Gorgeous backlit peaks, Gabriel, Toledo, Smith, Italo and John John dominant…
Three events and one day down on the fourth, I think sufficient time has elapsed to make some judgements about the format changes for the CT this year.
Over-lapping heats: brilliant, transformed what would have been a debacle at Bells beach into an historic day.
Seeding Round and Elimination Round: Bollocks, as our English Pals would say.
They front load the contest with inconsequence. Drag it out interminably. Even the great Assenter, Joey Turpel, after another long, long fatally unspecific day, was wont to drift off script. Towards the end of the day, in gorgeous backlit peaks whose silken dresses were shunted skywards by professional surfers Turpel riffed that he couldn’t think of a more open-minded sport than surfing.
Emboldened, he proffered the first original thought I have heard him utter in, what, ten years?
“What about a shot clock for priority, Pottz?”
For a bloke who has never once stared pro surfing in the eye and wondered “why is there something and not nothing” it was revolutionary.
You know if Joey is visibly drifting the action is slow. Pottz shoved him back in the box, quick smart.
“What about the bloke who waits all heat for priority?”
Bad idea. Or words to that effect.
Not much more controversy today than Joe’s blue-sky thinking. I spent the duration of the time from the end of Keramas to Margies going over each of the scoring waves from the heat analyser. Kanoa’s 9.1 in the final still makes no sense.
Therefore the first question of day one at Margs: Would judges recover their composure and bring the scale back to sanity and comprehension.
By and large, they did.
Second question. Would John John Florence show up with 2017 form and potentially create an almost unassailable gap between himself and his pursuers?
One of the favoured cliches uttered in the pressers is that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Not really true. John had the Title wrapped after Margs in 2017. Kelly had many won before the halfway mark. Poor starts have cost Gabe Medina at least one world title, possibly more.
JJF overpowered Kelly and Jaddy Andre in heat one. His 2017 form looks within reach. It was good to have Barton back in the booth. He said Kelly looked great. He did not look great. He looked terrible. Board choice is a nightmare for him. The Akila Aipa seems locked in a goldilocks zone, too easily overpowered by Kelly today in textured-up mainbreak.
Is there a bigger irony than the fact that the only guy on Tour who owns his own surfboard company can’t get his personal whips dialed? Kelly’s next heat is likely to be in ten-foot surf.
Will he have a board to deal with it?
Third question. Would Italo Ferriera bring an injured repertoire into Margs from Keramas. The ugly moon boot was there, but infringement on the repertoire there was not. In twelve heats Italo launched the only successful rotation and was highly rewarded for it.
Easily took the heat.
Do you get a feeling when you see him and his gal walking up the steps together. Not quite Mickey and Mallory in Natural Born Killers, not that doomed.
But there is something rock and roll: it’s you and me against the world babe, no?
Gabe Medina is in tenth spot on the rankings. That is an aberration. Gabe Medina has been the best surfer on Tour this year. Cruelled by the decision to sit out perfect three-to-four-foot D-bah and hold the Finals day in slop on the Gold Coast, loser of a line ball call against JJF at Bells and one landed huck or tube ride away from beating Fioravanti in Bali.
The second I wrote Gabe: Whats wrong? In my notes he exploded into the best wave of the day. No one comes harder and more definitively off the bottom on the opening manouevre. It was the first and best excellent score of the day.
Kelly Slater rode a 5’8” and looked short changed. Jordy rode a six three-and-a-half and was alpha. Big turns, full turns. He admitted to Rosie Hodge that the Keramas loss had really hurt but had come to the conclusion that you “can’t let the hair in the salad spoil the salad.”
Which would be the opening line of the opening lesson in kids’ sex education classes if I ever designed the curriculum.
I know this will sound silly but hear me out.
After J-Flo’s tight loss to Igarashi in Keramas and watching him surf today the top turn match up I would most like to see in big Margs, or even tube-riding at the Box is JJF and Jezza Flores.
Jezza lost the heat. Sorry, there are no losers in the Seeding Round. Barton waxed lyrical about the Seeding Round, about how it could incentivise you and make the seeding bracket dynamic. Eyes glazed over here, Barton.
You can’t explain it. No one can. John Florence doesn’t understand it. I bet Jake Patterson is the only man in pro surfing who does.
Jesse Mendes threw the biggest golden showers. Jack Robbo missed his heat, on the way back from Chile, which seemed a very Robbo thing to do. God I would love to see him give Kanoa a good old fashioned flogging at the Box or North Point.
Not to hate on Iggs, we are all learning to love him. Each in our own imperfect way. Such is life.
Twelve heats in very nice surf, three excellent rides, no losers: was the return on investment.
Margaret River Pro Men’s Seeding Round (Round 1) Results:
Heat 1: John John Florence (HAW) 12.84 DEF. Jadson Andre (BRA) 11.64, Kelly Slater (USA) 10.34
Heat 2: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 12.73 DEF. Soli Bailey (AUS) 11.80, Yago Dora (BRA) 9.33
Heat 3: Peterson Crisanto (BRA) 10.56 DEF. Julian Wilson (AUS) 10.27, Caio Ibelli (BRA) 10.17
Heat 4: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 14.03 DEF. Joan Duru (FRA) 12.84, Frederico Morais (PRT) 11.90
Heat 5: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.70 DEF. Deivid Silva (BRA) 11.94, Jacob Willcox (AUS) 11.60
Heat 6: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 14.73 DEF. Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 12.00, Jack Robinson (AUS)
Heat 7: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.77 DEF. Ricardo Christie (NZL) 9.14, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 8.93
Heat 8: Kolohe Andino (USA) 11.70 DEF. Seth Moniz (HAW) 11.23, Jack Freestone (AUS) 10.73
Heat 9: Ryan Callinan (AUS) 11.57 DEF. Conner Coffin (USA) 9.77, Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 9.57
Heat 10: Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 13.53 DEF. Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 12.67, Wade Carmichael (AUS) 11.50
Heat 11: Jesse Mendes (BRA) 14.60 DEF. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.34, Willian Cardoso (BRA) 9.70
Heat 12: Owen Wright (AUS) 12.10 DEF. Griffin Colapinto (USA) 12.00, Michel Bourez (FRA) 5.33
Margaret River Pro Men’s Elimination Round (Round 2) Matchups:
Heat 1: Wade Carmichael (AUS) vs. Jack Freestone (AUS) vs. Jack Robinson (AUS)
Heat 2: Michel Bourez (FRA) vs. Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) vs. Jacob Willcox (AUS)
Heat 3: Willian Cardoso (BRA) vs. Yago Dora (BRA) vs. Frederico Morais (PRT)
Heat 4: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Caio Ibelli (BRA)
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There are quite a few rights on Bali. A few of the well known ones besides Keramas – Sanur, Hyatt reef, Sri Lanka, Nusa Dua, Greenbowl and there are decent enough rights at Canggu and several other spots heading up the west coast.
Agree with other posters.. Ulus one of the highest quality and most consistent breaks on the island, and as Longtom said, works on all tides and is offshore in the trades. As seen last year, is a better online viewing experience, and a greater challenge for the surfers than Keramas.
Would be difficult for WSL to get permission to surf the place though. Seems they got offside last year with the local powers that be, including well known surfer and now high priest, Made Kasim.
Also guessing Hotel Kommune must be putting up a significant amount of money for the contest to be held there.
They could go from 100 possible scores to 20 if it was by .5 and .0 only and not .0-.9. That’s how I score it at home and I can always come up with the winner. None of this .3 or .7 nonsense. Also they need to get it to 16 guys running overlapping 40 minute elimination only heats and they could finish in under 9 hours. Maybe like NC said about getting the back half of Year this way? These long drawn out rounds 1 and 2 are stupid. Elimination from the get go will light a fire.
Kelly can do whatever he wants. The boards look too small and he appears to overpower them and spin out. You must have noticed the weird half layback turns he was doing at Duranbah and Winkipop.
Victory laps for the purposes of selling stuff to the masses don’t work out. Do you remember the “pottz” clothing and board label Martin Potter tried to run in Australia about 1993? It was supposed to be Gotcha’s clothing range but rebranded because Gotcha already existed in Australia as a brand of underwear. It went nowhere because (among other things), kids didn’t care to wear what an ex-world champ was wearing when there was a new kid on the block blowing minds. This might sound familiar.
Western Australia is pretty much the land of lefts as well (just look at the way the coast faces). North Point and the Box are exceptions really. Same reason why there are basically no lefts in Victoria. Of course Margaret River main break is actually a left, it’s just not up to contemporary standard anymore.
If Tourism WA want to continue hosting a CT event they should consider moving up to the NW, or make it mobile between Yallingup and Prevelly and hold it wherever the best waves are. There are world class waves in the SW but Main Break isn’t one of them, they can’t even work out if they want to even allow the comp and North Point, and the Box is too far away for spectators.
Why go to all the effort of hosting an event and hold it at a lesser wave?
I’ve had the same thought; instead of scoring each ride, judges get together at end of the heat and vote the winner. This way would credit a surfer who, for example, who might do a big air but just barely doesn’t ride out of it. Later maybe he gets super deep in the tube (think Kelly), rides foam ball, travels far but gets clipped at the exit. Both rides were exciting to watch….and get no score. Meanwhile other guy safety turns his way to the W.
The above scenario happens frequently and the weaker safer surfer advances (see Ace Buchan) and we the viewers lose.
Glad you said it again LT, Kanoa was overscored at Keramas. End of discussion.
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KeLlY ShOuLd HaVe A ViCtOrY LaP oN sLaTeR DeSiGnS EvEn ThOuGh ThEy LoOk LiKe ShIt
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it’s weird. Ulus is the spot.
Breaks on all tides, at all sizes and is offshore in the trades.
Its not lost on me…..also not too many down days there. Would love to see them hitting outside corner on a 10 foot day on their 6’2″ step ups.
The thing is that over the course of this discussion you’ve gone from mentions of magic (while ignoring the obvious effects of surfboard length) to imagining him at your local as the old man who doesn’t surf well to having him make an around the world advertising campaign. The simple truth is that when he goes and grabs a different board he does better. From the Simon anderson to the aipa he has done his best surfing when he has gone away from slater designs. I think that limiting himself by riding boards that he obviously wants to move away from is anything but “baller”
Leemore, the announcers are already watching a screen, not the ocean. Remember Mick being attacked at JBAY? It took Potter 5 seconds to register and Turpel just kept talking as if he wasn’t watching at all. If you had a 72 hour notice, 16 men should be able to position themselves so that they can assemble easily anywhere. They know that they have to be at Kandui…. how hard is it to be in Bali during the waiting period, ready to pounce?
I do shit like that on my own dime, easy as pie.
stomach tattoos??
I do to tend to agree with you in some of this but the reality is that its subjective. As long as the scorers / judges are consistent within each heat it should balance out in the long run. Note the use of the word should.
I don’t see why the WSL protects it judges so much compared to the NBA or any other televised sport where they use video replays etc to add to the result.
Your point about falling off at the start of the wave is a no brainer. If they can not even get that right / consistent what hope do they have.
Nice summation LT. Over-lapping heats are the best thing since sliced bread. Unfortunately you need the venue to co-operate and a decreasing low period swell is not ideal. One would hope that if NP was to come in to force that they would run them there. The rights don’t seem overly suited.
Maybe it is time to just get rid of Margs and move to a proper left. G-Land would be good. Like you say you don’t need a whole lot of people there. Same time zone as Perf. And they are actually lefts!
They could also bring in the majors concept – with more points on offer / more cashola etc at certain locations. eg. Bells, Chopes, Sunset and Pipe. That would help to shake it up a bit more.
Biggest CT locations weakness — not enough lefts. It stares everyone in the face and they look away.
I like what I have heard from some of the tour brains trust: a two-part CT. First half, the prelude: full numbers, basic/good locations. Second half: the world title race, top 16 men, top 8 women, five star locations. This’ll be under consideration for the post-2020 tour.
Thats sounding much more like it. I still hope they can keep some sort of reasonable Pipe scenario. I would like to see more of the local boys getting a chance to butt heads and interrupt the finish. I would love to see two locals against two CT surfers in the first round. Losers out. I know it will most likely never happen….but I think that is one place where it should – would add a truck load of drama.
This sounds very much like an invitation for Rip Curl to put on a search contest again.
I like the idea actually. Anyone who finishes below 16th can go tackle the QS events in the second half of the year, and the top 16er events can be completed in what, 15 heats?
Ha ha, let’s see how long Rip Curl stick around first.
Haha Nick. They can try whatever they want, after almost 4 years I see no evidence whatsoever that the Wsl has even come close to attracting a ‘non surfing’ audience. And without them, it–‘seems impossible’–for Dirk Ziff to turn a profit. Do you have any idea how many millions and millions he is spening on Elo’s, Sophies and everyone’s salary–prize money etc.–a hint–its a lot. How long will he keep losing money before he says enough is enough…..
Mate that guy is richer than anyone here can really imagine. He is richer now than when he bought this shit show. The tour is play money to people like that. The question is not how much money he will lose, it’s at what point will he realise it’ll never turn a corner.
you just may be right.
hey Nick, no comment on the lack of the Wsl getting a non surfing base?? Has their fate been sealed yet? See comment below…….
I know this may seem nearly impossible to you samwaters, but I do many other things with my time than watch this fucken site for replies to posts I’ve made. Actually surfing is one of those things.
But here we are, so…. From the conversations I’ve had with various people involved in WSL-Land, I’d say they are pinning a lot of hope on old Elo and his alleged storytelling chops.
They think if Elo’s storytelling on TV and elsewhere can get people engaged with surfing, then perhaps those people will transfer their affections to the CT etc.
I feel they are on a hiding to nothing, as we say here in Australia. Like I don’t think it matters how many people decide they want to watch the CT. The real game for Ziff’s profit motive is the Kelly wave pool, yet already it seems to me that the WSL’s big mission to convert the world to the magic of wave pools is faltering very badly. They couldn’t do it in Japan, they can’t do it in Florida, there’s no current sign of them doing it in Australia, and we are nearly four years down the track from Kelly’s magical unveiling, with no other superpool in sight. Probably somebody’s head will roll from what just happened in FL. That will have been a heavy blow to everyone involved.
It’s likely we are all not too far off from a patchy global recession, and that is not gonna do anybody in the pro surfing universe any good whatsoever.
real gangsters?
Drop wallet festival begun!!
But, but that would spell the death of my on-site merch franchises !
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When I was seven
I ran bare foot so I had
An excuse to lose
or he’d simply benefit from being on the right board for the right wave like we saw at keramas. If Kelly was the type of guy who simply wanted to do what he wanted to do without criticism he wouldn’t be who he is. By being the GOAT he is more subject to criticism than anyone rather than protected from it
The GOAT stuff is a bit too fanboi for me
I mean statistically he has the greatest level of success for a competitive surfer…
sorry nothing to do with you, it just a marketing tactic that took hold and it annoys me, because its such hype. if there was a GOAT it is the Duke
yeah I mean thats super fair for you to feel that way
but the world tour isn’t about who has the most respect in the line up and who is the OG. You are making the mistake based off of nostalgia of viewing the tour as your local. It’s not. When he rides a board that suits the combination of the conditions at hand and the type of surfing he wants to do I argue that its both
A: way more fun for him as he is actually surfing at his level of talent
B: more engaging for the fans of the sport.
I guarantee you that kelly isn’t looking for handouts or props. He wants to surf to the best of his ability. At keramas when he was on something that was the right equipment he was surfing at the best of his ability and it was awesome to watch. But in a lot of other situations recently he’s not and thats a losing situation not just for us the surfing population but most importantly for him
he could ride a 6 10 out there and look a whole lot better.
“Even the Great Assenter, Joey Turpel ….”
I presume this is a simple typo and you meant to write “Asseater”.