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3x Pipe Mistress Ayaka Suzuki Crilley shatters gender barriers; wins both men’s and women’s bodyboard divisions at the just-wrapped Belmar Pro in beautiful New Jersey!

One love, one division.

But yesterday was an exciting day for professional surfing, World Surf League CEO Erik Logan sighing big relief after the right man and the right woman won the inaugural Finals Day, pushing himself in between them Vans still clean. At the end, all prognostications of a Pip Toledo win, thereby heaping much shame onto Santa Monica, and/or a Tati Weston-Webb upset, were nullified by dominant performances from Medina, on the men’s side, and Moore, on the women’s.

Moore’s arcing carves were particularly inspiring, beautiful, and I wonder if she could have taken Cibilic? Coffin?

We likely won’t know in our lifetimes as the “men’s” and “women’s” categories are locked tight in our professional surfing and we are not progressive, forward thinking, like our bodyboarding brethren and sisterthen, were 3x Pipe Mistress Ayaka Suzuki Crilley shattered gender barriers and won both the men’s and women’s divisions of the Belmar Pro in New Jersey.

The Japanese native, who has won the Pipe Mistress title 3 times, wrote:

Yesss I DID IT!!! I won in the Women’s and Men’s both division in Belmar Pro 2021!!!

Thank you for the best support and good times my friends @actionjackson732 @lindseyyasui @seashannago @beegtodd32 @tmpd86 and @snotnosesurf !!!

And thank you for having me in this competition @belmarpro @easternlinessurfshop

I haven’t been competing for a while since I retired as a world tour competitor on 2019. but I’m so happy to be back into the competition again. I had so much fun!!!! I think I still like to compete haha I’m pretty sure I’ll be back to the tour when I feel like compete mode again.

And absolutely fantastic, even though prize money was significantly less on her women’s cheque.

Which brings up back to our World Surf League. Now, I don’t know if it would be most fair for men and women to compete against each other on the Championship Tour, quite yet, but it is a no-brainer for the Longboard World Tour and I implore commissioner Devon Howard to do the right, the progressive, thing.

One love, one division.

Viva the Boogie.

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Simon Says

In soccer they call it a nutmeg! Chas has let Elo kick the ball between his legs:
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…

J H

“Beautiful New Jersey” is an oxymoron and EVERY New Yorker knows it.

JSC

“Snot Nose Surf” is a sponsor? Is that a joke?

Anthony Arturo Leone

Its a booger specific wax. But yes the name is definitely meant to be funny. Its awesome wax for bodyboards

wayne bartlett

Not surprised as women have a natural advantage due to flexibility.

AI (for ever) .

That’s pretty awesome achievement. She must shred!

Stick man

What what
Boogie in da butt!

Hot stuff

I always wondered what it meant.

StabbedbiMattBranson

Every bloke she has ever competed against:
“She beat me, I couldn’t focus. I was under duress. I found myself paddling behind her the whole duration of the heat. Like a ravenous hound I salivated, it was as if the aromatics of an open can of Chum were wafting from her ass”

astro

Brilliant !

Huli Opu

Damn good to see ya Gorilla back in your natural habitat

notsurfingtoday

As Morrissey puts it, some girls are just bigger than others https://youtu.be/C906lbkcYug

Huli Opu

nuthin’ like a hot booger !
https://uploads.disquscdn.c… https://uploads.disquscdn.c…

notsurfingtoday

Valentina Diaz?

Barrelled

Pretty sure that the girl the article is about, Ayaka Suzuki Crilley.

notsurfingtoday

https://uploads.disquscdn.c… The surf shot I meant, not the reef calendar one. Though it was her

Huli Opu

Nah brah that’s Ayaka but Valentina rips too. And I’m pretty sure that’s Ayaka at Pipe

Stick man

Put your body on a Boogie!

Wilbur

I’m sure there’s a joke about the equality of men and women when they’re laying down, but I haven’t cracked it yet…

surfshiny

Cash it in girl, awww yeah! Makes me kinda nostalgic for some Bud Surf Tour bodyboard clips – el rollos!

John Smith

If women can compete in the mens division freely, can men compete in womens?

Anthony Arturo Leone

Here’s my response when asked:
We tout the men as the best of the best. The prizes are higher, the skill level also generally considered higher. Right? That why we had to create a different division for women because they weren’t at the mens level yet. They needed a separate scale. But eventually the women catch up to the men when enough time passes. We are super close to that point now. Maybe not all the way there. What reason does a man have to enter the womens division? Is thier skill level not up to the mens? Maybe they like the odds of surfing a division with less entrants? Neither of those reasons stand up to the reasons a woman would choose to compete against the men.

Beef & Beer

The money, the reason the men could legitimately enter the womens is for the money…

Anthony Arturo Leone

Yeah an easier crack at a payday. Which is entirely different from jumping into a much more stacked division. I’ll likely fix it in the future where you can only enter one but im not letting men slide into the womens divison. I think dudes can handle a bit of a double standard for once in their lives.

Hot stuff

What if you identify chick?

Stick man

Chick-dragger!

Low wide stinkbug stance

Who are you, God?

Anthony Arturo Leone

I’m the President of APB North America we are the governing body of bodyboarding competitions in the US,Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean. We are basically the QS for the world tour. So yeah I can make those kind of calls

Low wide stinkbug stance

Hate to break it to you mate but anyone who treats an organisation as his own personal fiefdom, making ad hoc decisions without discussing with the secretariat is an absolute tosser.

John Smith

Wouldn’t be more fitting to label one division “Womens Pro” and the other division “Open Pro?” Your event winner wasn’t a male, but allowed to surf in a gendered division. You rules are a little cleaner delineating it in that aforementioned way.

Anthony Arturo Leone

Test run, since this isnt a qualifier for anything at the moment. We wanted to see how it would play out before really making hard fast rules and since this was a contest with only 2 divisions tacked on to a surf event, it was the perfect time to see how it worked and work through resulting issues. But I agree with “Open Pro”

Chas Smith

Oh Anthony, I have loved you here for a long long time. The fact you’re a judge? In Jersey? Can I fly out and buy you a drink?

Anthony Arturo Leone

Back on the outer banks now(my home zone) i have an article to work on for your old pal matt walker before im off to San Diego for our next event in november.

Chas Smith

One division, one love!

Whitefolkswithdreadsarefunny

I’m fairly certain Mike Stewart could have still won the women’s division.

Whitefolkswithdreadsarefunny

What do you think she did with the 1500 bucks? Surely that didn’t cover her return flight to Japan.

Anthony Arturo Leone

She lives in hawaii.

Whitefolkswithdreadsarefunny

So it barely covered her round trip ticket. Hope the sponsors pay well.

Anthony Arturo Leone

Pretty sure she just came to hang and have fun. None of us do this for the pay check. I made $240 judging this event. My car rental was $300 and my hotel was $700. If i hadnt just made a fat check from the WSL the week before I likely wouldnt have gone.

NEGATRON

Judging the minor leagues is great isn’t it… don’t forget you never had the time for a surf either and getting shit from poor losers.

Anthony Arturo Leone

Oh I was up at the crack of dawn in the water every day. Had to make sure it was contestable ya know. Head judge things. Weirdest east coast swell Ive surfed though. Dead flat and oil slick calm for about 5-7mins then a set of about 4-5 shoulder to 1ft over head high waves would cruise through. Walking the beach when boogie heats werent running was hysterical watching the worst surfers ive ever seen take 8million straight handers. Covid surfers in full effect since there was zero barrier to entry on the way out to the line up.

Beef & Beer

So does shoulder to 1ft overhead when you’re sliding on your stomach (presumably with arched back) make the waves about knee height for those of us who’ve emerged from the primordial swamp and actually stand up on our own two feet ?

Anthony Arturo Leone

No.

Baz

Good job with the comp and the judging. I’m sure it’s a thankless task. Insightful reading your comments here. Cheersss

Beef & Beer

Quite frankly Artie, I don’t believe you…

Jack Barlow

It’s called a ground swell.
No wonder WSL judging is so bad

Anthony Arturo Leone

Its not often we have just one single ground swell in the water out here. Theres usually 2 or 3 windswells from mixed directions along with the ground swell. The conditions were really out of the normal for an east coast contest. Thats what im referring to when I say it was weird to experience. This is not a normal occurance on the east coast.

Jack Barlow

But pretty normal for a September east coast hurricane swell.
It’s just not normal for you

Anthony Arturo Leone

Not really. Again theres rarely one single one at a time. Since we get multiple systems at once a lot(frontal lows leaving the coast as tropical systems move closer etc). Larry was basically the picture perfect surf set up for the east coast. It has been a long time since we have seen a system like that. People were losing their minds over it in Belmar

Jack Barlow

It gets way better

Anthony Arturo Leone

Im pretty well versed on how good the east coast can get. Ive lived on the outer banks for quite a long time. About 17 years now. Heres one i shot from TD10 on the first morning of the 2017 OBX Pro.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…

Jack Barlow

Nice 👍

Anthony Arturo Leone

Also 70 degree water and dude in 5/4 hooded suits and other guys in full boots and gloves. Like wtf is even happening here…

snapper

She alone exhibits “Body”board.

Barrelled

You realize this will never happen Chas? Creating an equal playing field completely ruins the concept of equal pay.

Otto

I actually don’t think Logan is sighing big relief today. Not at all. There can only be one purpose to the format of the Finals Day. That would be unseating the #1 “Qualifier”. Let’s be honest, in Logan’s perfect world Cibilic would have won Match after Match after Match then the Final Match. You can’t convince me that he is sighing big relief. Logan is devastated. Fucking devastated. If he wanted #1 to be #1 the WSL would never have signed off on this format.
But let’s take this a step further. Logan is an outsider, susceptible to undue influence. Rumor has it that this wasn’t even his idea. Nope. It was another lever puller in the building, hell-bent on chaos theory imaginings practically applied. Let’s call it what it is: Sabotage.

Barrelled

It must be “Sabotage”! Much like all US elections not won by the Republican candidate.

Otto

Why do you always turn Beach Grit comment threads political?

Barrelled
@surfads

I can’t stand it, I know ya planned it.

Otto
M.

To be fair. In my perfect world Morgan would have won as well.

PS Can we keep calling it heats?

Otto

Yes. We should keep calling them “Heats”.
Logan’s perfect world is imperfect, but Logan likes to stylize “Imperfect” as “I’mPerfect”. Oprah taught him that. Don’t ask me why, I haven’t perfected a decent answer to that one.


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