Rage: I’m so angry at Surfing (magazine)!

By Chas Smith

8 years ago

Just kidding! But angry Facebook live face rules!

I don’t understand technology and it makes me lots ashamed. I ain’t hiding, like some, my technological inabilities underneath a blanket of faux too-cool-for-shit-bro. No. I’m just dumb. My brain is soggy. It doesn’t work good no more. Millennials are stealing from me while I peck at my keyboard all confused and dumb.

But I just googled something just now and saw Surfing magazine doing a Facebook live thing about which 540 was better. Kelly’s or Albee’s. A snowboarder taught us all today that we, as surfers, are confused and dumb when it comes to rotation and neither Kelly’s nor Albee’s were 540s but maybe 720s instead.

Whatever.

I went to their Facebook live and was totally confused. Like, why hasn’t Surfer eaten Surfing yet? What does Surfing bring to this world besides grown men drooling over teenaged boys? Seriously. The Inertia is for closeted lesbians, Stab is for East Indian fake computer bots, Surfer is for my 50 year old brother-in-law but what’s Surfing for?

Seriously.

Just kidding!

I know! For hot high performance action! Right? Yeah! And their Facebook live thing dissecting hot high performance action is right on!

So I clicked.

On one side of the page was Albee Layer with an eyepatch. On the other Side was Kelly Slater mid poop. And lots of hearts and thumbs up scrolled past underneath.

A ticker of engagement!

There was an option, though, for an angry face. I started smashing this button as furiously as I could, trying to fill the whole thing with angry faces.

I couldn’t win.

There was always either a heart or a thumbs up floating amidst my rage.

The moral of the story is that Surfing is happy place!

And also, why the hell are Surfing readers voting for Kelly Slater? It’s a matter of minutes until that publication is eaten by Surfer.

Seriously.

Just kidding!

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Exclusive: A sneak peek at JJF in Tahiti!

By Chas Smith

8 years ago

A turn that makes me red in the face!

Hurley could not have picked a better person to follow with a camera for twelve months or a better time in which to follow. The series is slick but, more importantly, feels significant. Maybe because we are witnessing a unique talent coming entirely into his own.

Yes, Twelve shines and episode 5 finds John John Florence in Tahiti. Remember when I said he wasn’t going to compete at Trestles because I had inside information that he was injured? Look at how right I was! Here’s an exclusive photo of John John hobbling with a cane!

But want to know what Blonde Ambition went and did to me? He went to Trestles and competed! Here’s an exclusive clip of John John Florence giving ‘er hell on a meaty turn. Really leaning into that balky knee!

And boy is my face red. I will never go off half-cocked like that again, predicting nonsense etc. Oh who am I kidding! Guess what I just heard? Dane’s new brand ain’t called Destroyr and is being unleashed on the world any day now!

But back to John John Florence. Episode 5 releases tomorrow. Here its teaser. Gorgeous! My face! So red!

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Want a sure bet if Pipe pumps? Kelly. He has the top AHS for this event, for reefs, for lefts and for eight-to-ten-foot conditions for the past three seasons. | Photo: WSL/Cestari

Top 5 Worst (and best) Pro’s at Pipe!

By Derek Rielly

8 years ago

How to bet smart on the Billabong Pipeline Masters!

One week ago, I discovered the website surf-stats. Wrote a story about it. (Read that here.)

Now, I’m compelled to pour everything related to competition through its prism. I used to be all gut instinct, but who knew cute smiles and a pleasant phone manner didn’t necessarily translate into results? Now I just Moneyball the hell out of it.

So for this year’s final event, the Billabong Pipeline Masters, I got the proprietor of surf-stats Balyn McDonald, to run the numbers on the five best, and five worst, surfers at Pipe. Here’s what he’s got.

Best Five.

Kelly Slater: Top AHS (average heat score) for this event, for reefs, for lefts and for eight-to-ten-foot conditions for the past three seasons. Second best for six-to-eight-foot. Past champ.
John John Florence: Best AHS in rights, six-to-eight-foot 2016 season, left/right breaks, second best in eight-to-ten-foot conditions and reefs, third best in four-to-six-foot and lefts, fourth best for AHS at this event. A consummate all-rounder.
Gabriel Medina: Best in four-to-six foot, second best in lefts and 2016 season, third best for event AHS, reefs, eight-to-ten-foot, left/right breaks. Made the last two finals.
Italo Ferreira*: Top five in the following categories: event AHS, overall AHS, six-to-eight foot, eight-to-ten foot, reefs, lefts and left/right breaks. A great dark horse at $40+ on most betting markets.
Joel Parkinson: Past winner, top 5 in 2016 AHS, overall AHS, rights (second best), four-to-six foot (second best) and eight-to-ten foot. Best average results at this event of all surfers over the past five years.

Worst Five.

Matt Wilkinson: In the past 5 years, has finished better than 25th at this event only once and his event AHS reflects this.
Bede Durbidge: Coming back from massive injury at Pipe, and a past winner, but recent history is poor.
Miguel Pupo: AHS figures of <10 in several significant categories.
Wiggolly Dantas: Did poorly here last year, stats for these conditions aren’t great, especially if it’s big.
Keanu Asing*: AHS figures for this event, for eight-to-ten foot, for reefs and (surprisingly) for lefts are all <10.

Fantasy Surfer projections

The best value for money on Fantasy Surfer is Seabass, at less than $15,000 per projected fantasy point
The worst is Wilko with a projected cost of $141,000 per point

(*data is only for 2015/16 seasons)

Oh! And my Fantasy Surfer team for Pipe?

Gabriel. John John. Kolohe. Kelly. Adriano. Julian. Bede.

Want to see the data in detail? Click here.

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720 or 540? Which way do you swing? Or much ado about nothing?

Watch: Albee Layer’s Backside 540!

By Derek Rielly

8 years ago

Start counting rotations! It's a sculpture in the sky!

Two days ago, you read here that the Maui surfer Albee Layer had hucked the first-ever backside 540.

In an interview with BeachGrit’s fabulous little Jake Tellkamp, Albee told us that he wished John John was still chasing spins (“He’s, like, changed to a full comp guy now practicing power turns. I wish he was putting his heart and soul into progression like he was a year or two ago”) and that surfing was now in its “racing stage.”

“Look at a lot of action sports,” said Albee. “Moto, mountain biking, skiing, snow-mobiles, they all start as racing being where all the money and time is spent and freestyle being a side show. But eventually, freestyle is all people really wanted to watch and people started figuring out how to make competitions based around progression and not sticking to the same formula of the last three decades.”

Anyhow, Albee held onto the clip until Monday, US time, rather than squander on the dead-air of the weekend, always a bad time to release anything into the wild.

Watch. You like?

Do you find hard, fast rotations things of architectural beauty?

As sculptures in the sky?

And, wait, is it a double spin, as suggested by Albee, or one-and-a-half rotations?

Surfers really are math-tards! Read story below!

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Rotation: Surfers are math-tards!

By Hondo

8 years ago

Even after all these years, the basic rotation is a vast mystery to the surfer mind.

(This helpful story first appeared on LodgeGrit. How fun!)

This video just came out of this surfer doing a 720, yet they call it a “double spin.”

Then when they’re talking about it, or writing about it, the surf dudes keep calling it a “540.”

DUDES!

That makes no sense! First of all if it’s a double spin, that right there is inferring that it’s a 720. Also, like this move has been done on skateboards and snowboards, so why is it a 720 on a snowboard or a skateboard, yet a 540 on a surfboard?

I don’t want to take away how insane this shit is that this dude is doing, but like, why do you surfer bros keep fucking up rotation names? A wave has transition and it’s like a 1/4 pipe, so name your rotations as such.

It’s not rocket science.

Well maybe it’s like very very basic rocket science in a sense, but still. Get it right surfer bros!

Eat beach grit spam!