the one on the left he rode as a quad and looked really good backside , the other swallow tail with a bit wider tail looked really fast over the flatter sections.

“Am I really going out by myself? Honestly?”

Though he didn’t land this one, he came pretty close.

It was victory at sea at this lonely point break, but there were still a couple rippable open faces.

With a dismal forecast and as time ticks away, if it is at least this good tomorrow, the even will be on.

Meanwhile in the bush behind the competition area, the lone kangaroo stays just out of sight.

The surroundings are surreal but the waves still aren’t cooperating.

After Kelly’s three hour solo surf, he stopped by The Chocolate Room. Don’t stand in this guys way or you’ll lose your hand.