Watch: Barron Mamiya // Interlude
Would you rather see raw talent succeed, or surfers who know how to stitch a heat together?
Perhaps it's always been the way, yet in recent years there's been a growing disconnect between the performance level on the CT and the means to reach it. Too often, surfers succeed on the Changa only to get eaten alive on the CT.
Something's not gelling between the two tours.
Barron Mamiya is an example of this. In 2020 Barron came 100th on the CS, then 87th the year after. Destined to be a distant backmarker on the Changa, Barron scored a wildcard into the 2022 Pipeline Pro and was narrowly defeated by eventual winner Kelly Slater. Subsequently gifted a start in the next comp, the Sunset Pro, Barron won it and received injury replacement starts at the next three comps. Two 17ths and another 9th meant he escaped the cut and qualified for the tour, finishing 16th.
Barron's been on the tour three years now and has made the cut every year. Hasn't surfed a Changa since.
Proof of a flawed system or a statistical hiccup?
Whatever the case, there ain't no coloured vests in this clip. No savvy priority strategy. Just big Baz wrangling heavy pits in Hawaii and Indonesia. At fifteen minutes it goes on just a touch too long, though skip on not out, as some of the better surfing is towards the end, particularly the Kandui section.
Comments
There's a reason Barron has won Pipe and Sunset and you can see it here.
Insane surfing- hope we get to see more of it on Tour- he's always struggled to bring his real surfing talent into heats- mostly due to the lack of wave quality I suspect.
But yeah, no way he would make it out of the Changa cess pit.
isnt it because the change has on average much lower wave quality than the tour? so surfers used to scraping heat wins in 2 foot mush are then out of place in overhead barrels...
Yeah, and vice versa.
unbelievable surfing that i just don't get any enjoyment out of watching, it's so weird barron's always been like that for me. clearly next level but i don't get psyched on it
Jeez that’s hard to top, phenomenal surfing
I hear you Alex- I'd never really paid much attention to his CT surfing (apart from the wins at Sunset and Pipe) - always seemed like he was safety surfing.
This is the first time I've really seen him let loose, and I did have a visceral response to some of those Kandui caverns as well as some of his turns.
it was explosive, committed and spontaneous surfing from a surfer at the peak of their powers and fully in the moment.
Reminiscent of a young Pancho Sullivan!
Both frontside & backside.
Scary.
Heavy rail game.
Love it.