Riveting viewing!
Best day of the waiting period, on paper at least, so European head honcho Jessie Miley-Dyer had no choice but to wring the sponge dry on what turned out to be a minor classic of professional beachbreak surfing.
My favourite battler, Soli Bailey, whom I predicted to shine in France finally made it out of round three in my highlight heat of the day. There were very many.
The most impressive numbers, seeing as BG is the website of record, were granted to Peterson Crisanto, currently languishing at 28 on the Jeep leaderboard. Seventy-eight percent of the global fanbase expected Jeremy Flores to back up his French win and send the beleaguered Brazilian back for an early vino.
Overcoming the weight of a heavy combination the 5’6” rookie caught a five-foot wave between the 20th and 21st minute and launched a high, corked, tail-high full-rotation reverse onto the bolts. The total distance from maximum height of air to landing was estimated by Peter Mel to be ten foot. Two judges, an Australian and a Brazilian, awarded the single manoeuvre wave a ten.
The score, after averaging, came in at a 9.67. A back up 6.67 was enough to take the heat.
All the proper big dogs had bite to the bark. Gabe looked very relaxed, after a quiet start before getting his heat started with an air as stylish as a prawn cocktail. A classic straight air with a subtle, tail-high tweak thrown in. Maybe slightly undercooked by judges for a seven. You could forgive judges a recency bias given Kelly Slater was still in the water after going ballistic in the previous heat against, shit, I’ve forgotten, Kelly was that dominant, ah yeah Seabass.
What’s the spiciest chilli?
I’ve got some really nice Honduran chillis which are mellow and some Thai Birds Eyes which make your eyes water just looking at them. Kelly was spicier than the whole bush. Just the intent to go vertical at maximum speed on the opening left was astounding. The dramatic recovery on the following right was vintage Kelly and drew a subtle rebuke from Ryan Callinan in the booth when they declared Kelly made the “easy things look really hard.”
As if responding to, not just Ryan but all his critics, Kelly took aim at a bulbous, threatening close-out section that came at him like a mushroom cloud. He rode out so clean for a 7.83, and that, in the opening ten minutes of a forty-minute heat and without any priority, was the heat.
Despite the magnitude of the performance Kelly graciously conceded that when it came to Olympic qualification John John Florence, despite not having surfed for “months and months” was still ahead of him on the ratings and by implication more deserving of the Olympic spot.
I think we can declare Kelly provisionally qualified after that heat.
https://twitter.com/wsl/status/1185269317891321856
I’m not for a second saying Filipe Toledo’s back injury is a fake. But if it were, even if some miniscule proportion of it was being somehow sub-consciously manufactured as a way of alleviating this dreadful pressure we know causes Toledo so much suffering , it would up there as one of the greatest rope-a-dope’s in the history of sport.
Pip opened with a feet forwards, very stylish tube-ride to lip glide floater, threw in a backside roter, rode eleven waves and looked loosey-goosey against Ribeiro.
Hosed down expectations in the presser before declaring, “I’m staying focussed because God has something special in store for me.”
Wade Carmichael avenged his controversial loss in France with a complicated, gnarly heat against Yago Dora. He swung the axe on a frothy, ugly left punching a fins-free floater that was like throwing a bag of cement off a building, according to a commenter in the live thread*. That turned the heat with a few minutes to go. Dora snapped a board. Carmichael went further in front after lacing a small right with arsenic flavoured turns. Dora threw soft, graceful airs and judges, in my eyes, rightfully paid the power fundamentals of the hairy man.
No-one can deny the fruitfulness of the Australian loin but only one of the Fathers, Jack Freestone, was able to penetrate the draw past the round of 32. Three Australians left in the Round of 16, not a single contender amongst them.
Has the Antipodean zeitgeist shifted back to mid-length twin-fins, acoustic guitars and escaping the system?
Or is this just some temporary blip that history will one day record as an aberration?
Wayne Murphy? Ian Cairns? There are wise heads out there with a broader scope than mine.
What is going on?
No-one will accuse Kolohe Andino of a lack of nationalist feels. He professed to love surfing and love his country after getting the provisional (there feels something vaguely mafioso about it) nod for Olympic quals. He trundles on, under the radar. Title hopes still alive. Michael Rodrigues, beak brilliantly bare, also under the radar and with a lot to play for his next opponent.
Tell me if I am reading this wrong, but despite the closeouts this comp has become riveting viewing. If they could go on hold through the nadir of the tidal cycle we could see a very, very entertaining ending.
I think Gabe will falter close to the end and it will go to Pipe. That’s my prediction and Ziff’s dream.
MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal Men’s Round 4 Matchups:
HEAT 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Griffin Colapinto (USA)
HEAT 2: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Michael Rodrigues (BRA)
HEAT 3: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Wade Carmichael (AUS)
HEAT 4: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) vs. Kelly Slater (USA)
HEAT 5: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Caio Ibelli (BRA)
HEAT 6: Peterson Crisanto (BRA) vs. Jesse Mendes (BRA)
HEAT 7: Italo Ferreira (BRA) vs. Conner Coffin (USA)
HEAT 8: Jack Freestone (AUS) vs. Soli Bailey (AUS)
MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal Men’s Round 3 Results:
HEAT 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 8.57 DEF. Crosby Colapinto (USA) 3.17
HEAT 2: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 10.80 DEF. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 7.54
HEAT 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) 11.83 DEF. Jadson Andre (BRA) 8.17
HEAT 4: Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 9.27 DEF. Deivid Silva (BRA) 7.27
HEAT 5: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 14.60 DEF. Vasco Ribeiro (PRT) 10.10
HEAT 6: Wade Carmichael (AUS) 11.10 DEF. Yago Dora (BRA) 10.60
HEAT 7: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 12.30 DEF. Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 11.86
HEAT 8: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.56 DEF. Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 1.93
HEAT 9: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.67 DEF. Miguel Blanco (PRT) 8.33
HEAT 10: Caio Ibelli (BRA) 12.97 DEF. Michel Bourez (FRA) 11.57
HEAT 11: Peterson Crisanto (BRA) 16.54 DEF. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.00
HEAT 12: Jesse Mendes (BRA) 11.20 DEF. Owen Wright (AUS) 10.93
HEAT 13: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 16.20 DEF. Frederico Morais (PRT) 10.33
HEAT 14: Conner Coffin (USA) 13.64 DEF. Willian Cardoso (BRA) 9.60
HEAT 15: Jack Freestone (AUS) 15.00 DEF. Joan Duru (FRA) 11.10
HEAT 16: Soli Bailey (AUS) 12.70 DEF. Julian Wilson (AUS) 11.43
MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal Men’s Elimination Round 2 Results:
HEAT 1: Owen Wright (AUS) 10.96 DEF. Miguel Blanco (PRT) 9.87, Ricardo Christie (NZL) 6.60
HEAT 2: Crosby Colapinto (USA) 12.10 DEF. Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 11.47, Seth Moniz (HAW) 9.66
HEAT 3: Jesse Mendes (BRA) 15.90 DEF. Frederico Morais (PRT) 12.76, Ryan Callinan (AUS) 11.33
HEAT 4: Soli Bailey (AUS) 13.00 DEF. Michel Bourez (FRA) 10.60, Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 8.46
how about the gutless media who are part of the scam..surf journalists ….ha fucken Ha….as much as the problem as the surf scammers….shit the SS!
“we’re bottoms now !! “
If USA pro surfing evolved from PT and Kanga’s vision long ago, with Government assistance, I imagine Scott there would be so many more American world champs and contenders today…
As Brutus says, sadly, yes Scott.
Yes Longtom, the decline of Aussie competitive surfing, like the fading of our tennis champions from yesteryear, is frustrating to behold for passionate sports fans Down Under. There is a whole book on that which someone like Nick Carroll, with his wisdom and experience, is well qualified to elaborate on and write. For my two bob’s worth, I think regular comments on this issue from Brutus are incisive, in terms of explaining how the flames of Aussie desire to win have been dampened by over-thinking it with all the elite training centers and money being wasted that way etc. As a remedy, to get aspiring Aussie pro surfers back to a more winning mindset, like the Brazilians today, I would suggest two things. Firstly, have the Australian government, both Federal and State, invest the bulk of their sports allocated monies into staging more QS comps in Australia. Organize and run them as a linked-up domestic circuit, like the ACC and APSA used to. Government money invested in an annual series of 10,000 QS comps in Qld, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South and West Oz would provide many more young Aussie surfers a chance to earn their keep by winning and getting results, rather than being spoon fed money by sponsors and grants. It would also provide genuine ‘live ammunition’ training by putting them directly into international battle with hotter competition. Plus they’d learn more from their shared travel experiences around Oz, which would better prepare them for the grind overseas. Hungrier winners would emerge. Secondly, I would also suggest appointing some former Aussie world champs, surfers who had genuine fire in their bellies, to mentor these young men and women competing on this proposed new domestic circuit. Get experienced winning champions such as Layne Beachley, Tom Carroll, Kong Elkerton, Damien Hardman, Kanga, PT and Rabbit to share some of their mind-set with the young Aussies before and after each of these proposed QS comps. These champions were all super hungry and ruthless in their desire to overcome and win. Even if it was just part-time appointments with some paid guest appearances, I believe appointing mentors of their caliber to oversee an enriched domestic QS circuit in Oz would be a good start in helping re-boot competitive surfing back to more winning ways. Cheers.
I think the problem really comes from the Junior s and then onwards…..the system is all about quantity and pleasing the sponsors demands .
The current bloated system of average bureaucrats treating surfing as just a business making $’s and there seems to be no real accountability , for the lack of results.
Australia’s best young surfers see the Noah Deans or even going back to Rasta/Margo…..why punish your surfing in going under SA’s model of grovelling in shit waves all year…when you can smoke ciggies , drink beer and just freesurf and get paid nearly as much.
With the demise of the Surf Co’s and their surfer budgets , we now have govt $’s flowing into the SA model , (thanks Starky)…..it’s just not working…bring back the Pro Junior Big wave events , big prize money and double points, because part of Australia’s DNA was our juniors were exceptional in the big stuff…Jack Robinson!
Yeah MC, for sure. Start with juniors, and work up through clubs towards staging bigger domestic comps in Aussie waters. Get all the States singing from the same hymn sheet to develop from grass roots up, not top level down. Government allocated surf monies could perhaps also be better spent through an aligned State and Federal sponsored campaign with a domestic QS comp circuit promoting mental health issues, drug awareness etc. Certainly a vacuum there now with the demise of surf companies and their dollars. Government money needs to be more wisely spent.
agree a 100% ..but what I am seeing at home is over paid coaches, kids just beiing thrashed with weekends and after school coaching , its like a con / money making business to the detriment of our real hopefuls …the system is broken , HTF do we change it?
Give kids less money, put on more comps instead, so to earn dollars they have to compete, win and get results.
Hey Brutus, for the layman, could you give an insight into the relationship between the state bodies and Surfing oz? Does each state body precure there own funding with govt. grants and sponsors or does it all come under surfing oz?
Maybe insted of hating Medina and what he does….Embrace it.
Are you lost in translation Pedro? I love Medina. I was there at Pipeline cheering for him when he won his first world title. Brazil are like Aussie surfing from the 70s and 80s, but even more hungry! This winning mindset I fully embrace.
Sorry!
I can’t write something as well as you. I didn’t said that about you specifically but, in general I see some stinky eye on Medina, even sometimes on the specialized media and I believe that this attitude influenced in some weird way on how you guys perceived the sport.
That’s my take, how much of a factor that was I don’t know. Sorry for being unjust to you.
No need to be sorry, Pedro. Your nation has set a very high standard now for competition surfing with incredible skills and hunger to win. That high bar to aim for used to be the Aussies. Then it was Tom Curren before Kelly Slater. Now it is Brazil. Surfing performances around the world will keep getting better as other surfing nations try and match Brazil. This is good for raising the standard of our sport even more. Thank you.
Pretty much what Brutus said: “Australia’s best young surfers see the Noah Deans or even going back to Rasta/Margo…..why punish your surfing in going under SA’s model of grovelling in shit waves all year…when you can smoke ciggies , drink beer and just freesurf and get paid nearly as much.”
I think Medina has something to do with it. That’s what I was trying to say.
Australian surfers don’t want or need to win anymore. That’s the problem.
nah , the aust surfers have been fucked by a bloated bureacracy , that delivers …read above my comment to LT….all the young surfers in Aust want to follow Noah Dean….ha smoke a ciggy , drink beer ,play in a band ,do airs….or go into SA’s system which means grovelling in shit waves most of the year…..and being coached to mediocrity…..the contest/world champ dream is dead!
Funny.
None of you savvy viewers/commentators took notice of the sub-plot during the Kelly x Zietz / Med x Blanco overlapping period? Kelly, having Zietz comboed, shifted his focus to shadowing Med in the line up and exerting his priority over Medina. Medina focus seemed to be trying to get a better heat total during the non-priority part of the heat than Kelly did in his. Pretty sure the judges stuffing up the score on his straight air robbed him of something more important to him than his easy heat win. Even with seconds to go in his heat and Zietz still comboed Kelly shadowed Medina and took a crappy wave just shit him. Kelly is back or thinks he’s back to playing his head games. I sure hope to see a KS x Med heat in the next rounds and see the rest of this feud unfold.
Well spotted.
Pathetic.
Kelly can’t meet Gabriel until the final (because they are on the opposite side of the draw). Regardless, Kelly knows Gabby treats him like shit, without the slightest fear. It was Gabriel (and not John John) who changed the guard and put Kelly, Mick & Joel to the sword. I recall when Gabriel, staying with Mick & Joel on Namato, verbally threatened by Mick & Joel in a three man heat, smashed Mick & Joel in Round 4 at Restaurants in 2012. As for John, he let Kelly beat him at Pipe 2013 and Tahiti 2014 (although I thought John won that heat). The best was when Gabriel exercised priority and dropped in on Kelly at Backdoor, faded and nearly ran Kelly over. Gabriel laid down the template when he humiliated Kelly in France in 2011.
I would have liked to see that but dronin’ joe had me asleep faster than a handful of rohypnol.
He definitely broke away from Seabass and headed south towards the peak where Gab was . One mustn’t forget that Kelly invented the overlapping system , so one can assume he may have seen all the possibilities permitted / created for surfers in the priority heat to throw shade over surfers in the non priority heat ?
hmm ya don’t think that Kelly has a bit of hate fro the Brazzos , as we all remember when ADS won the title , and next morning Kelly released his perfect pool wave….the Brazzos have a surf hate for Kelly…..now there’s a blood feud !!!
Yep . If he was willing to throw shade on ADS after one title , then It’s possible the greatest player of the surfing psychological game of all time is capable of buying a parasol company in an attempt to keep Gabriel forever in his shadow ….. ?
hah love your analogies ….ADS used to hunt Kelly in every heat , showed no repect for who he was , as in ADS’s mind he was just another very good competitor Vs the GOAT….so he fought the Kelly and got into Kelly’s head…now I call that competition as Kelly is one of the most competive people on the planet….in everything he does…so yeah Gabby…..Kelly will only incite Gabs and make him better….Is Kelly a bit cocky after finally one brilliant heat of surfing?
Nice theory and great if true but I think you had too much too drink last night.
I just went and re-watched the heat in case I missed something and pretty much the opposite of what you said was true: Kelly stayed way the fuck away from Gabe and didn’t get in his face at all.
Gabe was super relaxed, caught some shitty waves and then popped that straight air on a nothing looking wave paddling back out from a previous shitty wave. Kelly was around but showing no interest whatsoever.
hey LT had a few reds last nite with Rob M…..saw your comment about Bland/or? and a coming possible interview with Kim at SA couldn’t resist…
“FFS LT , ” If, despite our previous testy exchange, High Performance Director Kim Crane takes my call, I will find out what the top brass have in mind. From this perspective the future looks, not bleak, but bland.”
this has been discussed at length for years we are now seeing the result of Starky’s vision of providing jobs for the boys , big budgets for coaches , HPSC for journeymen , set up a great infrastructure , conned the Govts for more money , all these fucking parasites have raped and pillaged the future of our kids who dream of the glory of our former status as one of surfings leading surf nations , providing us with multiple world champs….who have been party to the SA/HPSC…..
So yeah go ahead and ask Kim , WTF?
Hot chili – mouth exploding experience, invoking torrents of sweat, quaffing many glasses of beer with ice (de rigueur in Thailand) and ‘when will it end’ panic, is the small green prik kee noo from Thailand.
Translated is mouse shit chili.
Riveting viewing?
Is like test cricket, can channel surf, last night was to the England Snooker Open, found that more riveting, then back to Portugal, and seems like missed nothing…
Meanwhile day 1 of the waiting period at Nazare, punchy barrels
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Chilli and Spice? A big fan of Habaneros, just planted some Scotch Bonnet seeds which are supposedly the sweeter Caribbean cousin. Birds eye add a nice kick to any Asian dish or chilli oil. Jalapeños are average to poor and smoked chipotle sauce is tasty as fuck.
You chose well. The bonnets are no joke. Blend with fresh mango for a perfect sauce. Gave the missus a bite of my bonnet the other day, within five minutes she had to go puke to escape the pain. Then I gave her a bite of a hot chilli…
Gabe did that same Kelly hit at 3 times bigger jbay.
And then hit it again..
He did one at portugal too, its in the ads
And the Kelly fanboyz can’t even thro up a vid of Gabes boner straight air in the blurb.
And they include a vid of Kelly spitting on us.
Fuken weak shit.
…and Gabe’s hits were real ride the waterfall tings, while Kelly pivoted in the hook. That’s not to say KS didn’t utterly thump a sleeping Seabass, but yes, Medina’s versions were a step up.
Hi killed it but fuken hell
Just call it
THE KELLY REPORT.
Kelly looks good, but how long has it been since he threw up some proper spray? Cardoso tosses more water duck diving.
thats the board he’s riding. no resistance to it whatsoever.
He is going to be looking for blood at Pipe. Hope waves deliver.
Muscle memory. Like really good chunky Cocoa. Looked like he was looser and having more fun than Mason Ho out there. Made Seabass, who is no slouch, look downright slow and pedestrian. My Ke11y hard on is bulging.
Yeah, Seabass is done. Ke11y just having fun.
Why no mention of the robbery LT? You aren’t friends with Callahan’s pops?
Ryan Callahan was robbed in brazen daylight as emphatically as Guzman Jr was extracted from a Cualican arrest yesterday.
Only point of difference is Guzzy disappeared into the jungles while Ryan had to sit in the booth with Joe. So heart warming though that Freddy Morias and Ryan are such close friends, brought a tear to my eye… if only Bob Costas had story told.
Low tide heats are not watchable.
As and Old GOAT, Ke11y still delivers signature hits even on that equipment. Yet another tear to my eye watching that oncoming train sliced through the roof.
Never travel for beach break. The lesson of europa.
Hippy. Please explain your rationale? Thanks. Looking at the heat, Ryan’s 1st wave was a 4.5 to me (scored 5.0) and 2nd wave was 6.0 (max; scored 6.33). Morais, 1st wave standard two vertical snaps say 4.8, max 5.0 (was scored 5.33) and 2nd wave was bigger, thicker and more difficult than Ryan’s but shorter. I couldn’t split them although Morais’s wave looked meatier, probably due to camera angle. Where are the water camera shots into the barrels, btw? Based on 1st scoring waves, I think Morais just won.
Can someone smarter than me do the math to determine if JJF has provisionally qualified for the Olympics or determine what Kelly needs to do now that Seth took a dump?
Agreed. I get crazy ad takeovers on mobile that make me think I just clicked on a naughty website. Or maybe that’s because it’s in another tab.
As Derek said last night.
In AUSTRALIA only, there’s a think that takes over til you click a random answer. Then you at good to go.
I don’t mind now that I know what it is.
DANGER ! Never, ever, click on a third party ad or click-thru to get back to a site you’re on. It’s either click frauding or it could install malware, virus or unwanted cookies or location information. Phones are esp susceptible but never do it in any case. When it happens, shut down the site or turn off the device and reboot. I don’t think BG is quite aware of the dangers and it’s gotten out of hand recently. If you want to visit an advertiser’s site then enter their URL or search term in the search bar. It’s a huge disadvantage and danger for a free site user.
That was my immediate reaction. But Derek assures me it is a legit / BG sanctioned form of revenue raising.
I dunno…
Well for Derek, ignorance may be bliss $$ but he and BG only have so much control. It’s a freaking cut throat money jungle out there. Best to always exercise ultimate caution, verging on paranoia and tread lightly when online. In the US it’s a nightmare…
we get it…you like soli cos his dad is your mate….truth is he’s out of his depth. powerless turns, no style. looks like a 90s billabong junior series contender.
I’m biased. true.
that aboriginal flag is his curse. can’t claim it with green eyes and no connection to the culture. if you have to tell people you are black…..perhaps you shouldn’t.
Huh….do you actually know anything about him?
know he’s never been part of the Bundjalung nation….local indigenous were super surprised to hear of his genealogy. like i said….
I just watched the last round 3 heat. The judges were tripping with their scoring; starting with Julian’s lame waves.
He is a good tube rider. I thought he came close to beating Owen in Round 3 in Tahiti.
Why is the contest being held in on/side-shore close-outs when multiple surfers have commented on offshore barrels on the “other side” of a headland or point or whatever? Make it mobile.
Going mobile with such a “heavy” structure costs $$. Focus is no longer on getting better waves and comp as long as they keep the focus on the narrative (aka bullshit).
Has the WSL hired Jesse Gemstone as media advisor?