The WSL gets airshow spectacularly right!
Did you watch the ‘Red Bull Airborne’, which was streamed live to an audience of almost thousands, during yesterday’s lay-day in the Hossegor Pro?
“Crowds love the athleticism and creativity of aerial surfing, and so do the surfers. Many say the future of surfing is in the air,” WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt had said in June, and which I’d jabbed at, airshows were a relic of the nineties and had died along with everything else ghastly in that epoch, but now I say…
How wrong could I be?
Even without Filipe Toledo and Gabriel Medina, who withdrew because, what, they win and everyone yawns, I told you so, or they lose, and the air crowd yaps about paper gods, the contest was an entirely blissful experience.
The Josh Kerr-confected air contest did two things.
It let the WSL loosen a few buttons on its starched pinafore and show that surfing didn’t have to be six hours of heats, grimly fought, like trench warfare. There was a spirit and, let me hitch my pyjama pants up for a moment, a joy to the game.
Eight months ago, Chas Smith wrote that “Todd Richards is the answer to all our surf commentary problems” and asked readers to email the WSL and demand his inclusion.
And there he was, just like magic, putting a ferocious amount of pressure on Peter Mel and Attack Tits Wasilewski. Kindly, but sternly, Richards responded to Mel saying goofy things like, “I really like the term ‘cork’. It reminds me of a corkscrew. Is that where it came from? Is it a corkscrew?”
Suddenly, pro surfing felt like surfing. Alive, unraped.
Accidentally, Red Bull Airborne revealed what the WCT still gets wrong, what the ASP got wrong. The events are too long, the roster of surfers is too unwieldy and, unless you’re swinging over the ledge at Teahupoo or Pipe, no one wants to see cutbacks and turns at three-foot beach breaks.
In the end, Yago Dora won with an ability to strike that isn’t always apparent within the strictures of a regular event.
Red Bull Airborne Final Leaderboard:
1 – Yago Dora (BRA) 18.27
2 – Griffin Colapinto (USA) 17.21
3 – Jack Freestone (AUS) 15.3
4 – Kalani David (HAW) 5.66
5 – Matt Meola (HAW) 5.40
6 – Eithan Osborne (USA) 0.00
Qualifying Round Leaderboard:
1 – Kalani David (HAW) 16.83
2 – Griffin Colapinto (USA) 14.29
3 – Yago Dora (BRA) 13.83
4 – Matt Meola (HAW) 12.46
5 – Eithan Osborne (USA) 12.34
6 – Jack Freestone (AUS) 11.26
7 – Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 9.84
8 – Jordy Smith (ZAF) 9.80
9 – Albee Layer (HAW) 9.76
10 – Eric Geiselman (USA) 9.60
11 – Mason Ho (HAW) 9.17
12 – Leif Engstrom (USA) 8.63
13 – Kael Walsh (AUS) 8.36
14 – Maxime Huscenot (FRA) 6.20
15 – Italo Ferreira (BRA) 4.96
16 – William Aliotti (FRA) 2.60
17 – Chippa Wilson (AUS) 1.46
18 – Sebastian Williams (MEX) 0.00
Agreed, it is not easy. And i have heard Gerlach in booth at the Coldwater and it was painful. My main point being that he is out of place calling out an air contest, where the technicalities of the grabs, spins, and variations escape the entirety of the WSL commentators. Therefore, bring in an expert like Todd Richards, but sit him with a guy like Josh Kerr, to call out the action. Hey, Bobby Martinez at the Stab Hi was a total abortion in the booth. I get what they were trying for, but it was awful.
Gerlach is comical, but mostly to the tune of how much he is in love with himself and dresses like a 18 year old. Give me O’neill Ozone Gerlach. The latest version likens him to a new Rolling Stone album. Are we into it? or just tolerating it based off of what they once were? I think the latter.
Todd actually surfs quite well, but it is helpful for him to call out grabs and spins, as “The Condor” cant seem to find a place to nest during this event.
WTF was Albee riding? Looked about the size of one of those finger skateboards I had as a kid.
After all those corona ads I pledge to drink beer out of glass bottles but not with corona in them . Luckily the production got better as the event went on as I was about to give up , with no scores , no leader board , few replays and would have like them to have a surfing air specialist like Christian Fletcher , Kirk Flintoff or Jadson Andre instead of Someone from snow or skate , those peripheral derivative activities ( I really believe that water skiing is closer to surfing than skating or snowboarding . Liquid water is not like snow or ice or concrete or wood . )
Boring to watch and listen too. Conditions weren’t great for an air comp
Did you get the whole way through DR?
I fell asleep on my computer midway though the final. Not because of boredom. I ain’t one for late nights.
I thought Todd was fabulous and agree with your commentary: the grey skies and lack of made airs euthanased me before the Final.
Watched for a bit – commentary would been better if Todd Richards just spoke, getting interjected by other muppets was fucked.
What was cool – is that big straight tweaked airs look the shit
Was it Mason’s straight air to the clouds that turned you on?
That was pretty cool – yeah just few other straight airs with little heel tweaks looked better in my eyes than reverses at just foam level
The Italian kid looked pretty good, too, yeah?
yep Trevi Fountain served him well – howevs sometimes his boards look a little long?
Yep, Peter mel almost ruined everything Todd Richards bought to the booth. Surfing is boring to watch because of lack of action, having to wait for sets etc. This was the opposite, if you looked away for a minute you could easily miss something amazing. The main thing I liked was seeing guys like Chippa in there, fresh faces, not just contest jocks.
‘Corked’ is of course a term in wine-wankery, referring to the taste of fungal contamination by-products, of the afore-mentioned xylem-based glass vessel orifice plug.
Could this, perhaps be an apt metaphor for the entire contaminated Nocean colour scene?
Neil from Alex Surf Shop is a cunt.
yeah, fuck off Neil ya cunt.
but in the interests of fairness – I want to hear his side of the story Wigs
Took a bunch of board orders in Torquay – went broke – turned off his phone – then fucked off back to Queensland. Total dickhead.
not ok.
hunt him the fuck down!!!!
As someone who lives around the corner from Alex Surf Shop this piques my interest
He might have a problem that I don’t know about e.g. drugs or family etc. In that case good luck to him. I’m just pissed off he took deposits when his balls were that close to the wall and then went missing.
Why the airing of this particular laundry here?
Sorry Crabby. Will delete if necessary.
Sorry, had to do a little selective editing. Australian media law is vicious.
All good I was feeling unusually remorseful anyway. Apologies.
It’s relevant, surfing is not financially viable.
You tell me that… now?
Unless you’re in the market of selling 7ft foamy packages. And yoga pants. And organic grains. And Insta networking. And fuck knows what else.