Im happy Medina didn't get through, but OMG he got fully ripped off.

Check these side by side video footage and tell me something is not suss here.

http://stabmag.com/news/julian-wilson-matt-wilkinson-called-out-wsl-soci...

I don't know Indo! All of those heats could have gone either way. And that's the nature of subjective judging! Unless they can deal with the issue of close heats with going to a 3rd or 4th wave if neccessary when the scores are closer than say half a point then it will keep happening. You'd think that over time you'd win some and lose some kind of like cricket where you get good and bad decisions. I didn't really have a problem with the Tanner Gabby heat. I thought Tanners first left was possibly the best wave of the heat and in my opinion Gabby gave the judges every reason not to give him the score when he safe surfed that wave all the way through and it kind of died out on him. A couple of turns were good but the rest were not exactly explosive. And he continues to give the rest of the world reasons to hate on him with his reaction afterwards. His turns at times didn't have enough snap in them and were a bit arcy. Anyway I wasn't too bothered by it. Slater's board looked good by the way! Not sure what it was but he stuffed up his 3 man heat and probably won't get much further now.

I am with you there indo. If you watch Gudauskas, he has no real timing control on his first 8.67 . In fact its the kind of surfing you would expect at a local amateur comp somewhere. The first 2 turns were glitched big time but the 3rd was decent. Medina maybe makes his bigger hooks look easy with his skill level but surely these judges are paid enough to score correctly . Sad day when surfing like that scores an 8.67

Time for Ritchy to step down and try and get some fresh eyes into the head judges seat for pro surfing's sake.

Yeah that's the vid hard to watch that an argue otherwise.

But hey let's not forget the Medina V's Joel final at Snapper where Joel was ripped off.

Sadly sometimes surfers are overscored, sometimes underscored that's pro surfing.

So what is Kelly riding? It doesn't look like he is on Webber's bananas

Yeah thats the point I was trying to make. You win some and lose some with the swings and roundabouts. That Snapper one was a good case in point!

For some reason it looks like the close judges' decisions have been favourable towards the local Californian contingent this event - Tanner, Simpo, Kanoa. Seems like they are rewarding local knowledge. Whether it is consciously or unconsciously we probably won't ever know!

Dunno I thought all of Tanner's turns were more vertical and done when the wave still had some size. Medina's were mostly safe except for the two at the end when the wave had petered out.

Basically Tanners board was at 12 o'clock when he hit the lip all three times. Medina was around 9:30-10 for most of em. Not as critical.

I'm kinda leaning towards the 'Medina was ripped off camp' but Gudang surfed well and nailed the criteria, which doesn't make it so clear cut.

I think Medinas lame claim and then smarmily (is that a word) clapping at the judges after the ride and the heat doesn't exactly endear himself to anyone as a sportsman. He's kinda showed that on several occaisions. Some say that it's passion and that he wears his heart on his sleeve, I reckon it's just immaturity. Worst world champion we've seen in a while imo.

Also, i wonder if Charlie kicked the shit out of the furniture again?

Edit: I've watched the footage a few times again (cheers Stu) and Tanners 3 turns, especially the second and third were heaps beter imo than Gabs. Taking length of ride into account though, the three extra turns were safe and the money making part of the wave was pretty much done. In saying that, those three extra turns must have been worth an extra point combined to get the score he needed. Tough call.

summed up pretty good here http://www.tracksmag.com.au/news/saturday-at-the-races---a-few-perspecti...

I thought the Wilko v Simpo heat was the worse judging...how his last wave was a 6 something I don't know?

agreed.

Wilko's was a shocker too.

the one thing I have not seen anyone talk about and it shows how inconsistent the judging was is that Medina's wave was score lower than his first wave, not how is that possible.

It is pretty easy to hate Medina as he is a spoiled little prick who does not show respect for others but being objective it was the worst judging I have seen since Mick's and Gaby's heat at Pipe last year which should have resulted in the WSL being shamed as well. Obviously Mick is a different kind of guy and most aussies don't really give fuck which I find cool. Brazilians on the other hand are going to collapse any WSL media outlet, this time they deserve it more than ever.

Tanner Vs Medina

Tanner wins in my book. That being said, i have been present at a trestles comp before. The Gudauskas camp has a huge following. All the locals get by and support the local competitor (the crowd would have been going wild for tanner). Such an amazing heat, both surfed excellent. At the end of the day it's good for pro surfing.

In all honesty it's the type of surfing that i tune in for. I usually only get the chance to watch the heats on demand. (so maybe i have a different perspective).

Having these condensed heats so you can pretty much watch the waves back to back is cool.

Wilko was reamed and deserved to be pissed off. Simpo may have been scored correctly (with the exception of his last wave) but Wilko was blatantly underscored.

Full blown tantrums followed by crying on social media is weak

Watched that side by side about ten times now medinas wave was bigger for sure it was also longer we cant deny that! There first turns were identical imho, and medinas second turn seemed way better to me fins loose and more critical third turn was pretty much the same maybe tanners was a bit better but them medina went on to do 3 or 4 more hits! Its a no brainer medina was hard done by the kid can surf

I finally watched the Willko heat, to be honest i can't say either way, it too hard to compare Goofy to Natural.

Surfing just isn't really meant to judged really.

seen dodgy decisions go against jjf and others in favour of medina before. the biggest issue is transparency. who are the judges? what countries are they from? what does each judge (each nationality) give each wave? presumably these men and women are getting $$$ to travel the world and make these decisions. professional sport needs standards and transparent judging - big bucks now. why should anyone believe it isn't rigged when it's mostly invisible? should be minus 5 for every claim too, which would make medina a non-starter on the tour

Whenever any level of subjectivity is brought in any judgement, then it's easy to be open to criticism, abuse, corruption. I had assumed that at each WSL contest, the judging criteria and the process of judging was clearly defined and available to all. So each manoeuvre or attempt is defined with an added factor of wave size or criticality. In Wilkos case, I thought he should have scored more as his flow from one manoeuvre to another was smooth and high level. Maybe it was the wave itself.
They better get something objective soon or this will turn sour.

Sad to see a comp in 2016 held in waves like this, comes down way to much to waves they get and luck.

I think, putting last waves aside Tanner won the whole heat, Gabby's last score was a correction (and I thought he surfed safe). More importantly Stu Kennedy and Josh Kerr were great to watch, and Toledo was just awesome. I like watching these guys in surf like this, shows how they would destroy our local beaches (wish we had waves that long)!

Loving the WSL commentators, they sure can make a shit sandwich sound appetising.

Jordy for the win (just cause I ike his style).

Only just saw this...Kellys take on it. (from Instagram)

"Here's what I think about the heat between @gabrielmedina and @tannergud... Tanner's first wave (8.5) was the best surfed wave of the heat with the most variety and commitment in maneuvers. Gabriel got the better score in the first exchange (8.83) which I thought was incorrect both live and watching replays later. That set a strange tone for the heat. The wave Gab got an 8.3 on should have been easily enough to put him in the lead AT THAT TIME. Tanner had an 8.67 in the middle of the heat that I think was very over scored by more than a point. So when Tanner rode his final wave he should have been in second place needing a mid 8 point ride. And he surfed that wave very well.

I feel the judging got lost from the first exchange. By the time Gabby got his good wave (8.3) and didn't receive the score, everyone was confused, myself included. No matter what you think it was a close heat that could have gone either way.

I also think most people take easy opportunities to make big deals about things that aren't super important in the scope of their lives. The extent to which people have taken this heat is seriously silly. It was a close heat that could have gone either way. Actually, three of us who go to every event scored it later at home and had Tanner with a slight lead, all things considered. My solution? The judges shouldn't be able to hear the current situation and score accordingly but even with that they are trying to decide who surfed the better heat. We've all had close ones go our way or against us."

Cheyne Horan Insta - Cheyne tells the judges how they should judge.