did owen wright really beat kelly ?

[aaronn]

well, yes he did, by a measley 0.84. however, you be the judge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LohW8YLZfE0

[Buff_Brad]

Yeah well judging by that vid he probably should have beat him by a bit more.


next

Next??? ............ well ok reptile freakoid ........ the blonde at the end of the clip was a pleasant surprise.

Good one Lukey.


Slater won it...(just). Hometown advantage IMHO. Bloody Victorians.....they're nearly as bad as Queenslanders.

[Nick Carroll]

I watched it live and Owen won that heat in a canter. Kelly freaked out and reverted to his pintail gig after being unsure of the baby quad's effectiveness. His performance was flat and unconvincing, especially so by his own standards. Owen satisfied the criteria, surfing on the lip and turning vertically close to the pocket, and exhibited much smarter wave selection. I was surprised the gap wasn't wider.

Kelly Defenders do their hero a disservice by backing his performance in that heat, he knows he lost and would benefit more by clear feedback. (Which he got, don't worry!)

[steve shearer]

Tell ya what , after watching Owen's baby sis Tyler surfing a 6ft pointbreak yesterday I'd back her to beat half the top 44.
It was humbling and kind of exhilerating having a 15yr old girl being the best in the water by a country mile.(and that included heaps of ultra competent surfers).

I agree with NC, the replay flatters Slater. Live his performance lacked any kind of definition or mastery right from the start.
His body language was telling, which didn't come across in the yootoob clip.
Owen was unlucky he didn't get more of a canvas in his heat with Jordy bru.

[Buff_Brad]

I watched it live and Owen won that heat in a canter. Kelly freaked out and reverted to his pintail gig after being unsure of the baby quad's effectiveness. His performance was flat and unconvincing, especially so by his own standards. Owen satisfied the criteria, surfing on the lip and turning vertically close to the pocket, and exhibited much smarter wave selection. I was surprised the gap wasn't wider.

Kelly Defenders do their hero a disservice by backing his performance in that heat, he knows he lost and would benefit more by clear feedback. (Which he got, don't worry!)

I totally disagree. As Steve says the replay flatters Slater because he surfed better. I'm absolutely (despite Owen being Victorian) happy for an Aussie to win but apart from Slater's wave selection which admittedly wasn't as good as Wright's , Slater still beat him. Nick , just examine in detail at 38 secs THAT turn. Wright can't do that.....and nearly every surfer slightly above kook level knows surfing on your backhand looks slightly more "radical".

Kelly's not my hero anymore than you are Mr Carroll.

[Revolution]

Buff_Brad ... Nick Carrol ... Buff_Brad ... Nick Carrol ... Buff_Brad ... Nick Carrol ... Buff_Brad ... Nick Carrol ... Buff_Brad ... Nick Carrol ...

Yeh i think ill side with the guy who's 'local' isn't bondi beach.

[Buff_Brad]

Buff_Brad ... Nick Carrol ... Buff_Brad ... Nick Carrol ... Buff_Brad ... Nick Carrol ... Buff_Brad ... Nick Carrol ... Buff_Brad ... Nick Carrol ...

Yeh i think ill side with the guy who's 'local' isn't bondi beach.

His name is Nick Carroll (two "ls") you fcuking loser.

[chrisb]

I would have thought that approaching that very important day of the year there would be more patriotism displayed on this website .

Who cares if Slats was "robbed"? Many times in the past he's won heats by dubious means.

The important thing is that an Aussie won the comp and is at the top of the world rankings and Slats isn't.

[tiger]

More importantly, did Mick Fanning really beat Tiago Pires?

Did you see that heat Nick?

It was way more on the nose than the Wright/Slater heat.

[Nick Carroll]

Yeah, I watched it and thought Mick won fairly clearly, though not surfing in peak form; Tiago just didn't penetrate the wave line enough on his major turns, he's quite light-footed and sometimes it works against him, not enough drive in the bottom turns or rail in the top turns.

[tiger]

I'd be interested to see footage of his last wave again, where he was scored a 6.5 when chasing a 8.4 or somesuch. But I've got a feeling it's been swept way under the carpet, not to resurface.

[Cookie]

Yeah I think the judges got themselves in a mess in that heat with their earlier scores. Mick caught a couple of OK waves and tore them to shreds. Tiago got the 2 better waves but didn't really do anything near as much with them.

I guess they just ended up thinking if they give Tiago the 8.4 he'll win the heat so screwed him over. No doubt Mick was surfing better but a 6.5 for that last wave was criminal. CJ's reaction in the commentary booth was a classic.

[gflanagan]

Of course he did. He stood up, did a few wiggly things on his thingamejig and did it better than Kelly Trilobite. Independent judges said so.

I agree with Chrisb ( a man who clearly holds a postion of great responsibiliy in society). Frankly it was a very timely result. Owen "Gun" Wilson is a fearless son of ANZAC who's win probably put a smile on the face of a few diggers who were involved in the stink with the Yanks in the Battle of Brisbane in WW2 and by God any win by a little Aussie battler is okay by me.

[mical]

I watched the heat live, and just watched the footage of each wave again because I filmed it.

Owen clearly won the heat, which was disappointing as I really wanted to see Kelly in good form live. Although one of his waves in the expression session blew everyone away. He's a freak.

Anyone got a comment on how piss poor it is that a guy that surfs like Robbo is without a major sponsor?

[Yuke Hunt]

Did the little aussie battler beat the septic tank
At the end of the day the result still stands
To hypothesize would be a wank
How unusual it is to see … that BB wants to agitate
The facts are quite irrelevant
When Buffy publicly masturbates
It’s nice to see things seldom change
In the land of the real surf forum
Hey Buffy don’t let reality interfere
That’s as bad as sanity and decorum
I’d like to wish you a belated happy Easter
You really are quite funny
But mainly just because you are … the real surf forum bunny.

[grazza]

I'm absolutely (despite Owen being Victorian) happy for an Aussie to win but apart from Slater's wave selection which admittedly wasn't as good as Wright's , Slater still beat him.

Look, Owen (along with rest of the massive Wright clan, who have quietly positioned themselves for total world domination while no one was watching) is from Culburra, near Nowra on the south coast, and now living at Lennox, which makes him completely non-Victorian.

[Buff_Brad]

The video favors Wright, by a mile. When was the last time Slater won a heat by turning under the lip?
Sure they're great turns and he's ripping but its not as critical as Wright's surfing. Slater would know better than anyone why he lost. Any feelings of shame however would be way surpassed by nausea if he knew the likes of you were batting (pun not intended) for him.

"By a mile?" ...... who's the one sucking up to who??.....oh you are always cuming to the defense of Nick fcuking crawler.......ok Wright's not Victorian....fcuk the media made him out like he was and with the poor internet coverage it could've been anyone's guess.

The fact that it's a thread has made it worthy of a discussion - more so than your inability to paddle out at G Land on a 6 foot day Dinosaur after paying good money to fly over there.....fcuking kook.

And Womble.....don't give up your day job....fcuking hell and everyone thinks I'm gay.

Ringer , settle petal......you seem like a really decent guy under all those insecurities.......no really.

[Nick Carroll]

Anyone got a comment on how piss poor it is that a guy that surfs like Robbo is without a major sponsor?

Not for long I'd reckon.

Lots of people watched his performance, some of 'em even have money.