John John Florence has just won the Oi Rio Pro again. It is again, right? He won last year, yeah? And what about Brazil, do you think, turns it on for him? Do you think the pressure just drains away in those warm samba nights?
I was actually cheering for his competition, Jack “Mother of Dragons” Freestone. Yesterday I posted his pic on Instagram and captioned it Mother of Dragons. He gave me an ok emoji and “haha” and then added “Mother of dragons, hopefully father of the Oi Rio Pro.”
Any surfer with a sense of humor is tops in my book. And look at how close he got. Second place! Step-father of the Oi Rio Pro!
Congrats to both and more detailed analysis soon.
But watch final here!
Watch post-final show!
Oi Rio Pro Men’s Final Results:
1 – John John Florence (HAW) 18.97
2 – Jack Freestone (AUS) 16.13
Oi Rio Pro Men’s Semifinal Results:
SF 1: John John Florence (HAW) 18.73 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.66
SF 2: Jack Freestone (AUS) 16.50 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.67
Oi Rio Pro Men’s Quarterfinal Results:
QF 1: John John Florence (HAW) 15.17 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 8.50
QF 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.97 def. Davey Cathels (AUS) 10.00
QF 3: Jack Freestone (AUS) 12.50 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.60
QF 4: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.77 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 6.00
Oi Rio Pro Men’s Remaining Round 5 Results:
Heat 4: Adam Melling (AUS) 10.80 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 10.00
2016 Samsung Galaxy Top 5 (after Oi Rio Pro):
Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 24,500 pts
Italo Ferreira (BRA) 18,750 pts
Some mornings I wakey wakey eggs and bakey and nothing has happened in our surf world. Nothing at all. Maybe Shane Dorian’s super cute kids did something cute but that’s it.
Other mornings I wakey wakey eggs and bakey and Surfing magazine’s online editor Brendan Buckley has posted a story titled Sunny Garcia Hates Me and Sunny Garcia has responded directly on his Instagram with an added bonus of Joel Tudor weighing in and the Mother of Dragons is in the final against John John Florence guaranteeing that Futures Fins is beginning the greatest (fingers crossed) streak in sporting history (2x champ and counting) with the wild hopes of unseating previously 11x unbeaten in a row (can you even believe?) FCS.
I love Shane Dorian’s kids but these other mornings are better.
And let’s tuck in. First here’s Brendan on SurfingMagazine.com:
Gabriel Medina landed an air at the Oi Rio Pro earlier today. It was a great air, a 10. Jimmicane snapped a photo of it and we decided to run it on Instagram. I was given the responsibility of captioning it. “Power surfing makes heats. Progressive surfing makes memories. Gabriel Medina just landed an air worth remembering at the Oi Rio Pro.”
And that’s when Sunny Garcia hated me.
“…I bet whoever wrote this quote sucks ass at at surfing anyway [fist emoticon]. Good surfing is always remembered your Mag sucks now that Flame is not there”
“don’t get me wrong I love watching guys do airs but saying power surfing makes heats and airs make memories lol give me a break the person that wrote this is a kook”
Sunny is a power surfing god, guru, goliath and more. I love the way he rides waves and I respect him like I respect my father. And I wholeheartedly respect his opinion. But I’ll stand by mine.
Too many pulled punches at the end? Yes! But Brendan is a wonderful human being, handsome, funny, kind and more. I love the way he writes and I enjoy reading him like I enjoy my father etc. and you can read the rest of his opinion herebut let us now move on to Sunny who took to Instagram this morning and wrote:
Had a long day yesterday and made some comments about power surfing on @surfingmagazine and as always they got twisted lol I’m a power surfer but I like good surfing by anyone but when a editor of a Mag says that power surfing wins heats and airs are more memorable I’m calling him out in it because the truth is incredible surfing will always be remembered regardless if it’s a air or @thomasvictorcarroll hack at big Pipe even if I like the later 🙂 Brendan Buckley I don’t hate you but you are a kook and @gabrielmedina fucking rips and there’s no denying that 🙂 and @surfingmagazine please get a new editor
Who won the round? Who is more convincing? Maybe Joel Tudor? He came screaming in off the sidelines and wrote:
@sunnygarcia I’ve hated everything about that magazine since I was a child – they have told myself and @vans that longboarding is not a legitimate style of wave riding to be in the pages of their magazine! That was straight from the editors mouth —- flame was notorious for being open about how much he hated longboards – THAT MAG CAN EAT A DICK
No! Not Joel Tudor! In a surprise uppercut from the grave Surfing‘s legendary and dead photo editor Larry “Flame” Moore knocks out the competition and takes the whole feud! Longboarders objectively stink so terribly that our very own Derek Rielly has instructed his children to shoot themon sight.
Did you see that coming? Did you see Flame standing victorious at the end? That’s why I love these other mornings.
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A little Sammy Davis Jnr routine right in front of the cliffs at Temples, Uluwatu…
Artist and madman Mason Ho risks his slender limbs in front of 300 foot-high cliffs…
Life is short. It is also pointless, absurd, sad and, for quite a lot of it, plain wonderful. Twenty five short steps from being spat out of mammy to the dirt being shovelled onto your casket.
Therefore, when the noted shaper Matt Biolos suggested BeachGrit might want to join him at the Uluwatu Surf Villasduring a shaping stint there recently, refusal, I believe, would’ve been the mark of someone who didn’t comprehend the brevity of existence. Words without experience are meaningless, as they say.
One highlight of the vay-cay was the showing of episode one of License to Chill. It’s a weekly series, filmed over the last two years, of Mason Ho and pals (mostly Cheeseburger, but also including Tom Curren and the rest of the Ho family) surfing around the world. Every Monday, for eight weeks, Licence to Chill appears on Surfline, with other outlets 48 hours behind.
I knew the series was coming ’cause BeachGrit was in talks to get exclusive first-run rights but we lost to Surfline, as was obvious, and as we must.
The first episode is notable for a few things: Keoni “Cheeseburger” Nozaki’s natural comedy routines (watch for his pre-surf warm-up!), Tom Curren surfing Uluwatu on a bodyboard and Tom and his son Pat’s outro jam.
But, the highlight, of this 17-minute edit, is Mason, this artist, this madman, surfing the ledge around the corner from Temples at Uluwatu, GoPro in his mouth, and playing chicken with the 300-foot high cliffs. Oh, you little deadly demon!
This is why I don't gamble on surfing. Only chickens.
Day three of the men’s is windy and bumpy. The type of day you’ve gotta talk yourself into paddling out. Maybe you’ll snag a few, have some fun. Maybe you’ll be out of position all session and leave the water hating life.
The women were put to sleep during the lay days. Congratulations Tyler Wright. I love you!
John John’s heat total was a head scratcher. Barrel-to-tap deserved better. Great gouge but a fall on the “finishing maneuver” on his second scoring wave. He got the win he deserved, still underscored.
Dusty Payne likes vegan food! Which is good, I guess. Very healthful. Perfect excuse to link the following.
Pottz likes chicken soup! That’s crazy. I’d’ve pegged him as a chowder man.
Caio Ibelli got a nice little tube ride. Not really sure how the judges are scoring barrels these days. Nose behind the curtain seems to be a requisite for a score.
But this ain’t Pipe, you can’t sit ten yards behind the lip. I guess they’d rather see someone float the section. Or bottom turn around it, set up for a sticky “hack jam.” He definitely got robbed on the first one. Totally a make. Recovered from the layback.
What’s the deal with that? Sometimes you can flounder in the whitewash for days and it’s good. Sometimes it counts as falling. Doesn’t make sense. Shades of Airgate.
ADS with a cutback to floater for an 8. Gnarly little section at the end, for sure. But the cutty wasn’t much.
Igarashi wins the Most Brazilian Claim by a non-Brazilian Award for his happy clappy foam bonk 5.63.
Good on Medina for trying to surf progressively. Don’t two tap it for the score. Big frontside ankle exploder to the flats. Barrel to layback fin ditch. Knee killer frontside three to eat shit. Punchy windy slop, plenty of opportunities to go big. No one else really taking advantage. Makes sense, medium risk for high reward is the judging criteria for the day. Every day, really.
Jeez, I am really looking forward to Fiji. Fingers crossed they don’t get skunked!
Round four was a drag, Mainly because I had to watch it live. Rio really works best with a heavy heat analyzer edit. Much better when everything is wrapped up before I wake up.
J Flo/Toledo/Payne was pretty good. Nice to see Dusty making heats.
Only… can someone explain how his 7.93 was better than his 7.67? Am I crazy?
This is why I don’t gamble on surfing. Only chickens.
ADS fucking murdered Caio and Cathels. I think. Kind of hard to tell through a vaseline smeared lens. What’s going on with the cameras? Is it condensation? Can’t be salt spray. It isn’t big enough.
Dusty brought a pretty good victory interview. “I wouldn’t have voted for myself coming into this.”
Medina made Bourez and Freestone look like shit when he knocked them into the losers’ round. Combo’ed the field, dropped a solid ten. Flowing from a full roter into a reo is sick. Spoiled it a bit with the Urkel claim. Same one he dropped after the “flip.” Does he practice these in front of a mirror?
JJ barrel foam climb lip tap baby snap combo was underscored. A turn to reverse-most-of-the-guys-can-do-in-their-sleep got him 2.34. I don’t understand. I never understand. I’m so damn confused.
Ciao, Caio. You’re done for now.
JJ’s post-heat interview broke my heart. “I’m doing what I gotta do to make it through the heat. Not just kinda going free for all free surf.”
The Flying Llama got fucking robbed. A worthless tap on the end section of his second scoring wave would have put him through. Went for a huge air after his barrel, came unstuck, ate some shit. Nearly re-broke his dick.
Scoring like that just incentivizes safety surfing.
Mother of Dragons smoked Italian Ferrari. Maybe Freestone is figuring out this ‘CT gig. Anyway, the only reason I mention it is because I absolutely adore that nickname. Gonna run with it. Gave me an excuse to make this…
Ferrari’s heat-ender shuv-it was pretty cool.
Today wasn’t so bad. There were some gems mixed in with the garbage. Quick moments when I’m reminded why I bother turning in.
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Here we see phenomenal brother, friend and surfer Justin Cote scoring a perfect 10.
The tour's own Official Surf Forecaster throws shade!
Guess who’s in the water right now jumping and jiving on some windblown mess? Dat right girlfriend! Miggy Poops and Kanoa Igarashi! Dey gettin their game on! And…wait. What? You don’t care? You’re too busy looking at another batch of photos from perfect Fiji? Well sheeeeeeeeeeeit.
But I also can’t really blame you. My social feeds have been going bananas the last few days with banger after banger after delicious big ol banger from Cloudbreak. Surfline got into my action with a post reading:
While the WCT has been waiting and wallowing in Rio, guys like @bobbersandsinkers (Ryan Burch), @happyreef76 (Reef McIntosh) and @_balaram (pictured here) have been happily pulling into kegs like this at Cloudbread…
And did Surfline have to use the verbs “waiting” and “wallowing” to describe what has been going on in Rio? No! That’s what makes it a BUUUUUUURN!
Surfline is, last time I checked, the Official Wave Forecaster of the World Surf League so it is rude for them to criticize the surf in Brazil. Why didn’t you tell ya boyz it was gonna be yuck? Why you leaving them all hung out to dry?
Now it is Adam Melling vs. Seabass Z and do you think both of these gentlemen would rather be in Fiji? I think yes and that makes me think even more.
We live in the future. Why do the stops need to be tied to locations during specific windows? I know, I know…Infrastructure and blah blah blah. But, and again, we live in the future. I bet the whole show could be shot on GoPro and broadcast using two MacBook Airs and one iPhone. Or I mean Samsung. And speaking of Samsung…does that ad do anything for you? What about the girl whose dog has more followers than her? She makes me feel very angry inside.
But back to our plan. What if the tour just decided which waves were on and then went there when they were good for three days of hot action because the powers already got smart and realized they could cut the field down to twenty, or whatever, and nobody would be missed? What if we actually saw the best surfers on the best waves?
DAYUUUUUUM!
And now back to your regularly scheduled Mother of Dragons.
AKA Daenerys of House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men. Lady Regnant of the Seven Kingdons, Protector of the Realm, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains.
