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
John John Florence (HAW) 18,700 pts
Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 17,500 pts
Caio Ibelli (BRA) 17,200 pts
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Blood Feud: Sunny Garcia vs. Surfing!
By Chas Smith
A Blood Feud custom made for today!
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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Mason Ho Plays Chicken at Ulus!
By Derek Rielly
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
Villas during 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!
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Day Three: Oi Rio Pro!
By Rory Parker
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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Burn: Surfline sizzles WSL!
By Chas Smith
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.