Martin "Pottz" Potter suggests a radical detour. Could it work?
The Big Wave World Tour Peahi Challenge has just wrapped with Billy Kemper as your champion. So blue collar! Such wonderful! And why doesn’t the World Surf League broadcast all of these? Hmmm? In any case, bravo! And also Martin “Pottz” Potter, sitting in the booth, just challenged his bosses to completely revolutionize the regular wave Championship Tour.
On the Big Wave World Tour, you see (actually you can’t see because most aren’t broadcast live), events have winners but the size of the waves at each event determine the amount of points the winner gets. Makuakai Rothman won the first even in South America, you see (actually you didn’t see because it wasn’t broadcast live or maybe at all), but it wasn’t as big as Jaws (Peahi) so it was deemed a silver event. Jaws (Peahi) was huge so it was gold. So Billy Kemper now has more points than Makuakai even though they both have one win.
So anyhow, Pottz, in the booth, said that the regular wave Championship Tour should do this too! He says the waves should be scored differently so that, and I quote, “Trestles or Huntington would be scored differently than Pipeline or Teahupoo.”
Now, forget for the moment that Huntington Beach is not on the CT, is Pottz’s idea good or maybe not? Should firing events carry more weight than smaller? Would that give us a better champion? Would it be a better reflection of the surf arts? And who would this most affect? Brazilians? Rude of you to suggest! But was maybe Pottz suggesting that? Hmmm.
Congrats to Billy Kemper and get ready for pumping Pipeline! Ain’t Hawaii the best?
You seem to be forgeting that gabriel medina won Teahupoo last yeaer and got to the finals this year, he won fiji too, and also managed to get into the 2014 pipe masters finals. And dont forget Adriano de Souza, he won margaret river with huge conditions against John Florence. Also there are plenty of brazos that can surf big waves, while there are only a few americans who can surf pipe or tahiti, not to mention kolohe or brett or nat young.. please… Besides, mick never won a pipe masters and he only has 1 teahupoo. Owen and Julian, they both know how to ride those waves. But dont start with the brazzo bullshit just cuz you are jealous of some guys that can fly and you cant even try it.
im not even brazo
wsl has jumped the shark. it’s done and never coming back.
Medina would welcome it I’m sure.
Check where Medina did well when he won last year and who won in Rio… absolutely moronic comment!
No Chas, I don’t think Pottz was suggesting this bc of brazilians. I guess you are. As you probably don’t know the biggest gringo supporter of Medina is Pottz. And, as you know, Medina won the title making the finals in Pipe, Teahupoo and Fiji. On the other hand he had bad results in Rio, Portugal and Trestles. Not by chance Fanning said Medina is the biggest treat in Pipe for the world title and Kelly said Medina is a wizard in the barrel.
So please, don’t come with the venom bc I have to come with the stick! In this day and age still (try) to perpetuate that brazilians suck in big waves is ludicrous. Most brazilians on tour are good in the barrel and/or charge: Jadson charges, Wiggolly charges, Italo charges. Gabriel and Miguel are great tube riders. And Adriano is improving. He made the final at the Volcom Pro. The only question mark is Filipe…so come on, stop the BS.
Over the years almost all the rookies regardless of Country of origin have been given shit until the day they get wave of worth at Pipe… even Slater.
The WSL could easily make the the World Championship Tour more exciting by having the 36 CT surfers all compete at Haleiwa and Sunset next year with the QS guys. Their
results at Haleiwa and Sunset could count for the world title. It would be easy enough
to still give them the same points as a CT event, depending at what
stage of the comp at Sunset and Haliewa they get eliminated. All events
don’t have to be the same surely, Hawaii is different. I think a strong
finish to the world title race needs more than just Pipeline. And any world champ needs a through testing in Hawaii, not just Pipe.
good point
Potts’s suggestion doesn’t make sense. In the big wave tour, there is only one objective; ride big waves. In the CT surfers should display their skills riding a variety of waves and conditions. Maybe if you would categorize the various styles of breaks and determine how they should be ridden, then you could apply rules in which winning certain events weigh more than others. Or winning a certain combination of various events increases your chances of winning a world title.
So Medina gets triple points for winning big Chopes, Adriano gets triple points for winning big Margies and Julian gets penalised for winning small Pipe. And the new system is applied retrospectively and Pottz world title is taken away from him.
I’ve already discussed this. Pottz is wrong here, but not by much. What they should do is have 3 different wave classifications – performance, power and barrels. Trestles is performance, Chopes is barrels, J Bay power. Have say 3 or so in each, with a surfer’s 2 best from each counting. It’ll make sure Mick has to do airs just as it will force Filipe to charge.
U must have missed Filipe doing hug airs at solid Ballito a couple of years ago or missed him at The Box. He charges. However, he is only a little skinny guy. Maybe u are expecting too much from him?
Owen charges… Filipe has alot to prove. Pulling out of the Sunset comp probably didn’t help the cause…
You guys can sure pile on the shit to attract the flies. Owen is around 6 foot 4 and 84kg. Filipe is around 4 foot 6 and 48kg. Big difference. Maybe simply respect Filipe for what & who he is; a little guy with a big heart. All I know for sure is Filipe charges The Box, well above his fighting weight.
Size is no excuse. Historically most pro’s are midgets… I do respect Felipe as he rips! but labeling him a charger doesn’t sit well with me.
I can’t recall any pros that were midgets, apart from maybe Michael Ho & Reno, who were born & bred in Hawaii. Kanga, MP, MR, Shaun, Rabbit, Jim Banks, DaneK, Kong, Barton, etc, were not midgets. TC, Cheyne, Joe Engel, Pottz, Occy, etc, were short but thick, with legs like tree trunks. Filipe needs to fill out a bit. Regards
You must know a different Filipe… he’s got at least 5 inches on TCarroll and pretty sure he weighs at least a couple of kgs more than TC did when he won Pipe. TC is a midget, a ripped one but still a midget.
Also, Filipe has filled in quite a bit since last year and it shows in his rail game, all that in just one year…
You ever hear of a kid named Jack Robinson… Your argument is null and void.
Jack grew up in WA. I remember Pipe 2011, when there was the A$P Facebook chat with the telecast. Everyone (including Occy in the booth) was criticizing Medina. But I posted Medina would be next Gerry Lopez. He ain’t far from it now. Filipe is an amazing surfer. He will come good with age, maturity & experience. Regards.
Medina is a very long way from being Gerry Lopez
Of course he is, he’s a lot better than GL ever was… and he doesn’t even try hard to be cool like all those “cats” did…
Agree.
kangaroo jack is massive now! your argument is so 2014
You can go through my comments from the last two years to see that i’ve been calling it for a long time. Enjoy….
Sorry Nicky, I’m a huge Filipe fan. But he’s admittedly skittish in big waves. Big airs at Ballito doesn’t change it.
Just sit and watch….
I agree he’ll get there. He’s just not there quite yet.
This Pipemasters is going to be the turning point for Felipe? I sure hope so…
Nice edit! you second guessing your call on the Negs V Felipe heat at the Box?
inside sources tell me that he never planned to surf sunset, he was always going to do haleiwa and then focus on pipe. you can interpret that however you’d like
Nope. Equal points for all events, but improve wave quality in general. Sunset, for starters.
for the record.. you’re saying sunset should be a part of the CT or it should be taken off the QS?
toooo much cocaine, Pottz. too much
I think they should bring back Wardo, give Kinger infinite wildcards, Mason an auto spot in every contest. They should measure each competitor’s blood alcohol content, multiply it by 10, and count it as one of your 2 wave total. Then id start actually watching wsl webcasts instead of pretending I did and talking shit online.
Ha!
I don’t like Pottz’s idea.
If you awarded points according to the location, that wouldn’t be right as great Trestles is better than crap Teahupoo.
If you awarded points according to surf quality, that wouldn’t work as each CT event takes days and wave quality in one event can vary from extraordinary to barely surfable.
I like that the pros have to be good in all conditions. You would also get some surfers in some years not turning up at lower point events.
Good point about surf quality across the event period. I would say that the surf would have to be great to epic across ALL elimination rounds for an event to be awarded more points. That happens rarely, but would still happen at Teahupoo, Fiji and Pipe. I totally agree that surfers must be good in all conditions to win a title… but the current schedule and format of the tour rewards the Micks and Filipes of the tour and punishes the Gabriels, Kellys and JJFs by giving more oportunity to surf in 2-3 foot mush than 6-8 foot perfection.
Great idea! But it’s not like Potz is the first to say it. Slater has been saying it for years. All stops (except Bells, Trestles and Rio) should be worth double points if they are held in epic conditions. Pipe, Teahupoo and Cloudbreak should be worth triple if the waves are epic. Owen’s win in Fiji is worth 20 of Filipe’s wins at both Snapper and Rio. A world champ should be good in everything… but first and foremost they should be able to charge when it gets good. Otherwise competitive surfing will just start become like gymnastics (technical, controlled, boring).
but skating rules because it’s technical.
However, skaters are also way more gnarly than most surfers too. But I sorta get your point, looking at someone like Kilian Martin. I would call Kilian more of a creative gymnast than a skater though. It’s cool cause it’s unique… but after a while it’s still pretty boring.
Absolutely. 2ft onshore Rio slop shouldn’t be worth the same as 10ft Pipe or 6-8ft J-Bay. The double the best wave score is good too
24 guys – whole comp done in less than a day. No coming third in a 3 man heat and still being in with a chance!
They’re ahead in every way!
As soon as he said that, I figured you guys would be jamming your fingers from typing so hard! Fuck it, this rule sounds good to me. If its macking and dudes are charging they deserve way more points than forcing the issue in bull shit waves. The only brazo to get pissed would be toledo. Gabby, Italo, Wiggoly, jadson. Those dudes can and have charged when it was on.
Who’s to say the ability to perform in barrels should be rated higher than the ability to perform airs or turns? It’s the big wave world tour so it’s fair enough that performing in bigger waves deserves more points. So if you were to assign Teahupoo and Pipe more points than J-Bay and Bells which would in turn be assigned more points than Trestles and Huntington Beach etc, you might as well have a barrel riding world tour, an air world tour, and power surfing world tour. In a comprehensive surfing championship, unlike the BWWT, surfers should have to be be able to surf comprehensively better than their competitors across a comprehensive range of conditions.
Except you’re not accounting for the fact that the waves are generally only fair to good in a contest period. It’s once every 3 or more years that Cloudbreak is as good as it was this year, or Teahupoo is as good as it was the year before. CT surfers get more than ample opportunity to showcase their average wave skills every season but only 1 or 2 chances (at best) to perform in epic waves. If you want a more well rounded world champ, then epic waves need to be weighted more heavily then average to poor waves.
And who decides which waves are better? Is epic Trestles with perfect airs and rail surfing to be assigned less points than epic Cloudbreak with perfect barrels? Does as-good-as-it-gets Rio get assigned more points than below average Cloudbreak? A more well rounded champ should perform across all “epic” locations be it “epic” Rio or “epic” Pipe? Your definition of epic may be big perfect glassy barrels but someone else’s may be small glassy Trestles with perfect ramps? I’m just asking questions.
You’re right, It is subjective and stupid… but so is pro surfing. I would hope that the surfers could vote on event tiers and come up with something sane. My subjective vote would be that Rio, Bells and Trestles would be Tier 3 and never get more points, no mater how epic, because other spots can be just as good in fair to good conditions. Pipe, Teahupoo, Cloudbreak and North Point/The Box would all be Tier 1 and worth double or more points if they are epic (because it is very rare that more than one will be). The rest will be Tier 2 and they can get a few more points if they are truly epic. I’m not saying this is perfect but I think it will make pro surfing more exciting and make world champs more well rounded.
The phrase “as good as it gets Rio” made me laugh out loud.
I managed to suppress the laughter till I arrived at “‘epic’ Rio”.
You are wrong. Surf shitty waves is hard as fuck. If you can ”make shit into gold” as Parko said about Medina and then go to places like Teahupoo, Fiji and Pipe and do good, than you are a very worth world champion.
And please, don’t come with the BS than Medina did not charge in Teahupoo or Pipe. He surfed smart and nailed in the barrels. Get the mid size runners was the same tactic that Occy did in the world tour and nobody used to give him shit bc of that.
Anyone who can’t do it all does not deserve to be world champ. If you’re a pussy in big waves you’re not a world champ. More weighting on big waves would be good. Can’t wait for Pipe. Big swell forecast for the first two days. That’ll sort em out!
So if you suck at airs you don’t deserve it either?
Doing it all means airs as well. Many of the old guard can do them, but for some reason don’t do them in comps. There is a clip around of Mick in Indo and he lands a sick air in it. My point is that spinning the pickle alone should not be enough to win a title.
yes.
shhhh mick reads BG
I agree 100%. This is NOT the big wave tour. The world champion has to be good in all conditions: Reef brakes, point brakes, beach brakes etc
I actually like that idea, rock up and check the conditions then give it a certain amount of points. Titles shouldn’t be decided in waist high slop.
why? It’s not the bigger wave tour, it’s the tour. Makes no sense.
Well, if they’re trying to go the way of a (and I quote) ” wanna be tennis tour” then it would make perfect sense.
Other thing is wsl events are not run in one day. How would they set up the points when only one day is epic and the other 2 or 3 are shit?
“Trestles or Huntington would be scored differently than Huntington or Trestles.”?
Reading this was like watching Inception.
That was the vodka ginger beer typing. Fixed now!
What’s your vodka, Chas? I prefer Ketel One!
These days I’m a Tito’s man…but I’ve had a long long affair with Stolichnaya.