“I’m sure I’ll get tarred and feathered for this comment…”
The world’s greatest surfer, although the crown has become tarnished in recent years with one pundit even predicting he’ll never win another pro surfing heat, has taken the foilboarder Nikolas Plytas to task for what he believes was a mistake in an Instagram caption.
Nikolas Plytas is a “professional water sports athlete” although this refers to his penchant for water skiing, wing foiling, wakeboarding as well as the aforementioned foil boarding and not to the eye-raising sport of showering in gold.
Plytas, who is twenty eight or to give it some perspective Kelly Slater had already won three world titles when the little Greek baby was spat onto the linoleum of an Athens hospital, posted a short video on Instagram with the caption.
“Landed another new trick today. I would say it is a Frontside 360 backflip. How would you call it? It’s the second Worlds First trick I land within three days so I’m super exited.”
View this post on Instagram
Kelly Slater was quickly into the comment pane writing,
“I’m sure I’ll get tarred and feathered for this comment but…I get that skaters call rotation based on direction of rotation but in surfing, everything done facing the wall is and always will be considered frontside.
“The first rodeo (clowns) were done going (and called) backside rotating opposite to this. If skating is a precursor for direction of spin then should this just be called a backside mctwist and not a rodeo?
“Seems the medium you’re riding matters when distinguishing and thus the confusion we surfers suffer. Super sick though not matter what.”
Debate ensued with much earnest back and forthing about whether or not Nikolas Plytas’ air is a rodeo 7, a backflip 360, an Air Reverse Spin (the old bodyboarding move) or a McTwist.
Reader, do you wonder about such things?
Or does a strapped-in foil board air give you shivers of disgust as if you were ordered to pluck a songbird or hull a large punnet of strawberries?
