Does skipping a year on tour create magic?
One of the grandest parts of the World Surf League season ending in Hawaii (RIP) is the poor surfers dropping from tour and the best youngsters getting kicked up to the bigs. Hope, as they say, springs eternal and we all have two months to wonder what these new sensations will bring. To ponder their relative skill versus the established field. To dream. Then Snapper hits and they lose and by Marg River we’ve not only forgotten the rookies’ names but even that they existed in the first place. Hope, as they also say, is a cruel joke.
And let’s meet 19-year-old sensation Griffin Colapinto! He has officially made the cut alongside Tomas Hermes and Will-i-am Cardoso and let’s read what the World Surf League has to say.
Both Hermes’ and Cardoso’s paths to the CT are compelling stories, full of passion, pain and perseverance, while Colapinto’s story is that of a rising surf prodigy. His prolific North Shore skill set could make him a perennial Triple Crown threat. Each surfer will be welcome additions to the Tour in their own right.
The two Brazilians’ “compelling stories full of passion, pain and perseverance” says to me that they are old, life-hardened and capable. The American “rising surf prodigy” makes me wonder if he should sit out a year before jumping in.
Just like the one-time surf prodigy from 30 years ago Taj Burrow!
Do you remember? No? Well that’s what the Encyclopedia of Surfing is for! (Subscribe here today and buy a subscription for your loved one as a gift!)
Burrow earned a coveted slot on the 1997 world pro circuit, which he turned down—the first and only surfer to do so—claiming that at 17 he was “too young to do the tour full-on.” The slender (5′ 9″, 140-pound) white-blond Australian had by that time distinguished himself as one of the world’s most exciting surfers, matching an electrifying aerial repertoire with impossibly cool-handed tuberiding skills, and directing all maneuvers out of a smooth, low, aerodynamic stance.
Burrow easily qualified for the 1998 world tour, and earned rookie-of-the-year honors on his way to a #12 year-end finish. The following season he won two world tour events and finished the year runner-up to fellow Australian Mark Occhilupo.
What a slick, confident move and I wonder if the combination of slick and confident gave young Taj the unquantifiable extra zing he needed to not only stay on tour but soar?
I wonder if young Griffin could break the Ewing curse and become relevant by saying, “thanks but no thanks?”
It seems worth a shot. Every non-Brazilian rookie since Taj has failed to meet even basic expectation.
No…next, stupid fucking question. Are you feeling lazy today? Don’t insult the audience because your a lazy buffoon!
Hopefully those closest to him will work through it with him as to if he should wait a bit or charge into it.
As someone else has already said, Taj is Taj and Grif is Grif. Both have grown up in totally different environments and ages.
Wtf. The guy is 19 years & 4 months old & will be 4 months shy of 20 years old in his 1st WCT event. That is not exactly young. Medina & Slater were world champ at that age. I think the homoerotic inclinations of B.G. are getting fooled by Griffin’s baby face.
And Taj won how many titles?
is he the youngest of the coffin family?
Ask Brutus!
“Burrow earned a coveted slot on the 1997 world pro circuit, …”
Coveted? Yeah, not so much anymore. After 20 years of controlled-ish chaos, can you still say the WCT is a coveted place to be? WSL doesn’t want Pipe Specialists, they want Pool Specialists. Will places like Instituto de Medina license Surf Ranch wave technology so Brazilians can train under WSL monitored conditions?
Newbies like Griff are pioneers in this new age of World Tour surfing. The circumstances Taj faced in 1997 vs. the circumstance Griff faces in 2018 are different. Really different.
Well I think today’s CT slot is considerably more coveted than 1997’s, yes. Pro surfing today is worth way more to the surfers involved than it was back then. In 2018 there will be 11 CT events and each one will give away $607,000 in prize money, split between 34 surfers and two randoms each. In 1997 there were 12 CT events and each gave away between $120,000 and $175,000 in prize money to 44 surfers and four randoms each. This means a pro today can look toward an average earn in pure prize money of $185,472, compared with $36,875.
And that’s just the men. In 1997, the women had 13 CTs with $25,000 prize money each. In 2018 they’ll have 10 CTs worth $303,900 each. The competitor numbers — 18 — are the same. So in 1997 they stood to gain an average of $18,055; in 2018, the average will be $168,833.
Yeah there’s a lot of changes swirling around in pro surfing right now, but nothing means more than the figures I’ve quoted above.
so Taj got robbed of a title so they could give Occy his token title
Que , are you serious?
yeah, Its marketing. They are still selling the Occy comeback story. Occy ripped at one time. But at that time Taj ripped harder and still blows occy away today
so you think Taj was a better surfer than Occy or just at the time ,as 2 very different surfers , one who was a power monster and original?
Have you ever seen him surf? He will smoke 75% of the tour as a rookie, no problem.
Like a young Andy Irons?
Touche !
Andy had way better style. This kid has a bit of the brazil butt going on
Well, the main difference is that Taj is Taj.
https://youtu.be/zgM3NC-gNRY
I think Taj’s manager at the time , made it clear Taj was not ready for the tour , and needed another year of competing to become more mature , but if Taj did decide to go ahead , they would without his manager , so he had another year preparing for the WCT , and still struggled with Andy!
I think if you asK the Andino’s there is a thought he went too early , as did Ewing , check out what Julien Wilson did!
Having said that, with a new tour being born in 2019 , and no guarantee on how many WCT competitors there will be , maybe it’s good that Griff is there to guarantee his future place on the WSL CT rour?
Was this genius home schooled? His post heat interviews kill me.
Surf JOCKS are so boring.
This guy rips!
The last name Colapinto is from portuguese origins, italian, spanish, madeira, costa verde, açores?
Uruguay
No, Uruguay!
Sticky dick?
hahahahahahaha
Or would “glue cock” be a better translation?
As a brazilian… you are correct Buoy!!!
hahahahahaha
“Cola” in, some spanish speaking countries, means butt. Do the math…or the gramatic.
Well…next year the “Want to be Tennis Tour™️“ won’t be the same “Want to be Tennis Tour™️“ so young Griffin should get on that now. It’s much better to be on the boat in the Mentawi’s instead of standing on the beach, stickerless and alone with his principles.
He said he had a 3 year plan set when he was 16 and that it worked out, so he could get to wct at 19. So I think he might do a mick fanning and win a couple of titles. Americans need somebody talented that is willing to fucking win, lets say a little brazilian hunger.
He can fly and ride a proper tube, with the right atittude, maybe can win a title before toledo kills everybody in the pools?
The shift away from big reef breaks will make Felipe the best guy on tour as long as he stays healthy. He’s the only thing I’m looking forward to in Fuckin’ Fresno.
The revenge of the flying midget
You guys always mislead the hunger signature, no?
The brazilian hunger, it’s made in majority cases, by genuine hungry, poverty and the necessity of roof above head of an entire family.
This cause the hungry, need for money, in most of the brazilian surfers.
Like boxe, NBA / NFL / NBL, in the minorities in USA…
Now in Brazil, soccer, MMA and surf do this job.
Northeast (Bahia, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, Recife…), São Paulo coast (sons of fishermen), South (Santa Catarina, the same from SP, or one term, caiçara / villagers)
Asks… why in all the brazilian storm, no one is from Rio de Janeiro, city?
Because of the same these “cali buoys” disapperead from competitive surf:
Rich kids, fat brats, sons of pappy and mommy, with no balls to endure the path to be a competitive surfer.
They don’t want pain, to gain.
They only want gain, gain, and gain, without spilling a single drop of sweat (of course one or other tries hard the path to be a professional surfer, competitive…)
In Rio these guys, these rich kids, surf posers, run away of the circuits in the first dificulties, and run for a surf cliche: I’m a free surfer!
And those cunts selfproclaimed themselves pro free surfers / aerialists, who runs beach slabs, beach breaks, or trips, doing a fucking bad surf, and run for trademarks that pay them… with clothes and shoes… or a small help for low costs (you know… the blessing of an air ticket so that the status of pro surfer continues and he does not have to spend the money of pappy and mommy)!!!
But.. the status? A pro free surfer!
Most these trademarks in Brazil don’t have a single one tradition in surf, but explore images and the life style…
These “cali buoys” and these punks in Rio have a lot in common…
I hope Griffin run away from the classic Reynolds / Coffin patent.
Of course, is a country of survivors plagued of corrupts and violence
Edited: Let me tell a story… a true story:
Like I said above, some of the surfers of first generations in the brazilian storm came basically from Northeast…
Poor families, true poverty… Those guys and girls came to the great spots Rio, São Paulo and Santa Catarina, because they want a chance for a better life and win in surf career.
And two shapers in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Udo Bastos and Thiago Cunha, both with shape rooms in Macumba Beach / Recreio dos Bandeirantes beach (in Terreirão Favela, a poor community near the two beaches) embraces this kids and girls, given them boards and a place to stay (like a great hostel), and costing taxes in events… (Other great shapers in Rio do the same, but locally in the state, like Ricardo Martins RM with Victor Ribas and Raoni Monteiro)
Rio de Janeiro at this time was still a place in the Sun for surfers from others poor states, although it was already decadent, but most of the competitors here are little rich kids (or they have a good life) of pappy and mommy … boys from Arpoador, Ipanema, Leblon and Barra da Tijuca…
Northeastern surfers participated, as crazy, in all possible events, large and smalls, power hungries… even events in surf clubs who are a point of localism, to the despair of the pappy and mommy kids…
They arrived early in the stores to take up the places in the events, and when these lazy and rich punks went to make their registrations, the places had already been filled …
Man… these cunts get mad!
One of these posers lazy cunts, desperate seeing that invasion and violated in his right to say that he was a competion surfer (amateur at this time, although he did not give himself a 10% commitment)… like his others rich pals, coined the phrase:
“These paraíbas (a jocular, and very bad, way of referring to all the Northeasterners) come here desperately, enter in all events, take our places, compete and surf every day as if they depended on a plate of food to live and survive.”
I hear it!
You fuck dickhead, THEY DEPEND. THEY NEED. THEY WANT… AND THEY HAD, AND HAVE, BALLS TO RUN AFTER THEIR DREAMS.
These guys bumped and stomped the door of WSL, of the pro and competitive surf, they learned the game, in small and big waves, they bustin ‘n’ smashed the door… like they did once
The result?
See the ranking for 2018…
Interesting perspective from the inside. Thanks for sharing.