Tahiti Pro: Day Two
It looks like it's going to be one of those comps that sputters and backfires and can't quite seem to really get started.
Full-throated Teahupoo is what we want, but it looks like that particular touchstone will be rarely touched. There were flashes of it today, thankfully in heats where elite-level skills and experience were able to utilise it for our viewing edification.
Watching Kauli Vaast toy with wobbly 5-6 foot Chopes was a marvel. He was obviously the right guy. Watching it made me think: have we got the right people in this comp? Vaast made top fiver Ethan Ewing look very out of place, and Pipe kid Barron Mamiya not much better. How many other Tahitian wildcards would do better than the current crop of pros out here? I'd say at least five or six.
Kauli (Ryder/WSL)
Surely we can find a better system than the current one where wildcards are dished out like favours from the Mafia.
I still can't get past the injustice of Moana Jones-Wong winning Pipeline and not getting more wildcards. Especially in Tahiti after she established she was a mile in front of the other girls in heavy water lefts. Mikey Wright got parachuted into the top grade via wildcards. Why can't someone from the Islands get the same treatment? Especially when the local knowledge and comfort at the heaviest left in the world makes them so deserving of highlighting what can be done..?
The women ran four heats to eliminate four surfers. It was tricky. Glassy/lumpy 4-5 foot, the odd tube but not many were made. Vahine made one clean tube to get past Defay, who looked lost.
Brisa bagged a bomb and ducked under a chandelier for a clean exit and a 7.
Lakey (Ryder/WSL)
The only other clean tube was ridden by Lakey Peterson, who's clean in and out went uncommentated on as former champ Sophia Mulanovich was mid-reminiscence during one of the phone-ins, which sometimes work but often just completely disable any coverage of the action.
After her close loss to Tatiana Weston-Webb, Margaret River-winner Isabella Nichols lamented the fact her backhand tube-riding still needed a lot of work.
“I gotta go work on it,” she said.
I mean, yeah. Sure. Many of us do.
But wouldn't elite athletes do that prior to the competition and show up to the dance with the skill set ready to rumble?
Or am I missing something here..?
Isabella (Ryder/WSL)
Seven days into the waiting period we have three heats of the Men's Opening Round completed. You can see why the wavepool must have seemed so seductive for WSL CEO's.
Somehow Italo was run down in the first heat, despite getting the best waves and doing the best surfing, including a tweaked high air on the end section. Judges paid a small ride at the end for Yago, with a minor cover-up and vertical stab.
Heat 2 was an exhibition heat for Kauli Vaast. He made a mockery of priority, taking waves off Ethan Ewing and Mamiya at will. Switch-stanced into a clean tube, before pumping to escape the shockwave.
Italo (Ryder/WSL)
There is a subset of the surfing population who find Teahupoo boring to watch on the grounds it is nothing more than a perfect wave with entry and exit and nothing else. Perhaps I even thought that way myself once.
After visiting the reef and surfing it in consecutive years I was quickly disabused of that notion.
It's an extremely complex reef-break, with multiple swell angles hitting the reef in different areas and requiring very different approaches. There are deep spots and saddles between sections, and waves that magically link the whole way.
Hold your hands out in front of you shoulder width apart. See that distance? That's the margin for error for being in position or out of position to takeoff.
That precise and pin-point positioning is why Vaast was able to rack up multiple tube-rides while his opponents didn't even paddle for a wave.
It's why Jack Robinson was able to get into and successfully come out of one of the heaviest and most technical barrels ever ridden in competition at Chopes. He “stole” that wave right from under Michel Bourez' nose. There's no shortcuts to that skill-set.
Jack (Ryder/WSL)
Filipe Toledo saw the ride on the way out of the lagoon for his heat, the next one in the water. I don't subscribe to the idea of an interventionist God - but I know Fil does. And if he was praying to God after seeing that wave, then it's possible, if you are of a religious persuasion, that God listened and brought about a sudden wind shift. Said wind shift causing the upcoming heat with Kelly Slater and Nathan Hedge to be put on hold.
That puts the heat off until tomorrow, into a declining swell, with cleaner conditions.
Taking Filipe's justified fear out of the equation, he simply has more chance against the field when it's smaller. A couple of heats made and he preserves the advantage of the Number One position come Trestles next month.
Of course we won't hear that from either Toledo or Jack. It's all “one wave at a time” cliches laid on with a trowel. It just sure would take the shine off a Toledo World Title if he bombed in the opening rounds at Teahupoo.
Or will the memory of Tahiti already be erased come September?
It sure has been a strange year, I don't know what to think anymore.
// STEVE SHEARER
Comments
Seems like a fickle mistress does Teahupo'o, or at least within these comp windows. When we're not witnessing it 8 foot and bombing it feels like a bit of a let down.
A question to you Steve: How did you find chopes? Did you go over there to surf it specifically? I've always dreamt of going to Tahiti, just have no idea how I'd fair.
As always thank you for your synopsis.
Can’t believe pre event punters were tipping Tyler to win the event being a pipe master,correct me if I’m wrong but at Pipe this yr didn’t she just go back door and never even looked at a left barrel.surely with top 5 place on line and needing only a less than 3 point wave she would have gone for s9mething in last 5 mins of her elimination heat with lakey
Really enjoying your critical and thoughtful takes on contest surfing FR.
Sidenote: I know they aren't the exact lyrics, but I can't be the only one that read the "interventionist God" line in Nick Cave's voice.
Always dandan, can’t hear ‘interventionist god’ and not think of Nick Cave. Gonna be on my funeral playlist.
Solitude the crowd is a big player at Teahupoo, Perfect heavy wave frequented by pro teams, locals and chargers. Tropically and heavy barrel wave wise I can't fault it. Never seen water that clear. A more expensive surf trip and most waves are boat access in us dollars.
Getting there is easy, getting the gold star waves is harder. Pipe crew frequent it. It is hotly contested. Crew drop everything and fly in for this wave. Boat access is essential for some of the waves out past paddling distance,
True islands of paradise surf or not. I don't compare Indo to Tahiti but Indo's got more accessible set ups at half the cost. Indo's allot easier. Travel and wave wise. Tahiti is more isolated and less frequented due to this. If you can arrange a local hook up it will make it easier. Lots of crew tapping into tourism over there to get a few tips from. The Tahitian surf scene is very strong as in the local population really enjoy it. Heaps of chargers young and older, all craft.
Thanks Rob.
Yeah have always just thought a couple of weeks cruising there would be great. Surf all around and if you got Teahupoo at medium size then great.
Oh to be a pro, or sailing the last somewhat empty remaining wave archipelagos of the pacific.
Be a pro?
The WSL apologists have made no secret of the fact that being a pro is HARD. They’ve no time or money to learn how to backhand tube ride because that’s not their job.
And none of us can think of a single reason why the best natural footed surfers in the world would visit Desert Point, G Land, Chopes, Scars, Tombies, Skeleton, Supersuck etc etc or any epic barrelling left if they aren’t paid to learn to ride them.
Why would they go there if there wasn’t points and money at stake?
Shitshow. Thank fcuk the years of the likes of Nick Carroll etc smothering this unpalatable truth in bullsh1t are behind us.
lol, amazing.
I was going to rant but you've said it all for me. I actually learnt how to backhand tuberide on closeout beach breaks at age 29. I'm a chef. I could surf Chopes better than those girls and some guys even if it was on my backhand.
In my prime I was proud of 2 things 1st was my HR station wagon 2nd was my backhand.
Haven’t watched a heat yet. Had the chicks first round on in the background at one stage, saw a multiple world champ get clipped by a lip my mates would’ve cleared and that was enough. Another old school multiple world champ / multimillionaire was droning on about how hard she had it in the lineups and the boardrooms back in the day FFS.
There’s a picture of a professional athlete above who took time to make sure she’s got a Danish flag on her jersey but she never found a want or need to learn to backhand tube ride.
Then I hear that the Wrights have tax payer dollars subsidising their professional careers…some mug punter carpenter grafting hard and the government handing the money to the pisstake Surfing Australia rorters who forward it to Tyler’s millionaire brother so he can help his sister get through a heat and pad out her bank balance?!? What nepotistic cronyism is that bullshit? It’s like a little circle jerk free pour of tax Ayer money whilst hospitals go underfunded and regional areas have crew dying on stretchers in hallways cause there’s no doctor available. No MRI machine for your area? Rattling the can for Royal Flying Doctor and Rural fire service? No problem…we need to pay for Tyler to have her fucking brother coach her into last place in a splash splash reality show in a tropical paradise!
Freeride’s write ups are the only redeeming feature of this shitshow.
This post may be influenced by days of unrelenting pain on behalf of the author.
Poetic.
Thank you DSDS for ripping TRUTH. And you too Steve. Appreciate it in this clownworld of PC insanity.
DSDS......Thumbs up.
Fuck the system.
Fuck the "professional" surfer.
Too true.
Speaking of Freerides where is Sally Fitz this week?
“ But wouldn't elite athletes do that prior to the competition and show up to the dance with the skill set ready to rumble?
Or am I missing something here..?”
Maybe you are Steve - maybe, for a large part, they’re less pro athletes and it’s more like they’re engaged in a “splash splash reality show in a tropical paradise!”, especially when viewed through the proverbial ideological lense.
“I still can't get past the injustice of Moana Jones-Wong winning Pipeline and not getting more wildcards. Especially in Tahiti after she established she was a mile in front of the other girls in heavy water lefts”
“It's why Jack Robinson was able to get into and successfully come out of one of the heaviest and most technical barrels ever ridden in competition at Chopes. He “stole” that wave right from under Michel Bourez' nose. There's no shortcuts to that skill-set.”
Bingo!
Cheers FR.
Yeah , would have been good to see Moana take it them at Chopes.
Exactly TS. Strange how the WSL miss the bleeding obvious time & again.
Would really hope those critiquing the women's approach would also take the time to raise the point of Ethan Ewing, our great white hope scoring possibly the lowest ever heat score by an Aussie at chopes ever?(worse than any of the women) Didn't get above a fucking 1?? Or does the Swellnet sausage sizzle sideshow give him a pass mark because he's a bloke and not a woman who, incidentally are severely under represented on this site, (wonder why).
1) There's a line in there about Ethan "looking very out of place".
2) He got three waves "above a fucking 1".
3) Please point us to the site that has majority female representation discussing pro surfing.
Paul’s pushing your buttons eh Stu?
Ha, Paul McD, the patronising saint of equality.
Women dont stand a chance.
Fair call. I just couldn’t believe he didn’t really have a look at anything.
I think Paul McD has got a point. It's the usual "women not as good as the men, shouldn't be paid as much, my mate surfs better, I'm not sexist but blah blah". As usual, it overlooks an enormous bias in favour of men in pretty much every respect.
How could fr give an honest opinion of the women though without criticism? It’s clear for some competitors the fundamentals aren’t there.
They are the best of the best apparently, remember.
Paul, love it when you ride in on your fine Arab charger.
Spot on with your last comment blowie
Fkn blows my mind the $$$ ‘we’ throw at pro surfers
Robbo's wave is a ripper. Around the 1:20 mark.
As good as it gets! Not the wave, but the surfing of it!
In critical waves I reckon they should create a bit more space for the exits!
Photographers , boats , caddies , rubbernecks ; looks like things are more difficult than they need to be?
Once again Steve your reporting is spot on , thanks .
As to wildcards , Ive read all of the comments above but no mention of Nathan Hedge .
If he is there purely because he is Dirk Ziff's "surf coach" , then this whole WSL circus
really is f#cked up .
"How many other Tahitian wildcards would do better than the current crop of pros out here? I'd say at least five or six."
You are probably right!
However, whilst Vaast put on the show, perhaps the WSL's reluctance to including local wildcards here is tainted by the elimination of Matahi Drollet first up in 2019(?).
"But wouldn't elite athletes do that prior to the competition and show up to the dance with the skill set ready to rumble?
Or am I missing something here..?"
This is an interesting one, when you think about it a bit more. Neither Chopes or Pipe has been on the womens schedule pre-this year. Steph has 7 world titles and we all know she doesn't have the same skillset going left on heavy reefbreaks as she does going right on point breaks. If you're Isabella Nicholls and you're growing up watching Steph, Tyler and Carissa win world titles without the heavy water skillsets, would you be prioritising learning how to surf heavy lefts? It's rational to train for what you're given right - which up until this year was right hand point breaks or beachies. Tahiti has been quite a hard place to get to in the past two years thanks to the pandemic, and as you've said its an extremely complex reef break. So, if you think of it as a cost benefit analysis for Isabella Nicholls, why would she give up training for events which will have more weight behind her outcome for the year (making the cut for next year), or (try to get to) Tahiti and spend time there so she can impress the punters for an (almost) inconsequential result for her year?
The same logic can be applied for all the surfers on both side who are not as strong at Chopes. It's two events out of the how many of the year that are at heavy lefts. Even one of those you can win just going right. There's no way these surfers can actually physically put in the time there that wildcards like Vaast etc can, so why such a tough comparison on the analysis?
I do fully agree that Moana should have been in the comp.
Women surfed Pipe in 2019 and it was known very shortly after that, that it would be on Tour. That's almost 3 years to get an act wrt backside tube riding.
Tahiti was announced in 2020 as Olympic venue for 2024.
That alone, should be sufficient motivation for elite athletes having to compete there to develop the skill sets necessary to ride the joint.
And basic professionalism knowing you will compete there at the elite level should carry through as sufficient motivation, imo.
Imagine an athlete in any other endeavour showing up somewhere with an undeveloped skill set for that venue for the top level of competition?
I can't think of a similar analogue.
Yeah, all true. But still, in the life of a pro surfer on tour finding the time to get to Chopes in the last couple of years has not been easy?
A similar analogue would be park vs big mountain snowboarders, and a competition like Travis Rice's ultranatural series (best snowboarders in the world invited for a 3 stop tour). Some boarders were more confident in the flatter, flowier terrain where they had jumps built in. Others, way more confident in the steep mountain zones. They are all pro athletes, and showing up to the same events - it's just obvious that some have strengths in some areas and some do not. The overall best, wins - as is the same in surfing (well, pre this final 5 surf off thing).
The difference in surfing is, there are so many different playing fields and skill sets that are needed due to the different waves. Comparing it to other sports where the playing field is essentially the same each time in my eyes, is not fair. Especially when the playing field you're talking about is still a relatively new addition to the tour. (Even 3 years is not a long time to become expert in a certain skillset, while still retaining focus on other skillsets).
Would they have necessarily needed to have spent extended time at Chopes? Any heavy lefthand reef slab would be a useful training proxy. There's a couple of spots in both Oz and Indo that are suitable.
Spot on TB
While the Aussie and Indo lefts might be different set ups to Chopes, the skills in learning to surf heavy lefts on your backhand can and should be developed in places such as in Oz (West Oz especially) and Indo and then there is Pipe (of which a lot the pros could spend a lot of the northern winter over on the north shore in Oahu). It kills me to see guys and gals who are supposedly the worlds best unable to surf medium sized chopes let alone it heavy and maxxing.
Plenty of key forwards in the AFL who can’t kick set shots to save themselves.
Dunno if the team sport analogy really works with pro surfing.
I mean it does insofar as kicking a set shot is entirely an individual effort. And as another example of a skill you’d expect a highly paid professional to have in their set, or at least work hard to improve.
Take your point that other aspects of team sports are not analogous though.
Its the equivalence. Of a pro skater who can't Kickflip or heelflip....
Its actually embarrassing.
A race car driver who can't trail brake is another example. You need a full skillset for all circuits.
Where did you learn this Matt