Having pretty much invented the art form I can claim with confidence that when it comes to live surf contest commentary, I know what I’m talking about. So here’s some advice, from a world-weary gray beard, so to speak, to our new breed of mic jockeys.

Sam George: “I invented surf commentary as art form!”

So here's a little advice for Joe, Pottz, Ron, Barton, Peter and Rosy…

Being one of the few, apparently, who’ve been staying up late (on the West Coast, at least) to check in on the 2019 Corona Open J-Bay I was again struck by sharply contrasting elements of the WSL broadcast: the quality of the coverage, especially the replays, and the inanity of the commentary.

Yeah, I know, listening to Joe Turpel recite love letters to the Top 40 live on air, heat after heat after heat, makes me want to stuff a wad of Fu in my ears, too.

But in regards to the commentary, and considering the tone of BeachGrit’s more typical criticism of the hapless World Surf League, which generally runs towards clever, I was moved to provide a more informed critique for those of its fan base who, along with the ‘tit clicks’ and sarcastic Chas Smith musings, might enjoy some actual perspective with their daily dose of snark.

And I’m just the guy to provide it, seeing as how, along with my brother Matt, I did the first, blow-by-blow (or more appropriately wave-by-wave) live commentary at a professional surf contest, way back at the 1984 Stubbies Pro held at Oceanside.

Up until that time surf contest commentary was rarely elevated beyond, “Cheyne Horan, please return your jersey to the beach marshal. Cheyne, return your jersey” and “Red’s up and riding”, even when red happened to be four-time world champion Mark Richards.

Oh sure, during the very first Stubbies Pro, held at Burleigh Heads in 1977, contest organizer and erstwhile drama student Peter Drouyn (what, you thought that Westerly Windina act was something new?) called a few of the latter heats with a spot-on impersonation of a Melbourne Cup horse race announcer. Good for a few laughs, but by the next year “Bloody Bill” Bolman, who took the helm at the Stubbies event, was using the amplified voice to urge spunky Gold Coast sheilas to show us their tits, while at the Rip Curl Bells event booth guest Terry Fitzgerald was using the mic to call sets for rookie team riders like Steve Wilson and Derek Hynd, sublimely unconcerned that everyone on the bluffs could hear exactly what he was doing.

Amusing, yes, informative, no.

Surf commentary got no more sophisticated as the pro tour progressed into the 1980s, which is why, in an attempt to justify a tenuous sponsorship arrangement, my brother Matt and I convinced the Stubbies execs to let us do actual live commentary at their ’84 event, leaving the jersey assignments to the beach marshals and the “show us your tits” stuff to the pros in their sponsor’s tents.

This we did, from the first heat to the last, and continued to so do for several years after, wielding the mic at a variety of big time events, from the Op Pro at Huntington Beach (where I first coined the term “paddle battle”, thank you) to the Gotcha Pro in Hawaii (including commentating the ancillary bikini contest and subsequent near riot) and the Spur Steak Ranch Surfabout in Capetown, South Africa (where I was actually paid in Spur Burgers with monkey gland sauce.)

In every case, focusing on providing surf fans with perspective on what they were watching, not simply describing what they were seeing. Which, when you get right down to it, is the entire point of sport’s commentary.

Did I eventually get tired of hearing my own voice, yammering away at the efficacy of the Huntington Hop (I actually stole that one from Tom Curren, but made it my own through relentless repetition) and explaining the priority rule for the umpteenth time? Naturally, and I’m sure many others did, as well. I’ll certainly cop to that. But having pretty much invented the art form I can claim with confidence that when it comes to live surf contest commentary, I know what I’m talking about. So here’s some advice, from a world-weary gray beard, so to speak, to our new breed of mic jockeys.

JOE: You have the job, mate. Had it for years. No need to suck up to the powers that be by continually extoling the virtues of the tour and its participants. Some actual critique would be nice, too, as in stop describing awkward tail-drifts as carving turns and blown finishes as timely exits. And while you’re at it, there’s no need to gush over every single competitor like you’re hoping they’ll hear you and invite you to their latest clip launch party. You’ve got one of the coolest jobs in pro surfing. Invite them to your party.

MARTIN: It’s simple. If you’re going to be a commentator you can’t come at it from the perspective of some dude in the stands, downing his boerewors with a Castle Lager and cheering for every good ride. Cut out the oohing and aahing. Your job isn’t to convince us that these guys and gals are good surfers — that’s their job. And c’mon, Pottz, you know good surfing when you see it. You invented a lot of it. When they kook out, call it out. You were world champ, for fucks sake. Your legacy is safe.

RONNIE: Though you’re too young to have attended the 1977 Stubbies, you’ve obviously picked a page from the Drouyn playbook, delivering the blow-by-blow in a breathless, hyperbolic rush. Which is great at offsetting Turpel’s sleep-inducing monotone and Pott’s frequent fanboy inarticulation. But you might consider taking it down a few notches, just now and then, to let us hear what you’re seeing, not simply telling us what we’re watching. You’ve got the cred. Use it.

BARTON: The most fun to listen to, as well as the most informative in terms of technique and strategy. But as the second world champ on the commentary team you’ve earned the right to be openly critical and well as appropriately supportive of today’s pros with a little less bemusement, a bit less suppressed chuckling, at the current crop’s travails. They’re serious out there. You were, too. Let your commentary reflect that.

PETER: I’ll just say this: Try not to sound so surprised that someone’s asking your opinion, and being so apologetic when it’s unflattering. You’re the biggest badass on the team. On the whole tour, for that matter. Act like it.

ROSY HODGE: Don’t change a thing. You’re absolutely adorable.

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Kelly Slater: “I like the option where everyone stops paying taxes!”

Current World number 7 foments revolution!

Did you take the eleven time champion, wave pool technology co-creator and current world number seven Robert Kelly Slater as an incendiary revolutionary? A burn-it-all-to-the-ground idealist? A man willing to push the masses into an uprising that tilts the very balance of power?

I didn’t.

And if I’m quite honest, I always considered Kelly a stone-cold, bald-faced, opportunist. A man who sees the angles, smells the blood, knows how to position himself exactly like he knows how to position himself at tricky-to-read maxing Pipeline and come out victorious.

Robert Kelly Slater is a student, an expert, but only an expert at surfing, or so I’ve always thought.

I’m indifferent to Outerknown but don’t see the real economic play in an ecological, high price-point surf brand. I had a case of Purps in my garage when we launched BeachGrit some four years ago and drank one while gagging. K-grip was never good (buy Octopus here!) and Kelly Slater surfboards are… I can’t say.

I’ve never actually surfed one.

Are they good? Epic? I don’t doubt but also don’t know.

More importantly, I’m writing a book on Islamic fundamentalism right now and ooooooooee. Rough. Fundamentalism is not what you’d call a “marketable literary enterprise” but to hell with those, right?

Right?

To hell with anything not directly tied to the machine.

Right?

Maybe not.

For Robert Kelly Slater, the man I considered immune to absurd heart tugs, is calling for revolution on Joe Rogan’s Instagram page. A tax-free revolution contra the popular notion that we should all storm Area 51, a U.S. military installation in the Nevada desert.

I honestly don’t know what any of this about but do like the “option where everyone stops paying taxes.”

What do you think?

Are you in?

Will you follow the world’s most successful living surfer to jail as a form of popular rebellion?

More as the story develops!

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Longtom: “With the women on full pay do they need baby-food scores fed to them like mashed banana?”

Exhibit A: Carissa Moore's 9.5 vs Filipe Toledo's 9.43…

Women’s Sport is hotter than fish grease. Pro leagues have popped up everywhere in Australia, pretty sure it’s happening in Europe and the Americas too.

Megan Rapinoe would be elected Prez of the USA if she ran against Trump in the 2020 election after winning the World Cup. Nothing but blue sky ahead for women surfers with pro careers in their sights.

Australian male pro surfing is circling the drain; the gals are dominating. 

In the last few days in between J-Bay and pumping surf at my home point I’ve visited the Skullcandy Grom Comp. Girls shredding everywhere, huge girl energy, everywhere you look girls are taking over.

You can’t deny the success of the investment Natasha Ziff, co-waterperson of the Year 2018, has made in Women’s Pro surfing. Three months ago, I watched a seventeen-year-old Floridian girl walk away from onshore 2ft D-Bah with a cheque for a hundred grand US in her hand.

WSL has made a gamble to put itself on the right side of history and so far the mainstream media has gobbled it up. It might turn out to be the smartest move pro surfing has ever made in it’s topsy turvy  forty-five-year history.

The most stunning aspect of the Founders Cup last May was how close or non-existent the gap between Gilmore, Wright, Moore and the top men was in the basin. Steph was the most watchable of all the surfers, male or female. Easily eclipsing, on that day, John John Florence. These aren’t value judgements, just facts of the matter.

The disparity between pay cheques between men and women has gone. The performance gap has not, but it’s closing. The most stunning aspect of the Founders Cup last May was how close or non-existent the gap between Gilmore, Wright, Moore and the top men was in the basin. Steph was the most watchable of all the surfers, male or female. Easily eclipsing, on that day, John John Florence. These aren’t value judgements, just facts of the matter. 

WSL now feels confident in an ever closer integration of mens and womens events. They share the same contest windows, and the same eyeballs. Both live and online. The days of a separate Tour schedule are almost over, apart from legacy events like Pipeline and waves still considered too gnarly like Teahupoo. They share the same audience, the same prizemoney, the same lineups, the same criteria but to even the most casual viewer the scale used to put a number on their rides is wildly different.

I said last night that it was a lack of capacity that stopped me watching more women’s pro surfing and that is true. But there is more. After watching six hours of men surfing and then in the same lineup with the same judging panel the numbers thrown at the women seem ridiculously inflated.

I said last night that it was a lack of capacity that stopped me watching more women’s pro surfing and that is true. But there is more. After watching six hours of men surfing and then in the same lineup with the same judging panel the numbers thrown at the women seem ridiculously inflated. 

Steph’s two sixes would be fours or maybe fives. Caz Marks’ eight would be more like a six. The most glaring example was Carissa Moore’s 9.5 from her quarter-final with Johanne Defay. A good wave, a great wave. Three nice turns, a fun little tube-ride.

When we put side by side with Filipe Toledo’s 9.43 opener for his heat against the Panda the difference is stark. Staggering. Every variety of top turn and power carve on display with a strong ending. 

Why the discrepancy? With the women on full pay do they really need the babyfood scores fed to them like mashed banana? Is it not disrespectful to their status as athletes and elite level surfers to be so clearly patronised by exactly the same judging panel using the same criteria?

What message does it send to the kiddies, the future?

That we’ll pay you the same but score you differently?

Down at the Oz Grom Comp I watched the best kids of the future. Gals shredding as hard as boyos. What incentive have they got to elevate the level, to future proof the sport if they know they are going to get fed highballed scores for surfing well below the level they are capable of reaching.

Equal pay has been a boon for women’s surfing. Time for an equal judging scale to be applied if the Tours are to co-exist.

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Gilmore has struggled to bring her best surfing to the party this year. The gorgeous style will always be there, but at crucial points she’s failed to get the scores that add up to a world title. | Photo: WSL

J-Bay Open (women): “Gilmore, Fitzgibbons falter; Moore swoops on title lead!”

Four high-pressure heats contested with world title hopes on the line…

It’s getting real in the women’s world title race now. The opening heats for the women at J-Bay set up the quarterfinals perfectly.

Each of the high seeds made it through, which meant four high-pressure heats contested with world title hopes on the line. The atmospherics of dreamy J-Bay felt at odds with the stakes. Even the inevitable point break lulls ratcheted up the tension.

This year’s narrative was set to be a rivalry between Stephanie Gilmore and newcomer Caroline Marks.

I’ll confess I rolled my eyes a bit at the notion that we could decide the narrative back at the opening event, but having written press releases a few times in my life, you have to write something.

In any case, the Gilmore-Marks title race hasn’t really materialized, thanks to inconsistent performances from both women. Other contenders such as Carissa Moore and Sally Fitzgibbons, meanwhile, have steadily climbed the rankings.

Though this year has never been a two-woman race, the quarterfinal between Gilmore and Marks was a big heat for both of them.

For Gilmore, it was a crucial heat if she wants to chase down Carissa Moore and Sally Fitzgibbons for the world title. Gilmore has struggled to bring her best surfing to the party this year. The gorgeous style will always be there, but at crucial points she’s failed to get the scores that add up to a world title.

Marks, meanwhile, needed to win this heat to pull herself out of the two-way tie with Lakey Peterson for fifth and climb back into the title race, if she can. As the fourth-placed American in the rankings going into J-Bay, Marks also needed a good heat to keep her Olympic dreams alive.

It is always a shock to me when Steph Gilmore falls on a wave. Wait, what? How is that even possible? When Gilmore is at her best, it feels like nothing could ever go wrong.

In her heat against Marks, Gilmore fell twice on scoring waves, and quite simply, that was the game. Marks surfed as well as ever with an 8.17 and a 6.27 as her keepers but Gilmore largely defeated herself on this one.

A pair of sixes at a right-hand point is a rough day at the office for Gilmore and in a post-heat interview, she said it was a crucial heat and a tough loss. She isn’t out of the title race just yet, but losing that heat just made the whole thing much more difficult.

Of the women in these quarterfinals, Carissa Moore surfed the best. Smooth, controlled, powerful. She seemed to see what the wave was going to do before it happened. She never fell out sync, there were no frantic chases down the line to get back in the pocket.

If you didn’t see the 9.5, it’s worth finding. She slid into that cheeky barrel on the end section like it was nothing, never mind the rocks lurking just beneath the surface. Against anyone else, Johanne Defay might have had a shot at this one. She surfed well, but Moore was simply on another level. There’s not much you can do with a 17-point combo.

Thanks to the post-heat interview I learned that Moore and Defay are good friends and traveling together at J-Bay. This is fine, but it felt like waste of an interview to me. Anyone who’s spent any time around women’s sports knows the friendship stops when the competition begins. No one’s going to really spare a thought for their bestie when the world title is on the line. Moore handled it with her characteristic grace, of course. She’ll meet Marks in the semifinal, which is going to be fire.

My heart always says Malia, but my head said that certainly Sally Fitzgibbons would win this one. Not so fast. J-Bay suits Manuel’s smooth style and clean rail work. She came out firing on and scored a 7.0 on her opening wave. If her turns lacked the dynamism and power of Moore, Manuel looked poised and beautifully controlled.

Fitzgibbons answered back with fast, hammering turns. The judges rightly rewarded her tighter, more vertical turns a bit more than Manuel’s more flowing style, but the heat remained a nailbiter.

Then things got wild. Manuel fell after taking a wave on priority, leaving her with no backup score. A lull created a high-tension waiting game. Then with priority, Manuel went to go, but changed her mind. Along the way, she also prevented Fitzgibbons from taking the wave. That meant Manuel lost priority. Fitzgibbons scooped up the next one, but only managed a 6.17. Good, but not the emphatic finish she might have liked.

Point breaks are a finicky business. Long lulls. Two-wave sets alternated with five- or even ten-wave sets. Manuel quite simply got lucky. Instead of a two-wave set, the waves just kept coming. Manuel has an almost zenlike presence and it served her well here. She scrapped into the last wave of the set, waited for the white water section to clear, threw down a series of clean, arcing turns.

Just nail the close-out and win the heat: That’s it. Manuel went big on the final section, but fell on the closeout. The cameras showed her on the beach, waiting for the score to come though. It felt like forever, watching it. She got it.

A 7.03 on her final wave sends Manuel to the semi-final.

I was looking forward to the heat between Courtney Conlogue and Lakey Peterson. Both are insanely competitive and dynamic. You never really know what Conlogue, in particular, is going to do on a wave. Her opener featured an insane close-out move. The judges weren’t that into close-out moves this time around, it seems, because I expected a higher score for that one than they delivered. Conlogue took an early lead with a 7.33.

Peterson answered back in short order with a signature wave. A series of tight, vertical turns linked seamlessly. And fast. Peterson has so much speed. She’s always right on the edge of it, which is nerve-wracking to watch. I’m not sure about that head throw in the midst of the hooking turn she loves so much. An 8.57 gave her the lead and the heat looked to be a competitive one.

It took a turn when Conlogue needed a board change. If you’re going to break your board in a heat, J-Bay is a hell of a place to do it. Paddle back up to the keyhole, get to the beach, paddle back out. I thought the heat was over for Conlogue. There was no way Peterson wasn’t going to make the most of sitting alone in the lineup. But Peterson could only pick up a 4.50 during Conlogue’s board change.

Game still on.

Except Conlogue paddled back out to a flat ocean. Just then, J-Bay decided to do stupid point break things and the lull from hell began. Peterson and Conlogue sat there, bobbing up and down, staring at the horizon. Pretty much nothing happened. Finally, one wave slouched down the point. With priority, Peterson scooped it up, scored a 5.83, and that was the heat. It was all a bit of a letdown, given the dynamic styles of the two women in the water. Peterson meets Manuel in the semifinal, which will be quite the contrast in styles.

With Fitzgibbons out, Moore needs to make the final in order to take over the lead in the rankings. That means beating Marks. Based on their quarterfinal heat scores, Moore has the edge, but both women have shown that they are big-heat surfers. They bring their best when it matters, and Moore has steadily built a solid foundation for a title run.

While the narrative has focused on Gilmore and Marks, Moore is quietly waiting to pounce.

Corona Open J-Bay Women’s Quarterfinal Results:
QF 1: Caroline Marks (USA) 14.44 DEF. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 13.10
QF 2: Carissa Moore (HAW) 17.67 DEF. Johanne Defay (FRA) 12.50
QF 3: Malia Manuel (HAW) 14.03 DEF. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 13.50
QF 4: Lakey Peterson (USA) 14.40 DEF. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 11.00

Corona Open J-Bay Women’s Semifinal Matchups:
SF 1: Caroline Marks (USA) vs. Carissa Moore (HAW)
SF 2: Malia Manuel (HAW) vs. Lakey Peterson (USA)

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A silken set wave approached the lineup with Smith having P. He sat there like someone having a nightmare about turning into a statue at perfect J-Bay. It shocked Owen. “Absolutely mind boggling,” Strider called it and added, to good effect “It'll haunt him to his dying day." | Photo: WSL

J-Bay Day Four: “Jordy chokes and chokes epically; Pip sets table for three-peat and smacks lips!”

And Kanoa Igg creates a fluttery feeling in the naughty bits!

Fair to say we got our first unadulterated look at the entire crop of World Title Contenders put under the pressurised axe of perfect, if inconsistent, waves.

Decisions mattered. Execution was key. There were some spectacular flame-outs and heroic comebacks. I think, the most important and revealing day of the Tour so far this year.

“The horn we love so much,” as Joey T put it, probably the only person on earth who could make that sound G-rated, set off the day with Jordy and Owen Wright. In the intervening days between heats the number of deadwood mid-runners and backmarkers in cruise-control mode had been on my mind.

O-Dog’s name kept coming up and when he opened with a typically low energy four in velvety four-footers it seemed the script was set to dull.

Jordy shifted through the gears on two rides, maybe just a trifle under-scored which I read as inducement from the panel to lift the energy level.

He didn’t but Owen did.

Owen threw the tail above the lip on multiple occasions and with five to go the heat was close to locked. A silken set wave approached the lineup with Smith having P. He sat there like someone having a nightmare about turning into a statue at perfect J-Bay.

It shocked Owen.

“No?” he said in the presser. “Yes please”. Highest score of the heat. Jordy done.

“Absolutely mind boggling,” Strider called it and added, to good effect, “It’ll haunt him to his dying day.”

After that epic choke we thought sanity would prevail in the heat between R-Call and Medina. That being, Medina going ham and R-Call matching him. Sanity did not prevail.

Medina fell early, then fell again.

Then had a minor freak-out and butchered two Hail Mary airs on terrible waves. The ocean went to sleep after Callinan had banked a six and a five. Medina sat there looking terribly forlorn, Charlie went berserk on the bricks, over the broadcast we could hear the sound of a barking dog and the Cranberries 1994 hit Zombie.

It was a wonderfully fitting soundtrack to what seemed another hall of fame choke.

I’m still not sure exactly what happened. The exact sequence I mean. Ryan had P, paddled for a wave and lost it. Gifted Gabe a wave.

Three big strong turns followed, a little ponderous but gifting generous plumes of spray to the heavens. Ryan caught another wave and allowed Medina free reign over the lineup with a minute and change to go. The set wave came and Gabe duly surfed it very strongly, but very safely. I’d call it maxed-out safety surfing. It was worth the score.

Callinan said it was a devastating loss but what really could he learn from it?

I wonder about this a lot.

What really can be carried over from heat to heat? When one thirty minute heat is essentially a stochastic, discrete parcel of time and space, experienced in the now but only understood in the retrospect. Non-applicable to the next thirty minute parcel. Jordy thought there was a wave behind. There wasn’t.

Who knows what R-Cal thought, who knows what he might think next time?

You get a giddy little world-title flutter in the naughty bits watching Kolohe Andino surf? Nope, me neither.

At least he ain’t kept his dick wet, as Amy Winehouse would say, with his old safe sure bet. The infidelity with the DHD’s is bringing mixed results. It pushed him through the heat against Deivid Silva with some savage hacks but the board looks grabby both on the toe side exit from the bottom turn and on the heel-side exit from the top turn. He’ll be easy meat for ones who have their equipment dialed.

Kenny Iggs swapped partners at an opportune time. The change-up to Sharp Eyes this time last year marked what may be the greatest pro-surfer reinvention of the last 20 years.

From QS pretender to genuine world title contender in the space of 12 months.

He was so dominant I can’t even remember who he surfed against. (Peterson Crisanto.)

Heavy combination laid on him with variable length bottom turns, perfect flow and the most crisp timing on tour.

Did you see the Frankie Oberholzer edit? You gotta check it out. Those check fades. Kanoa is closest on Tour to redrawing the classic check fade line. With minutes left in the heat Kanoa was luxuriating in the keyhole like it was an infinity pool on the cliffs of Uluwatu.

Kenny gave me some fluttery bits but it was Pip who stepped it up most during the day, against a hapless Panda. He has the ability to arc the turn, fully torqued back against the grain of the trim line, like Fanning, without losing speed. Or a million other variations: A big vertical punch, a long fading cut down, a tail-released, Slater-style turn etc etc.

While going about my lawful occasion as a surf writer I spoke to Sharp Eye’s principal shaper and founder Marcio Zouvi last year regarding Toledo’s J-Bay quiver. What he had to say about quiver theory surprised me. Rather than mess around with length or shape too much they vary the construction, using heavier glassing schedules to tune boards by weight to different conditions, mostly wind. Pip’s boards always look ready to settle into the turn at any speed.

Pip looked the goods, as did Kanoa.

What about Kelly/Italo? The most vital heat of the round. The winner plays a role in the Title race, the loser bows out. It was over after the first wave. Italo surfed the mirror image of the Medina heat. He started strong with speedy, loose high hooks and fin drifts. One wave, then two. It was both edgy and drifty.

Ten minutes down and Italo has fourteen points to Kelly’s one point and change. Kelly jagged a nervous five. Wasilewski was ropeable: “He’s got to get away from the lip and onto the face” Which was true. Waz is never wrong.

Kelly sat very, very close to Italo. I believe he was singing a Jimmy Buffet song. Which one, I could not say. They say his mind games don’t work no more.

Then why did Italo give Kelly his best wave while he had priority?

Because Kelly was driving him nuts ruining his vibe with the Buffet, of course. Kelly did two half turns, a big drawn out floater, a buried layback in the hook and a hard whipped finishing turn, hardest of the day.Hard as fook. Judges lapped up the champ’s fortified cereal and the 7.10 put him back in the heat.

Not enough. Italo sat tight, the heat ticked down. Kelly done.

Biggest change of the Tour this year is the even tighter integration of the women’s Tour in with the men. For me this means I am watching less women’s surfing, purely due to capacity.

What about you? More, or less?

I did watch Gilmore and Caz Marks. Last time I saw them surf was live at D-Bah. Gilmore disintegrated on home turf. She started solid with two sixes. Marks came back with a five then the best wave of the heat.

I thought the 8.10 was an over-score. Pottz thought an over-score. You could literally see Gilmore become indignant and brittle as the situation dawned on her. This little brat again! Gilmore fell and fell again and that was it.

After today it feels disrespectful to bet against a Toledo three-peat. He seems one of the few who can.

Corona Open J-Bay Men’s Round of 16 Results:
Heat 1: Owen Wright (AUS) 16.23 DEF. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.70
Heat 2: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.94 DEF. Ryan Callinan (AUS) 11.67
Heat 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.73 DEF. Deivid Silva (BRA) 12.14
Heat 4: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.43 DEF. Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 13.00
Heat 5: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 18.26 DEF. Willian Cardoso (BRA) 11.33
Heat 6: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 13.83 DEF. Michel Bourez (FRA) 11.44
Heat 7: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 17.24 DEF. Peterson Crisanto (BRA) 11.73
Heat 8: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 14.06 DEF. Kelly Slater (USA) 12.20

Corona Open J-Bay Men’s Quarterfinal Matchups:
QF 1: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Gabriel Medina (BRA)
QF 2: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
QF 3: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Sebastian Zietz (HAW)
QF 4: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) vs. Italo Ferreira (BRA)

Corona Open J-Bay Women’s Quarterfinal Results:
QF 1: Caroline Marks (USA) 14.44 DEF. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 13.10
QF 2: Carissa Moore (HAW) 17.67 DEF. Johanne Defay (FRA) 12.50
QF 3: Malia Manuel (HAW) 14.03 DEF. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 13.50
QF 4: Lakey Peterson (USA) 14.40 DEF. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 11.00

Corona Open J-Bay Women’s Semifinal Matchups:
SF 1: Caroline Marks (USA) vs. Carissa Moore (HAW)
SF 2: Malia Manuel (HAW) vs. Lakey Peterson (USA)

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