For preventing surf contests from becoming dull affairs and burdens to those watching at home.
The last two days worth of professional surfing have been very dreamy, no? The waves they pumped. The surfers they barreled. Joe Turpel, Pottz Potter, Raspberry, Ross n Ron “Dog” Blakey they treated us to smooth vocal stylings and we swallowed it whole chased, depending on where in the world you happen to live, with either booze or coffee.
But even swimming in that drunken/caffeinated wonder didn’t it seem that, somehow, it could have been more entertaining? Oh the surfing was spectacular and we got the champion we deserve at the end of it all, I don’t challenge the results at all. Gab Medina straight up outsurfed Kelly and JJF lost fair and square to Jeep Yellow Jersey Team Leader Matt Wilkinson.
But still. A slightly sour taste. And I think it has something to do with the priority rules. Let us first read from the official World Surf League rule book:
The surfer with priority has the unconditional right of way to catch any wave they choose. Other surfers in the heat can paddle for, and catch, the same wave, but only if they do not hinder the scoring potential of a surfer with priority. A surfer loses priority once they catch a wave and/or a surfer paddles for but misses a wave. If two or more surfers catch a wave, the first surfer to make it to the take-off zone will get priority.
It seems simple enough, and fair, except it somehow sucks the life out of heats. I suppose the WSL would hope it adds a layer of tactical fun but it doesn’t. It increases the chasm between “good surfing” and “contest surfing.” The distance Rory Parker refers to as “Deadball.”
And, therefore, I propose that it should be disappeared. Surfers in the wild take care of “priority” simply by positioning and a modicum of polite understanding. A gentleman’s agreement, more or less, that recognizes which surfer is in the best/right place.
When a surfer in the wild snakes, burns or otherwise mangles this native priority there are either screams or fights.
How amazing would it be for professional surfing to have a dash of professional hockey? Dream with me for a moment! Kelly Slater and Gabriel Medina sit out the back. Sets loom. They paddle around each other like jungle cats. Kelly gets slightly inside Gabe and puts his head down. Gabe, not wanting to roll over, puts his head down too and sends Kelly over the falls while getting a solid tube and score in the excellent range. Kelly paddles over to him and breaks his board and chases him around the lineup trying to punch his nose.
It would be pure entertainment! And there would be no complaints! If someone was a dick in the water, regularly snaking, the rest of the tour would eat him alive. Just like lineups around the world do with their bad actors.
I think the World Surf League should get rid of priority today. Connor Coffin agrees. Maybe Joel Parkinson does too.
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
Backpaddling?
KS is the king in this topic!
Ask Shane Beschen … the greatest victim in surf history from backpaddling and placed in interference… live and color in sunny California, to the horror of purists and innocents …
Ask who the other guy …
Sports is about talent and tatics… all sports is all about both! It’s simple.
Yep agree first person to catch the wave has priority on the wave. So get to inside etc. I agree Gabs deserved to win but him paddling Kelly around basically sitting on his lap was lame – he looked like a tool.
Get on inside get up wave is yours, if someone drops in then they penalised., or run over board in the head etc
It will create more aggro with all the guys – instead of “backslapping fest” it is now.
Lastly no wave totals can catch as many as want, in that way if you fuck up going over falls trying to burn someone its just going to bad luck. Survival of the fittest and all that.
I feel we’ve made professional surfing better today.
You’d pick a Californian over a Brazilian in a scrap? You’ve lost your nuts voice.
Priority should only be for out the back position on the sets. Taking turns basically, just like surfing with a bunch of locals at the local.
These dropping in on the shoulder antic’s are ugly and cheap.
Wasn’t there some rule introduced so a surfer with priority couldn’t just drop in on their competitor at the end of their ride at waves like pipeline and teahupoo thus preventing them from getting any score? If I remember correctly Medina threw a tantrum over it at snapper maybe last year because he was confused about it?
If they get rid of priority, Medina will always win and it would be really boring
Followed by an overwhelming level of civility and cordiality.
what do you mean “where in the world you happen to live?”
there are only two places in the world i thought? socal and australia, right?
I think we have a few British friends. And a South African or two.
And some Eurotrash! If you please.
Or… Amend the priority rule to penalize people for “The Wiggolly.” – a bait and switch maneuver where at the last second, the person with priority draws the other competitor into thinking it is clear to drop in, and then basically says, “psyche!” – and then burn your eye.
Every contest should start out royal rumble style – 32 surfers in the line up. Doesn’t get more real than that
Every comp should be like that. One day event from sun up to sun down.
It clearly has its pros and cons, but your dreaming of a tour before social media, when everything, literally everything, wasn’t up on the internet within 5 seconds of occurring. Crazy agro competitive surfing ended when AI died. You just can’t pull that shit anymore. Your book is hilarious by the way, finished it in 3 sittings. i wish you had written it in the current environment, 2016/2017 winter. You should do a follow up, or at least a short series on BG.
Dude your so wrong lol. The point of pro surfing is to watch the best surfers in the best waves. Not to imagine yourself out there lmao. I’d rather watch surfers catch waves than fight eachother. If I wanna watch a fight I’ll watch ufc. Surfers would fight like pussys anyway, imagine kolohe and Filipe fighting it would literally be like watching girls fight.
The name ‘thevoiceofnoreason’ has always been a misnomer.
But I like watching girls fight
There’s two slightly contradictory issues here –
1) Making a surf contest function fairly
2) Making good entertainment
For 1 – I am sure the surfers involved, considering prize money, and ratings effects on careers etc will plump for keeping priority – it has a modicom of keeping things almost fair in the lineup. Unfortunately good contest procedure doesn’t always gel with point 2….
For 2 – pure surfotainment value, the bloodier, messier and more outrageous the “Cape Fear” the better.
In this age of capitalist domination, the WSL is ultimately the slave of the bottom-line, and how much commercial support it can maintain to run the events of “Best surfers in Best waves” [live feeds from Fiji don’t come cheap]. So, the customer in point 2 is king – meaning the pundit at the end of a web-feed watching the Corona advert [again]. As @onelikethat:disqus points out, those pundits want to identify with the situation happening a zillion miles away – they want to feel some kind of emotion and be moved (to click on a button and buy a smartphone they don’t really need in the first place…)
So in the brave new world of customer lead surfing contests, bring on fisticuffs, Reunion (without shark leashes), dry-slabs on skimboards and performance nihilism – because we care less about the well-being of the surfer on the other end of the web-feed than about their entertainment value. And for those millions (?) sneakingly hiding their hiding their live-feed fix from their bosses/girlfriennds etc…maybe they somehow lost the ability to simply feel stoked going surfing with their mates in the slop on offer this afternoon at their local?
Next contest that roles into town, I’m going to sit on the grandstand, talk to real people and drink a local craft brew, Bru.
Without priority, you’d see dudes paddle each other out of position constantly. Working their way up the point until they’re well past the “best” takeoff zone. I do like the idea of the fistfights though…
But how fun would it be? It be a real cat and mouse game! At the end of the day there are still only two, or three, surfers in the water and sets generally come in more than twos and threes so…..patience could be a virtue!
Chas you are advocating 80s surfing all over again.
It does seem like a lost Golden Age at times.
The golden age of webbed gloves and counting turns…
Nostalgia is always rose-tinted, especially for those who didn’t live through it! And let’s be real: they still count turns.
Taking away leashes & caddys could be a nice twist too….
“He looked really confident taking off on that last one Joe, but now he’s going to wear this 3 wave beatdown on the head without the help of some extra floatation. He’s also going to have a challenging time fishing his board off the inside in time to finish the heat….”
Didn’t Medina and Kolohe spend 20 minutes trying that on each other two years ago in perfect conditions in Fiji, or maybe Tahiti, no one caught a wave until Kolohe buckled and Gabby won the heat. It was always going to end that way, but there was 20 minutes with nothing happening!
Chas you got it backwards. When there is no priority inside guy gets the wave. This leads to paddling too deep and more paddling for position than actually surfing. The priority rule was the best change in competitive. More surfing less tactics.
But it has backfired! It has become stupidly tactical with some of the best waves going unridden…. and no punch ups.
The reason waves go unridden isn’t because of priority, it is because of the rule of two highest waves count. They should count more waves or not give scores until the heat is over, or not give scores at all just proclaim and overall performer for the heat.
I like all that but you still haven’t told me how we can get two surfers to fight in the water and not be penalized.
I think hockey might have the answer.
Yes. This truly is a Canadian renaissance.
fighting is a five minute major penalty in hockey
Yeah, but it doesn’t cop you a suspension like every other sport. And minor league hockey has never enforced a penalty…SF Bulls had 10 fights in one game without a single penalty in their last season.
Drop in, drop gloves
yes!