“Dave Nielsen from the Central Coast has been doing those airs for the past 40 years.”
The runner-up to the New Zealand Pro, the luminous Morgan Cibilic, a man whose eyes glow with satiety as though he’s just eaten a large meal, has launched a wild ol’ fusillade against Italo Ferreira in an interview with Ain’t That Swell’s Jedaum Smith.
Smith, a man who looks like he works at the docks packing sea urchins, asks the reasonable question: Is classical Aussie rail surfing being ripped off by the WSL judges for the sake of Brazilian airs?
Morgan Cibilic, 26, who was a title contender in his rookie year before getting spat off the tour along with the other lower-rated detritus, responds well.
“I’m definitely not against it, like, but I think that you gotta be doing sick hairs these days. That’s my personal opinion. But the cheese whiz-like airs, fuck I don’t know. Like Dave Nielsen from the Central Coast has been doing those for the past forty years…”
Cibilic points out that Yago’s air, which scored ten points, is the standard from which other airs should be judged.
“They’re the punts you should be doing. It shouldn’t just be like a little cheesy, no power like fucking like and yeah… everyone can kinda do those cheese whiz airs.”
In the commentary alongside the Instagram post of the interview, many surfers of note were clearly pleased to make their feelings known.
“There is a solution. And yes I know I always seem to come up with some fancy ideas but in 1995 I worked out a split scoring system that I presented to Kelly and Derek Hynd and one day I think it will be implemented. The key thing being that you separate the two different directions of surfing by giving an approach score for the entire ride and an individual manoeuvre score for each ride… but the trick is that you do not add them up for a wave score. (once you add them up for a ride score then you will always have the contradiction that was so obviously highlighted in that final) You add them up at the end of the heat, and so it doesn’t matter on which wave you got each of those scores, the highest score for each approach only get combined at the end of the heat. that means you can focus on whatever direction you like depending on the wave in front of you. It also means that you don’t know who’s going to win until the very end of the heat so it will be more dramatic as a finale.”
Do you hold a position?
Was the final a moment of despair or a game of high-stakes where expectations were fulfilled?
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Gringos whining is the NEW GRINGOS STORM
Ciblic got flat out smoked in the final. Sour HamSammishes on his part. He’s not in the league of Yago or Italo.
Morgs just needed to chug some RB and unlease his twitchy zombie tweaker.
Can’t bring a knife to a gun fight etc.
Should RB and similar substances be banned from pro-surfing consumption?
Aren’t these ‘performance-enhancing’ more than a simple coffee?
I hope that you’re joking. I know that you’re joking. Red Bull could buy the woz with money they have in the centre consol of their car, if they wanted to.
Instead they “own” surfing for a lot less. Half the major surfers on tour ride for them and all of the women. They are the primary sponsor for many of the surfers.
The problem with most surfers chugging red bull before a heat is that their mind will race, and they’ll get anxiety. Their bodies should already be well prepped before the contest and most of them already are. Wasn’t for lack of energy that he lost. It was for not throwing at least one aerial into each of his scoring waves.
“Wasn’t for lack of energy that he lost. It was for not throwing at least one aerial into each of his scoring waves.”
fmd, the absolute bollocks being repeated here is nonsense.
Where does Sally Fitz air show sit in the conversation ?
Who?
That was so 2025.
At least italo has some variety to his manoeuvres. Morgs doing the same bhand reo every time and mb mixing it up with a floater….cmon morgs don’t be a whinging cunt.
Dez, you naughty little man. had to go and rile up the masses again, dint ya?
Pitchforks and Torches below the line.
I thought the 10 yago got was a bit over scored.
Judging is weird, notice how the first wave for each surfer is almost always scored in 0.5 increments and only later do they do 0.1 increments.
That 10 was cathartic I reckon. After all the offs and ons, tiny waves etc… the comp NEEDED that moment.
Perfectly executed wave though.
The 10 was perfectly justified.
Putting Italo’s 8 or even 9 within coo-ee of it is insane.
so the 10 was justified ..degree of difficulty 10…..off the bottom square into the lip like all backsiders degree of difficulty/risk…5….
Italos waves were surfed on the outside with a much higher degree of risk/difficulty….easy to understand!
Italo can throw cheese whiz airs all day long with low risk if judges are prepared to pay them.
Go and watch Italos first 2 airs on his 9 . 3…..degree of difficulty 10 x 2 ..morgan degree of difficulty 5…….anybody and everybody on tour can do what Morgan did…….whiz airs what a muppet!
Say it louder and more often
Yep and not many can do 2 tweaked air revs in a row….in a heat ffs.
I can do 6 backhand reps in a row, it’s easy.
people have been able to do multiple airs per wave for 2 decades.
Not in heats, he flowed between the 2 airs very smoothly
oh yeah…who 20 years ago was doing big air reverses on the take off and second turn?
we’ll see how it gets judged next year- whether the judges treat those airs like they did at Trestles and Margs- which is correctly.
He made no attempt to combo anything up- just threw airs at every section.
Poor surfing.
I suppose Toledo’s 10 at J-Bay was also poor surfing?
Toledo never got barrelled on that wave.
I mean no matter how well you surfed it, if you didn’t get at least one shack on thatvwave at J-bay could you really call it a perfect 10?
once again degree of difficulty…..each air by itself was probably a 10 , then the finish of the wave was probaly 3.5…23.5 outa 10……tubes are super easy……
Yeah he may have surfed it insane but if you didn’t get a proper tube at a place called Supertubes was it really the perfect wave at that venue?
Much like Kelly’s 10 against Mick or Yago’s wave a bells, should the surfing be scored only on whatever moves were pulled and not how well it matched the venue?
If someone does a crazy air in Tahiti when it’s proper barreling would the same apply?
Felipes wave insane, but I would have given it a 9.99..
How many points should cibs have got for all time, all cosmos mega choking? On the clutch fatty ‘perfect peeler’ of the heat? Perfect 10’s?
Do ya reckon maybe he thought if he went too far in, on that filthy fuckin’ ‘ledge’, that he’d be picked off and smashed to smithereens, so drastically endangered and trapped, that even the ski’s wouldn’t be able to save him?
Or, (think tankin’/brain stormin’), maybe he read it so fundamentally well, that he saw the perfect fathander was going to miss that amazing section, where amazing, professional human athlete, professional greatest ever beings, being powerful human beings, the most powerful ever… athletic beings… unbelievably humans, were trundling along spectacularly, while having the most spectacular amazing ever human chats… to human children, and all and sundry on the shore… and checking out the local scenery and stuff… and doing the most amazing ever waving and gesturing to other amazing human tourists, being amazing humans, as the chubby hander grovelled into that knee high thing they were calling the ‘wrapping inside bowl’? I mean, how many, well I mean how much, I mean whata ya fuckin… I mean what’s the use… you know, I mean, you know… well… if ya not gonna be fairly judged on that fucking section, the section well worth an airfare and buying a condo alone… free?
Or, maybe he was counting on no one noticing the choke, counting on a backup, code red lookaway? I mean what’t the criteria and points for that stuff?
Yago 10 wasn’t in that heat though. Italos waves were in comparison to the first couple from Morgs.
Morgs can, but somehow chose not add more variety to his surfing. In junky high performance surf it was crazy not to mix it up, especially in a final.
junky?
since where are offshore, groomed peeling lefts junky?
I’m comparing to the multiple videos I got sent when the finals were supposed to be on. Damn shark.
yeah, it was absolutely cranking.
Any questions you want answered re Raglan judging I got one turning up in 2 hours to stay.
That contest would have disappeared had it not been for that wave. The NZ taxpayer owes Yago a debt of gratitude. At the very least, a comped Trade Me success fee for the Yeti cooler auction.
I agree that Italo won fair and square, Morgs needed to go HAM, and didn’t.
That said, if someone in a snowboard halfpipe comp did 2 runs doing the same air over and over, smaller and more forced each time, they would get scored accordingly.
that rant will make Morgs super popular in Brazil though hahaha
Aussies whinging again.
Aussie rail surfers have strong physiques, air guys do not. Cal Robbo bringing the gap.
Top Tier Brazilians are strong, and surf both on rail and in the air. The power, speed, flow, variety, etc is there on all fronts.
Let’s just call a spade a spade and recognise the Brazilans are putting in the work and results show.
Winning comps on rail only is asking a lot in 2026. Can’t expect different results doing the same turns year after year.
All Aussies whinging about Filipe not deserving a world title without the Tube skills, though want world titles won on rail.
Brazilians are killing it. Stop crying and do some airs.
They tie themselves into emotional pretzels like MAGAts rationalizing a tweet
From the perspective of someone who can’t do airs except kind of on accident, I think it’s fucking ridiculous that some top surfers basically can’t do airs. Best in the world should have all the tools and be deploying them as necessary and appropriate. I can’t think of another similar sport where you can just not be able to do some huge advanced aspect of it and people are like, oh that’s because you just have more soul.
If you are a professional surfer and you don’t have a grab bag of different airs on lock then no crying about losing to your peers who put in the time and effort.
No shit. Look at the crazy shit being pulled in wave pools right now, while Morgan is doing the same bottom turn to top turn combo that Carissa was doing better anyway.
Carissa rips on Morgs
You’re off with the fairies lately Hip.
Is it edibles mate, or this Pliny IPA you keep glazing?
Now w/ the Pliny?? The red line has been crossed!!
If you had a weakness like that in any other sport, coaches would have you in, behind closed doors, working on it. These guys are always in the public eye, repping their sponsors. Kinda had to have done all that when they were nobodies, like Italo did.
you mean a weakness like doing fundamental turns?
Well played.
No, the obvious fundamental!!! Catching a wave!!!
The wsl/swillnut code red lookaway blather was epic though! It became the wave’s fault for leaving him behind… for the audacity of not catching the greatest most elite, ever most professional ever human being ever being human athlete ever human… ever…
Then they blamed the fathander, ‘perfect peeler’, for trying its guts out and attempting to double up, and at least add a degree or 2 to the feeble slope.
Missing prized double ups, after claiming and hustling and being gifted priority is an even worse fundamental offence, in any respectable, genuine surf lineup and culture!!!
All time choke, followed by all time lookaway!!!
This has got a wsl/neggy/stupe’ fusion vibe written all over it!!! Classic KFC/Maccas, think tank, ideas board, barnstormin’, climb the corporate ladder shit!!!
The rebirth of the organic, ethical… fat burger flogathon…
I don’t blame ya free, I honestly don’t… you know that…
Corporate espionage 101… ‘oye did ya hear what happened to free… they reckon he got accidently bumped… straight under a fuckin’ bus…!!!’
Mate there’s thousands of 10 year old groms doing air reverses, what makes you think CT surfers can’t?
I’m that just like lip tricks are a necessary part of virt skating, and spins are a necessary part of figure skating, airs are a necessary part of pro surfing. There are situations on a wave wherein an air is the most difficult, impressive, and aesthetic thing one could do. Sometimes the most difficult, impressive and aesthetic thing on a wave is pulling into the barrel, sometimes it’s an AI down carve.
It’s absurd that some professionals at the highest level don’t (whether that is won’t or can’t or some combination) do airs.
And yes, there are still plenty of them who don’t have the confidence/make rate to try in competition.
The reason why the girlz dont do airs in comps is because its difficult.
And the reason why Morgs didn’t do airs is because its difficult.
and the reason Filipe didn’t do airs?
shame basic logic isn’t required before commenting.
Troll > Logic
Always
Italo won. That 9 plus ride he got was insane. He actually did some great carves too on that 8 something he got. Imagine hitting the the first outside section doing the gnarliest, inverted nose pick, fins to the beach, of your life and then bottom turning seamlessly into another one?
like most people I like the classic approach, top to bottom rail surfing… but fuck.
Thank you Bogs. I agree we all appreciate the same backside hit over and over and over again over the course of 6 heats. I think its because it takes us back to a time when we were younger and things were simpler.
It’s the best we can hope for with our warm soft paunches and torn menisci
Remember when Keanu Asig used this strategy to win a contest years ago? Talk about stagnation…
I do. France 2016.
the 8 was probably the most over-scored wave of the event.
According to the criteria that should have been a mid 6 or low 7.
The turns were objectively horrible- spaz pumping everywhere, slidey little flicks that would not have scored at the board riders level.
So you think Morgan out-surfed him in that heat?
that eight had a committed outside maneuver Morgan wouldn’t dare touch on the outside, multiple carves/cutbacks that didn’t have the patented italo flick/tail slide that drives us insane usually transitions into the inside, does a reverse, ONE flicky weird turn to set up for again another popped reverse on the inside. Gets an 8.17 mostly due to lesser wave choice than Morgan’s wave I describe below.
Morgs literally does the same backside snap or buttwink carve a million times. No variation. First snaps he does on the outside are his best maneuver. Does it several times over and over again. Could be trying to integrate more high risk maneuvers, doing a full round house and hitting the rebound, oh, and he fell on his last turn doing a backside snap on his second wave, right after bogging in the white wash on the outside and hopping like an ape to connect to the inside. Gets an 8.8 for safety surfing and falling at the very end.
I think the board riders might have to reevaluate if they want to manage another Aussie world champ anytime soon! If everyone can do a cheez-whiz air on nothing waves/sections instead of a little buttwink snap… then why don’t they?
one outside air, three soft cutbacks and a bunch of shitty little turns on the inside – should have been a mid 6 or 7.
No Morgs did not outsurf him- he was a wave short.
All of Italo’s turns on Finals day were weak, slidey or both- none of them were elite surfing.
Judges purely paid his airs and on a left point that is bad judging.
This is an aspect I can get behind.
No one can do surfing like that, and while I know he won the heat, some criticism of his rail surfing on the actual wave face is necessary to continue to improve the sport and not just see the same, albeit impressive, repetitive air over and over.I wouldn’t call the turns on the wave face weak personally, but they sure as hell can be improved upon for reasons that are obvious to most of us. Cheers
Well Derek, since ‘you’ asked, I do have a position.
In my humble opinion, airs are ‘tricks’.
And surfing is really defined by, is, ‘maneuvers’, for lack of a better word.
A maneuver is something that is functional, that has a function;; a cutback gets you back closer to the power point of the wave, a bottom turn shoots you up onto the face of the wave, even a floater can help you get across a section.
A whirlybird (air), has no function, except, maybe, looks cute, or gets you dizzy.
I think they should be banned or scored 0 in comps cause they only look cute, (for lack of a better word), no purpose..
OK Boomer.
There is a point in there for judging though – was that a trick, or a manoeuvre? Yago’s 10, that was the biggest possible manoeuvre you could have done in that part of that wave. Beyond most of the pro’s imagination.
Australia sure cries when it realizes it doesn’t have the skills
And it doesn’t
They are the new Brazilians and its sad to watch them stoop to this level. Constant whining. Oh and the claiming…don’t get me started on that. The reality is the talent and hunger just isnt there and no high perfomance center and dried up ex pro coaches can change that.
Look at their coaches!
Too many Ace Buchans in Oz, no Danes
Brazil?
🎵That’s in Queensland🎵
It’s not an Australia vs Brazil debate about overall supremacy when it comes to rail surfing. Ethan is undoubtably the king (after John John and Jordy) but Yago, Miguel and even Felipe all have an epic rail game. Also surfers from both nations do huge airs. So sorry to Morgan who rips but doesn’t really feature at the highest level in either category. But it’s obvious that the slide towards ugly surfing is thanks to Italo and Gabriel with their poo stance spins and flips on demand being rewarded by a crowd pleasing judging criteria especially in waves of no consequence or quality.
Despite how much I enjoyed italos scoring waves in that final, this take is on it. I think the way he is able to maximize and is linking together high risk maneuvers on a wave (those two blow tails on the outside section for his9 point ride?) is to be rewarded, but long term the judging also needs to ask him to clean up a lot of his surfing on the face of the wave. If a surfer is only surfing and maximizing the space above the wave… and hardly ever does a full, linking, rail carve… that’s a problem. I do think Italo won that heat. Morgan got great scores for his surfing but he was a notch below Italo.
Morgan has been reading too much of SC literature. But probably baited by the podcaster.
I’d add a stupid judging criteria – in events with +100 people on the beach, factor in the crowd reaction in dB.
Its a sporting event, it survives on its ability to entertain. Who cares for maintaining the traditional ‘power rail surfing’ people just want to see mad tricks above the lip. If you don’t win the crowds why should you win the event?
Derick fuckin Hynd is a 100 years old wtf when did it really matter what he thinks FFS
Given me a long time to miss him.
Like Derek Hynds… said. All time choke. Dropped a sitter… straight in front, out on the full… double fault… air ball… own goal… turnover in the goal square… belly flop… rabbit in the headlights… take your pick.
Morgs just had to do a Billy blow tail or two on top of his already razor sharp rail game and it would’ve been clear cut. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Morgs v JJF 2021 Newcastle. Mixing it up. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
narrabeen
Amazing shot
Stance not wide enough.
UglyAF