Bell-Warren Carves Hells Bells

Bell-Warren Carves Hells Bells

By Mark Humphrey

Bells Beach, Vic/Aus. 19^th August 2014. Local ASP QS rated surfer and club president Cahill Bell-Warren has put in a dominate performance in clean 3’ surf to take out the Torquay Boardriders Club inaugural “Hells Bells” event run at the famous local Bells Beach break.

Cahill Bell-Warren was supreme in the "Bells Bowl"

Bell-Warren, ranked in the mid 60’s on the current ASP Men’s QS ratings had to overcome challenges from former WCT Pro Troy Brooks and future stars in Tristan Forras and Makenzi Bowden to  be the first ever surfer to hoist the custom made “Hells Bells” trophy in a victory celebration.

The brain child of Brooks, the unique competition format pitted the clubs elite against junior grommets, up and coming stars and even the club’s female surfers in knock out rounds with the 4 best surfers on the day contesting the 25 minute final for the coveted prize. A glowing example of the format saw under 12’s Patrick Hughes up against former WCT Pro Troy Brooks and 3 other club surfers in the first heat of the day. The outcome of the heat was obvious as the seeded Brooks took out the win but Hughes beat home 2 others to finish in 3^rd spot and advance to the round of 32. That was the beauty of the format which provided a platform for some of the younger aspiring groms to show their wares.   

Creator of the event Troy Brooks with the "Hells Bells" trophy.

Throughout the 11 heats junior surfers found themselves in the contest with their more fancied open heroes going head to head competing for waves. The seeded surfers were a who’s who of Westcoast surfing led by 2 of the clubs finest ever in Brooks and Bell-Warren. Other seeded surfers were Lewis Oats, current club ratings leader Tristan Forras, Tim Burnie, Todd Rosewall, Tom Allan, Makenzie Bowden, Harrison Mann, Johnny Hawken and Nic Muscroft.

THE SEEDSBell-WarrenBrooksOatsForrasBurnieRosewallAllanBowdenMannHawkenMuscroft

All seeded surfers as expected advanced to the round of 32 with all but Rosewall and Allan winning their heats. Rising junior star Josh Cammarere picked off Rosewall in heat 5 with another future star in Tane Bowden taking the win over Allan in the next heat. The day was set up for some upsets with the Bells bowl pushing in 3-4’ sets over the course of the contest. Later on in the day Rincon was working and providing surfers with the opportunity to hook into 150 mtr rides into the Bells shoreline. Early excitement about the possibility of a young gun making the final petered out as hot shots Cammarere, Tane Bowden and Xavier Huxtable were knocked out in the quarter finals.

Hot shots Josh Cammarere, Tane Bowden and Xavier Huxtable

The semi-finals consisted of 7 top seeded surfers with Casey McCrohan the only non-top seed that had advanced from the round 1 heat 2 contest as the 3^rd seeded surfer. Semi-finalists included Brooks, Bell-Warren, Rosewall, Forras, Muscroft, Mann and Makenzie Bowden. After 2 classic heats of surfing the inaugural field for the 2014 “Hells Bells” were Cahill Bell-Warren, Troy Brooks, Makenzie Bowden and Tristan Forras.

Casey McCrohan was the only unseeded surfer to make the semis'

With the hooter signalling the start of the 25 minute final, preparations were under way backstage setting up the victory merchandise proudly supplied by local surfing industry giants Quiksilver and Rip Curl. The amazingly sculptured “Hells Bells” eagle sat proudly on the TBC pedestal watching of the combatants as they went head to head in clean 3’ Rincon peelers. Earlier in the day the spiritual owners of Bells Beach, The Wathaurong Tribe had blessed the event with a traditional smoking ceremony.

The Wathaurong Tribe blessed the event with a traditional smoking ceremony

Bell-Warren set up the final with the opening wave that saw him take off at Rincon surfing all the way into the rocks finishing the ride with a celebrative fist pump. Bell-Warren had just posted a 7.83 score which set up the final early for Bell-Warren. Brooks who had dominated his earlier heats was struggling a touch in the final making crucial little mistakes on waves that offered plenty. It seemed like the pressure was getting to the finalist apart from Bell-Warren as mistakes become the order of the day as the combatants searched for that little bit extra. Bell-Warren had waited patiently out the back knowing that he was holding a commanding lead.  His second wave wasn’t quite as good as his opening but Bell-Warren seemed to work the wave well until drama struck.  Bell-Warren had a broken board with 18 minutes left in the final. 8 minutes had elapsed before Bell-Warren had made it back out to the line-up giving the other finalists plenty of time to put together a set of scoring waves. Both Brooks and Forras had posted reasonable waves but still trailed Bell-Warren. Bell-Warren increased his lead with another good points scoring wave leaving Brooks and Forras needing to post near perfect scores. Bowden was now in a combination situation and looked to be out of it with less than 5 minutes to go.

As the time ticked down it was looking like a Bell-Warren win with Brooks having the last real chance with less than a minute to go. Brooks pulled into what looked like a perfectly formed Rincon lump and worked the wave transitioning the white water to finish off on the shore break and although it was a high point scoring wave it wasn’t a 9+ point scoring ride to get him the win.

So after a full day’s program of classic surfing Bell-Warren was declared the 2014 Hells Bells champion comfortably taking the final from Brooks, Forras and Bowden. Although it would have been a fairy-tale ending for Brooks to win his own creation there was no doubting Bell-Warren’s brilliance in the final.

A number of awards were presented by former president Dave Matthews which culminated with Bell-Warren being presented with the “Hells Bells” trophy. A sculptured eagle clinging onto a bell, the trophy was the work of creator Raff Buttonshaw and took more than 50 hours to complete. Still requiring minor detail work, the Buttonshaw creation will no doubt stand the test of time for a novelty event that is set to become the most prestigious surfing event on Victoria’s Westcoast outside of the Bells Beach Rip Curl Pro.

TBC club president Cahill Bell-Warren talked about the vision of the event.         Brooks with the ultimate prize.

With the dust now settled on the event the club can look back on what was a magical day for the club and one that no doubt will be followed by many more in the years to come. History will show forever that the event was a Troy Brooks creation with Cahill Bell-Warren being the first ever winner. For the Torquay Boardriders Club it’s back to business as the AGG comp series continue towards November. For details on future club events log onto the clubs website or facebook page.

Images from a day that will long be remembered as the start of something grand!

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