Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach: Day 3
It's carnage around the cut line after another day of slopey, sectiony rights at Winkipop.
Gabe Medina now sits at 19th, 3 places above the cut line after a close loss to Cole Houshmand who is still alive in the draw after also taking down Kanoa Igarashi in their Round of 16 clash. The judging seemed more comprehensible than Wednesday, but to Medina it was “the worst judging I've ever seen.” Rewinding the tape from this epic dummy spit, just minutes earlier Gabe had sat on a solid lead, with priority as the clock ticked down. You wouldn't in a million years think Medina could lose the heat, yet with two minutes remaining Medina appointed himself judge and jury, decided a small, mushy right could not be capable of delivering the score and allowed Houshmand to take the wave under his priority, copping a face-full of spray as Cole rode past. He ripped the shit out of it, but such a soft, soft wave, and he got the score easily.
Gabe was incensed. “It's bad for the sport,” he said. “We pretend it's not happening, but it's happening. This is sad...it sucks.”
People will love or hate the way he did it but is it true? Judging has to make sense, both to spectators, and even more importantly to the surfers. If what judges consider good surfing shifts in emphasis or tone, then it has to be understood or the sport becomes a mystery to the practitioners of it at the highest level. Medina obviously feels mystified and with some legitimate reason, at least for this event. New Head Judge Luli is struggling to get his panel to come up with numbers that make sense in what is a pretty consistent performance platform.
"You just beat your hero," said coach Luke Egan to a thrilled Houshman when he reached shore. Caught on camera, it was the kind of uplifting moment the WSL thrives on, so they uploaded it to Instagram. Shortly afterwards, Houshmand's hero posted laughing emojis at the post (WSL/Hughes)
Is it bad for the sport?
I don't think so. It's what the sport is: a subjectively judged competition where numbers are always going to shift and morph, sometimes cleaving to a shared reality between spectators and surfers, sometimes mystifying everyone.
What we are seeing at head high sloppy Winki is an incredible levelling of the playing field, whereby the meek have inherited the Earth, to steal an Easter phrase. Rookies, particularly the Californian 2%-ers have found comfort in small, mushy rights while 17 World Titles worth of experience (Slater, Medina, Florence, and Ferreira) were sent packing. It seems we should be wary of writing off Californian rookies who look a bit underdone and not CT-worthy if the example of Jake Marshall is to be properly understood. Houshmand got through against Medina and Igarashi, Matson downed John Florence and Yago Dora. Marshall himself took out Freddy Morais and Barron Mamiya. Only Crosby Colapinto went down to his own brother Griff after a sleepy ocean deprived him of waves to compete on.
The Brothers Cola before their mid-afternoon shoot-out. Despite making big moves this year, rookie younger brother Crosby fell victim to Griff's experience. Rather than going blow for blow, Griff maximised the most of limited opportunities (WSL/Hughes)
If there was a key to success today it had to be more than surfing talent. Much as I hate to say it, intangibles ruled the day. Liam O'Brien indentified one of them early after knocking out Ramzi Boukhiam after slicing scores after long waits. “You have to hold your nerve and not get too giddy."
But holding your nerve wasn't enough either: sometimes you had to scrap. Something John John couldn't, or wouldn't, do. Afer losing to Kelly in Round 1 without a back-up score of note he repeated the same mistake against Kade Matson. A brilliant 7.67, then nothing. He sat marooned as if sail-less in the doldrums with a measly 0.80 as back-up.
People with no results got results, others continued to struggle, typifying what Laura Enever called the “brutality of our sport”, where you could be doing everything right and still not be getting results. Put Caio Ibelli in that camp, Sammy Pupo, and Jacob Willcox too. All well below the cut-line and facing relegation and possible career death.
Chippo's relaxed presence in the commentary booth belied his precarious position in the ratings. As those around him make big moves, he's dropped three places and sits four below the cut line. The one saving grace is the remaining contest before the cut is on home turf (WSL/Sloane)
Has Chippo got another go round in the Challenger in him if he fails the cut? Back to defensive surfing in slop to protect a tiny lead against a frothing pack of CT aspirants? He looks every bit a CT surfer but cannot find a way to get a huge result or separate himself from the pack.
One of the best WSL innovations this year is Live Rankings, along with condensed heat replays. Chippo has sunk 3 precious places to sit at 25 on the Live Rankings.
One of the mindset mantras favoured by the modern professional is a variant of the law of attraction. To wit: we attract into our lives whatever we focus our full attention on.
For Rio Waida, this type of head-high runner day at Winki was what he was focussed on from before the season start. I know this because my son and his pals went to Superbank in late January and sent back a snap of Rio post-session in the streets of the 'Gatta. Not getting reps at Pipe but slicing and dicing point runners.
The speed he got racing across and below sections today was first amongst equals. The repertoire was focussed around what George Pittar termed “click snaps” and “explosions on the end section”. Basically a Toledo-style fin drift on every turn ending with a full-throated hit. That was enough to get by Italo and then Caio and set up a Quarter with rookie Kade Matson. Rio assumes favouritism after today, at least on one side of the draw.
Rio caught in speed blur (WSL/Hughes)
On the other that has to go to Morgan Ciblic. He relied on similar fin-free punches at speed but with extra meat in the carves to down Ryan Callinan and meet his pal Matty McGillvray in Quarter Final 1.
Kelly did not disgrace himself today. Nine minutes to play and he needed a 3.97 against a nervous looking Barron Mamiya. He got the wave yet over-cooked the closeout hit for a fall and a 3.94. Got a lead change several minutes later and left Mamiya out there for the wave of the heat.
Holding out till the very end, Kelly fell to Barron and stayed shtum on retirement (WSL/Sloane)
In an interview with Vaughan, Kelly's 'big reveal' was that he will show for Margies and then will, most likely, have time called on his career for him. Not exactly going out on his own terms - that opportunity passed after his Pipe win in 2022- and not able to prove his competitiveness at Cloudbreak or Tahiti, wildcards notwithstanding. Kelly has acted in the past few years like he is bigger than the sport and maybe he is right. There's no-one even remotely in his league and there never will be. At least not in our lifetimes. We live now in the era of pro surfer churn, of no name journeymen who seemingly come from nowhere and struggle desperately to stay relevant at the elite level, something Kelly has managed for more than three decades.
We may see a Finals Day as early as tomorrow, and yeah, Ethan Ewing is still in the draw. Don't forget about him.
//STEVE SHEARER
Comments
I’m taking a risk here by giving Cole the W as many people criticised my comments on the Griffin vs Gabe heat in Portugal. I want to make it clear that I’m not a Medina hater, I’m just making an objective (as objective as surf judging can be) argument as to why I think Medina wasn’t stolen/robbed/#shameWSL’d by the judges here. There are a few things that need to be noted:
1. Just because Gabriel said it was the worst judging ever, doesn’t make it a valid claim. As Vaughan rightly pointed out, Gabriel didn’t even see what Cole did on the wave. He just assumed that because it was smaller, it wouldn’t be good enough. I don’t have a problem with athletes speaking out against bad judging, but at least look at the evidence before announcing how “sad it is for the sport.” I thought it was poor form for Gabe to air his grievances without even knowing what Cole did on his wave.
2. Gabriel should’ve held Cole off that wave. Gabriel has won that many heats taking waves under priority and manufacturing scores, and now all of a sudden when the shoe is on the other foot it’s apparently not fair? Gabriel gifted Cole that wave and paid the price. Bad decision on Gabe’s part that was totally within his control.
3. Cole’s 7 was at least as good, if not better than Gabe’s highest score. Although Gabe had more turns and better flow, two of those turns were floaters and none had as much power as Cole’s second turn. Let’s remember as well, that even if Cole’s last wave had come in .2 lower than Gabe’s 7, Cole still would’ve won the heat. I get it, it’s borderline, but I’m comfortable with the judges rewarding Cole’s raw power.
4. We need to be aware of the size difference between the two athletes. Gabe at 5’9 and Cole at 6’3, a) makes any wave that Cole stands up on look a lot smaller than Gabe’s, and by extension, b) makes his agility on those waves more impressive given his frame. Owen Wright was the same height and IMO was never able to fire off turns in small waves as fast and as powerfully as what Cole was doing today. It’s seriously impressive for someone so big to be doing what Cole did out there in such weak waves.
5. Gabe’s air was sick! But he didn’t land cleanly….. If he greased that landing, he would’ve walked away with the win. Again, this was another part of the heat that was within his control, and he only has himself to blame for not icing it when it counted.
Honestly, if Gabe had won that heat, I wouldn’t be mad. For me it was one of those flip of a coin decisions, not the blatant, black and white theft our South American friends are making it out to be. I’m glad the WSL has been honest in uploading the heat and keeping the interviews of Gabe and Cole as well. It shows good openness to criticism and transparency.
I don’t know where we go from here, but it feels like we’re in dangerous territory when an athlete has the audacity to pan the judges without even reviewing the evidence. Even more worrying are the hordes of online warriors who blindly accept this opinion because “that guy has my flag on his jersey” (To be fair there are plenty of non-Brazilians who thought Gabe won as well). It’s the illusory truth effect in full swing: The more we keep hearing Gabriel whinge about judging (see surf ranch last year, Trestles 2016, Portugal 2012), the more people believe he has a legit case of being underscored.
I don’t know how we can ever make judging totally objective or fair, but I can’t ever remember a time where so many results have been so controversial. My hope is that this issue can be sorted out rationally without all the accusations of Australian/American favouritism, corruption, racism, and bribery. We need to remember that all this comes down to are 5 humans in a booth trying to weigh up whether they want to reward a progressive or powerful approach to surfboard riding. You can’t have it your way all the time. Sometimes your approach will be rewarded (like when you win 3 world titles), and other times it won’t. Love Gabe’s surfing, love his personality less, but he needs to realise he could’ve won that heat had he taken advantage of things that were within his control.
Eloquently said and a thoughtful analysis Tail High, you’re exactly right.
Totally agree except Gabe is 5'11" and a very solid unit.
100%
Except for saying that Gabby had better flow on his high score. There were pumps before the first turn, and between the first floater and the second turn. Cole hit his first 3 turns pure.
Here's an interesting comparison.
?si=OU_-FxYscQv3zYp3Great video.
Cole sure got lowballed on his 6.8
Although it was a close heat, this shows that it was clearly the right result.
Close, but Medina's second wave looked better than Cole's IMHO.
First waves Cole went more extreme with the wave finishing smaller, probably just got that score.
Cole was doing bigger turns, doing them earlier on the waves, throwing more spray, and linking those turns.
It’s obviously a close heat, but the replays show a pretty clearly that the right guy won.
The other point that I think has been overlooked is that Joush's last wave was 2 minutes before the end of the heat... Pretty sure any coach would support GM's decision to let him have that wave. Keeping an opponent off a shitty looking wave and letting him sit with priority for 2 minutes at the end of the heat is not a percentage play.
In any case, Joush's 9 in the opening minutes of next heat shows where the judges heads were at.. left themselves nowhere to go and pretty much gave EE a mathematical impossibility in those conditions.
I'm not passionate about GM losing.. just think it's pretty obvious Cole's getting Joushed.
Also, I don’t think it’s right that there have never been so many controversial results.
It just that we haven’t previously had the hoards of Brazilian keyboard warriors blowing up whenever their guy doesn’t win, ranting against style, thinking any air deserves an 8+ regardless of quality, and calling any turn that’s not an air “80s surfing”.
Totally agree tail.
Great analysis also.
Gabe had a heat with parko at snapper Eons ago. It was close and the judges gave the contest win to Gabe.
I just see it as poor parenting. It's like the guy who gets bowled/ caught out in street cricket and takes his bat/ball home. Leaving everyone else to wonder how to continue playing without the bat / ball.
You lose you lose, accept it or quit the tour.
It's that simple, same goes for the shark petition in WA.
let's just remind everyone the head judge is from Brazil .
Totally agree with all points....it bugs me how entitled some surfers think they are to be judged higher than others. How many times has Gabby taken off on a piece of shit wave and done a "whirly bird" and got a score to win a heat? Plenty.(2015 Pipe Masters against Mick for instance) Swings and roundabouts mate.
For me Col got that score and think the judges nailed it for that heat. His turns were solid and seamless, exactly what the criteria requires. All these morons who think it's a conspiracy against a certain country are so one eyed it's painful....Gabby made a bad call and he's pissed coz he know's it.
Bring on the AI future for judging to really fuck up a sport
Thanks Steve. Managed to watch 15 mins yesterday which happened to include the Medina brain fade to dummy spit. I feel for Medina - that wave shouldn’t have been a heat winner. But he left it in the hand of the judges instead of using priority and it cost him dearly - we know the judges love a buzzer beater. Can’t help but think he was dirty on his own decision making rather than the judges’. Medina caring so much is good for the sport!
One of your best!
FR.
Cheers
Well well, the new “likeable” Gabe didn’t last long did he? Charlie is back, along with the revolting arrogance. As said above, the cry without even seeing the replay is what’s actually “sad for the sport”
Only watched a bit so far but was very impressed with the speed, reaction times and dynamism of the surfing at Winki by a lot of surfers. Amazing athleticism.
Winki seems to have multiple great little powerpockets if you are quick and nimble even when it looks a bit crumbly and soft.
Toledo would not have stood out in terms of speed. Many have caught up.
Like the vids are on fast motion compared to past decades.
Yes, Gabe got ripped and Jack got ripped and Ewing should have been knocked out by the young Manly surfer. Unfortunately the judges are not consistent and that's that. Gabe isn't arrogant just disappointed.
lol. Absolutely zero of that is true.
Ok, the judges aren’t always consistent. The rest is plain wrong.
To me Houshmand ripped the bag on that wave and got the score.......sorry Gabes but i think you got it wrong.
My opinion is that with surf judging being so subjective, any result within a margin of error should result in a re surf. Apart from a combo situation. Nearly all other sports have gone to great lengths to get decisions right (DRS, Video reviews, Bunkers etc) and even the subjective nature won't overcome what many will see as injustice. I think if you're close within say 0.5 points then it's a resurf at the end of the round. Would make for great viewing. And a final would only be re surfed twice at most. Can't go on forever but the effective tie breaker would make for more excitement. Kind of like golden point in NRL or some version of it.
How many extra heats would that make? They can't get through most comps with enough good waves as it is and your suggestion adds more heats. Also , the judges already have video reviews and use it on most waves.
That’s just not even remotely practical. The waiting periods are too short to even get through the standard amount of heats.
I'd love to see that. It may not be practical, but in a perfect world with plenty of daylight and swell, it'd make for some terrific competition.
Surfing is longer than test cricket......
Enough is enough.
Easy to say from here, but maybe it's on Chuckles a bit, who should have noted the judges' giving EE the score on his last minute in-betweener against GP, and told his lad “they're giving scores on smaller ones, so, y'know, defend at the end if it comes down to it."
Gabby is a big cry baby who has been enabled from a young age by his team and his fans that has continued into adulthood that he can’t comprehend a world in which he is not the best.
I think after he chose not to go and defend that wave and copped a waterfall of spray all over him in the process, his fragile little insecure ego couldn’t handle it and he took it out on the judges without even reviewing the footage, probably because Charlie the most biased dude in history told him it wasn’t the score.
I blame Charlie for Gabs loss. If you’re not there to yell ‘burn him’ at the appropriate time, why be there.
We don’t know if he saw it or not, I think that narrative has been run with, and it’s not helpful. Gabby travels with a camera man and if you look at the footage again, you’ll see him following Gabby from the beach. I think it’s reasonable to consider he may have seen it but just wasn’t happy with the results. For what it’s worth I think the difference was how gabby rode out of his air, if it was cleaner he would’ve won.
Do you know what is good for the sport? Medina saying controversial things live. Kelly getting wild card at 52. CEO of the League firing at members of the League and then getting fired. And the list goes on... Controversy of any kind is "good" for the "sport", including being good for creating content for Swellnet articles and additional comments on the comments section. :D
Just watched the controversial condensed heat.
So many well ridden waves and not much splitting them.
But….. Does anyone really think that last wave was the best of the heat?
And yeah, don’t forget about Ethan. He was levels above everyone else yesterday.
I’m generally a bit of a Slater detractor, however thought he surfed very well in his heat. Really quick and was surprised that he nearly made it.
Gabe was mega disappointed. Spat the dummy a bit yeah, but as we do with little kids, we ignore them and they move on.
Feel a bit disappointed not to see the big dogs like Jordy and John in full flight. Seems rarer that we get to see that level of pure rail / carve surfing in good / consistent waves these days.
Now that Ethan has had his wings clipped is anyone beating Griff?
Thanks Steve. Happy Easter to you all.
If Gabriel had priority - and Cole was able to catch and ride a wave than had ANY POSSIBILITY whatsoever to provide him with a score to win the heat - it is not "bad judging", it is Gabriel's fault for letting him have the wave.
Full stop.
What’s Kelly gotta do to make the cut? Does winning Margs make up the points he needs or is it Red Rover for Ke11y?
My quick calcs sees a glimmer but he’s has to win it and everyone in the first 4 slots above the line needs a 33rd or 17th
I feel like I watched a different post heat interview with Gabby to everyone else.
Gabby to me didn’t come across as arrogant or rude or the Ol’ Cry Baby Gabby returning. He came across to me who was actually a bit magnanimous about being oppressed by the judges. He just said it was sad. He didn’t throw a tantrum. When viewed from Gabby’s perspective he was actually quite measured and accepting.
I also happen to think Gabby is wrong. The judges scored the heat correctly.
The problem here lies between the way heats have been judged for the entirety of Gabby’s CT career right up until the last 12 months or so. That was when the pendulum swung back from extreme reward for airs to the centre whereby surfing of all forms is judged on its merits alone.
Gabby has won countless heats with a single turn wave by throwing an air on a closeout. And he wasn’t alone in enjoying this unassailable trump card. There was no room in the judging to defeat such an air with on the face surfing. You could’ve done the best carve in history and it would’ve paid fuck all unless you’d repeated it with variety on every section of the best wave of the heat….and still one of the closeout, single turn airs was the winning wave.
This adherence to airs as undefeateable was predicated on the basis that these airs were progressive. Which they were…..a decade ago.
Now the major area of progression is carving manoeuvres and flow and yet the judging has thankfully only returned to the neutral centre and single turn carves are not granted the same Godly role in surfing as airs were until recently.
Surfing is now judged on its merits.
Unfortunately, Gabby has yet to adjust to this change, he’s been making bank on his airs and he’s yet to realise that those days are over. If he thinks the judges are rewarding perfect , simple surfing then he only needs to give the judges perfect, simple surfing.
Whilst I believe that Gabby is more than capable of developing such a skill set, I don’t think he possesses it as of yet.
As a surf fan I would be very grateful if Gabby was to turn his supreme skills towards developing and perfecting a flawless rail and flow game.
I like your comment about judges rewarding perfect surfing. I think execution of manoeuvres has increased in importance dramatically.
It’s like diving where they get a difficulty score and an execution score which is like a percentage multiplier. Gabe used to do difficulty 10 surfing with sometimes poor execution (landings etc). Now when he does that it dramatically reduces his scores. 90% of 7 is higher than 60% of 10 - if that makes sense (it does in my head)
We had such fun in the comments though.
Behind on a heat / air reverse / you win
Need a career break / air reverse / boss promotes you
Caught cheating / air reverse / your partner takes you back
I feel the same SJL. At first I was wondering if I missed something. I think everyone pretty sensitive to WSL criticism because it almost never happens from within.
I didn’t think was much of a tanty, low grade ‘woh is me’. Heat of the moment stuff, he was feeling it, obviously really wanted to win.
Rightly or wrongly I wouldn’t mind a few more ‘real’ opinions during interviews.
“Worst judging I’ve ever seen” isn’t in any way magnanimous, especially when he hadn’t even seen the waves yet. And coming from a guy who has been extremely fortunate when it comes to terrible judging.
I like the rest of your post though.
BTW…the cut is shite because it axes rookies before they’ve developed the specific CT skill set which often takes time. There is not enough money in the sport for the explosive talents to develop on a completely different tour before they’re back to labouring. How does surfing win in this outcome beyond the superficial thrills to those who crave constant non-athletic drama in their sport? Drama in sport is essential but not if it’s confected soap opera rubbish. Go watch Days of our lives if you need endless upsets and reveals.
Fuck the ghey thrill of surfer churn. I watch the sport to see the best surfers pushing themselves against the other best surfers. Too bad they are relegated to trolley boy at Coles if they are the type whose talent needs time to unwind.
Catch 2 better waves than the other bloke or gal and surf them better.
Make sure you know how to surf at all the locations.
We don't expect any other sportspeople at the elite level to show up woefully undercooked when they get to the top level of the sport.
"oh sorry, I'm not ready yet, I need more time"
Next.
There’s many examples of affordances given in other sports.
An 18 year old rookie starts his elite path in the AFL and NRL and is totally given several seasons to get used to the big time before they are expected to dominate in their given position.
Mostly they play in the level(s)(u20's- reserve grade- Group 18) below until they are top grade ready.
Which is what the QS and CS are for.
If they can't perform they go back the lower level or go play in the UK or France or some other comp that isn't quite as elite.
Not sure about AFL, but I definitely wouldn't use NRL as an example- that is far more brutal than pro surfing, only a tiny, tiny %-age can make it and stay at elite level. The demands on the body of week in, week out full contact Rugby League at the top level are almost incomprehensible.
Most get cut or never make it.
Injuries kill careers at a very high rate, most of which never get near first grade level.
I think you could count on one or 2 hands the number of teenagers who have played first grade NRL.
Just off the top of my head Kayln Ponga, Tom Trobjevic, Nathan Cleary, Latrell Mitchell, Joseph Sualli, Selwyn Cobbo, Reece Walsh all debuted as teenagers. It’s common, every club has them (most won’t have been heard of).
Also insert the term rookie or debutant to the debate (instead of 18 year old)
I’m not comparing the two sports. They’re nothing alike.
What surfing and most other sports have in common though is that new elite participants lack experience and often mental fortitude to be able to perform consistently at that level.
An elite netballer, swimmer, sprinter, whatever, isn’t expected to turn up to the big leagues and be on par with the world champions or best in a team. We understand their inexperience and realise it’ll likely take a few years / seasons to settle in.
It is what it is in surfing. But it isn’t unique that rookies get torched or have up and down events. It’s rough to expect consistency of sorts at new venues, with new pressures against seasoned pros or world champions.
If I was a teenager eyeing off the CT, short of not bothering and going to TAFE or uni, I’d get very good at deep water slopey rights in order to be ready for the big show.
I'd respectfully have to disagree.
Using Latrell as an example.
By the time he debuted for Easts as a 19 year old in 2016 he had played NSW Under 18's and 20's, Australian schoolboys tours of UK and France (leading try scorer), NRL U-20's, Auckland 9;'s.
In his debut year for the Chooks he was the leading try and point scorer.
He came in as an elite player and delivered elite performances in his rookie year.
As did your other examples.
In Rugby League the saying is : If you are good enough, you are old enough.
Reece Walsh was selected for Origin in his rookie year.
Tommy Turbo scored 2 tries on debut after starring in U-20's.
All these players were expected and did deliver elite performances straight off the bat.
Kalyn Ponga debuted in a Finals game!
No Rugby League player shows up for 1st grade undercooked like we consistently see with Pro surfers.
Agree 100% with your last sentence.
The specific problem with the cut, which despite a lot of people criticising overall, haven’t really focused on, is that for qualifiers, it takes a whole year of either qualifying for, or waiting for, the Challenger Series, which allows you to qualify for only 5 events, say a half season/year.
But if you’re on the CT, you only need 4 results across 5 events to qualify for a whole ‘nother year (10 events).
And those 4 results have so far only needed to be 2x17ths (ie not coming last in 2 consecutive 3 man heats) and 2x9ths (win a single man on man heat).
Apart from the absurd contest format for the 5 pre-cut events (36 and 18 competitors FMD), it is just so skewed against those trying to qualify.
They need to scrap the cut, and just go to a full year of the current post-cut numbers (24 and 12).
And it loses intensity post cut for half the field as only a few are really gunning for final five. The rest can cruise into the following season. I’m totally for a smaller field year long. Helps out with less heats to get through to maximise likelihood of good swell. They also finish so early (august?) there is plenty of time for them to join the CS for the last 4 events.
Yeah, the Cut, and the Final 5 saps meaning from most of the other comps.
They need to go back to something resembling the Dream Tour, but with the smaller fields. Do their best to have all the heats in good waves, that’s what’s going to drive people to watch/engage.
SJY, he just had a full tantrum that he put forward in a calm voice.
Worst judging of all time lmao
Wasn’t anywhere near the Griff over Italo rort at the wave pool.
Ha ha! How quickly we forget.
The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred.
Gabe is Bobby Martinez 2.0
........
Nah, Bobby had a point and walked away. Gabe has a very short memory, Pipe 2014 against Mick anyone? Vaughan was right, THAT was the worst judging decision ever
Really hope Rio somehow wins this, would be great to see an Indonesian win a WSL comp.
Indo your dreaming
I am with Indo... and also dreaming
The worst decision of the day was sending them out in that shit.
I think gabe possibly underestimated how good coles surfing is on his backhand and let him go thinking there is no way he can get that score on this wave, and unfortunately for gabe he was proven wrong
Cole destroyed that wave. got the score. rookie error from Medina by letting him have it... i was yelling at the TV when he just sat there.. could_not_believe_it.
i'd like to see them use wave quality (size, or whatever) a little differently and give them a bonus if they surf perfectly on a shit wave or an impossibly heavy section. if you're moving on a shit wave like you're on the best wave then score it. besides, in the Cole win over Medina situation we're talking 3ft mush vs 3.5ft mush... not that much spread between wave size.
Just in from the Wozzle- Gabs and Housie were taken this morn to a secret location to re-surf their contentious heat-
?si=gxa0S7_pZY6a94meGreat stuff as always FR. Watched the newly released '81 Bells footage a few days ago.
Bells really comes into it's own over 6-8foot. It's a proper big wave spot....it just so happens that the reef is shaped in a way that you can still surf it and its fun under that size. But never great. (maybe on super low tides and after an offshore has blown all night to get rid of the....baubles)
It would be epic to see a swell like that 81 swell coincide with a comp. 12-15foot solid with perfect offshores.
But i wonder if they'd actually send them out in it.
Thought Gabe won but understood why Col got the score.
If he was a bit more gracious to his opponent in his interview as well as airing his grievances it would have come across way better....but heat of the moment. That's competitive sport.
None of this would have happened if it was big and pumping. No one would care.
as much as the terms on which Gabe was booted are hilarous...its outrageous that someone of his calibre could miss the cut. his surfing is sublime (is there anyone who surfs backdoor on his backhand even remotely like him?)
His backhand tube riding is sublime, and he may well be the best goofy at Backdoor (although he hasn't won too many contests in right pits. There was one in France against Adriano, can't really think of others).
The rest of his surfing? Not so sublime.
haha Gabe is Bobby Martinez 2.0 now that its suddenly not all working to his advantage...
but he's still the best goofy of his generation...
It was a close heat and yes Medina could have gone in that wave and let it go. Surf judging is subjective, so it really needs consistency and in my view throughout Bells comp I've seen a number of bad scores, inconsistent numbers. Biggest one for me was George Pittar losing to Ethan. George won that heat, no doubt. Even the commentators were saying it after Ethan's final wave.
On Medina's heat, if you look at all the waves and compare to the final Cole's wave, it's really impossible to give Cole that the best wave of the heat? Yes size matters as doing what Cole did (ripped the shit out of it) in a bigger wave is more difficult, steep come backs from turns, faster speeds... That inconsistency yes is bad for the sport and I think the new Head judge is struggling to keep it together. Last comment, Ronney Blakey said Medina didn't even see Cole's wave before his interview, which is an assumption. Medina travels with his own camera man and he might/might not have seen it after coming in, which I believe has driven most of the comments here about that. Careful.
I believe Medina won, but it's a close one. The point of talking about it through is healthy and I think WSL should review what's going on across the board so we have Margs running smoother.
Nonsense. Neither Pittar nor Medina won their heats. If anything, the judges made the heats closer than they really were.