It's murder at Lower Trestles!
In conditions described by Peter Mel as “rough around the edges” Mick Fanning, three-times world champ, four come December, exposed the little waves of Lower Trestles to grave violence. He beat Adriano De Souza in the final and now swipes the yellow jersey off Adriano’s little back.
Here’s a taste of his finals jam.
A poor student of surf technique will call Mick Fanning boring, or predictable. He ain’t. There’s a thousand variables in the movement of his feet, his board, his torso. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. Who else can conjure that kinda speed out of a sliver of fibreglass in crummy two-footers?
“A flow clinic from Mick Fanning! Always organic!” said the commentator Ross Williams. “The last line in the judging criteria is speed, power, flow. Cross that out and write Mick Fanning’s name.”
Mick now plans to go to Europe “and put a few more nails in.”
And he will.
Watch Mick v Gabriel, in their semi final.
Watch Adriano v Filipe, in their semi final.
Oh! And watch the most theatrical interference claim in history! Here!
Wow, you quoted Ross Williams, without irony. Or was that next-level irony?
Its post irony.
Renonsense.
im an Adriano fan ( one of about 43 who is not a family member or from Brasil). Mick smoked him. his turns more sharp. not being silly, Mick makes me understand speed power flow. no hesitation between and sharp stabs with brute force…..
“The last line in the judging criteria is speed, power, flow.
Cross that out and write Mick Fanning’s name.”
And in all previous lines you can write: That’s not Mick.
As i said somewhere… To watch the whole trajectory of Mick Fannng in this event, just pick two of his waves randomly and watch. They will be exactly identical to every other wave he surfed all the week long.
Consistent and winner, but man… Boring as hell to watch. And again: carried by Richie Porta in his heats against Slater and Medina.
It would be hard not to give Mick the scores… He surfs to the criteria flawlessly.
Kinda…. The inovation was not there, neither variety. His 9.77…. An almost “perfect” ride??
But remember a 10 is just a stop-end score. If I am head-judging I remind the other judges a 10 is just at the top end of of an excellent score it doesn’t mean it has to be a “perfectly” ridden wave adhering to every part of the criteria. You cant penalize the surfers for what they dont do. If you thought Micks 9.77 was overscored what about AD’s second best wave ? the 7.37…
Mick won the final. Period. Adriano needed another score. But the semifinal… C´mon.
I had Mick {just} winning that heat also… Gab’s should have used his air game on those high scoring rights.
Again: Mick´s first nine was a smalish wave, with only two real turns. Go to heat analyzer and watch. That´s where Richie Porta made the difference.
the heat against slater how cocked up was that? take the air out of it the scoring in that was rubbish was as if they mixed mick an kellys names up
He surfs to some of the criteria flawlessly. I’m a believer that you’ve gotta be able to to it all. Just like Filipe shouldn’t get points for airs at Chopes, you just can’t have a winner at Trestles who can’t do a few proper airs at Trestles.
So if Italo landed those crazy air attempts VS Toledo (no score heat} at Chopes he shouldn’t be scored?
Mick would have been beaten at Trestles if his opponents found a section to boost on, they didnt. He killed it, even more amazing given how sloppy the surf was on finals day.
Am I the only one who can’t stand Gabriel Medina and his piss poor tactics?
No way. That was the WORST acting job ever at this level. And the thing is, for all intents and purposes, they WERE at the middle of the peak. Either person could have gone either way. Besides, on review you could see it was a low-scoring piss-ant wave anyway. So, they screwed Nat on a wave that would not have mattered, essentially reinforcing Medina’s lame tactics…
Medina is a badass competitor. I can relate to that.
Much better than “I want to make friends” kind of competitor.
No, if you need further proof theres about 10,000 pages of negative, borderline racist comments on Stab on the subject of disliking Gabriel Medina.
I actually enjoy the cry-time behavior from the World Champ… then again I like crushing my ball sack with a walnut cracker in my spare time.
so many progressive maneuvers in the final from both surfers , you can really see the incredible surfing has evolved from the old school man turns into ah, mick wins with old school man turns!
Mick is vastly superior, technique-wise, to Adriano and it is slanderous, I believe, to compare.
On the other hand ADS can do legit air.
Define “legit.”
According to Ad’s its Both hands on rails with minimal height and preferably no rotation.
The same people that call Fanning’s surfing boring and predictable also think Olive Garden is a fancy restaurant.
when i watch mick surf all i see is over-torqued turns and a hunchback stance going down the line. not seeing the artistry that some see. great guy though. surfs a lot like the white ADS.
Over-torqued? Should he tone it down abit more? slow it down and round out those turns?
its not his turns but his over amped body torquing that looks silly on a 2ft wave. not seeing the flow part of the equation.
Jordy surfs more interestingly than Mick
you cant compare. but you can ask how the hell did either make the final?
I’m not anti Brasilian, but I’m anti Adriano. Is that wrong?
Is wrong? Is not wrong.
ADS’ style is terrible, but his work ethic is as good as anyone (i.e., going to contest sites early, etc), which is admirable.
It just means I’d rather not watch him surf at all. Doesn’t make me anti-ADS.
Such progressive surfing from the high performance waves of Trestles.
But is progression always above the lip? A couple of Mick’s turns were extravagant.
progression implies growth and exploring new realms of possibility. Mick is not progressive, despite the extravagance of his turns. He’s had the same 3 maneuvers since he was a kid, and has mastered them beyond belief. Maybe his consistency and perfection is progression in the sense that no one has really done that before? idk
There is nothing worse than watching an older guy trying to master new tricks.
I take it you just watched that video with T Knox trying air reverses
Cringe! thankfully I havent seen that.
http://stabmag.com/loaded-a…
11:35-12:15
Mick’s like one of those bands that write hit songs that musicians hate because they are so basic musically. Still hits though.
Except most guys on tour idolize mick
Mickleback.
Fleetwood Mick.
…you’ve seen the 2015 world title hats?
Spoiler Alert!
too mean to mick, but funny
Nah, but it doesn’t hurt.