The Panda wins Uluwatu CT, moves to fifth in the world!
Huge day for pro surfing. Ginormous.
Can we start with a little rhapsody on the utility of Uluwatu as a locale for Pro Surfing? Good. It’s a poor mans G-Land, which is good. Leave G-Land alone. Gland is wasted on Pro surfers. Leave it for the gimlet-eyed tube freaks of the World.
You can ride it, Ulus that is, at any size, at any tide. Racetrack is fun at three foot. Outside Corner is majestic at ten-foot. There are short punchy rides, medium rides and long, complex multi-chaptered rides. The tradewind is welcomed as a friend – the way one monkey on the cliff welcomes another to groom and pick out lice – not an unruly intruder.
There are other sections of the wave for rec surfers to ride. You can get up to Temples or maybe sneak a few at Racetracks if they are up at the peak.
Ulus is good enough to be a canvas for all kinds of performance surfing and imperfect and variable enough to be challenging in any given 30 minute heat.
In short, with Cloudbreak off the schedule it’s the best venue on Tour.
Perfunctory round three heats were completed to start the morning. Yago Dora surfed a good heat but Filipe stuck a half Hail Mary air to get a win. Duru looked silky to easily account for an ageing and off-the-pace Joel Parkinson. Mikey, of course, got a walk through.
Have you noticed a fact about round four, three-man elimination heats that is becoming more glaring with each contest? They have more drama. Every round four heat saw multiple lead changes.
In fact, if my notes are not mistaken, each saw complete reversals in fortune. Last place into first and first place into last. Owen’s spice-laden frontside whips looked money in heat one but he ended up in last place. Kolohe waited until the far back end of the heat to get started and took first place.
M’Rod was sizzling in heat two, “hot and loose” according to Joe. He changed up his board and somehow went from first to last in a heat with Julian and Connor Coffin.
The strange symmetry continued in both heats three and four. Medina did the best surfing on the worst waves. He found a long time tunnel for a big score and went from last to first.
Cardoso went from first to last and then fought back to eliminate a desperately unlucky O’Leary.
For the first time this year I was starting to dig on the Panda’s attack. Instead of slow ponderous faux-power hacks he was generating big-time momentum between turns and crushing lips.
Toledo’s opening wave of heat four was a heinous underscore, the first of a few shocking misreads from the panel. A 5.67 that should have been in the sevens.
Toledo’s opening wave of heat four was a heinous underscore, the first of a few shocking misreads from the panel. A 5.67 that should have been in the sevens.
Mikey Wright looked scratchy and boggy to my eye but scraped his way through.
People always ask me why I’m so horny for Brazilian goofyfoots. Gabes presser during the aforementioned heat reminded me why.
Kaipo reminded him if he went to the finals he’d be surfing four times today and what he thought about that. Gabe visibly shrugged and responded, “Thats what I train for.” I could have hugged him.
I detest this namby-pamby false stoicism of the over-paid pro. Australian, American, South African.
The second quarter between Julian and Jordy was the heat of the event. Jordy was magnificent, the best six-feet-and-under surfer in the world, on any given day. The form surfer of the day. Judges kept overcooking Julian’s scores for what were sometimes blatant score manufactures.
When I lay me down to sleep at night I lay awake dreaming and scheming about how I can grind my competitors into the dust.
Posit a hypothetical scenario where Surf Writing is a late inclusion into the 2020 Olympics at Tokyo. I face off with the great Louie Samuels in the semis after he narrowly defeats D Rielly in the quarters. What’s he got: Better writing, nicer sentences, sharper wit. What do I got: Stronger backstory, bigger themes, bolder ideas. I take him in a cliff-hanger and Nick Carroll who controversially missed out on inclusion into the Australian team* is doing the pressers.
“How’d ya do it Shearer, how’d ya take him?”
“I knew all that gravy suckling on the Silicon Valley teat would make him a little complacent, so I hit him in that soft little belly”.
Know what I mean? I identify with the hunger.
Thats why I train.
Exactly.
Unfortunately, that hunger could not mask a lack of form for Medina and a sleepy lineup. If I had to describe Medina’s surfing this year in a word it would be brittle. Brittle and fractious and constituted of lots of disconnected moments of brilliance that he can’t seem to link together into a chain through space and time. He fell on an opening wave against Mikey Wright which could have been a winning wave. Then scrapped together scores in a sleepy heat. Mikey pegged a six then waite and waited and with 20 seconds to go cobbled together another scrappy wave.
The second quarter between Julian and Jordy was the heat of the event. Jordy was magnificent, the best six-feet-and-under surfer in the world, on any given day. The form surfer of the day. Judges kept overcooking Julian’s scores for what were sometimes blatant score manufactures.
Did he get the score? I said no. Judges said yes. What do you put that down to? A mixture of composure, luck and and out-of-form opponent.
The second quarter between Julian and Jordy was the heat of the event. Jordy was magnificent, the best six-feet-and-under surfer in the world, on any given day. The form surfer of the day. Judges kept overcooking Julian’s scores for what were sometimes blatant score manufactures.
Kolohe got absolutely cooked by this phenomenon. He was clearly the better surfer, on the better waves doing the better surfing against Julian in semi one. It seemed that at some sub-conscious level they were going to pay whatever Julian did with big scores. Kolohe’s presser was meek. He had nothing to say, no fire to let out, as Joe would put it. Even Strider was shocked at both the call and Brother’s obsequiousness to it.
Semi two was Panda Mullet two. The rematch. By this stage I was a full fledged Panda fan. The big fans and perfect flow were undeniable. But it was meat and potatoes. Mikey had every opportunity to bring the hi-fi noise and blow him off the Racetrack. Again Wright caught few waves and laid anchor. Again, chasing down a score he rode a wave on the buzzer for a high-drama finish. This time I thought he had the score. Judges thought otherwise. The momentum for a fairytale finish for the Panda was undeniable.
Cardoso shed tears before the Final. And it looked like the emotional weight of his story was finally starting to drag him down. His first wave looked boggy. The tide came in. The surf slowed down. He nailed two waves and the judges over-scored both of them. Julian needed close to a ten with minutes remaining. He tore into a wave with a little toy air on the end, a completely conservative attempt at score manufacturing via “progression”. Judges fell for it and awarded an eight.
The clock ticked down and nothing else came in. The Panda, Brazilians at Uluwatu and everyone who understood the power of a man “tryna feed and water my seed”, when “success is my only motherfuckin option, failures not” celebrated wildly.
*Just missed out but encouraged to try out for 2024 Paris.
Uluwatu CT Men’s Final Results:
1 – Willian Cardoso (BRA) 15.57
2 – Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.43
Uluwatu CT Men’s Semifinal Results:
SF1: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.83 def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.53
SF2: Willian Cardoso (BRA) 13.77 def. Mikey Wright (AUS) 13.16
Uluwatu CT Men’s Quarterfinal Results:
QF 1: Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.33 def. Conner Coffin (USA) 11.83
QF 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 16.20 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.50
QF 3: Mikey Wright (AUS) 11.13 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 10.90
QF 4: Willian Cardoso (BRA) 14.24 def. Filipe Toledo (BRA) 11.67
Uluwatu CT Men’s Round 4 Results:
Heat 1: Kolohe Andino (USA) 9.34 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 9.10, Owen Wright (AUS) 8.47
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.13 def. Conner Coffin (USA) 13.04, Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 11.50
Heat 3: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17.07 def. Willian Cardoso (BRA) 14.66, Connor O’Leary (AUS) 14.63
Heat 4: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 10.50 def. Mikey Wright (AUS) 8.83, Joan Duru (FRA) 7.44
Uluwatu CT Men’s Remaining Round 3 Results:
Heat 10: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 12.54 def. Yago Dora (BRA) 11.83
Heat 11: Joan Duru (FRA) 12.67 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 11.70
Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Mikey Wright (AUS)* (Wright progresses as Florence out injured)
Men’s Jeep Leaderboard (after Uluwatu CT)
1 – Julian Wilson (AUS) 27,215 pts
2 – Filipe Toledo (BRA) 25,900 pts
3 – Italo Ferreira (BRA) 24,995 pts
4 – Gabriel Medina (BRA) 20,990 pts
5 – Willian Cardoso (BRA) 19,740 pts
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Always makes me giggle/cringe when people say the locals surf a place better than the pros. 99.8% untrue and proven time and time again whenever one of them manages to swing a wildcard into an event. Especially at somewhere like Uluwatu or Keramas. The tiny percentage this doesnt apply to is exceptions such as Jack Robbo at North Point. (Though technically that kid is a pro and should be on tour at some point soon)
Thats good, cause you just know Julian would probably just buy the robot butler from Rocky IV with his money, but Panda will put food on table for family with his. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Longtom for the win, for most consistently insightful, unpredictability delightful, and dare I say, objective surf reporting I’ve ever read.
All I ever wanted reading about pro surfing was a chance to transcend this earthly realm and to hear incisive analysis of what was possible on a wave, with the beauty of the ocean as backdrop and it’s moods and vicissitudes as natural drama.
Longtom delivers this.
First off, Im Not saying Willian doesn’t rip. He kills it.
I just watched the Finals on the Heat Analyzer and it looked like Willian did the same backside turn over and over. Doesnt seem like he ticked all the boxes for high scores…
Commitment and degree of difficulty – Not really
Innovative and progressive maneuvers – Nope
Combination of major maneuvers – Kinda it was the same maneuver each time
Variety of maneuvers – Nope
Speed, power and flow – Absolutely.
Agree or disagree with the scores?
That’s Rupiah
Cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha!
I haven’t watched any of it, so I’ll weigh in with fervent opinions…
I saw some footage of Lagundri from maybe a week ago. That’s where you surf, right? Holy shit it was macking
https://www.surfer.com/feat…
I remember reading it, and this was the first link I found just now. I would love to be proven wrong.
Here’s another link:
http://www.worldsurfleague….
The M Wrights board looked suss , a bit short and seemed lacking in drive , he was having to nose pump the rocker where the other guys were generating drive from rail to rail transitions. Im calling equipment choice as the difference.
I have a couple of questions.
Felipe V panda. Felipe takes off up the reef, squeezes in a couple of crisp turns but has to kick out as panda holds priority and takes off. panda bashes a few turns. no harm, no foul.
what I don’t really get is how felipes score and panda’s score added up to over 11. it was the same wave, does this mean if Felipe had priority and rode the wave doing backside hacks he could have potentially scored a 12
another question, Mikey wright is ranked number 7 but if he gets another wild card will he be seeded from his ranking or as a wild card?
someone’s been on Stab. Or they’ve been here 🙂
don’t use the “S” word around me, I was a faithful for too long but finally Rory and his hypocritical bullshit pushed me over the edge, I will admit I occasionally take a peek over the fence to see whats happening, kind of the same way you would look over the fence as you drive past at an ex girlfriends house with the quiet hopes she had gained a few pounds or been involved a heavy machinery accident.
it would seem the break up has better on me than her
the company she keeps (the comment section) certainly doesn’t leave me filled with jealousy, most of her friends I had anything in common with left at the same time. and those that stayed are far from great broken elevator company.
Surely its now painfully obvious the WSL needs to drop Margarets in favour of an indo leg consisting of Kerama’s & Ulu’s / Padang?
Also No one ever speaks of it, but with the loss of Fiji (and soon the pipeline) the tour is set up seriously in favour of the modern natural footer. Adding in Ulu’s would go part of the way to addressing this major imbalance, along with providing the most consistent venue on the schedule.
Natural footer privilege. Goofy footers lives matter.
Totally – Goofies are treated as second class citizens. They deserve a versatile, tropical left hand reef to destroy for a bit of parity.
I would support a comp at Uluwato or GLand. No problem from me and June/July is the time to hold it (a much better idea than having the ‘world championships’ there in September). I can still remember a time when all the goofys were dominating the right handers because they could get beyond vertical on their backhand. It was all in the press because they could lean off their heels not their toes. Maybe the trend to sub 6-foot boards killed the advantage.
Longtom, you got fan mail https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
thankyou Angel, thats nice.
I’m with you on the secret Brazzo love. As much as I detest them from the outside looking in, if I was on tour I’d be writing the Brazzo handbook.
Didn’t think Julian beat Jordy. Jordys waves were clearly underscored but he definitely got Kolohe. On the last wave he threw some big hacks, got barreled and landed an air, sure the barrel and the air where average at best but it was enough to get the score in my opinion.
Cardoso + Defay = ratings disaster but a good story. I turned it off before the Finals.
Also Rottmouth was pretty fuckin’ weird! He’d make the semi’s?
Judges truly seemed confused. No conspiracies.
Maybe, but I still remember the reverse Defay pulled off at Trestles two years ago, and she has a beautiful smile! All good for me.
A Fiji win a couple years ago too
Yes, I just watched it again, her first scoring wave was really great!
Who was it earlier in the week that stated Willian didn’t belong during the Keramas comp? I hope your chowing down on a big bag of d**ks
He has now joined Kai and Keanu in the unlikeliest club of CT champs that shouldn’t be.
That was probably me.
And equalled Bruce.
Shouldn’t be is harsh.
Couldn’t be is better. All those guys that have won a CT deserve the trophy.
They have to go through 7 or 8 guys to lift it. It aint no car race where the best guy runs out of petrol on the last lap.
All those guys aren’t on the millions and have options the super stars have, so when they get to stand out of the shadows they deserve every bit of applause.
You reckon the 100k cheque would change Julians life much?
It will for Panda and family.
Unfortunately the prize money was divided equally after Margaret River, so no big pay check for Panda.
Surely they will adjust that.
Fucken PANDAmonium if they didnt!!
Me. Panda still doesn’t impress me. Half of the guys on CT have shitty styles including him. I am aware my views on panda and italo are very unpopular and I don’t give a fuck. When are they going to start judging style ffs! Also, this big bag of dicks is delicious, thanks!
Two complaints about the broadcast directed at the WSL.
1) Uluwatu is this big rangy complicated set up. But the camera angle was always zoomed in tight when the surfers were surfing, as if they were trying to clip out the train at a wave pool. Pull the camera back for fucksake! I want to see what the athletes see at long pointbreaks, not a nonsensical “guy in the sky” perspective. Pull back and give some context at J Bay – coverage of that event is worse than it could be every year because we are treated to a close inspection of how Felipe’s haircut flexes with his bottom turns instead of a meaningful perspective of that beautiful break with someone surfing on it. I don’t want to hear “he sees something down the line and is pumping hard.” Show it to me. I’ve watched surfing in wide perspective my whole life. I can be trusted to know where to look. Think about tennis Sophie, or basketball – zoomed in to personalities between action, zoomed out to show the action. Those viewers are trusted to know where to look – the camera doesn’t zoom in on the ball. Think about quality surf magazines nowadays. Surfer’s Journal rarely positions your perspective halfway up a surfer’s nose. Let the wave be stars too. We like that.
2) There were civilians paddling around in the line up. I had no problem with this! But the way the announcers and cameras worked awkwardly to pretend they didn’t exist was borderline creepy. Shots suddenly cutaway from non-contest surfer so often the effect became Godard-esque. If I wanted to watch New Wave cinema I’d go back to college. The guys in the booth pretended they didn’t exist. I feel like I was sitting at home seeing dead people. At least say something, anything: “you can see that there’s one way in and out of here, and instead of shutting down this entire beautiful break today we’ll be sharing with some lucky surfers …”. Non contest surfers are not radioactive. We like non contest surfing. We like all surfing. When the camera was gazing up the point for an atmospheric shot, and even a little speck of a non-contest surfer would start surfing, it would abruptly cutaway as if it suddenly realized it was perving on its first cousin at a family picnic. Why? So what if the guy pushes his rails harder than Michael February, or is just cruising on a longboard, or just pearled his egg and ran over a bodyboarder? Let the booth guys say, “wow that kid’s ripping, maybe we’ll see him in a jersey” or “that was one for Kookslams,” or whatever. Wouldn’t that take some pressure off of them to generate empty talk to fill empty space? We like surfing. Why not show some more of it instead of trying to avoid more of it like the plague? Pan over to Winkipop in or out of a break, run a drone father up the point and chase around the surfers surfing the same swells the contestants will, following all the wave all the way through until the until the competitor drops in then cut to the shore view. Anything to let the scene breath and give your viewers some credit.
Tu as raison . The essence of Long reef / points are not being captured using the extreme close up a la Bout de Souffle . Are they trying to create suspense or have they no f’in clue ?
That was my big beef with Morning of the Earth (sacrilege, I know). All uncrowded, iconic point breaks, and the camera is zoomed in so hard that you could have been at any beach break,
great, except keep that drone away from me.
Great point! I have always had a problem with this. Navagating The line up is usually the most interesting piece of the puzzle.
Has anyone ever thrown more spray than Cardoso?
Trent Munro, Phill Mcdonald…Occy
Junior Moepono.
Sunny Garcia, Shawn Briley, Jimbo Pelligrine
Can confirm that the judging panel was overran by monkeys.
Was a bit iffy on Ulus being added to finish off Margs, but after today in what I wouldn’t call pumping Ulus I’d be happy to see it added to the tour as a permanent stop.
The Brazilian storm has added some muscle to it and I’m liking the Panda!