The Gold Coast Pro 2025: Finals Day

There are often results which are argued over by people and clearly bias plays into it (often nationalism etc). Upon reflection you can usually understand why one person beat the other, even if you don’t necessarily completely agree.

However, today’s final result just doesn’t sit right. The highest scoring wave, as you pointed out Steve, firstly wasn’t shown on air and secondly was definitely not the best wave of the heat. When compared to Julian’s 8.4 for instance…

It was an amazing final, but ending like that just doesn’t sit right, doesn’t feel right and it feels like justice has not been done. It’s a real shame considering Julian’s amazing run, it would’ve been such a fairytale to see him turn that round at the end (and it really feels like he did and it was only the judges who did not agree and yet hold all the power).

Great article as normal Steve thank you for your fantastic insights and commentary as always

FWIW it's the first wave on this clip:

Yeah what can you say.
Fantastic coverage all event FR. You nail it effortlessly.
Well, the Margs forecast, although a week out...is showing some serious brutishness. We'll see but i can't see how they're not gonna get proper big pumping surf.
Will Toledo choose the wrong ham and cheese sandwich at the airport just before departing?
Will Jules with his wildcard end up in an epic battle with Jack Robbo in 10-12 foot pumping main break lefts?
Watching Jules through this event was like watching the future of surfing....all over again. How to surf a wave with power, style, flow and to go balls to the wall big. What a bloody legend. And onya Sal for her incredible run to the finals.
Can't wait to see JW in proper surf now the fluff of the goldcoast is out the way...but i reckon the woz are crooks and won't let that ever happen again....dogs.
Royal commission i say!!

Felipe’s wave was shown on replay on kayo after an ad. Once. Looked a mid 7 at best. Wtf?

One angle? Shown once? Completely unremarked? C'mon. In the wozzlesphere of constant one-more-time-for-the-dummyism, the lack of analysis and acknowledgement of an incongruous score at such a pivotal moment of such a huge heat reeks of horseshit.

No mention of JW aggro gesturing to the crowd/judges. Fired up! Great final.

Thanks for the unreal write ups and detailed breakdowns as per, Steve.
No one does it better.

What a finals day. It actually delivered across the board in true Wozzle fashion.

I watch nearly every comp but the mens final had me furiously in chat like a diehard that I didn’t no I was. I say to non surfing friends that this is my footy. Always said to footy watchers how it sucks when the team is ahead just start kicking backwards. Not in this sport, definitely not in this final. They went for it!!

FR. If you were in court on the stand and was asked who won the final, what would answer be?

The final result stank almost as much as watching one of the wozzle jet skis corralling the early morning crew down the point before the comp started this morning. I don’t think it is necessary to ride within a couple of metres of surfers and deliberately spray them with a ski. JetSki rego 460022 for anyone interested.
That and hearing that a well known pro made no friends by repeatedly dropping in on crew over the past few mornings.
Anyway, sure it brought in lots of money to the coast but glad it’s over. Send it back to snapper

Does anyone know if the Kayo/WSL app/Youtube telecasts are exactly the same?
They seem to be able to do picture in picture at times yet not always for the interviews.
If anything they should do the interviews in the small PIP and have 3 minute gaps between heats for ads.
For a lot of the time it was a shambles to watch live and try to link up the scores with waves ridden

I must be missing something, Fils two turns for a 9.07 was broadcast as soon as the ads finished around 17min and scored pretty quickly.. Both turns were absolutely full tilt, full speed and nothing like anyone’s else’s today. No pumping, downtime or soft tap finishes. I could see the 9 or there about.
Erin’s 9 for two mental turns in succession set a precedent in the judges mind, perhaps.
So stoked for Julian and kinda pumped for pro surfing, that was a good comp.

Any chance FT will melt at big Margs / Box?

Heat analyzer is up.

The first 2 air waves are complicated. PT 8.33, JW 8.1.
PT did a full 360 and landed cleaner. JW took off on a section at least 1.5 times bigger, went higher, grabbed, had the tail up vertically, landed reverse. You can make both positive and negative armuments for both airs here. Judges went to high too soon on PTs air which made their job harder for the rest. Personally i think JWs air was bigger of a bigger section with more creativity. One landed better than the other, Jules also had a good top turn before. I could live with an equal score after all said and done but don't agree PTs was better overall.

PTs 8.53 is an outlier and hard to compare to JWs waves but i dont think it matters. Small wave, deep start to the barrell but nose out the whole second half. The turn after was on a small weak section into deep water. Overcooked also.

PT's 9.07 is where the judges really cooked it. I hate to think what was going on in the booth when they dropped that. Someone press a wrong button somewhere and dropped the number too soon and they didnt have the balls to change it? 2 turns, average size wave, he nearly pushed too hard on the first and saves it, second is cool but is similar to a a few JW was doing. On the second turn he does the age old drop the head low to make the impact look bigger. Please tell me the judges don't fall for this in a final at this level? Please.

Next JWs 8.8, first turn is very similar to PT but he holds the rail better, puts it in a more critical part of the wave because his bottom turn is much deeper right in front of a big section. Second turn is similar to PTs but comes down with the lip differently, DOESNT fake a head down for impact, KEEPS GOING and puts in another one straight through the lip into 360 to finish. Meanwhile, all the rail work between turns are a world apart from what PT did. Over all, PT overscored, JW underscored. JWs was better.

JW 8.4, 2 critical turns on big sections, much bigger wave than PTs 9. It looks 2 feet over JWs head. He hits it hard off the top in 2 spots that are very critical, goes onto more work on the small inside. This wave has to be better than PTs 9 also.

All PTs waves were smaller by a good amount. JW is 10cm taller at least and his are obviously bigger in comparison.

I don't know what to make of it. I'm no conspiracy theorist, the truth is usually much simpler than you imagine. I'd like to think the 9 was a simple mistake but the fact they didnt fix it by scoring JW fairly means it's worse than that. Then they break the format by not replaying it, not having a recap, not showing JWs waves in the post show and no one even hinting at the fact people may not agree with the scores like they often do puts a real stink on the end of what was a good event.

Let it be said for the record that the post-final jetski interview got capsized by a wave, and that you can flip a double bird at the judges as a claim.

A ridiculous 9.

Good waves make a good professional contest. Just like Surfing- any way you do it is better when you have something to ride

Also of note was how smooth I thought Parko surfed, and how he and Steph, Julian and Mick had a flow/power mix that seemed more natural, like a stark contrast to the CT.

This is why surfers in California dont care about the WSL.
its not the cold water.
Its a charade and you have to be fooling yourself to think otherwise

Obliously many biased comments rooting for a JW fairytale (im in the same boat) im sure there is a Brazo forum which would quote the opposing view had JW lost.
In saying that let's hope The Box gets into that perfect 6 - 8ft range and Fil get sent out in a consistent heat

Screw the judges. Jules was on song.
Great match up and great exchange either way.
And the Wozzle really needs to sort that bullshit add timing out. It's been going on for how long now?

I'm watching the footy now and the ad breaks occur between goals and at the end of each quarter. Not during live action. Don't like em but I understand why they have them. In today's final they cut to a shot of the broadbeach/surfers skyline for 60 seconds when it was neck and neck. They then followed it up with an ad for the WSL tour shown 'live'. I don't understand.

Schrodingers 9 will live with us forever unfortunately.. you know it’s messed up when the comments of the wozzles instagram has the general public blowing up - and not with the standard stuff we are used to from a certain fan base.

Cheers for the write up and cheers to the SW community who as always had great banter in the live comment section here. Hope chopes is 10ft this year for some redemption

I was watching on the beach and so many people there that all the bandwidth used up and couldn't comment during the final. Internet was clogged up. The crowd seemed bigger than snapper years and super exciting watching live. Huge support for both and no obvious huge Brazilian contingent at least where I was. I was surprised by the 9 live too but son and his mates (all good surfers) were all OK with it. I thought jules might have got it at the end but judges saw otherwise. Spectacular final and I had no idea until tonight that the replay didn't happen and commentary didn't mention it. Bizarre! It looked live like a solid excellent score though. But no one in the crowd near me blowing up or crying foul. Lots of top GC surfers around me plus a few pros down on the rocks too. And I couldn't get any comments away around looking for burleigh and roadkill. Was keen to adjudicate the love in

Seems like the commentary team must be gagged
Never say anything controversial
I recall last time it might have been Barton Lynch? And they sacked him
Even Vaughan must be gagged

https://www.youtube.com/live/e573Ie2wLNk?si=trsT6OS-IeZzXcGU

I think not only did Jules get robbed. It’s pretty unfair to Flip too, how many question marks does the guy need marking his career. More head noise incoming.

Baffled by the 9.07 and the broadcast response to it.

Something I don't get is why after 2 good showings resulting in 10,530 points, why doesn't Morgan Cibilic show up in the official rankings in spot 29? Can wildcards not make it onto the tour in the same way that Barron Mamiya and Mikey Wright did anymore?

brilliant. 50/50 heat... not a Fil fan but you gotta accept the judges call. right or wrong or no matter how much it hurts.

JW's version of competition surfing is exactly what i want to watch. his airs have functionality (Jordy's too 'cept for that superman business). i'd like to see airs employed like floaters... just big ol' straight airs with a grab and a bone to clear a section and land back on the face like california games.

Fil can actually do that, he did it at Jefferys a few years ago.... maybe at Snapper.

lastly, the WSL broadcast style... sorry, "style" was eventually going to completely balls up the viewing experience of a final... i've watched heaps of heats over the years where the action occurred during ads. here it is, an absolute shamozzle.

see if they can avoid doing it in a heat that determines a world champ.

I think that result calls for an insurrection on
WSL House ,
Wherever that is ?

Let’s just all agree that the 9.07 is absolutely ridiculous.
Now that that is settled, we need to ask “why”?

i reckon fils wave was better, more techy and more spray. i would have only scored it 7.8 but they consistently over-scored everything else as well so cant complain

It’s certainly not hidden now

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/12FtJLRKnHb/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Not surprised by the disrespect the WSL shows to it’s own product. Gave up watching this garbage and now read Steve’s synopsis as my sole connection to a competitive sport that I once loved. Cheers Freeride for the cliff notes.

Saw the wave and agree with some here, Fil’s 9 may not have ticked a 5 in reality. The fact that the booth ignored the obvious should have people quitting this farce

The irony wsl Brazil put up a JW 9.5

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16Kuknas43/?mibextid=wwXIfr

hmm don’t think betty would be on vahine xmas card list , very sheepish afterwards so i’ll leave it there .

Even Felipe would have been surprised that he got 9.07; he didn’t even claim on that wave like he usually does when he surfs a wave in the excellent range. The whole incident is highly suspicious and raises serious questions about the integrity of the WSL. It’s a pity as the WSL only recently improved its public image by restructuring the 2026 tour but now that image is in tatters. This will soon become known in the surfing annals as Burleighgate. At the end of the day, however, JW is clearly the real victor sans winner’s trophy, which looked like a tacky memento from a cheap souvenir shop.

Burleigh Heads put on a classy show, especially on the land side of the arena. LOB was my favourite performer and I wish he’d made it through. His supporters were epically entertaining. Missed the Parko Fanning show but loved watching the younger energy and style of Molly, Erin (cringed at the thanking of the lord), Vahine, Izzy, and BettyLou. Julian was mind blowing throughout. Caity and Steph’s R16 heat was an absolute joy. Sally will forever be the head cheerleader inspiring the next generations. The groms scuttling around in the intertidal zone are the true winners in this contest, they are the future. Thanks for your excellent writing FR.

One of the most interesting things is how many people are complicit in the broadcast and confusion of the over score?

You have the three commentators, various managers of the production, the head judge, to name a few.
How can reasonable people ignore the wave, the score, the replay?

Makes me take the sport and what they doll out even less serious than I already did. Full WWE stuff.

We should just be talking about how good Burleigh was for a comp, how good the final was and the fact Woz seems be coming back down to earth……..until

Nothing really to add.
No way was it a 9.
No Toledo's fault and agree with soggy, another * over his career. Hope he can shut up the critics and get an opportunity to prove himself in some juice.
JW displayed his character, very gracious at presentation, as a commenter here, I'm pissed off at the result, can only imagine how he feels.
Well done JW, u deserve wild card to CT.

Highlight of comp to me was watching Parko, so farkin smooth.

Professional surfing at present is a ‘soapie’ at best.

Reminds me of being a kid back in the day and getting a glimpse on TV of that tripe ‘Days of Our Lives’.

It’s just a business these days not a sport for viewing. Watching any part of the telecast at any time of the day is like watching the ‘Tele-prompt’ machine pumping out ‘infomercials’, not waves.

It’s a real joke the WSL. AW

Edit. I agree with Watt Tyler, same sentiment here, your first comment regarding Californian surfers and their thoughts about the WSL.

And Freeride76 always does his best unbiased work despite the dire shit show that the WSL has become. Thanks again for your write ups.

Oh and great write up as usual FR...

Great comp. More like that. Entertainment and a bunch of triggered JW supporters.

The calls and scores and results are now just statistics.

The winners got their rewards and had a great night. Surf fans won the day…even if you lost you won.

Looking forward to the next competition.

I can give the wsl a break on the ads when it's a short to mid period swell. They've got to run ads and there were barely any lulls so it's going to be tough to find space when nothing is happening.

With all this push back about the 9.07, I wonder if they'll release a statement explaining it. They did that to explain why they controversially scored Adriano's floater more than Owen's airs back in the day in Brazil. Bigger wave with a more critical landing was the explanation from memory, which made me kind of accept that call.

I can't see how this can be explained like that.

And now that JW has proven his CT cred, we better all go buy some of his Rivia board shorts. Did anyone really believe he still had the "competitive fire" and isn't just getting back to competing to promote his own clothing brand? Or is that too cynical?

Great waves, well ridden; when the sets, tide and wind was right.

Hasn't been mentioned but I thought the exchange of words late in the Final was telling. Jules tried to sell Fil the wave, but Fil wasn't buying. 

When Jules started blowing up his attention was taken away from the immediate contest - good judgement took a backseat to emotion. Richie and Rabbit seemed surprised that Fil engaged with him, but I thought it was the best thing he could've done. He even paddled towards Jules at one point so they were sitting closer. A clever coach couldn't have asked for more.

Fil had the lead and had priority while his opponent was moments away from a meltdown. The sensible thing for Fil to do is hand him some more fuel.

Surfing is often hard to judge especially when it's close, or when you are comparing one wave with two turns to another wave with more turns.

But to me Felipes two turn waves was surfed as well as it could be, while Julian's wave with more turns wasnt.

Hence why a whole judging panels see's things as they did.

Personally i think Julian's airs were also a bit over scored big difference between a full rotation and 180 no mater how you tweak things.

End of the day i think Filipes win was well deserved, better surfer in the heat and the better surfer in the comp overall.

I think the most recent obvious wrongful judging in a final was Griffin beating Italo at Lemoore.

I couldn’t explain that either no matter how many times I watched the replays.

Never attribute to corruption what can be otherwise explained by incompetence …

Said someone sometime.

Nope, still fuming. Someone hold me back, cause I'm ready to storm the tower.

Great write up Steve! I think this contest will leave a salty taste in most surf fans mouths for a long time to come. There's no point in buying or participating in a product if that product no longer has merit or value. I fear this could be the tipping point for the WSL with a large section of it's fan base and I'm one of them. Odds are the WSL has already got the brooms out though for the monumental rug sweeping that is about to occur.

I think the only redeeming option (or possible option) would be for a macking Margs swell, with a few days at the box. It'll be interesting to see if Fil puts his big boy pants on or if he'll get completely shown up by the rest of the tour (including the women) again like he was at Pipe.

Goldie Hodads [LOCALS ONLY] Burley Boyz are Stoked with #1swellnet crew

Wheelin' out Starkie's Rotten Apple Cart.
Qldurrz apologize for yet another Dictatorial Brain Fart

The Brazzo copped a lickin' but his Watch kept on tickin'
While our Sunnyboy picks his Toe...just yer typical Goldie freak show!

Olympic sized Goons sent home our dodgy Qldurr judge to soon
So they could serve us cups of Lime Cordial in Godz Waiting Room

https://beachgrit.com/2025/05/filipe-toledos-gold-coast-pro-winning-wave...

I had Julian as my double points pick in the fantasy team, went from 29,000 + to 8,311 place .

Maybe the 'losing' surfer in the heat could ask for an review, if...there arent enough good waves, their career & sponsorship is on the line, etc ?

A counter point to your comment Stu about Fil gaining the mental edge over JW after their verbal exchange was the strange decision of Fil to catch the very next wave. Could have easily stuck on JW's shoulder, called him a whinging brat, told him to respect the judges and get on with surfing...then proceed to make sure he didn't get another wave. Instead he disappeared on a nothing wave and left Jules all to himself with priority.
No way was Fil's wave a 9.07 but over/under scored waves probably happen in every heat it's just they are palpably more visible at the pointy end of the comp.

The real issue is the telecast.
Interesting to find out who actually controls the production ie the person in the control booth deciding what to show and when (I'm guessing it's a faceless producer, maybe not even a dedicated surfer) and if they have a whole series of guidelines including advertising, the seemingly compulsory interview of the heat winner and roving action from the crowd and water (by Vaughan and Kaipo) that they have to include.
Second point would be if the commentators are under contractual conditions to not speak negatively about the judges or WSL in general. So much so that they can't even constructively critique any of it even if it's an obvious and valid point.

Stu, maybe a project for you: an in depth interview with the head of commentary (Ronnie or Joe?) and the TV production head asking some questions and raising some points they don't want to hear.

I missed the final, just watched the clip @Stu put up.
That was not a 9 point ride.
No way.
Not is the context of some of the surfing I watched go down yesterday.
And how the fuck do they miss that wave in the webcast?
And not mention it. Bizarre.
The telecasts are shitting me ATM, especially Turpel constantly rabbiting on about bullshit from his encyclopedic knowledge of the not that relevant while live action is taking place.
They just can't shut up and don't commentate on what is going down in front of them too much, always finishing off some nonsense point while a surfer is up and riding or sets are approaching the line up.
Too much live action gets missed.
I'm always thinking "Just shut up for a minute" and "I don't need to know that Joe, why aren't you more like Ritchie Benaud".
And do we really need to do interviews with every heat winner during every next heat?
So often the live action is just a small screen while the previous heat winner is full screen and it's a catch up after a meaningless last heat winner recap and shout out. With the recap interviews and the bonsoy breaks and the Kaipo water crosses and Turpel telling me what the surfer's brother had for breakfast in 2007 at Huntington it all gets too busy and the actual competition in the water gets lost in the noise too often.
And no criticism allowed ever of some of the off judging calls, and the fucking Surfline "it's six to eight foot" when it's 2 to 3 just adds to the way too sugary syrup for mine.

No way that wave of Fil's was a 9.
A great contest in so many ways overshadowed again by shit judging.
Burleigh is such a good comp. venue
Having said that I really like the Blakeys, and Rabbit is always a great addition in the booth, "Yar!".
And Steve Shearer is the best at what he does by miles.

What a way to completely fuck up an otherwise great event. That was never a 9.07, Fil's face paddling in said it all, he was embarrassed, no chest-thumping thanks to god carry-on, he knew that was bullshit.
Big props to Julian for going so hard at him, it's great to see a bit of mongrel back in the sport, we need a good dose of agro every now and then not the passive love-in we usually see. As for Julian's surfing, he was on fire all event and showed just how shit the system is with a bunch of guys on the tour that are nowhere near his level. For me, as much as I love EE and his surfing, JW showed why EE will probably never will a world title unless he really steps up his air game and agro. Great write up as always Steve, thank you.

Try everything for better ratings?

Brutus ...
an hour ago
at last , everything we wanted from a WSL event......well at least the final.......controversy , lovers/haters of Pip all becoming experts, opinions on why , how, who should have could have...ah the sweet smell of competition!
It was obvious to me that Pip was faster /cleaner and a level above everybody else...Julian was incredible and showed a lot of the vanilla journeymen on tour that having heat management down to a fine art and his surfing is still Ct level......

as far as the scoring , Pip was faster and landed cleaner than Jules Slob airs which the landings were ...very slobish.....and yep Pip is the best smaller wave surfer in the world and a pleasure to watch!

Only the WSL could fuck up the best event in a long long time, half an hour from the end.

Give something important to kooks, and suprise suprise, they kook it. Fuck the WSL

It is interesting that the commentators have all gone 'conspiracy theory' on this. Why would they do this, you have to ask? The truth is you can make some kind of case here. The WSL has been glazing Toledo relentlessly this year. Why, because so many of the megastars have jumped ship, as FR mentioned. Sports need hero narratives and this is the one they have chosen. Crumbs what a clusterf***. The only sport star you can hang your organisational hat on is afraid of big waves. Quite frankly I blame the rest of the world tour competitors. Julian managed to conjure up a hero narrative as a wildcard. What the hell is wrong with the rest of the world tour competitors? Most of them seem to be in some kind of stoned, zenned out haze (except Italo). Jordy could do it, but right from the get go he has never been willing to eat concrete to get it done like all World title holders who chocked him out in the past. Grit is clearly not on the menu anymore. Have to say Erin in the real deal. Best woman's surfer to come around in ages. Very on point with the write ups, FR, as always.

when i watch wsl, i feel like emotion / froth / momentum plays a big part in the scores. i think judges were still frothing over flips previous wave, they saw a few solid turns and blew their load with that 9.07. i bet on flip before the final so my wallet is glad he won, but jw was robbed for sure. when he surfed his 8.4, i thought i had lost my money until they posted the score.

I watched all the wsl wrap ups but not the heats themselves, they kept saying it was controversial but I was left asking - where was the controversy - except Julian’s apparently belligerent double bird (I think) toward the shoreline.

Then I read Steve’s summary - and I had some context for the double bird - perhaps legitimate, not belligerent… so good to have these reports from a journalist and a platform outside the sycophantic wsl tent

Cheers SN

N it was a great event I thought. I expected JW to be passed it. What a terrific comeback. +1 for JW wildcards for as long as he shows he’s up to grade and hopefully long enough to requalify for next year

Just back to Jordy's heat with the wave with the superman. Did he ride out or not? It only came in at a 4 so clearly deemed a non make. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks Freeride for another fantastic write up of the comp and to Swellnet team for great coverage. +1 in agreement with the majority here. No way was that a 9.07 and the broadcast coverup was truly bizarre. Overall a great comp to watch but what a disaster for the men's final. Freeride/Swellnet: a question- is there an overarching sporting governance body in Australia that one could make a formal complaint to? I know the WSL is privately owned but surely, if the WSL presents itself as a professional body running 'legitimate' contests there are grounds for investigation. The men's final was a travesty (and I don't think Toledo is to blame, he surfed great). It felt scripted like the World Championship Wrestling. Don't let the wildcard win, give it to the Brazzos...

My take is Fils 9 was 1 to 1.5 over scored. Jordy rode out after the superman and was robbed. Erin Brooks backhand hits were superb but her default arms has me wondering if she’s Bruce Lee or a scarecrow.

I was surrounded by a whole bunch of Brazos in the stone and wood bar....even they were surprised at the number but boy did they rejoice in it! Great few days watching the comp. Thoroughly enjoyed it. J Dub well exceeded my expectations. Sal needs to retire gracefully. Like now.

Felipe’s mystery 9.07 is the biggest conspiracy since the JFK assassination.
What sinister purpose will this disaster lead to? I am sure the good folks at Bonsoy are behind this nefarious atrocity.

Despite the dubiously f-d up judging,
that shouldn’t totally detract from some of the
great surfing that went down in the competition.

Burleigh is the number 1 location for a proper surf contest anywhere in the world. Obviously the waves are not as mechanical as snapper, but geez there was some great surfing and a great combination of different waves on offer.
Deadly with his roving interviews working the crowd into a frenzy was awesome.

The WSL will surely be considering bringing it back to Burleigh next year.

The only disappointment was never getting my selfie with the dill,

Vincent Sennen Garcia would have Stormed that Tower...

Toledo being flipped off the ski in his post win interview...even the ocean was angry :)

Where can I see the wave Toledo got a 9.07 for?? It's not on the reply from what I can tell.

Up the Page 2nd Post - Vid posted by Stu -First Wave

Having a look back now at how this all panned out time wise.

Sorry, I know its a long one. Never done this before, something just doesn't sit right with me. Seen plenty of scoring i don't agree with, this one has too many weird diversions from the broadcast format and scoring process to ignore.

Summary wave finish to score drop:
PT 8.3 1 min 50 seconds
JW 8.1 1 min 30 seconds
PT 8.5, 1 min- 1 min 40 seconds
PT 9.07, 23 seconds
JW 8.8, 1 min 22 seconds
JW 8.4, 2 mins 30 secsonds

Other comparisons to note:
PTs 10 from semis takes 45 seconds to lock in.
SFs final opener fall, 3.3 takes 25-40 seconds.
SFs second score 4.5 takes 40 seconds.

9.07 was captured live properly, no tech errors. Not replayed.
Every other high score was replayed minimum twice. Airs had a side by side comparison.
Final recap was cancelled. Womens had one.

I don't know exactly how the judging works this season, please chime in if you know?
Previously i have seen some interviews where they explain a process.
Initial gut reaction is written down or entered. Then replay is watched, adjustments made. Then comparison waves are watched and again score adjusted if required. There is a head judge over seeing the 5 actual scorers. The time line below shows that the process was not followed on the 9.07 but was for all the other high scoring rides. 23 seconds is simply not enough time to replay and consider, or compare.

PTs 9.07 drops only 23 seconds after he lands the last turn. Thats done and dusted on the scoreboard.
Then, they dont replay it like every other score, they go into a SIDE BY SIDE comparison of the 2 airs from the start. From there they have over 13 minutes to replay the 9.07 but choose not to. No technical glitch here, they post the wave to insta and go on to replay all julians waves for the rest of the final.

PTs 8.5 takes 1 min - 1 min 40 seconds to come out, not sure because it drops during them replaying it twice, from 2 different angles...

JWs 8.8 takes 1 minute 22 seconds to drop, again they replay it from multiple angles an diving right into the critique.

JWs 8.4 takes about 2 minutes 30 to drop. Again hard to tell because they are replaying it and talking about it in detail..

The 9.07 on the analyzer replay shows it live, not during an add break, was that what people saw yesterday or not? Ive seen people say they didnt show it. Not sure if different zones of the webcast get different adds at different times? Its on Youtube, WSL site, swellnet, phone app, TV so there are probably variations on what people see.

I'm not going through this to prove any sort of conspiracy here, things are always more simple, usually human error. Based on the 23 second posting time the simplest explanation would be someone accidently entered the score too fast for what ever reason. Behind the scenes they probably shit themselves. Deliberately avoided the replay drawing more attention to it, told the commentary not to address it and moved on.

Make what you will of the underscoring Julians waves, at least they seem to have done the process. Either they wanted PT to win as they don't want a bald old wild card showing everyone up, or, they just have bad taste in surfing and don't understand. Not sure which one is worse.

of all the bits they prioritise to be live.. why the winner of the previous heat?
Imagine Joe throwing to an on-the-glass pre-record when there's a lull:
'and now Vaughan who caught up with Erin a few moments ago'..

There were 23 waves ridden in the men’s final. No surprise it was darned entertaining.

Any one know what JW was riding ?
Kinda sat under his feet well.
But then I guess he knows what he’s doing.lol.

Great comp, and write-ups, thanks Steve. I imagine Drouyn would have been stoked watching such a dramatic final, even if its was marred by that 'alien spaceship landing' 9 pointer. I laughed loud at that description. Can't blame Filipe though, those waves suited him perfectly, and he looked the man to beat from start to finish. Good on Jules for providing us all with a dream run, great drama and being gracious in defeat. Real Aussie spirit. So, regards that controversial 9 pointer, yeah, as a former pro judge, I'd say it was a very good short ride and execution of two radical turns, bordering on excellence. However, it was deffo over scored. So, if it was a procedural mistake, like a wrong button pressed too hastily etc, well, hopefully the WSL will ensure that procedure fail never happens again. But if it was a very bad judging error, the question I would like answered is, do the judging panel ever seriously review their obvious errors of judgement post contest? If not, well maybe they really need to. Acknowledging and learning from our mistakes can only make us better at whatever we are doing. As for the commentary, yeah, room for improvement there too. More focus on what is actually happening in the water, while allowing commentators to be more analytical, even critical, of judges scores. It would add to the drama. We'd be more involved and entertained. Cheers.

I watched it, enjoyed it and Felipe was the rightful winner of that comp.
Julian surfed good but not at the razor sharp level of the torpedo.
Good for him. Hope he’s over the yips.

thx for the coverage fr- i’m not sure what to make of the final- though i feel fil was a deserving winner it was certainly weird…. and shoot me down but jw pulled the plug on ct so he gets no euphoria points from me

Looking again at Filipe’s 9. A standard sharp turn and then a standard closeout lip bash. The closeout lip bash didn’t even involve a freefall which is common in that manoeuvre.

And I’m a Filipe fan.

Priority rule needs to go. It’s dumb. As the heats go on its just one carnt sitting blocking another from getting waves. Momentum slows massively at the end of a heat rather than ramping up. Should just be regular rules/ etiquette - first to feet or closest to the breaking wave. Punters tune in to watch them riding waves not some priority strategy or paddle battle

Thanks again Steve, for your insightful views
meanwhile more stories unfold .....

It was a great comp. Not the winners I hoped for but I think the event topped many of the previous yrs at snapper. Overscore fil, shit push him into to the top 5. I’ve spoken to Erin and we’ll be praying for 10-12 ft cloudbreak.

Get rid of the head judge to remove manipulation. Increase from 5 judges to 7 or 9 to smooth out the average. Introduce some type of process whereby they can't fuck up the scale, such as first wave cannot exceed 7points. if a 7 point wave ends up been the best wave then so be it. But i believe that marketing want finals with scores that have totals of a least 16 plus for some form of credibility. To often they score the first wave high and better waves are surfed but the scoring system doesn't reflect the gap between the better surfed waves.
it is evident that the commentators are also watching the broadcast- they need to be positioned so they can primary watch and commentate live. then use replays as necessary. - i don't think this is often the case.
Production manager is dictating things- to often a set is approaching or surfer just about to take off and they go to a add break or cut to a interview - which as a viewer we get very little insight from as they competitors are censored also.
Clean it up. can't be that hard- get the basics right.

Great to read poo-mans first hand account. After my first trip to Bell’s I have always been very wary of the difference between watching live vs on the telly. There were a couple of controversy calls from mates watching the web back then which no-one on the hill noticed. I found that the difference in speed is way more apparent live.
Anyway it’s all very strange and would love to read comments from others that watched it live.

It sounds unconstitutional.

Great contest, I sat down and watched the final in its entirety.
So good to have burls back on tour
IMHO
They need snapper and this comp.
So entertaining
Big congrats to all the finalists
Great event !

obviously penalized for flipping off the brazillians

And to add, I think I said in the comments during the event that Julian looked a bit laboured during the trials. I just happened to rock up trial arvo and watched after not knowing it was on. He looked really rusty and got a bit lucky to win that but when he got the lead he controlled the rest of the heat with brilliant tactics. He himself said some stuff about how he wasn't sure how he'd go and how competitive he'd be and how he'd be judged. And something about not having ridden performance boards for awhile too. Well the self belief clearly came surging back as each heat went by. He got better and better and clearly has a place on the CT. Whether he can wrangle through the CS will be interesting and that's where the CS held generally in rubbish is a near useless qualifier for CT

Great to hear the view from on the beach @poo-man

Just heard another account from the beach from a close mate and saw Fil's 9 filmed on a phone.
My mate said everyone around him thought JW was winning as no reception, poor announcing quality and couldn't see the scoreboard.
My devil's advocate position has been slayed.

My gut feeling says the 9 was put there to make up for the lack of spread in that first excellent exchange, where Toledo spun twice as far and greased his landing. Along with the speed advantage, it makes sure the rightful winner won the heat, in their eyes

I thought the best visual surfing was done by Joel and Mick, they looked great....barring airs they looked like they could take down most in that contest IMO

Imagine having a NRL bunkers style review system? The WSL bunker.
Best to judge what is in front of the judges and run with the imperfections.
Nearly every heat has someone saying over scored or underscored. It just becomes more dramatic in semi finals and final heats.

Executive Order?
Alternative facts,
Fake news

Remember Adriano DeSouza's floater in Brazil back in the day? That and Felipe's two turn game changing wave in the final should have been a 10!

theres even conspiracy theories getting thrown in here, get out the popcorn hahaha

Great- Well Worth Re Reading
https://www.swellnet.com/news/talking-heads/2024/01/27/pritamo-ahrendt-c...

Yeah Flips 9.07 should absolutely have
been a 5.39 , no question.

Scores based on...gender, luck, timing, skill, country, mood, ratings, conditions, rainbows to pot of gold, etc ?

Guys! Let's all calm down! It's just another weird heat with unexplained elements. Now you know the feeling lol.

Let's not behave like whining Brazzos. And unlike them, Julian accepted it with class (let's just forget the Parko-inspired mid-heat middle finger incident - BTW is finger showing becoming a thing in Gold Coast Pro's?)

I must admit this round of SN forum has been the most entertaining in ages. I did well in waiting a couple of days before checking it out thoroughly!

Thanks for the summary, FR. I was (am) also very confused with the whole broadcast issue.

Just on this discussion about Erin Brooks, and i 100% agree, her backhand under the lip smacks are monumental, but the turn Vahine Fierra did on her last wave after she got an interference against Betty Lou was twice as good as anything Erin or any woman has ever done. Go back and watch it and tell me i'm wrong.

Reading all the comments here and from pro surfers on other sites, it’s interesting that just because you were either on the ground, a good surfer or a made your living from surfing; gives some kind of super sense of sight and/or discernment for what happened………..as the saying goes, ‘you don’t need to be a baker to know the bread tastes good’.

Every one has an opinion, I think we can all agree, the bloke who was driving the ski that bucked Toledo is owed a beer from Jules.

Luke had spoken....

https://m.

Is there a definition for the 'combo' somewhere in WZL land?
To me a combo is two (or more) manoeuvres linked together in a seamless flow.
A double pump breaks the flow, not a combo any more, it's two individual turns.
Does that matter? Are there extra points for comboing turns? There should be, it's beyond excellent when you see it done sweetly but the double pump?
Combo breaker for mine
Not a combo, not a 9.07

Sat 4:29 pm Cam Replay is that the Wave ?

I was blowing up to a Portuguese friend of mine years ago about Soccer and all the diving and theatrics and remonstrating with the referee for penalties and free kicks.
He just laughed and said the actual match is the game of football…the arguments for the rest of the week are it’s life.
Maybe the Woz are on to something…

Yes the obvious normalisation of
bad judging calls .

above ....the boys barley mention the 9.07.......WHAT ?

Reading Freerides re-analysis of the interactions between FT and JW i wonder id FT was a little embarrassed and almost apologetic for the score?
Hence surrendering priority to JW?

Anyway, controversy is always good for engagement - roll on Margarets

Mentions it in the ain't that swell vid above S67

I reckon this topic has been exhausted. Bring on Margies.

While most disagree with the 9 given for that wave, overall the judges do a difficult job very well and waiting for scores to drop and comparing it to your own assessment is one of the most compelling aspects of the contest.

We're onto you, Wozzle time shifters

JW won that despite whatever the WSL sleazebags thought . 2 turn wave is not 9 point

man, havn't watched wsl in a while... tuned in for this. Julian was clearly robbed. I see not much has changed.

Serious question, has men's pro surfing progressed at all in the last 10-15 years? It seems like, if anything, that while the floor and average ability has been raised, the peak has regressed significantly. Not having JJF and Medina on tour obviously takes away the cream of the generational crop for now, but I didn't see anything all day that convinced me that what peak Taj and Dane were doing so very long ago wasn't as good or far better than the surfing on tour right now. I mean, felipe is crazy, but more so just for his consistency of landing airs, nothing he does is mindblowing relative to what was already happening in 2010. Am i crazy?

Post #299...

"Not really - there's definitely been a performance plateau."

Yeah some of the other sports formats are interesting. The man on man tactical element puts us a bit closer to a sport than the others where its 100% just a judged performance.

The inconsistent and emotional approach to judging with our current format is my main frustration.
Excellent scores on 1-2 manouvres when a good set wave offers 5. You can't resolve that with thinking, it's emotionally reactive scoring. In every other sport the fans are emotiomal, the judges are paid to do the opposite. Kellys 10 at Bells was a perfect example. Next minute they say it's important to get to the Bells end section and finish strong. Which one is it?

Burleigh point break, we have to swallow 2 hard turns for a 9.07. Would that fly at Jbay? At the wavepool? Whats the difference?
4 seamless turns on rail can get scored the same as someone pumping and hopping like a 12 year old between manouvers.

Somehow the scoring should take into account the waves on offer and whats possible.

That savant like wave reading by favourites like Andy, Parko, Curren, Steph, Machado, Rasta is what informs their style and makes them what they are. Most of them couldn't beat todays guys at single turns, do we care? We need a way to integrate some of that magic with ultra modern performace and that will only happen if it's rewarded in the scoring. If not, surfing will go more towards disjointed spurts of agression on a wave.

If you get asked to recall the best surfing you've seen, what is it? My mind goes straight to Currens first wave at Jbay, Andy at Mundaka, Parko at snapper, Bobby at Rincon. Elements of that approach should be rewarded when done well as much as the modern stuff they score highly.

It's not just the old guys that want to see it. Check out the view numbers Torren, Bryce and Mikey are getting on their videos. Theres a hunger out there for surfing and people aren't going to the WSL for it.

Fricken hell, Grug n Ron you've both nailed it ! Another outlier here. Agree wholeheartedly with ur analysis.