Rio Pro: Day 3
You won't be surprised to hear that after a full day of competition the remaining Semi-Final match-ups are an all Brazilian affair. Equally unsurprising: Filipe Toledo has officially made the Top 5. Barring injury, he'll likely head to Trestles as Number One seed and an unbackable favourite.
If your interest is low then that’s the bare essentials and all you need to know from last night.
Wobbly 4ft surf didn't quite seem like elite product. In fact it was heavily shaded by other content on the Woz site. Krui and Nias have featured Indonesian perfection for days and it's a brutal shock to transition from air-brushed milky green tubes to wobbly beach-break close-outs.
Kelly's Lost Tapes dropped yesterday, this time a Bali Ep, and that too did not make for a flattering comparison make when put side by side with Itauna.
Kelly shredding Bali, now missing from Rio, no Gabe, no JJF.
Luckily the Brazilian fly boys were up for the heavy lifting.
Jack Robbo has crushed Brazilian dreams all season with controversial buzzer beaters. Against Italo at Bells, Gabe and Filipe at G-Land he was given the nod. This time, needing a 7.07 against Mateus Herdy a wobbly 2 banger netted a 7. Under by 0.7 of a point. I'm not going to say it was a hometown decision, but the noisy crowd was baying for a Herdy win and if it went the other way, no-one would be shocked to see the Brazilian fan base baying for blood.
Filipe wasn't pressured in either heat today. Easily knocking over Miggy Tudela then Connor O'Leary, all with turns. The injury toll amongst the CT'ers seems to be having a retarding effect on aerials - Toledo almost consciously stuck to the face despite fluffy sections begging to be punted from.
Filipe staying grounded
Can an air be safety-surfed? Prior to last night I would have said “no way”. Maybe for Italo we can make an exception. Twice last night he threw flat spin backside rotations on fluffy sections. Landing not in the explosion but on the face in his Quarter against Miggy Pupo. Needing an 8.07, he received an 8.07. That tied the heat, with the 8 being the highest scoring wave pushing him through. Those scores seemed elevated.
Sammy Pupo just falling short of Italo, tying but having the lower scoring heat wave
All night though, basic meat and potato 2 bangers got mid 7's.
The scale had been elevated, as if by magic. Maybe an unconscious cry for help to likewise elevate the excitement level for the viewer, which was for the most part hovering in the area between soporific and fully anesthetized.
None of the Aussies could make a dent, once our talisman Jack Robinson was eliminated.
O'Leary came up with a combined total of 8.94 against Filipe in their Quarter. Callum Robson mustered a total of 7 in his QF against Yago.
Yago on the way to eliminating Call Robo
I know we were watching the full domination of the Brazilian Storm, sans Gabriel Medina, but I couldn't stop thinking of Kelly Slater.
In particular, the problem of Kelly's retirement.
How does he go out?
The Pipe triumph is unlikely to be repeated.
Does he show up next year and try his hardest- with the mid-year cut looming?
Imagine the indignity of Kelly walking up the stairs at Margies, having been bounced at one of his least favourite waves on Tour.
Surely a full testimonial year of Kelly is due, in which case, are we in it?
Is this the Final Lap?
Do we get a slow, slow fade-out? A comp here, a comp there?
An injury if he doesn't like the look of the forecast?
What is the template here?
If Kelly doesn't take action and shape his retirement plans, even the GOAT will find himself in the back paddock on the wrong side of the electric fence.
For now though, Kelly still owns the Tour. The recommendation for the heat analyser is to forget it and watch Kelly's edit.
It'll blow your mind and Kelly will love that.
Comments
He should surf Pipe and retire.
Like he should have this year.
J-Bay And Chopes his swan song events.
Be good promo material for the WSL.
Though I get the feeling KS could'nt care less.
Chopes to be his swansong to retire from the tour as he won't be in the top 5 after that.
He's not competitive with the top dogs at Jbay anymore.
And he'll get a wildcard into Pipe for the next 5 years even if he's not on tour anymore i reckon.
But the bloke has shown he's got no qualms with making up the numbers on tour for years now so he'll probably hang on there until eventually he can't anymore.
Slater to win at 10 - 12ft Chopes with JJF in the final then retire.
All while the Brazilian storm are knocked very early and a few go over the falls and loose a bit of skin/pride.
That's what dreams are made of. Adios Rio
Yep he'd be crazy not to retire if he won there.
The absolute last thing left for him to achieve would be to win a CT event over age 50.
He was a only a few days off it at Pipe this year.
I reckon he'll be getting wildcards to Pipe for the next few years so he won't he retiring from there.
I would say Kelly is hoping to go out with a win at chopes.......i feel like he is lost in the pro surfing forest without a compass and is hoping something like a win would be a good way to retire gracefully ....like he should have done at pipe......
His latest release of the Lost Tapes is really well done sort of a shame its 3 years old and not really current today and makes me wonder why it wasn't released a couple years ago.
He mighta been saving them for when he had a season where nearly every event was a throwaway,then he'd drop them to stay in the spotlight.
He's got a pretty long history now of doing such things to try stay relevant amongst all the other surf stars since his own star has dimmed significantly.
I mean Kelly gets a wildcard into any event he wants for the next 10 years won't he?
My guess is one more Pipe than done.
I wonder what the schedule will be next year? Any changes? El Sal and trestles chop? Fiji in? I'd rather France than Portugal also.
Unfortunately it's not about wave quality - it's about who is going to pay the WSL to host a comp. I'd say El Salvador will be in the schedule for a while. Fernando and the ISA have been pushing it hard, and the El Salvador pres is doing all he can to push 'Surf City' to the world.
I don't reckon he'd get a wildcard to most events anymore.
He's stretched it out now to it's near bitter end.
The biggest local ripper at each event should deserve a wildcard over him.
They've got more chance of becoming a world champ than Slater has of being one again by this point.
Imagine if he was in a team sport the coach would have dropped him 7 or 8 years ago.
His tour career is hanging on a thread,helped immemsely by the mid season cut.
Pipe and Chopes is all that's left where he's competitive deep into the events.
Give him a wildcard to those 2 events every year while he's staying relevant there but that should be about it.
It’s all about dollars and eyes on screens mate. Kelly will get any wildcard he wants for the same reason they dragged Mick down to Bells this year..………..but yeah, doesn’t make it right
How many times do you give a wildcard to someone who keeps failing to get past a couple of rounds in the majority of events?
That's pretty much where Slater is at this point.
It's seems like he craves the attention and adulation as the GOAT and will do anything to stay in an environment where he constantly gets it.
Even if that means getting his arse kicked all the time by blokes that weren't even born at the end of his first 90's run of world titles,let alone most of rest who weren't born when he won his first world title lol.
From the sunset event onwards,it's been clearer than ever he's competitively bankrupt now.
He can do whatever he wants of course,buy like in another story here recently the author hit the nail on the head.
'Kelly still rips and surfs really good against the other competitors,for a 50 year old'.
Pretty much every wildcard at every event gets punted in the first couple of rounds. I’d prefer no wildcards or only local up and comers
Slater is hoping to surf in 2024 Olympics. If the criteria is the same as the last Olympics, he will have to place in top two Americans in 2023. Right now, Colapinto, Andino, Florence, Young, Marshall and Baron M. are his competitors next year, with Florence possibly done surfing comps, except Hawaiian leg.
I wish Medina a speedy recovery, but it will be no big deal to me if he never surfs another contest. He took front half of this year’s tour off because he didn’t want to get vaccinated to get in Australia, and WSL called it “mental health issues”.
Actually he was dealing with the break up from his wife and other family issues.
You can believe that.
From a Brazilian TV interview in April
" The end of my relationship was a consequence. There's no way you can end a relationship alone. It was something we always talked about, had dialogue, and we got to a point that was no longer working, not for me or for the person I was with. We ended up deciding on that. I think it's normal, I think everyone goes through situations like this, it wouldn't be different with me. But was good. In fact, it worked. For a while, I learned a lot, lived amazing things and that was it."
Here we go the covaxtarders are still out there claiming they know why some surfers did or didn't go to some events lol.
I say good on him if that was his reason. Getting myocarditis, blood clots & a host of other shit doesn't sound like fun when you could just coast and live the dream.
Here we go - the anti vaxx numpties are back. Personally, I would want every vaxx known to man before I went in the water in Rio. Standing by for the predicable "sheep, your all going to die, do your own research, new world order, depopulation agenda, elite cartel, tyranny, its all about freedumb" comments in 3,2,1...
Looks like you've got it all figured out mate. Enjoy that & go get shot number 4 or is it up to 5 yet? Seems to be working a treat.
Bahahaha, thanks mate, I forgot that predictable response. So many to choose from hey?
'A slow slow fade out for Kelly's retirement?'
Forgive me if i'm wrong,but i thought that's exactly what i've been witnessing since the start of 2014,the year the Brazzo storm became world title winners and he stopped riding for Quiksilver.
He hasn't been a serious contender for the world title ever since,with only 2 CT wins since then,Pipe earlier this year and Chopes 5 or 6 years ago.
Kelly's fade out into retirement has become longer than most others whole career on tour.
Fark, that Tahiti Lurhmann Slater's in with his Outerknown trousers. Nice advertisement.
Reckon he can do whatever he likes.. Go out on a high in Hawaii would be I think his best option. Geez 50 years old and still competitive is amazing even if he is not a title contender. If he is still enjoying it, then reckon he has earned right to continue to complete until he is no longer competitive. Guy does not know any other life so might be a bit scary for him to retire??
Where will he get his buzz/adrenaline hit? don't think his business interests cut it the same...
The Brazilian event doesn’t disgusts me.
Catching up with a few heats last night when I couldn’t sleep and found the spectacle bizarre and disturbing. Let’s face it, the crowd carries on like a bunch of ADHD toddlers drunk on red cordial and Ritalin. In Australia is classed as frowned upon jingoism if you wave an Aussie flag on Australia Day, the world titters at the ridiculousness of US patriotism with its slavish bowing to the Stars and Stripes . Yet here in Brazil the absolute fucking ludicrous state of mindlessness in the name of nationalism gets praised as passion.
It’s gotten beyond the point of laboured appeals to national pride when a Brazzo surfer pulls the sort of manoeuvre they’d not think twice about during an ordinary session, yet when this bog standard pro level turn is completed in a heat in Brazil the claims start pointing to the Brazzo flag on their rashshirt then to the heart, then to the crowd as though they’re storming the enemy trenches in defence of the homeland.
It’s sickening, soccer rubbish and the sort of behaviour which would be rightly ridiculed if any other nation tried it on.
Then there’s the crowd. The mouth breathing hysteria of which is nearly beyond description. At one stage one of the Pupo brothers pulled a regulation close out belt and the camera focused on a very mature Brazilian woman on the beach shrieking as though she’d simultaneously won lotto and regained power in her legs after a lifetime spent in a wheelchair.
It’s common to see grown men crying and screaming over the Brazilian pros like a12 year old girl getting a stage kiss off Harry Styles at a One Direction concert.
The Septic announcers play it up like watching an entire beach suffer some kind of mass psychosis is not a pretty shameful and ugly display.
I’ve met plenty of Brazilians and many of them are very nice people. What goes on when a mob of Brazilians gets together is something I can’t explain or comprehend. It’s like they become a bunch of aggressively stupid Simple Jacks of which I have no interest being near or watching at a surfing contest.
Comment of the year.
Second that. Imagine the riot if Herdy had not been pushed through.
Erm - just one question: Why do you hate Brazilians so much?
The chicks are hotter and the parties are bigger than anywhere else though.
Like anywhere you gotta take the good with the bad lol.
Indeed different people have different views of what is cool, DudeSweetDudeSweetDudeSweet...
We should tell the Brazo fans to do *exactly* the right amount of noise as deemed appropriate by other cultures, not any more to look "ADHD"'ish nor any less to look dull or monotonous.
I’d be happy if they just stopped acting like a bunch of starving zombies who’ve just caught the first whiff of fresh brains.
Brazilian fans crash the competitors area tracking down the Australian heat winner :
"a very mature Brazilian woman on the beach shrieking as though she’d simultaneously won lotto and regained power in her legs after a lifetime spent in a wheelchair"
haha i saw that and thought exactly the same thing......
hilarious and ironically nationalistic!
this!
'very mature Brazilian woman on the beach shrieking as though she’d simultaneously won lotto and regained power in her legs after a lifetime spent in a wheelchair.'
comedic genius ! Look out Steve!
I feel the Brazilians bring a hell of a lot of passion and colour to a mostly black and white affair and yeah they are over the top but i would rather them like that than boring as batshit.
I just like to watch good surfing. Hyperventilating and emotionally overstimulated tards add nothing. When their champions play up to it my stomach turns. Italo is starting to carry on like the lead in some overwritten third world soap opera.
I must admit they were getting hot and frothy over bugger all. I hate to think what their elections are like they must just about knife each other if they disagree - the down side to the passion and colour.
Kelly is bowing out like a champion. On his own terms.
Go Kelly. Turn up where you want, when you want and I’ll be grateful to watch you perform every time. But yeah, your whole Coolum beach vandalism wave pool thing reeks of shit bloke.
What would have been the word to use if he had of bowed out years ago while still consistently at the top of his competitive game?
skimmed the comments. havent watched Lost Tapes. when was the release date? slats pulls out of El Salvador and Brazil but releases a "11" (what a coincidence) part doco about me. gotta keep that spotlight baby. very cynical of me. just a passing thought
Slates has given a few reasons for passing thoughts ever since he dropped his biggest attention diverter,unvieling his wave pool the same day as ADS won his world title lol.
Yeah, captain neg strikes again - see if you can be a journalist mate and write a bipartisan review of the content rather than your subjective perspective. Or is this article just an ego driven discussion piece? On that latter vibe I will concur that I’m sick of watching Italo do a 15 pump bottom turn to an on lock helicopter boy for the win
Regarding the perceived Hate towards Brazilians that we Aussies tend to get accused of-
I think some people need to learn that you can hate a particular cultural attitude towards things, without implicitly hating the people themselves. Brazilian's are great people, but just like Australia, [and ALL countries] parts of their culture suck.
I don't hate people from ANY country, but I sure as hell hate some of "their" [and our] cultural attitudes towards things.
I have to admit I'm with Simba- I dig the carry-on and vibe.
Appreciate it's not everyone's cup of tea though.
Brasil, with a population of 150 million people, doesn't win Nobel prizes, they don't fight in other nation's wars, they don't compose great pieces of classical music, they speak a language most of the world doesn't understand or care to learn, they aren't the best in anything - except football and surfing.
Australia, with a population of just 25 million - are good at many athletic endeavours and produce champions at many sports. Cricket, rugby, Aussie Rules, golf, swimming, tennis, even cycling and motor sports.
That's why these beach crowds at Saquarema get as excited as they do - they care about winning, because surfing is something Brasileiros are good at.
"with a population of 150 million people, doesn't win Nobel prizes, they don't fight in other nation's wars, they don't compose great pieces of classical music, they speak a language most of the world doesn't understand or care to learn, they aren't the best in anything"
WTF you talking about? LMAO. Utter nonsense.
This discussion might be a little over your head, mate.
Just for perspective, Nobel Prize winners:
Germany 112
France 71
Australia 14
Brasil 1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_by_country#Brazil
But - Brasil did win one of only two Olympic Gold Medals ever awarded - in Surfing!
Oh, the arrogance of someone who know how to visit "Wikipedia".
You literally just demonstrated a Brazilian did win a Nobel Prize.
Worth noting that there is a centuries long eurocentric bias to the Nobel Prize, anyway. Brazilian scholarship is well up to so-called Nobel Standards. They have plenty to celebrate in this regard.
They have an extraordinary calibre of composers and musicians.
Brazil has been involved in multiple military incursions e.g., Uruguay.
And so on and so on.
Jeez, sit down.
You are way over your head here, mate.
Better to stay in your lane than make a bigger fool of yourself.
I did not say musicians - I did say CLASSICAL musicians. I am well aware of Brazilian music, thanks.
One Nobel prize? I did not say no Brasileiro had ever won a Nobel. Countries like DR Congo and Ethiopia have won a Nobel Price, and Timor Leste has won two.
What I did say is Brasil is vastly underrepresented in many international endeavours, Nobel Prizes being one of them; sport being another, in relation to the considerable population of 150 million people.
For that matter, New Zealand and the Netherlands, both with populations of approximately five million people, have accomplished considerably more in athletic competition than Brasil.
I did say Brasileiros are very enthusiastic about surfing competitions because it if one of the few things they are good at - along with football and motor racing.
Those are the facts - if you disagree, then prove it.
Wow, judging a country by their athletic / international endeavours? Really?
You’ve clearly never been to Brazil, it’s a bloody beautiful country and the people are as friendly and hospitable as anywhere else in the world. They also love to have a good time, just like us Aussies.
There’s an amazing culture there, vibrant and very welcoming. For music, you’ve obviously heard of Bossa Nova, worth checking out.
And as far as sport goes, they dominate the only true world game, Soccer, so who cares about the athletics / golf / rugby, when you’ve got 4 world cups in the bag.
One of the best things on the planet is being on Ipanema beach as the sunsets, knocking back ice cold cervezas and enjoying the all time vibe of the people all around you, I recommend you give it a go.
Yes, I know,
I have been to Brasil, several times.
Here you go - entrevista en Portuguese Brasileiro.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/surfexplore/15374674025/in/album-721576247...
Awwww, did a Brasilera break your heart? Maybe she took offence when you told her how under represented Brazil was in the Nobel prize?
You have assumed I am a person who dislikes Brasil and Brasilians - not true at all,
I am actually well-known as a fan of Brasil and Brasilians and have been for many years.
I did not say anything that wasn't true - rather than Australians imparting their knowledge of Brasil, ask a Brasileiro or Brasileira what they think of what I said.
There are certainly plenty of them living in Australia, far more than Australians living in Brasil.
There is a reason for that - many reasons. I'm sure they will tell you, en Portuguese or in English.
oh boy.
You literally wrote that they do not win Nobel Prizes, now you have backtracked saying they only won one and that suggests they are under-represented in international endeavours. As if the Nobel Prize is any such indicator!
You wrote classical musicians, sure. It makes no difference. Brazil has had and have many famous classical musicians, defined even in European terms e.g., Hector Villa-Lobos. Which, by the way, is not the only way - Eurocentric - to define 'classical music'. Nevertheless, having a profile in your Eurocentric definition of 'classical music' is no indicator of being underrepresented or not in international endeavours.
You've made blanket generalisations and are relying on what is a silly thesis (about why Brazilians love surfing competition) that you think you are providing evidence for but all you have done is denigrate and caricature a whole nation and its cultural, sporting, and political life.
'Stay in my lane' and 'over my head'? hahahahahaha
no digging yourself out of this one pal
"no no, dig up stupid!" - Chief Wiggum
Minor discrepancy of 63 million, give or take a few, on the Brazilian population there......
They have been busy - more Brasileiros than ever.
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/brazil-population/
A population of 215 million rather than 150 million makes the lack of accomplishments on an international level even more glaring -
I just wanna leave a comment about Slater so Jetson Rover can add his thorough comprehensive opinion to it...about all things Slater.
I think he knows KS better than the great man knows himself.
Haha! Watch him flare up with insults if his supreme opinion is challenged too...toss
How many times have you had a great surf, arms aching & paddled back out for another wave; just for another hit of dopamine?
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-increase-dopamine#5.-Exercis...
I have a squizz at each event hoping it will be pipe again, but each time since the cut I've thought "Moffat's" and tell myself I won't make the mistake of tuning in again.
No such disappointment here. I appreciated paragraph 2 so much though that I skimmed through the rest and might even take up the suggestion at the end
WSL- 'putting the dull back into dishwater'
Was surfing at Uluwatu a few weeks ago with Slater. He is an animal in pumping waves when everyone else is letting the solid ones pass. I think given how he is surfing now he would be up for any contest in pumping waves for aslong as he can do it. Less so keen to travel around for less quality waves and heaps of hassle.
I honestly pity the guy. 50 years old, hardly knows his own daughter. Floats around the world ebbing between paying someone to make videos about him and his surfing and then turning up at some fruit cake wave dancing contest to try and beat some kids.
do you need to be vaccinated to go Brazil?