J Bay Pro - No Dane

[Quangers]

Apparently Dane Reynolds has withdrawn and there might not be much swell
Can't wait
BTW Shearer wrote an excellent article for surfline re. the shiite direction the asp has taken.

[Skipper]

The mob over the fence posted news this week that Steve would be covering it. ???

Not surprised Dane won't be there. He's too busy preparing for the launch of his upcoming range of fragrances.

[Davros]

Hey Dane hates the commercial side didnt you know. At least Kelly knows what he is about commercially.

[diggerdickson]

dane who ?????

[scroopulis]

Isn't it farken riveting?
I mean, If I wanted to watch Brazilians toss about in 2ft crap I woulda parked down at Manly today.

Actually, Manly would have crapped on this.
At least there were more strumpets around.

Dane and Kelly have the right idea

[Topher]

I'll always watch these things if it's held in waves that I would like to surf, or if it is really big and perfect.

J Bay was good last year, the timing was awesome - I could watch it on the telly with a few beers after dinner. But today's a bit average. It was alright before but now It's gone onshore. Meh.

[Nick Carroll]

Jeebus h christmas, what a farce.

Guess what, JBay's flat, it's gonna stay flat till July 21 or 22, which gives Kelsy a week to make the exhausting trek from the by now playful yet typical Fiji to the tip of the Veldt.

Dane's not there, well it does not seem to have occurred to anyone in La La Land that at this point he might actually have more to lose by showing up. (See points differential on the fabulous One World Rankings, which require a considerable kick from surfing's very own Napoleon Dynamite in order to crack the top 32... he's probably better off pleading injury status right now.)

Wake up kiddies, the world tour's still the biggest game in town for these maestros, whether they choose to play or not is a sort of sideshow -- unless they all choose not to play at the same time. Then it'll be worth paying attention.

[scroopulis]

If the world tour is the biggest game in town, how come the world tour doesn't provide the 'worlds best surfers' with the worlds best waves ?
Its kinda like having the worlds best golfers having to roll up to Royal Avalon to play because they've cored the greens at Augusta this week. I mean, what the fu(k have the worlds best been up to over the past 7 weeks. I'm sure most of 'em haven't had to go pack shelves at coles during the break?
Why doesn't the ASP have these events as mobile things and decide when and where (to a reasonable extent) they will run the comps - like some sort of mobile tour?
Surely the webcast stuff is far greater reaching tha anything else these days.
Anyone remember that junior event (fantastic noodle thing or whatever it was?) It was absolutely incredible. How come the ASP can't do the same sort of thing?
They'd probably cut half their fu(ken costs by getting rid of all the backslapping, hanger-on, trucker cap, tight jean wearing, front fringe combing, latte sipping, coke snorting, ghey hand-shaking idiots that seems to make up alot of these 'contests'.


I can't wait for Manlys surf festival or whatever the fu(k its called. I'll be able to drive my X5 right up to the beach without even getting sand in my plush leather seats. I'm a bit worried all that salty air might ruin the paintwork though.
I hope it doesn't clash with my son's violin lessons.

[Quangers]

Jeebus h christmas, what a farce.

Guess what, JBay's flat, it's gonna stay flat till July 21 or 22, which gives Kelsy a week to make the exhausting trek from the by now playful yet typical Fiji to the tip of the Veldt.

Dane's not there, well it does not seem to have occurred to anyone in La La Land that at this point he might actually have more to lose by showing up. (See points differential on the fabulous One World Rankings, which require a considerable kick from surfing's very own Napoleon Dynamite in order to crack the top 32... he's probably better off pleading injury status right now.)

Wake up kiddies, the world tour's still the biggest game in town for these maestros, whether they choose to play or not is a sort of sideshow -- unless they all choose not to play at the same time. Then it'll be worth paying attention.

Are you 'suggesting' that the comp will be put on hold until his royal baldness can show?

[Nick Carroll]

^^No. J-Bay is flat. You can't have a contest when there's no waves. Round two is on hold; it's still open for Kelly to enter the event until round two runs. Looking at the long term charts, it appears very little will happen until close to the end of the waiting period, when a storm should gather a bit of SW energy and throw it at Jeffreys. This gives KS plenty of time to get to the event for round two -- which, if J-Bay was not flat, would already have run, Kelly or no Kelly.

[buzzy]

I reckon it's bloody direspectful of Slater to carry on like this. It's disrespectful to the contest organisers, to the ASP and to his peers to simply not turn up. As world champ he has if anything a higher responsibility than his peers. He is the main focus of promotion for this event (along with Jordy) in the mainstream SA press, and it's embarrassing for them for him simply not to be there. What's the message that Slater is implicitly making? - that the SA event is mickey mouse. And the reality is that this event at that location is anything but.

Scroupulis criticises the ASP for not guarranteeing perfect waves. I just think that ignores a fundamental aspect of the sport - we rely on nature to deliver or not deliver. I doubt there is enough money in the industry to support a fully mobile tour and, frankly, I don't see how it would be logistically supportable. One event, maybe, for myable the top 10 with a 2 month window (May/June anyone?) in a sort of champion of champions event, but not a tour.

Slater has been a magnificent world champion athlete but he's well short of the personal qualities of some former champs like MR, imho.

[alakaboo]

I reckon it's bloody direspectful of Slater to carry on like this. It's disrespectful to the contest organisers, to the ASP and to his peers to simply not turn up. As world champ he has if anything a higher responsibility than his peers. He is the main focus of promotion for this event (along with Jordy) in the mainstream SA press, and it's embarrassing for them for him simply not to be there. What's the message that Slater is implicitly making? - that the SA event is mickey mouse. And the reality is that this event at that location is anything but.

Slater is only playing by their rules.
If you have a repercharge round, and it isn't a requirement that you compete in the first one to be in the second, and you're confident enough to assume you'll win, why would you ever turn up when the waves don't?

Slater's strategy in Rd1 encounters seems to be either:
a) absolutely blow up and put the fear of dogs into everyone
b) test out some board design or fin setup he knocked up on the weekend

Slater isn't disrespecting the event, he's disrespecting his competitors.
And I for one take my hat off to him.
He's a multiple world champ because of antics like this.

[Yuke Hunt]

Time for a rule change ... if a competitor doesn't show up for the first round they should be eliminated from the event ... regardless of who they may be ... and yes this kind of behaviour is disrespectful on so many levels. Professional surfing is an oxymoron.

[buzzy]

I agree with that. I can't think of any other sport where you can simply not turn up and get a second chance. And I can't think of any other sport which would tolerate its world champ not turning up for one of its "grand slam" events without sanction.

[black duck]

Dane's not there, well it does not seem to have occurred to anyone in La La Land that at this point he might actually have more to lose by showing up. (See points differential on the fabulous One World Rankings, which require a considerable kick from surfing's very own Napoleon Dynamite in order to crack the top 32... he's probably better off pleading injury status right now.)

This suggest Dane's got to do a pretend hobble / knee grab after every air reverse he posts on his website. Can he plead injury for the remaining 7 comps even if he is fit?

[offshore1]

If JBay were firing and Kelly didn't show, that would be disrespectful.
J Bay is flat, and cold, and nothing is happening of any value there at present.
Fiji, on the other hand....

Kelly is a surfer above all else. It's obvious even to the most casual punter that he loves surfing . Life is short, especially as one approaches forty.

firing Fiji or flat frigid J Bay...:

I don't blame him one bit for his choice.....:

[buzzy]

Sure, he exercised his "choice". And if the only consideration is where the best waves are then it's a logical one. but there's more to his decision than that.

Any participant in the world tour has an obligation to support it. As world champ he has an even greater responsibility. He has a responsibility to the sport and tour that enables him to lead the wonderful lifestyle that he does. It reflects very poorly on him that at 39 years of age he still seems to have a limited understanding of his responsibilities on this front.

What's the impact of his choice? It leaves the event organisers with a limited ability to issue press releases and promote the event. In fact, it effectively undermines their ability to promote it. What's the main story? Kelly's absence. The health of the tour depends on people like Slater supporting it. But to the contrary he is undermining it. If all the top seeds started doing what Slater did and forfeiting their first round then the whole event would become a farce. What sort of leadership is Slater providing here to his peers, and in particular the young ones? None, or at best a bad version of it.

Can you imagine Bugs and Cairns and Shaun Tomson and MR behaving like this when they were trying to establish the tour? There's no way.

The way Slater behaves is supremely self indulgent, imho. At 39 years of age he seems to have developed little understanding of personal responsibility or higher obligations. Sorry, that's the way I see it and frankly I reckon pretty obviously that's the way it is.

[Hano]

And had the king been ratings leader I reckon he would have been in Africa from the start.


I also see his actions as disrespectful.