"What have we witnessed?"
The Margaret River Pro wrapped, yesterday, in less-than-ideal surf. Waves were few and far between, the manic thrill of Main Break and the nearby Box fading hard. South Africa’s Jordy Smith won, as you certainly know, hoisting the crystal shiraz goblet high into the air and, also, snagging the Jeep Leaderboard Yellow Jersey off Brazil’s Italo Ferreira.
Though it was his punching partner, California’s Griffin Colapinto, who is being praised by mainstream media, today, for pulling the “greatest move EVER” in surfing.
The moment happened days earlier, in the quarterfinals, when Colapinto came up against Leonardo Fioravanti and boosted a lofty hands-free twist for a perfect 10. Or as described by the Daily Mail, “The California native ducked down as he rode into a wave before using his momentum to produce a fully-rotated spin and stick the landing.”
The important UK-based news service continued to explain how the moment left World Surf League commentators “scratching their heads” in the booth and how Colapinto, himself, calling it “one of the most incredible moments of my life.
American surf fans very much hoping that the cherubic 26-year-old can ride the momentum to his San Clemente and further claw his way up the ladder. Colapinto is currently 11th in the rankings, climbing four spots after his finals appearance, but will need to scale at least six more rungs to secure a place in Fiji for the final finals.
Do you think home cookin’ will provide that little something extra or do you think the distractions, slumber parties, pillow fights etc., might be too much?
Also, if pressed, what would you declare to be the “greatest surf move EVER?”
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His girlfriend’s been sitting through finals too.
gold
connor coffins secret turn
Leo’s closeout was better. And harder.
Tyler wright’s lay back larry
main street media, says it all……they need to claim it more , as headlines make money for them…yeah great air…..but really??
the real talking point should be the lack of creativity and the fact that Jordy…..the oldest surfer on tour was so much better than any of the other surfers…..progression or regression?
He just dropped a nice edit of his time there. Not a fan of slow motion, but he made magic with it. He can do no wrong right now.
Great move sure but he’ll never win a world title.
No. Nothing to do with the scale, or the heats before or after. It was all about his messy exit.
They’re not comparing 10’s when they give them, 10 is just the highest score they can give in a heat. Some 10’s feel like a “15” compared to others. Don’t use the word perfect and it makes way more sense.
Exactly – its the same when they land an incredible air. Sometimes they are scored a lot higher than others because of the landing. Not because of the make.
Its like comparing a 10 second barrel, clean not a drop out of place to a mutant double up 5 second barrel on ya tippy toes, which is harder?
Griffs wave was a super hard wave to surf, if you have ever been out there, you would be in full agreement.
If they were judging correctly at the box, this should have been a ten
– not a big day by any means (Which can be gnarlier)
– Mega late drop, in the pit
– Mutant and as deep as you could be
– Comes out in the foam ball IN THE FOAM BALL after the spit
– People watching look away mid ride because there aint a hope in hell he’s coming out.
– Tick Tick Rickety tick
10
I’m sure they texted the criteria on how they were going to judge the box to the competitors and they would’ve been governed by what was said.
No doubt it was sick, I loved it and was hooting like a madman but like I said it wasn’t a clean exit.
That space shifting time travel thing JJF pulled at backdoor has not been repeated yet.
Not bigger than kelly in new york
Felipe Toledo alley oop x 2 at Jbay 2017. best ever in competition.
JOB rodeo flip at Pipe
JJF barrels at Teeahupoo x 1000
Erin Brooks backhand barrel at Snapper
as far as spinny things go; Medina, Toledo and Italo have made some pretty incredible spins to landings.
As I previously said, I thought Leo’s smashing lip turn was much more critical and impressive.
That was a 10 all day……IMO
Griff tried the same move and got obliterated.
Julian Wilson’s oop at Supertubos was enormous. One of the biggest airs ever.
They’re only human!
The mainstream media is incorrect. The greatest surfing move was Chas’ from Coos to Cardiff.
The greatest move in surfing is Occy leaving his coffin boardbag at the front of check in, tags on, knowing it will be delivered back to him at a later date and allowing him to enjoy transcontinental travel luggage-free.
Would be a cooler story if he didn’t just forget them.
Either version works well
Picking three horses for the punter.
A chance to toilet paper his rivals
The Daily Mail comments section isn’t dissimilar to our own one.
Highly recommended.
From Snooker
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Via Great Whites, racism, dudes and Pottz
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
To perceived arrogance
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Plus a lot more, from landlocked Daily Mail surf fans.
P.S.
Though no mention of his ‘legal to marry without parental consent’ girlfriend.
Yet…
Good report. Comment sections and pornography are what make the internet go round.
But helas, on the subject of coastlines – kernow is perched on the Atlantic therefore KERNOWLOKAL is not a landlocked daily mail surf fan.
Ummmm, uhhhh, yeahhh
Though seeing as ‘Kernow’ is the original ancient Celtic Cornish language word for ‘Cornwall’, which does point ‘toward’ the Atlantic, it has it’s actual coastlines on both the Celtic Sea and the English channel.
But all Europeans and Iberians know that, don’t they ? 😬😁
Been there once, beautiful place, great views, shit waves.
The English/Australian media give surfing a lot more coverage than the American media.
During Treble, wife made observation that the spectators are all ages, including a lot of old people and even old ladies. Very cool. Surfing is just more embedded in their culture.
Surfing is also part of American culture and mythology yet most Americans have no interest in the sport. Filmmakers use big wave surfing to attract the non-surfing, mainstream audience. I don’t know how successful that has been.
U.S. companies like to align themselves with surfing and surfers, usually for marketing and PR reasons. But it doesn’t really go deeper than that.
On another note, am I the only one who didn’t know what “treble” meant? Had to look it up. Guess they borrowed/appropriated it from soccer.
Not the greatest by a long shot but we get what we get when goats and greatest ever’s are judged by increasingly short attention spans. What i want to know is how Griff’s box barrel was only given a 9. Not much a griff fan but that was the craziest foam ride since JJF’s movie intro.
Because it was a flukey exit through the whitewater.
that’s what made it great!! Looked like the foam ball completely ate him up and then he emerged!!
If that’s not a 10, not sure what I’ve been looking for the past 40 years of watching pro contests!
The emotions of the moment got you. Judges job is not to do that, just stick to the facts.
Judges? That bunch of buzzer beater ball bags are the main offenders!
Likely related to the fact Box wasn’t very good that day and they were riding the smaller waves that came through.
And what if they next wave was bigger, he was just as deep and threw an ally oop. What would the score be?
Bikinis on the beach?
Through the white water coming out of the barrel you mean
He came though the lip being pushed by the foam ball into totally deep water.
Which made it even more impressive
Found it! and they nailed poor Griff on the first word of the last line.
The Box: Scoring Criteria Barrel Riding
Commitment & Difficulty: Score reflects wave size, power (heaviness, thickness), hollowness, and surfer’s commitment.
Take-Off: Difficulty and commitment of entering the barrel.
Tube Depth: Duration and intensity of being positioned deep within the barrel.
Technical Aspects:
Under-the-lip barrel entries.
Airdrops into the barrel.
Behind-the-peak take-offs.
Navigating the foam ball.
Backhand no-grab barrel rides.
Generating speed for extended barrel sections.
Maintaining control in critical, heavy barrels.
Exit: Clean, composed and controlled, particularly after a spit, showcasing the depth and quality of the execution.
If you read the last part of the last sentence, Griff went beyond the imagination of whom ever came up with the last sentence.
He show cased the depth beyond the depth
Hey I’m not saying I didn’t think it was a 10, More why they didn’t give it to him. Remember the tears from some tour surfers over not having a clear criteria for the day. They got one now!
Scored him down because they didn’t have aerial in the tube in the criteria “deduct a point boys, he knows what the criteria is”
It relates to the quality of the sacrifice.
Virgin’s were considered pure — although this is arguably a result of Roman Catholic doctrine, this would ignore the even older history of purity of the sacrifice being important — thus the sacrificing of children.
The greater boon you desire from your deity, the greater the sacrifice is necessary. Animal sacrifice < Human sacrifice < Virgin sacrifice.
Evil deities in particular avail themselves of the additional power that comes from greater sacrifices of human and virgins in particular.
There is not much historical evidence of virgin sacrifice, though human and infant sacrifices are well documented. Virgin sacrifice is more likely a trope that represents the idea of greater sacrifice in modern literature, movies, etc. because it is not as disturbing to modern thought as child sacrifice. And it gives the story teller the option of sexually related plot points.
1. Joe Turpel–probably a real nice guy in life, but fuck I’d rather sit in my car trapped in a carwash with the jets on full blast for 10 hours straight than listen to him.
2. Is Griff’s 16 a 10, too?
3. I reckon the greatest surf move ever is the disappearing act by JP. Given BG is looking for a contest wrap up writer, may I suggest SurfAds, or Rocks Local, or Brutus. Or Negs for that matter.
4. Paddling out at Main Break is one of the most glorious experiences out there–the clean water, the key hole, the raw ocean. Fucking amazing.
About your 3.
Hell yeah, it’s great alright.
And will be even greater if he actually bails for good.
It was bad enough having to read about his lame life of jogging, teaching and foiling, but his latest marriage counseling thing is beyond hilariously absurd, and in the ‘we just don’t need to know’ basket.
He’s supposed to give a sports report, not endlessly blither on about himself.
It’s quite surprising he got the role in the first place, maybe he actually paid Chas n Dezz to be able to do it, instead of the other way round…
he puts the tmi in the tmi!
Will double down for finals wrap, just for you two x
Still not getting replies to those emails?