A star is born.
The World Surf League, let’s be honest, absolutely blew both truth, narrative and the American Way yesterday by disappearing the women Soviet style. Quickly erasing the history they had, thus far, written. Mention of the word “women” apparently guaranteeing a trip to whatever gulag Barton Lynch is currently whistling in.
Or whittling.
I picture Lynch a whittler.
In any case, yesterday was called off, at the very end of the day, due “unfavorable winds” or some such, plus unspecified surfers didn’t want to paddle.
Very likely not included in the group made up of Tyler Wright were Moana Jones Wong and Carissa Moore.
The two Hawaiians dispatched their sparing partners, Wong the aforementioned Wright, Moore besting Lakey Peterson in day-late-dollar-short Pipe then met in the Finals.
Billabong Pipeline Pro, as of yesterday, Kelly Slater joined Ross Williams in the booth to shower Jones Wong with Gabriel Medina, Gerry Lopez, Shawn Briley comparisons which seemed silly.
Moana Jones Wong is Moana Jones Wong and a star has been born.
She dropped in, double hand stalled, barreled, got spit.
Building a symmetrical house upon two 6.67s.
Rochelle Ballard, who just I begged the World Surf League to pay, appeared in the Red Bull Athlete Zone to share the best insights. The best view from how it actually feels, what it actually means.
Ballard is a star too.
Carissa Moore?
A legend, without shade, surfing’s biggest star, but she seemed lost in the lineup. Not scared, not timid, but uncertain. Williams continued to claim it was an equal heat from the booth, as time ticked down, Jones Wong living on the right side of the Combo-land wall, claiming it anyone’s game but Moore seemed outclassed from the hooter and it felt obvious.
As obvious as California being perpetually in the back of Conner Coffin’s mind.
The 805.
Jones Wong, though, was pure 808 and her future, despite the WSL, in spite of the WSL, is so so bright.
Jones Wong took off on a perfect A-Frame as time ticked down near zero, Carissa Moore still grazing in Comboland.
A star born.
Bravo.
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I love monster truck rallys. Motocross, Supercross, tractor pulls, crash up derbys, drag races. Fuck yeah!
The semi between Carissa and Lakey was a giant snooze fest holy shit, wave after wave unridden. Glad Moana won, but it was boring AF to watch her take off on only Pipe waves when there were some Backdoor nuggets out there as well, then claim every wave basically (when she wasn’t even that deep on 90% of them).Wrights Backdoor wave was sick, for example. I’m all about equality, but this comp just showed that when it comes to surfing sketchy waves, there’s a huge gap between the men and women. I’m glad Kelly called Tyler out a bit too, when she said “give us a few years…”
The new commentary crew get my vote , hopefully we never have to put up with BL or Potz again.
How did the first ever Women’s contest stack up with the first ever Mens? My guess, Moana’s waves would have beat Hackmans. Also, plenty of the women were surfing back door in their first contest, and at the mens first Pipeline contest, they weren’t.
This whole thing seems scripted. Sort of like Rick Kain. Good for Moana, but I would say her chances at Chopes and Gland are limited. Never seen her go right, but my expectations are low…..
Good thing it’s the Pipeline Pro, because I didn’t see her going right.
Beach grit you better relax on claiming she smashed Carissa. Carissa would surf circles around wong in another comp she just didn’t catch waves.
Wright beaten by Wong
Lahey was lost in those waves
Moore looked shocked on stage
The gap in capability between the men and women at Pipe is gigantic.
As a quick example…look at Balaram’s IG stories and you’ll see a bomb that he caught before the first heat.
Those same waves were on offer to the women and they weren’t surfed nearly as well.
Moana deserved the win because she was the best surfer.
But she doesn’t deserve the same prize money as the men.
In five years or so she may be more popular than the men at Pipe and deserve the equal pay.
But not today.
And the WSL has a real problem if they only have two or three women who feel comfortable enough surfing waves of consequence.
Like womens tennis compared to mens tennis? Womens powerlifting compared to mens? You are right, there is a gulf in ability. Cant deny the worst of them would still thrash us though so lets not give the women too much beef. It was probably a lot heavier in the water trying to get into those pits lets be honest keyboard warriors.
But we are keyboard warriors and they’re the best Surfers in the World. I’m a little sick of people making excuses for poor performances when it’s all about performing.
The best *womens*surfers in the world. There is a significant difference in performance/ability compared to the men and people shouldnt be surprised or offended by that or get sick of ppl reminding why its the reality. IMO equal prize money is still the right thing to do.
The point is that the women are getting the same prize money as the men because of “equality.”
They aren’t equal to the men in the water at Pipe.
It’s just sponsors money not yours.
Except that this now a societal theme which is going to cause more harm than good if it doesn’t stop.
Men and women are not the same.
Nature didn’t intend for them to be the same.
It doesn’t mean one gender is better than the other.
It means that they are different and sometimes there is a financial discrepancy in that difference.
This is one such example. Women’s soccer and the WNBA are two more examples.
The only harm seems to be to mens egos. Society and humanity will survive equal pay just fine.
It’s currently eroding the military in US and the last thing the world wants is a US military more concerned with woke-ness than winning wars.
Ha, you’re classic JH. But yes, the last thing the rest of the World needs is your military’s problems.
China’s treatment of the Olympic athletes is giving us an unadulterated view of what that world would be like.
Quick!!! deploy the armed forces on them before they are overcome with wokeness and refuse to shoot people!
Nancy Pelosi said that they will come after the athletes families.
I dont think anyone would disagree the men are much better. Most women dont get a look in at pipe. By all accounts its hard enough getting a wave there even if you are good enough to surf it and are male. How are they meant to get good if they arent respected because of all the macho involved in the policing of pipe?
Sure, for the most part they might not have the ability of the men but if seeking equality of opportunity then you have to look at why they arent as good as the men. Its a number of factors.
As for the prize money, who cares? Its a sport with categories divided by gender. Equality dictates that they will have equal prize money.
I would argue that the top male CT surfers aren’t putting in an excessive amount of time at Pipe…they are just better surfers.
That is reflected in other places like Chopes and Cloudbreak.
If the women want to get as good as the men in barreling reef breaks they may have to spend time elsewhere.
Carissa had the two deepest barrels in the final but barely did not make it out, so a lack of going for it was not the issue with her — unlike too many of ladies and some of the men. She would have won the heat easily had she made those. As you said, she should have been catching everything. Getting too picky is a problem that plagues every surfer once in a while. I am sure she will beat herself up over it.
the Backdoor wave was legit, the Pipe wave was toy and off the reef.
she did not catch a legit left all Final.
so in the end the women actually managed to “perform” even worse than we all imagined they would, how many times was priority given away due to pulling back? And how many sets were dodged?
^^ Toxically masculine bro Tyler, ladies and gents!
The next Chelsea Georgeson-hedges!!! The sky is the limit!!!
The Breach Grit wall of positive noise!
Moana’s attitude and cheer was very refreshing. It’s nice to see someone so stoked just to surf a wave they love. The fact that she made $80k doing it and took out the world champ is just a *chef’s kiss* on top
dude, your handle is unreal. makua literally said that.
More Makua in the booth please!
How many decent barrels were actually made in the womens event ? 10 in total maybe ?
It’s obvious majority of them women aren’t up to surfing heavy waves. Asking to be paid equally to learnt to surf pipe is not equality.
The only history that this event created was showing that the men and women are not equal.
I would have preferred to watch the women at Honolua Bay and actually ripping the waves.
The wall of positive noise was too much to listen to. Hope we don’t have to watch another few years of barrell dodging
Fucking on the money with this one
Well Chas, like I said, you ‘kinda’ come off as a ‘somewhat’ tough talkin guy during da year, and then you turn into a ‘fawning buttercup’ around contest time.
Maybe someday you’ll realize that the only true surfing stars are–da waves..
Chaz is as tough as his physical appearance
One of the greatest things in the World, is to watch that bean come out of the barrel. If you’ve ever seen it, you know what I mean…
Garbonzo? Pinto? Navy? Black? Kidney?
Carissa got sauteed in wong sauce.
Cote “I cannot wait to see what happens on the internet tonight”. What have we become.
How about the theory that Hawaiians helping other, less financially secure Hawaiians in these contests. John losing to Seth, Carissa sitting there while Wong combos her. I mean, they both won clearly based upon better surfing, wave choice and they earned it 100%, but I’m sure the like of JJF and Carissa were mostly happy for their friends. Would they surf differently, maybe try a bit harder against someone who is not their family friend? (trying to imagine myself as multi-millionare surfing against a friend who really is not).
interesting take