Corona Open J-Bay: Day One
It almost felt like relief to get a day of more or less insane surf after a Latin American leg that has really seemed to drag.
Something more seismic seemed to have happened today, almost at a subterranean level, after an opening day spent sorting the pack at flawless 4-6 foot J-Bay. This may be a transitory phenomenon, in which case these words will float away in the wind, or it may herald a more solid shift in the tectonic plates.
For the first time, at least since Mick Fanning retired, Australia produced a dominant display against the Brazilian Storm. The best surfing was clearly done by the Aussie top five incumbents Jack Robinson and Ethan Ewing. Their dominance was not displayed on the judges scorecards after an insanely frustrating day of inexplicable judging.
Judges cooked themselves awarding 7's and 8's for the Women's Opening Round which was mostly extremely mediocre - partly because of a lingering devil wind that made it hard to cut against the trim line and partly due to tepid, low information surfing. Only Caroline Marks found the 'slot car' pointbreak line which allowed cornering at speed without wasting valuable real estate doing mid-face wiggles.
Caroline (AVG/WSL)
By varying the scale so radically when the first Men's heat came on they created more WTF! moments in Round 1 than we've seen all year.
Colapinto should have had two excellent rides - he was locked in the 7 point range. Local boy Matt McGillivray was immense - the cheers and impact on the crowd from every turn clearly fired him up. For huge turns his 8.5 was correctly picked by judges as the (second!) best ride of the day. That puts Griff and Jaddy Andre into a rematch for the Elimination Round and it's very, very hard to see Griff being beaten.
There are easy beats now on this tour and it's incredibly sad to say that Kelly Slater has become one of them. Even at perfect J-Bay where, in theory, his surfing has possibly the most potential upside to improve as a 50-year-old.
Kelly (AVG/WSL)
In his last six heats: at pumping Margarets, perfect (but slow) G-Land, and now roping J-Bay he has made double figures once. Just. A 10.67 total at Mainbreak.
Kelly's Lost Tapes series, from 2019 (his last full year on tour) is giving us an invaluable, if recent, time capsule and reminder of his slide. His 2019 heats: 10.67, 13.57, 12.20 at pumping J-Bay showed a surfer a long way off his peak performances there. He is unlikely to better those numbers here and even against a rookie J-Bay surfer like Barron Mamiya, who would have been cannon fodder for Slater at J-Bay, a win seems a very remote possibility.
What's going wrong? Boards look terrible: twitchy, catchy, not capable of major turns. Everything about his surfing last night looked inconclusive, weak, nervous.
The time capsule effect also worked in reverse. To showcase stunning improvement. Ethan Ewing admitted in his presser he hadn't been back to J-Bay for five years, presumably since his rookie year. Yet, in that time a kind of mythology has been built up around him as a perfect J-Bay surfer, especially in recent times. That's heavy pressure. The numbers don't do justice to his performance. The turns were magisterial - full redirection every turn. He has a unique top turn, not quite a layback but a backfoot heavy snap, with both arms behind him that no-one else on tour can do. If you are from QLD you were splitting screens with the State of Origin decider, which lent an extra air of joy to watching Ewing slice and sizzle and send rooster tails to the heavens at Supers. Probably a similar effect for the J-Bay crowd watching Matty McGillivray do his thing.
Ethan (AVG/WSL)
South African wildcards were superb. None more so than Luke Thompson. Heard of him..? No, me neither. I'm sure I slogged through enough dismal slop at Ballito to ID any potential Jordy Smiths in the draw but apparently not.
Turn for turn Thompson out-surfed Jack Robinson in their Heat 3 clash. It took genuine tube-riding wizardry from Robbo to win, a process he drolly described as “getting the job done”. This was another heat where scoring was incomprehensibly low-balled. A 7.77 for Jack's high score was farcical. If they can't identify and reward excellent surfing then what the hell are we doing here?
Seriously, what are we doing here?
That's the whole point of it as a project isn't it?
To progress and advance surfing by giving high numbers to excellent surfing.
Luke Thompson (AVG/WSL)
My pet theory was judges were giving head room until Toledo showed up. Which was proven after his opening ride, which did go excellent, however it wasn't a great heat for Toledo. He only needs to surf to win. Instead he played silly tactical games. Sitting too deep up the point while multiple waves went unridden.
The clocked ticked down and he had the 8, then he overcooked a floater and fell.
Bad tactics, and he was easily beaten by Nat Young.
To give judges fair due, they also did pick the best ride of the day. In Heat 2, Yago Dora's flawless big hooks on one of the biggest sets of the day relegated Jordy Smith to the Elimination Round against Kolohe Andino. Both of those former contenders look a bit bored and disinterested with the tour now they are not final five aspirants. Going through the motions, making up the numbers.
Steph finally found some groove as the Women came back and finished off the Elimination Round. Knocked were Courtney Conlogue, Lakey Peterson - who did some of the best turns in the Opening Round - Isabella Nichols, and Tia Blanco.
Steph (AVG/WSL)
It's not demeaning to ask why Tia Blanco is there. Ronnie Blakey, who I normally respect greatly suggested she had “earned the wildcard” by winning The Ultimate Surfer. No Ronnie, you don't earn wildcards by winning shitty reality TV shows. That's a terrible call.
You earn wildcards by putting on amazing performances.
Adding insult to injury was the talent available to the WSL, who were denied wildcards by Blanco's being gifted one. It's a heavy opportunity cost with so few women in the draw.
Semi-Finalists from Ballito: Bronte Macauley, Macy Callaghan, Molly Picklum, Caitlin Simmers.
Pick one of them!
...but please make it Pickles.
Pumping J-Bay ahead and some interesting match-ups in the Elimination Round. Toledo has the most to lose. A bad result here and he will be having nightmares about Teahupoo and Jack Robinson, twitching wildly, breathing heavily while proclaiming all is calm and bright.
Very much looking forwards to watching that.
// STEVE SHEARER
Comments
Agree on the scoring Steve, couldn't believe the scores in Robbo's round. Easy 8s all day every day.
Feel bad for Kelly, never going to get the scores in waves requiring a mix of power and progressive surfing anymore (which feels like the most ridiculous comment to make but he's never been the same after he broke his foot at JBay), wrong boards etc. Hopefully he wins Teahupoo and gracefully retires. But he wont, Robbo will beat him.
The idea that he somehow has to gain advantage by unique equipment may be the largest unaddressed chink in the rusting armour of Slater over the past years. Rarely(wizard sleeve at pipe 2008, flat earth for a couple heats at Keramas 2019) have these paid off. Perhaps the single question that the numerous health-mental-spiritual gurus haven't asked him is "if someone has to surf so well to beat you, why do you feel you need to ride a hail-mary craft to gain a perceived advantage?" That board looked dreadful on both fin and rail. It smacks of either lack of confidence or the boredom of having to make it interesting for himself. The results lean toward the former..... I too felt a bit sad watching his heat, for the first time he really looks superseded.
Magillivray and Ewing were superb. O'leary's last wave was perfectly executed, you could almost see his eyes light up over his shoulder in the first bottom turn , as the familiarity of this perfect ultra-lennox wall revealed itself , and he knew what to do. I reckon he could go real well. Goofies looked very solid all round.
Awesome write up steve, looks like day 2 is gonna PUMP
Forgive me for being cynical when it comes to Slater (a bad habit of mine, I know), but I have the feeling that he's riding weird boards so as not to be easily compared to the younger crew.
My take from watching about 25% of yesterday's heats is that there was a huge chasm between those that surfed the wave (flow, remember?), and the alsorans that wasted time waiting for a section to hit. Filipe was one of the latter, and his 8 was massively overscored, imo.
Thanks for the words, Steve.
Kinda like blazing up or a few beers before a heat? - “I didn’t lose cause they surfed better than me. I lost cause I was intoxicated.”
Spot on. It's ridiculous how overscored Filipe gets.
The scale shifted dramatically from heat to heat.
Amazing how waves that seemingly perfect can make some lower level pro surfers look like life long intermediates.
On the girls side the gap between the contenders and those making up the numbers was huge. The lower ranked girls looked like they were riding boards that were way too small. No flow or swooping turns, just awkward pumping with ugly and out of place hacks thrown in here and there. It just reinforced why I’ve given up on shortboards, unless you really rip they magnify all of the flaws in your technique tenfold. A long twinny can’t pivot like a shorty, but those long drawn out swooping turns are just so much more pleasing on the eye.
Special shout out to Steph though, that second round heat was incredible. Just goes to show how good she really is.
Also matty mcgillivray! Is he the most underrated surfer in the world right now? That 8.5 was unbelievable.
I tuned in off and on and caught Kelly's heat. I echo the sentiments above- that board was a piglet and I was like ffs mate, just get on a board designed for the type of waves you were riding.
I made the mistake of staying up for Tylers and Courtneys heat- three bloody waves ridden.
Kelly needs to go back riding Merrick's. His performance on wacky boards is bad advertising for KS designs. If the GOAT cant ride them well, what hope is there for the average punter
Kelly’s like doing a chenyne Horan
Different boards but gee
How many world titles would Horan would of won if he’d followed everyone else ! He’s probably bored
Even on the right board I don’t think Slater would be competitive anymore sadly.
Imagine the carves JJF would of been laying down out there
Zek lau won ultimate surfer, does that then make him underserving to be in events? Sally F is the ulimate underserving sufer if you want to have an underserving category.
I thoroughly enjoyed day 1.
Zeke qualified through the qs as well though - I guess the reality is it’s the wsl”s party so they can add whoever the f they want as wild cards :) deserved? That’s another story
Yeah such a shame re Kelly and also JJF not being there. How Pickles or any others isn't there ahead of a game-show winner is crazy.
Today will be epic viewing.
Well i thought Toledos first wave was underscored and Nats wave over scored .......Yago got a 7 something in a heat before which to me was a way better wave than Nats who got an 8 something....im sure Toledo was a bit rattled by that ...anyway Mr Slater i wish you had retired after your pipe win instead of being an ego driven tool.........seems like every heat Kelly surfs is with a different board theses days and gawd only knows why .....that board was a piece of crap for a guy who owns a surfboard company.......the best surfing ive seen Kelly do was in the expression session at snapper on a twin fin.
"Toledo has the most to lose. A bad result here and he will be having nightmares about Teahupoo and Jack Robinson, twitching wildly, breathing heavily while proclaiming all is calm and bright."
That made me laugh.
It was sad to see Slater not up to his own abilities..too thin board and too short?
Should have ridden the twinny.
Reckon that twinnie with Bank's hooker fins he had in it (which are the ducks nuts btw) would have been 10x better GS.
Caitlin over Molly - but either.
How much more involving is it when the surf is good. Some of those waves yesterday were insane. Could not watch the last few contests.
Slater should retire and jut take wildcards for pipe and Teahupoo. Surfing barrels in events he could win.
Thought there was some great surfing today most of all Ethan and Conner. Slater looked very average imo (by his standards).
Agree with others that Toledo was overscored on that 8.17....too much time spent racing and gaps between turns. Thats why I think Nats was correct and Toledos over. My opinion....
Anyone tell me wtf Kolohe was doing?
I think if Ethan gets the waves then him along with Griffin are front runners. They both connect the Jbay dots together so well and love the fact that hopefully airs won't be a thing in this event.
PS watch out for the goofys though.....
Surf contests are much better viewing with long beautiful rides (and 3 in a heat) by the time they've shown the replays another set arrives. No skis is good too so they surf in front of each other paddling back out, brings that extra hot sauce. So much good surfing. Bring on day 2, can they finish it today?
In beachbreaks or rippable waves, CT-level surfers have to be using the full face of the wave for their moves. Not only do the turns have to be big but their board has to be heavily on rail through the wave's changing curve - what Matt Biolos calls "three-dimensional surfing".
Slater, by dint of his allegiance to shorter boards, has reduced the arc of his big turns so that they're closer to pivot turns, especially when seen in comparison to those done by other CT surfers, and they use a minimum of the wave's available real estate.
They're simply not the type of turns judges are looking for anymore.
Great point, very true.
It's not really up to judges to decide imo. Surely they judge what is on display...it's up to surfers to decide how to surf.
Seems a bit tail wagging the dog
As Kelly ages , like all humans, is he losing his fast twitch movement? I think for quite a few years now he realises this and tries to compensate with twitchy , loose boards. It's been very rare for him to do long full rail turns for quite a while due to the boards he rides.
No way.
I’m Kelly’s age and holding rail longer than ever. Kelly has lost confidence and is handicapping himself with dogshit boards to create room for the failings his ego is creating. He’d still doom most of these crew if he rode proper boards.
Don’t agree about the skis …
It’s a waste of opportunity for them to showcase the best surfing..
They don’t get enough time with all the wasted paddling to take risks …
When it gets bigger it will be even more obvious when they go man on man ..
I doesn’t make any sense and why aren’t they using them ..
Another reason mainstream people find it boring to watch and I know plenty who think that ..
Its funny, all the Robert talk re boards.
Him buying fire wire was the biggest lemon sell in the history of surfing.
Buyer be aware. I also feel he is so proud that he can't admit his mistake.
Your mistake.
How is it a lemon? Firewire make great boards...I know a lot who ride them and the new technology in construction is good.
Mate…you’ve told us you’ve never been barreled.
FireWires are shit. If they weren’t shit there’d be pros riding them irrespective of sponsorship dollars. The fact that crew don’t go near them unless they’ve got a piece of the investment tells you everything
angry blowin..lmao ha ha
Angry?
What makes you think I’m angry? Not my fault or my problem that you’ve never been tubed. You’re a MAMIL who wasted their life chasing the empty return of dollars in the bank. That’s why you ride firewires and don’t have the ability to get tubed. Nothing to do with me.
angry was better than fuckwit...but if that suits better.
fuckwit blowin....lmao
ps..no one thinks your're a fuckwit..it's 100% verified daily.
I hope that tonight Slater uses a board that allows us to see the exhilarating and creative surfing that he's still capable of. Not gonna win him a heat against these guys on their state of the art equipment, not gonna impress the judges or satisfy the criteria, but his different lines still make for good viewing.
I think he's only too aware that he's extremely unlikely to beat these guys now - whether he's on a standard HP board or otherwise. If he does snatch a win on an unconventional board, it's the old Slater voodoo - at 50 yrs old no less, how about this dude? Man! Are you kidding me? What a genius!
If he gets fully smoked, well you know, maybe he picked up the wrong board bag or something, ha, ha, dang it, silly old him, wink, wink, didn't mean to bring that board - all the while avoiding the unflattering exposure a like for like comparison might now necessarily entail.
At least the waves are great. I just wish they would stick to some kind site specific criteria.
Nice work Freeride. Always a fan of your respectful critique and your on point analysis.
Cheers.
Kelly paddling out right now on a new board!!
Ethan and Nat Young were the best for me. Yes Freeride, Ethan’s surfing is sublime, it is a point of difference in itself.
Thought Toledo was overscored on his first wave, but I always think that.
Jordy surfing sublime in his elimination round now. Want to see him, Nat, Ethan get to the semis, if that is possible.
I didn’t see Jacks surfing as underscored, his turns look weird and stiff. Some of his tubes were not clean. The 18 year old kid, Ethan and Matthew were better examples of excellent forehand surfing.
WSL is a joke, claiming environmental credentials yet its employees and competitive surfers drinking from disposable cups and advertising product that ends in landfill or a river in Java.
Gosh Stephen, haven't you realised you don't do what they do, you do what they say.
WSL and the surfers live in a kaleidoscope of worlds. In 1 of those worlds their credentials are unsurpassed. In another world their credentials are laughable. The trick is to know your world.