A note to the judges from a former world number two.
Just two months ago, Shane Beschen, a former runner-up to the world title and a regular foil to Kelly Slater, was described here as “the least huggable pro of all.”
“Like Medina with less fucks given,” said the surf historian Matt Warshaw.
Beschen, who was on the world tour between 1993 and 2005, had a bit of the Bobby Martinez’ about him – poisoned by the feeling he never got the deals or results he deserved and quit the tour a few years too early.
“I feel like a black person in South Africa 50 years ago, and all the judges are white,” said Shane in 1998.
What we may not appreciate about Shane, who is forty-five years old or one week older than Kelly Slater if you want perspective, is how lucid he is about technique and competitive performance. His two boys, Koda and Noah, are all products of a pappy who knows the game.
And, yesterday, when Beschen lip up Facebook with a note to the tour’s judges on how to score backhand surfing, well, it behooves a man to listen, don’t it?
“I have posted 4 photos starting with the highest degree of difficulty and working down to the lowest,” wrote Beschen. “Julian Wilson demonstrating an extreme throw tail where his entire board is out of the water and only the tip of his nose is touching. This is an ‘excellent’ backside maneuver with the highest degree of difficulty.
“The second photo, to the right of Julian, shows a backside throw tail in which half of the surfboard is out of the water. This is also an ‘excellent’ maneuver with a high degree of difficulty and should be the starting point in which a maneuver is deemed progressive.
“The third photo is called a backside release and as you can see there is very little if any of the tail out the back of the wave. This should be deemed a ‘good’ maneuver as the ‘degree of difficulty’ is much less than the first two photos.
“The fourth photo is a backside carve and although it could still be deemed a ‘good’ maneuver it is much less difficult than the first three photos.
“In conclusion. To further push the level and excitement of surfing within the WSL there should be a points cap on ‘good’ surfing. A combination of ‘good’ turns should never be rewarded an ‘excellent; score. If competitors know they can reach an excellent score with good surfing they will not take unnecessary risk.
“Solution. A cap of 7.5 – 8 points should be set on good surfing so competitors will push their performance to achieve excellent scores. An excellent score should have at least one excellent turn performed during the ride. In turn, the @wsl and all of the fans will enjoy more exciting performances from their favorite surfers. This can only be a positive for the @wsl and its loyal surf fans.
“Please leave your thoughts and keep them constructive.”
You like it? I do.
And no need to be constructive.
Fight it out, y’sonsofbitches.
well he did invent the neckbeard
I expected “Beschens Judging App” a while back..?
I think split ’em. Ride score here, degree of difficulty there. You can perform simple surfing perfectly, hell half the time that’s how guys get 10s. But I guess pro surfing is already hard enough for people to access as it is. Layer the scoring, and not even the tardishly fanatical Fantasy Surfers would know what was up.
To go to that level of detail you would have to review multiple rewinds to determine the degree of difficulty and would be time time consuming which could be a problem unless you had to wait 5 minutes for the wave plough to reposition.
He is absolutely right. He’s Shane Beschen.
But then Frederico wouldn’t requalify.
if we are playing the what if game.. what if a surfer does a “good” backside turn on his first maneuver then an “excellent” on his next followed by another “excellent” finishing maneuver on the best wave that has come through for the day but took off a way down the line not in the “critical” part???
or or or he does an “excellent” maneuver but the execution or landing is average then he does another “excellent” maneuver on a easy section on a smaller wave??
or or or or he does a “excellent” maneuver on the best section, best wave but blows the rest of the wave… give me answers
Yes, all good questions, but the pointI I think he’s making is you shouldn’t Jackpot a string of non excellent maneouvres into an overall excellent score. In my opinion, having come third in a board rider’s comp when all the best guys were over east for the Aussie Titles, if a wave has a single excellent maneouvre, then it should be able to scored in the excellent range.
We do questions, click bait and spurious rumour-mongering here.
I think Answers is a different website.
General public- “why are all four of those guys doing the same thing over and over” you can put it in simple terms and even a skateboarder is going to say”it’s the same body and board movement” that’s where the WSL fails is it’s too busy trying to get everyone, not a core demo,who can recognise zero g maneuvers,flukes and intentional style. Where’d you get that jacket?
Was lucky to watch Beschen from the water at G-Land in the mid 90s. Insane backhand positioning and speed to burn. He certainly knows a thing or two about backhand surfing. Pity his sensible suggestion doesn’t support the WSL over zealous desire to make a boring format exciting to the public by pumping up shit surfing that many of us could execute after a big night on the piss.
Not much to fight about. Thats pretty much, as the white hot Marissa Tomei would say, “dead on balls accurate.” ….. it’s an industry term….
Oh, she was hot
she had every Italian boy from Staten Island to Fort Lee swooning ,,,, nonna would have definitly approved,, shes still hot (Stupid, Crazy LOve) teacher confrence sceen,,,, (funny too)…
Saw her at Kilauea farmers market about 10 years ago. Beautiful, but “normal” appearing too – which is the true complement. Seemed like a nice person.
But that looks like a horrible fucking movie
I thought so too!!!!!! I’m gonna sound like a c*nt, but it was funny… that terrible title does it some injustice
Everyone loves the near fall but the uninitiated lack the recognition of difficulty and bore with repetitive falling. Pro surfing has never been a product for surfer consumption. We’re more suckers for watching it than Johnny Utah. If he’s into watching surfing and maybe would like to give it a go at aTamarindo surf camp there’s nothing to hate. He buys tshirt + trunks and books a ticket. WSL mission complete. For any average bloke whose life centers on surfing, the list for How to Improve the WSL could go on and on. Because of that angle the aloof Mr Beschen probably made more money ranked below Kelly than he would have above.
Bang on!
Does that mean “He is absolutely right” in another language?
Nah, it means ‘continue to procreate’.
“Backside release” sounds like a good porno movie title
Sounds like my morning ritual about 3 minutes after my alarm goes off
he got a perfect 20 when it was a 30
Wow, I thought he was almost 60.
He is absolutely right.
It ain’t rocket science, right?
Apparently it is for the WSL
Put the man on the panel!
i would like to see that!