Judges don't reward risky surfing? What sort of dystopian future beckons?
The Hurley Pro was the most cringeworthy contest in recent history. While many will point to the fickleness of the surf as the culprit, the judges are getting a pass.
The trend of judges to stray away from risky, progressive surfing is of the greatest concern for the future of our sport.
From Filipe Toledo and Ian Crane’s egregiously scored round two heat (I missed Richie Porta’s WSL explanation of the non-existent make-up score rule) to Gabriel’s heroic swan-dive in his quarter final clash with Nat, the judges were dropping what-the-fuck bombs all over this comp.
The trend of judges to stray away from risky, progressive surfing is of the greatest concern for the future of our sport.
This just in, Progression-Rewind: Trestles no longer a bastion of progression, but rather the perfect canvas to maximise safe surfing tendencies. Nowhere was this more apparent than the semis.
Filipe vs. Adriano and Mick vs. Medina in small, gutless Lowers. On paper, this was a no-brainer. Filipe and Medina for the W. Conditions couldn’t be more rippable. These are the waves Filipe and Medina “drew in their notebooks at school” (queue cliché-induced puke).
As you already know, that’s not what happened.
Let’s take a closer look.
Filipe vs. Adriano. As expected, Filipe smashed shit with crazy change-ups and progressive flare. While this is expected of him, it should never hinder him. In this heat (and the following semi), it apparently did.
I gotta give Ross Williams credit. He whacked the nail on the head when analysing Adriano’s keeper 8.33: “Smooth carves, but then again, pretty low on the scale for difficulty, those are manoeuvres that these pro surfers can do in their sleep, so we’ll see where the judges go in terms of commitment, difficulty. This is solid surfing, it’s a lot of speed, but those air reverses, those spins, those slides from Filipe, MUCH more difficult, so I’m wondering when they’re gonna really throw down the extra point or two for Filipe.”
Unfortunately for the sake of the progression of surfing, Filipe did not get those extra points, not even on his buzzer beater. The key to this breakdown is the “can do it in their sleep” concept, or as I would like to formally dub it: the Mick Fanning Complex.
Fanning vs. Medina. After seeing the judging tendencies from the last heat, I knew Medina didn’t stand a chance. The gauntlet had been thrown down and safe smooth surfing prevailed.
Enter the Mick Fanning Complex. The judges (and commentators) apparently love nothing more than watching the EXACT same combination of turns on the outside to a half-layback safety snap on the inside close-out section. Predictability would be an understatement.
Mick Fanning is often hailed as the most consistent surfer on tour. No shit he is. The dude has been doing the exact same thing for the last 15 years. Look at any contest footage (or video parts for that matter) of his over the course of his career. Besides his boards and boardies getting a bit shorter, he looks, literally, exactly the same. Forget “do it in your sleep” Mick could do it in a fuckin’ coma.
And I ain’t mad at him. It’s not his fault. Why should he change his game up? If he is going to continue to get the scores, he shouldn’t.
Therefore, it is up to the judges. We’ve already seen the likes of Adriano, Jordy, Julian (among others) suckered into the Mick Fanning complex of surfing aggressively safe and smooth. Is that what we want?
I don’t think so. We want to see these dudes go crazy. Put everything on the line on every wave. The most obvious example of this is John John.
Even old man Kelly consistently pushes the progression boundaries, and I love him for it.
However, until the judges start scaling back the scoring on safe surfing, the sport will not progress. You gotta start offering carrots for risk.
Funny article that certainly has its merits. I recall the worst, most boring surf movie I ever watched and wasted my money buying was Mick Fanning’s ‘Missing’. Now that was bad. I doubt Mick has made a good movie since the amazing Lennox Head session when he was young. However, I think Mick & Adriano did win those heats because they picked the more solid waves & surfed them in a way that looked more complete. Although Medina & Toledo did surf so much more better than Mick & Adriano, the judges will always reward wave choice also. Unfortunately, that’s how professional surfing is. For example, Toledo basically did one fantastic air on a very small wave for his last wave and was never going to get the score.
so what is the Future Of Surfing ?
I agree, lets just have a straight Dane v JJF final at very comp.
The judging is truly trash. Watching boring turns at Trestles is trash. Waist high air reverses are trash. Turns can be progressive (DANE), and airs certainly can (John Johns Bali comp air!), but this contest had neither.
yes micks perfect but just as the judges tired of jadsons massive air reverses several years ago at lowers when will the same happen with mick? certainly he is no andy or slater as his titles have all been the same. nobody cares if he wins another because there has been no reinvention of his surfing. you are correct Mahdi, iceman all the way.. but maverick is the star, he hacks the chick and in the end he saves the day and even iceman knows that he is just another brick in the wall. our savior will come and all will see that while winning will make you great, it is not the only way to be great.
Yes! There is no place in the current WSL for a Mav and that is a shame..
The Floyd Mayweather of surfing.
mate, you have played into the media’s hands and been fooled into believing that young john is the best surfer in the world.
i hate to break it to you, but he aint no Andy.
mate, your vision is clouded by the foggy jizz of nostalgia
Bingo!
This line of thought is the domain of the kook. I have heard it all before. Kooks claiming that an air reverse is more progressive than any turn . Fanning’s rail surfing is far more progressive than any section wasting speed pump to air reverse. His timing and speed control, his flawless carves, his torque through turns, several times per wave and linking it together without the slightest loss of speed. This all done in junk surf where the easy option is to pump for the big move.
There is nobody going around who can do this like Fanning! How is that not progressive if nobody else can do it? I want to see a wave torn to pieces Fanning style. I don’t care how big your air and spin goes if you cant make use of the wave face.
Oh, and he was the best surfer all event.
Parko, Slater, Jordy, and even Bede can do it. What nobody can do is keep up with Filipe in the air.
All the guys you mentioned are great rail surfers. But I think Fanning is the best at hitting every section and linking turns with speed, power and flow.
Fillipe wont be doing that stuff too much longer when it takes a toll on his body. He is just out of his teens. It will be interesting to see what his surfing will eventually evolve into. Will he develop a solid power rail game?
Filipe vs glen is a thing that literally did not occur
?? what do u mean did not occur?
At no point at lowers this year did fil surf against glen
Glen was way too busy dispatching John John in round two to also meet up with Filipe. If that doesn’t tell you that the system’s broke, then I don’t know what does.
Tells me that john sucks at surfing heats. That was all a mental error, not really related to surfing ability or judging
That it is even possible for JJF to lose to Glen due to “a mental error” suggests that the whole structure is off. Too bad for JJF that Albee, JOB, Dane, and Nate Tyler already have a cultural monopoly on North American freesurfing careers.
u are an idiot
And you, good sir, are either an Irish nationalist or delusional.
you mean to say if jjf decided to go the free surfing route… the market is simply too saturated and in turn he wouldnt be successful?
Define successful. Well-paid freesurfer yes, but apex freesurfer, I doubt it. Could he maybe–maybe–garner the cash of Dane? Perhaps, but probably never the following. Certainly, he’d cash in over the California and Maui guys clearing $40k/year and travel costs (plus trust funds on many of the CA guys), but he’d fade fast in the popularity contest of pure freesurfers, talent aside. He has an awful lot of heat and comp history to make that break as cleanly as others who either never qualified or never cared. And he doesn’t seem to have the alternative aesthetic to rebrand as well as others who’ve made the transition. He’d take ten years off his career if he became a freesurfer, blowing our minds the entire time. His career might look a lot more Bruce Irons 2015 than Dane 2015 if he quit the comps outright.
you must be living under a fuckin rock. a big rock. hes already by far the highest paid surfer in the world AND his free surf edits are by far the most anticipated. period
NOT the highest paid surfer in the world. And watch every contract get slashed 50% if he quits competing. Your anticipation of a clip and his payday are not correlative.
Ain’t 2012/2013 anymore, buddy.
Double John this year is like Julian last year. Having a shocker. If he gets his shit together he’ll be a force. If he doesn’t he’ll be Dane 2.0.
good call
It was that local kid with the light-trigger middle finger.
WSL have no vision – pushing a format that’s way past its sell by date. All they have done is give an
old house an new lick of paint.
Whats the new vision?
Heats are the fucking problem. It needs to be a gladiator cauldron. Top 32 surfers. In the water together for a full 10 hours from sun up to sun down for a one day event telecast live. If you wanna take a break, when and how long is up to you. If you blatantly drop in, you’re sin binned for 30 minutes and your wave does not count. Do it twice and you’re eliminated from the comp. Best 10 waves per surfer count. If you want the wave you just rode to count, you need to give the double thumbs up. Highest 10 wave total at the end of the day wins the comp – but for a twist, the surfers get a score out of 100 from the judges (10 points per wave max) plus viewers can vote online live in the same way. The final score is the average of the judges score and the viewer score. So if one surfer gets a total of 80 from the judges and the viewers score him an average of 90 for the same waves, his final comp total is 85. World class waves only, minimum 6 to 8 ft requirement. No beachbreaks unless its Puerto Escondido! 8 events a year, 12 breaks to choose from, chosen based on forecasting models. At the end of the year, you get world champ, viewers champ, best wave, best wipeout, best barrel, AI Award, and Manoeuvre of the year.
maybe there’s something wrong with the audience
Yea
One thing Mick has which some of his competitors don’t have is seamless flow. The ability to string those “samey” turns together without any hiccups, no weird poostance antics, and big power. I don’t care how many air reverses a bloke can do. They’re boring and look shit. I’d rather watch Mick carve the shit out of a wave that see these eplieptic, big-wave avoiding pickle spinners take off on a wave and endure a 15 second public seizure, followed by the obligatory overblown claim / look to the heavens / finger waggle / crotch grab / chest thump / fingerbang combo. Power surfing rules, pickle spinning is as gay as it sounds. If the WSL really want to improve the situation, get huge viewer numbers and excellent media cut through, forget the surf all together get Nikki Van Dijk and Malia Manuel together in the shower area, sans wetsuits and have them put on a 30 minute “heat”. Rosy can call the action…
∆this.
I don’t think Mick has ever pumped his board that we’ve seen… Can anyone prove that otherwise with a clip?
Just rail to rail speed and power.
Ads and Toled0.00 pump and jump all day. Worst technique that can be used in surfing
Consider myself schooled! I am thoroughly convinced and my level of appreciation for Mick is at an all time high. I can picture it in my head and to be damned sure he rarely pumps and the flow is continuous. My larger point stands, I feel creativity should be rewarded when in fact it is penalized. Why should one even try anything new or unconventional if the only way to get points is to complete it with no margin for error? There is no incentive to do anything but fine tune already established maneuvers.
Pickle spinners! I love it!! Haha, can I add this to my list of insults?
I agree, such ingenuity! Ingenuity that would be frowned upon by the esteemed WSL judges nevertheless.
approved
Really???? There´s something better:
1.: send Mick, Joel, Bede, Melling, Ace and Simpo to retirement;
2.: send Richie Porta to FLOATSECTION´s home (you can keep him);
And let´s start a new tour, with progression and inovation. Let´s end boring surfing!
Go stand in the middle of the brazzo cumstorm and lick that shit up, you fucktard. Maybe Gaybrielle will let you shave his armpits while you felch him.
Vous n’avez pas de finesse.
foutre vous avaleur de coqs
Come on Float, there is another website more suited to those sort of posts… I know he can be frustrating to say the least, but chin up old chap.
Maybe Simpo but not the other guys. I would miss Bede & Parko hack so much.
I think you missed the point of the article mate. It is not about rail surfing vs airs, it is about safe/boring surfing vs committed/putting everything on the line/entertaining surfing. Whereas scoring high numbers/giving reinforcement to the first compromises the evolution of our such beloved sport. Therefore the author calls the attention to the need of change on the scoring system: “You gotta start offering carrots for risk” i.e. when JJF, Jordy, Bourez, KS et al blow our minds with something amazing (either on or above the face of the wave) they should be scored properly/win heats. Instead of being penalized because they fell here or there, falling happens when one is putting everything on the line/taking risks. Such surfers shouldn’t be worried about how they surf and, specially, shouldn’t change the way they surf in order to start receiving good scores. And most of all, such surfers shouldn’t be getting out of the water as losers just because the other guy didn’t fall. Surfing is not a juggling contest.
The above the lip vs on the lip discussion took place about 4, 5 years ago. You are a bit off time on that. The “super heat” was spot on though…
A musician mate of mine does solo gigs using loop pedals. He’s insanely good at it, but gets shit from people because they think it’s mostly pre-recorded. I told him he should stage the odd mistake and it’s worked a treat – people now get it’s all live. Mick’s surfing is 100% putting it on the line, he’s just so fucking good, it comes off as safe. Fuck, that’s like the second musical metaphor I’ve used in a week. I need to change shit up.
Mick’s 9.77 was BS, as was Slaters 4.1 and the Nat Medina thing ,double interference at best , the flop….priceless !! Judging has gotten way too calaborated with scores within .01 ????????
This sort of surfing/judging is probably good for the sport, but it’s bad for the ‘art’ or that ineffable quality that makes surfing far more compelling than, say, tennis
Funny and on point. Well done Sir Einstein, well done.
And the sport needs to move to single best wave score wins the heat.
Can you imagine the drama?!??!
EVERY SINGLE heat exciting until the final seconds!!!
“Combo score” required is detrimental to my attention span, let alone any newcomers that may be watching.
If you call exciting, one guy sitting on his board the whole heat waiting for a wave thats going to allow him to get a massive score.
Would work in a wave-pool though…
Anyone who followed professional surfing when the sport shifted from highest 3 wave scores to highest two will be able to tell you how much the standard of surfing increased. And the losing surfer stayed alive in the heat for longer as two waves could be ridden in fewer minutes than three.
It is likely to be the exact opposite of what you described. Surfers will plenty of waves with and without priority.
3 was a joke… but for instance surfer A takes off on the wave of the event minutes into the heat and scores a 9.8
Surfer B will be wanting and waiting for a wave that will allow him a 10…
This is a very valid point.
a very valid point however the same thing also happens with best two waves ridden. Surfer A gets two bombs in the first few minutes surfer b wait 20 mins for a 9+ to start getting out of a combo situation. At least with only best wave ridden surfer B has a chance of winning right till the end.
No, Surfer B has to pull finger as he needs two scoring waves. He doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for just the one wave…
The one wave format is fun and I have been involved in such contests but it only really works outside of the 35 minute heat realm, The ocean doesn’t always cooperate fairly for both surfers over the course of a short heat requiring only one scoring wave.
Solid call, Mick does get big points for the same turn
This is so on point. Couldn’t have said it better myself. I like Mick, I think he is one of the guys we will miss when he hangs it up. Honorable, no ego… and so much class! But Mick really is Iceman from Top Gun. Technically sound and flawless execution but takes no chances, waits for his competition to try something risky and make a mistake.
Mick’s no risk turns are the same as an F1 doing 160mph on the straight and 100mph through the bends.
We’ve all seen that a million times but it’s still A grade and beats drifting.
Well played
Young dudes like to drift. Then again they also masturbate 3 times aday.
Really?? Little James here has being talking about the overscoring of repetitive surfing from Mick and Joel since 2013. And things are getting worse under Richie Porta´s influence.