"Straight away I thought a mid-9. They had to pay, surely. They did not pay. 7.83 - a bizarre score."
One of the perennials of the pro surfing system, which is as much a permo-state as the bureaucrat controlled EU or the Commies in China, is its insistence that five well-placed re-entries and a floater, risk factor close to zero, will always score more highly than a wild, corked-out air completed with a desperate finger-clawing landing.
And so it was yesterday when Gabriel Medina, a three-time champ who has redefined the subtle art of the backside turn, a mirror of Ethan Ewing in some ways, was propelled into the quarter finals despite an backside air from Italo Ferreira that requires several slow-motion viewings to comprehend its complexity.
The best commentary on the subject came at The Late Afternoon Glass Off Instagram page, with below-the-line warriors all attempting their own Strike of Wrath. The one-time Surfing magazine photographer Jimmy Wilson even wheeled out his ol gotta-grease-the-landing-like-the-skaters-snowboarders-for-it-to-count schtick.
Wilson writes: I wrote an article about falling back in the whitewater after witnessing horrible judging at Bells in 2010. Back then they would have given this a 20. It is impressive, Italo is a maniac, but in skateboarding or snowboarding they don’t even count something if you touch your hand down. So scrubbing just isn’t gonna cut it now that we have wavepools where people like him get unlimited attempts at perfecting airs…Italo has crazy core strength, he bounced up super fast but the goal is always most advanced air with cleanest possible landing. Tons of nuance. I probably would’ve went lower on score and but there’s a full panel to decide and lowest/his best are tossed out
Others were of a similar mind:
Score was right on the money, if not maybe slightly high. Super inverted, slightly out of control. Either way I’m happy to see crazy stuff get rewarded even if it’s not the cleanest. Much more entertaining than a stock air rev
Wasted 95% of the wave so not really good use of the wave
And from Chris Cote, famous among BeachGrit fans for his Toxic Positivity series: Score was appropriate,but maybe a bit high. The air was wild and really sick but not controlled.
The contrarian view is if a man, or woman, isn’t rewarded for high-risk surfing, for providing one of the only highlights of the entire contest, maybe even the year, why in the hell would you?
Why not remain forever locked in 1985, busily squirrelling nuts, surfing with control, nothing out of place etc?
As the dearest of dear old pals put it in his daily contest report,
“Straight away I thought a mid-9. They had to pay, surely. They did not pay. 7.83 – a bizarre score.”
Meanwhile, and over at the WSL, Italo Ferreira commented, “1%”.
Where is your mind on the matter?
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Personally, not landed. That in mind, the 7 something was actually way over-scored.
All I will say is it seems strange that you can get a mid 7 for two well placed turns out there and every person on the tour can put that together within a few attempts. You send the whole tour out there for a day and I bet no one replicates that air with as many attempts as they can get
WSL = hey, we’re back!! So exciting! A finish at Pipe!! Woohoo!!
JJF = fuck you
Bells forecast = hold my beer
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How tiny and insignificant does Italian lino look next to the king.
So the fuckwits at the Weird Seppo League are now judging surfing like skating or snowboarding? Daneo gets a 7 for a massive, tweaked and boned out straighty that even he thought was amazing but two taps and the same old perfectly landed tiny, same old twirly bird from Forest Griff gets a 7.117? Thats progression for ya ay bahahahahaha.
The funniest thing is I dont even like like jumps and for me that winning wave of Leos against Pip is EASILY the highlight of the event for me so far. Thing is if the tour continues to be led by a Seppo billionaire who’s wealth has grown by two billion fucking dollars since he took over but still seems intent on avoiding decent waves for cost purposes then this is just surfings future. Best surfers in the shittest waves possible just about sums this shit up perfectly. Hey at least we have the hard hitting, wonderful, insightful commentary to enjoy hahahahahahah
My other pet hate has been the absolute bullshit about the forecast for the event. Tom, Dogsnuts and Swellnet have made perfect calls so far where as Surf Lie, Gwen and so on have just absolutely fucking kooked it.
How some of you cunts listen to the WSL for an even semi accurate forecast for how the waves are going to be is just completely mind bending to me. If yous want an accurate forecast for Snapper then I will be happy to help but for other events PLEASE don”t listen to the dumb cunts at the WOZ and listen to accurate local forecasts instead
I only watched a couple of the womens heats last night before bed. Just bouys sitting out there with a set every 15 minutes. It was unwatchable.
Not as strange.as that time JJF made that backdoor impossible closeout and they didnt reward it with a 10.
eh. seen him stick better, 100’s of the fucking things… to the point of it being annoying.
just because he managed to somehow get back over a botched attempt doesn’t make it somehow BETTER than a clean one. that would make zero sense.
Air +12.83
Terrible style -5
Total score = 7.83
Nailed it.
The problem for Italo is that he has been winning heats doing versions this air for over 7 years and wsl judges overly reward novelty.
Talking of the bureaucratic state of the EU
Spare a thought for the states of Romania and Poland who were just informed that they owe the fine folks over at Pfizer over $2 Billion for some COVID-19 vaccines that they neither wanted nor needed.
It ain’t easy being a Eastern European country with a history of mistreatment of the current CEOs of Wall Street
The EU, ugh!
Worst Evers.
agree. crazy air but completely out of control on the landing.
Gabe won the heat.
That was a full on Marzo air. Huck it, flop it, recover. Meh
Iranian propaganda is has got the rhymes
What an absolute fuck up that’s going to turn out to be …
The whole thing … from day 1.
”And from Chris Cote, famous among BeachGrit fans for being a dick:”
Tftfy, D
Cheers
I reckon if you’re pushing for a less than excellent score on a move that generates a sharp intake of breath, an involuntary curse and to call your missus in to see the replay…..then you’re a bit of a kook.
BTW – Who gives a fuck what skaters and snowboarders think? Both are just sports for cunts that can’t swim.
Skaters are cooler than surfers are though.
Inline skaters and pickle ballers are cooler than surfers. It ain’t that hard a stretch.
not difficult though—professional horseshoes has more money in it than surfing
Surfing has nothing to do with money.
That’s almost the point of surfng.
This.
We had a major south swell here in BI this week. Wednesday, I had time for a 45 minute session at my local. Sat outside and picked off two set waves. When I came in, the parking lot chatter was glowing, everyone talking about what an epic morning it was out in the water. One of the bruddahs said “I just love the stoke!” Two of my friends told me they had texted me vids of my waves. We were, all of us, one big happy tribe. This, to me, is an example of what surfing is.
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Lolol. Brutal !
Bowlers are the ultimate in cool.
just the attire alone is next level awesome.
A very nice guy that works at a large supply house I frequent almost daily (home depot) he is quite the nerd. Told me before covid he was trying to go pro as a bowler. I have better conversations with this dude than most my surf buddies always look forward to seeing him. Last year he bowled a perfect game. I think I was more pumped than he was when I heard about it..
did a contract job one time for a pro bowler. same, the guy was kind of a nerd, skinny, weak looking….but one of those nerds that has swagger. Nice guy. very confident, and had a gorgeous wife.
I watched him bowl a few times. his entire ensemble was incredible, all the way from the shoes to the chain around is neck.
pure style.
rumor has it that if they could attach a mop head to his “stick”, he could mop the lanes, standing!
If his chic was named Laine. He could have “Laine Splitter” embroidered on his trousers..
No one fucks with the Jesus.
U seen that new doco series on HBO that just came out? Pretty entertaining.
no, but I did see The Big Lebowski
lol
In what universe?
Deep blue aquatic caverns, brown skin, blonde hair and sexy girls in bikinis vs Skinny jeans and kick flips in a supermarket car park.
If skaters were cool there’d be sexy girls laying around the skatepark on towels hoping to get noticed. Instead you get pre-teens in Pokémon shirts on razor scooters.
The old “Skating more core than surfing “ was always a cope promoted by poor fuckers with shit, weak cold brown waves….ie Californians.
Re: surfers. I see ancient ol men in all black wetsuits, skin like processed ham, and with nylon hats affixed to bald heads with pieces of string. Ugh!
I see undomesticated wild things built of sinew and steel, braving the last Earthly frontier for a sweet taste of their lifeblood passion.
No one is risking getting bitten in half by a twenty foot carnivore to play fucken pickleball.
You need to let go your fear of ageing, Derek. Vanity is useful to a point…after that it’s an anchor around your soul. Stay fit and trim but wear those lines and grey hairs with pride.
Agree on the hats. They hurt my eyes.
My hat has an ergonomic clip below the chin strap. Very comfy.
Sensible
BONDI.
Bondi is to surfing what Fleshlights are to sex.
had to look that up.
Never heard of it, but googled…SURPRISE!
I worked with a bloke that bought one second hand off another co-worker.
True story.
Keen eye for bargain.
did it fit?
An embarrassing necessity!
True!
at least the average age of a skater isn’t 42
The mental age of all skaters is 13.
“Rad graphics on your deck, dude!”
No rinse kits.
No wooz to fuck things up!
nah, most skaters are jerks
went so dorky now it’s in the Olympics.
If your ever wondering how much you should care about the opinions of other surfers and skaters remind yourself that by albees math that air is like a 1080
is this the live comment thread then?
It’s the thread we deserve. Spencer smoking Sakura Johnson!
Imma be drinking all day in Encinitas tomorrow. Think an Alyssa victory will be the talk of the town?
Do you drink with Charlie on occasion?
Betty Lou Who?
Is Bells on?
Yes, surf here is shite. My jobs are done. It’s Friday arvo and Bells is on, Baby!
how was Alyssa’s surfing ?