I'm with you Julio, the girls rip, Tyler is unbelievable as is Steph and Sally and yes good surfers in often bad waves... but can they make it on their own, now that's the real question.

A question that the women athletes must have been asking themselves for decades on the Professional Tennis tour.
Maybe better to hang on than to sink into the abyss. By staying with the whole ASP circus there is daily international coverage and packaged in exactly the same format with no discrimination.
Bells was a great example of how to mix the two comps togeather.
Just the question of equality in prize money...

I don't buy all this female equality bullshit. I know the author means well, as do others who echo the same sentiment, but there's one gaping hole in the logic.

Who do the female pro surfers want to watch? The men. I've read them admit it so many times. Laura Enever admited in an interview just recently.

Who do the female pro surfers look to for inspiration? The men. Tyler Wright..."I look at the guys surfing in the magazines."

So if the very people involved in womens pro surfing, the ones most invested and the ones who should be able to discern subtle differences in technique and give due appreciation, don't watch, why do people expect anyone else to watch?

The author makes one good point. If they are to succeed - and that's a big IF - they have to do it with independent contests.

"The difference is so wide and clear that a fantastic surfer like Sally - Tyler's rival in the Billabong Pro final - needed two or three manouvers to match one of Tyler's hacks or airs".

I can't believe that Tyler was given a 9.3 for what was just a snap and a standard reo with a bit of a tail slide (hardly a hack). Tyler's second highest score of 8.5 for two reo's and a cutty on the end section was scored less than the 9.3 and was in my humble opinion a better surfed wave. Sal on the other hand rips off 4 flowing backhand reo's (and a fifth little bounce off the end) on a wave where the girls have struggled to put two maneuver's in and gets an 8.17, less than either of Tyler's waves.

I would say it would have been a difficult heat to judge comparing differing styles (slides and airs compared to a good solid backhand and numbers of maneuvers) in small condition, but the consistency in judging has me scratching my head. Sometimes I think judges sit firmly on one style over the other instead of judging the merits of both.

Still, congratulations to Tyler and commiserations to Sally. Both surfed well despite the small conditions.

"The distance from Tylers high performance surfing to the other girls is abyssal in almost any condition."

I have to disagree with you on that one Julio.

Have you watched Carrisa's clip that came out a few months ago, I think its called " the one and only Carrisa Moore"?

The surfing she does on that is easily the standard of the mens wt, in style, power and progressive manouvers.

In my eyes by far the best surfing ever captured on film done by a woman.

Have to agree with you goofy - that's the best clip i've seen of a woman surfing as well.

Saw Tyler in one of the latest surf mags in an 8ft barrel at P-pass - she pretty much surfs it perfectly.

Time for the women's tour to go back to Chopes for another crack? Would be good viewing....

I'm gonna say some shit.
I love Steph Gimore - perhaps in an inappropriate way...maybe replace the word love with lust.
For style she's excellent. Good power in her turns. Can ride the Barrel. Love watching her surf.
But her day in the sun is done. She can't do an air and I have never seen her do a reverse and complete it.

Sally. Gorgeous. Highly marketable. A tops Aussie Sheila of which this nation can be proud.
But her bum out surfing style and total lack of power looks rank against Carissa, Tyler, Lakey and Steph.

To me Carissa is at the forefront by a mile. Tyler is almost there. Lakey rips and is often hard done by when the hooter sounds. Conologue offers something.

The rest are just fodder for the best.

Brazil makes financial sense, and has atmosphere by the bucket load, but as a surfing destination it sucks arse.

That's all I want to say at this point.

Have a fine evening.
YAHABO.

I'm hearing ya, Steph's got something about her. Very lustable! Got that look in her eye

And going further ... comparing with tennis (sorry Bob) , we changed the Arantxa Sanchezes , and now we have Kournikovas and Sharapovas surfing. They're pretty and fabulous surfers .

No one has done more for womens surfing than...Alana Blanchard.
Go on youtube and look at her views. It's called marketability it brings exposure and money. Why do you not see Hollywood full of average and ugly people. Sex sells, what would get more a media attention, Alana and Steph in a final or Carissa and Tyler?

I don't watch too much of the girls but I do watch a heat or three per event and I've sometimes wondered why they don't have different criteria. So many of the girls look like they're trying hard to surf like guys but they don't have the strength in their legs. So it can look a bit ordinary. But when you watch a chick surfing with grace and style and not trying to shred the lip, it's awesome.

I guess that's probably sexist...well it is really. But still, maybe they should recognise an alternative angle (as well as power for those who can pull it off, like Tyler) that would encourage a different form of surfing. One that emphasises style and flow rather than trying to replicate the guys.

And yeah, they've definitely got to get away from being the sideshow. It's total crap that they send em out in substandard conditions. It's like the contest director just wants to get it out of the way so we can get on with the real thing.

iamlegend, has Alana really done much for 'womens surfing' though? Her marketing endeavours seem to have been more in favour of self promotion to me.

Depends on your viewpoint really, and maybe even your vocation. if you think pro surfing is simply just a marketing exercise then Alana wins hands down (and bottoms up), but if you hold onto the fact that although marketing and advertising have attached themselves to pro surfing, the real beating heart is still competition and striving to be the best, then it's Tyler, Carissa and Steph.

Gidday, speaking of marketability of women's surfers, and men's surfers in general.

http://au.sports.yahoo.com/cricket/news/article/-/17144859/ellyse-perry-...

I agree with benski re the leg strength thing. Although it opens a can of worms. If it is that glaring that strength is so critical to performance, then what would happen if we actually increased the strength and athleticism of top mens surfers.

Other sports are having the reality stare them in the face.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/majak-daw-boots-a-career...

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/majak-daw-says-he-doesnt...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/441018-mammoth-sized-versatile-brando...,

Take boxers, even martial artists, all who take a few pounds or so of muscle deadly, super seriously. Yet many often simultaneously declare that performance has nothing to do with size or muscles. Funnily, those who do would scream blue murder if someone from a few weight divisions up was allowed to compete against them.

I don't think strength is that critical to being the best surfer, or fighter for that matter. Why wasn't sunny Garcia better than Kelly slater for example? Bruce lee would have beaten mike Tyson in a street fight and he is half is size, and strength. I think your a touch obsessed with the whole gym, muscles, strength thing Uplift. This is a surfing website

Gidday goofyfoot, Sunny Garcia isn't Kelley Slater, so its not a usefull comparison. A proper comparison would be, what if the same athlete was stronger and more athletic? Numerous other top athletes have found it has been very beneficial. Bruce Lee, Evander Holyfield, Linford Christie , Ben Johnson were a few that spring to mind that were very vocal about it. The whole Pacquiou Mayweather issue revolves around drugs enhancing strength. Even Pacquiou is now openly suspicious and wary of Marquez and Rios increased strength, and wanting drug tests.

Can you cite an example where a flyweight world champion has defeated a heavyweight world champion? Why does even MMA have weight divisions? Even Judo has weight divisions. Is it to protect the heavyweights? Obviously not.

MMA started out without weight divisions, but much to their shock and dismay, it was dominated by heavyweight collegiate wrestlers. So they were quickly forced to change the rules and add weight divisions.

Bruce Lee openly loved weight training. If you are right, then he was either extremely interested in getting stronger, but becoming a worse martial artist, or lifting weights to be weaker and improve his performance. I wonder.

Fighting is not surfing, so it's not a useful comparison. (But I think it still rings true anyway) If Kelly built his body into the worlds strongest, or even most muscliest, say, the physique of Arnies, would he be a better surfer? I doubt it. I think what GF is trying to say is that yes strength helps, to a point, but it can be overcooked. Maybe Kelly has the formula down the best? & that's my point here, that the equation of more strength = bigger surfing talent is just too simple. Agility, responsiveness, wave knowledge are all big & equal players in the formula, as are many more that I havnt thought of here.

Gidday shoredump, if it rings true, why is there such huge emphasis and importance on the weigh in, and weight divisions? Why not just let an opponent come in 15lbs of muscle heavier? Why does even Judo, and MMA have weight divisions? Is it because the lighter weights have a huge advantage strength wise? Is it because its simply too dangerous and risky, too lopsided to expect the heavier weights to compete against the lighter weights?

There is absolutely no doubt that Kelly has the mental formula down best. But, I don't think professional surfing offers much competition at all, especially athletically. No other Professional Athlete is at risk of being regularly stitched up by little kids, and the man off the street. The Kimbo Slice situation showed how tough being a Pro Athlete can be. Richie Vaculik is having a real, genuine dig at UFC, and is learning what it will take to be competitive against a top athlete.

I agree that becoming like Arnie would be useless. But building muscle and becoming stronger and more athletic wouldn't. I can imagine a super fit, athletic MR for example. Injury protection and prevention is a huge plus too. Maybe MR would have won many more titles if he was a stronger/fitter version.

Guess who owns the biggest marketing budgets in the world - Procter & Gamble and Unilever' along with many other FMCG companies (CPG for Americans).

In other words, it is all about selling beauty products, which has perfect synergy with women surfing.

Julio is absolutely right and the girls don't need us on this one. They need someone to package their product and go to the market with a good story to tell.

It's sad to say, but when it comes to marketing and dollars for the sport, the way they rip doesn't even matter. It's all about the story telling and projection of their life style impact/influence against an specific target demographic - in this case a valuable one(female; age 17-44).

Having Colgate on board is a good start. Now, as Julio suggests, they need to go separate ways and launch their own tour. And yes, some of them are ripping too.