Fiji 2014

[Skipper]

"Ripely would go!"

[pinhead]

Man you guys don't get it - its not about our expectations of a surfing contest or any kind of surfing for that matter. The whole thing is about Zosea selling some kind of package that closely resembles what big corporate marketing departments think a women's surfing event should be. If some Telecom in Austria thinks women "Cutting" and doing "Down turns" in Fiji will help it sell mobile phones then that's what we can expect.

[steve shearer]

means jackshite if no-one is watching.

[Beerfan]

Man you guys don't get it - its not about our expectations of a surfing contest or any kind of surfing for that matter. The whole thing is about Zosea selling some kind of package that closely resembles what big corporate marketing departments think a women's surfing event should be. If some Telecom in Austria thinks women "Cutting" and doing "Down turns" in Fiji will help it sell mobile phones then that's what we can expect.

Yep exactly. If guys like Steve were in charge it may be different but the reality of "professional" sport means the above is correct. Especially for a sport ( is it even really that? Seems wrong to call it a sport ) that is judged subjectively, and is not confined to one region or country.

[swvic]

It's a sport alright, judged against predefined criteria. Just as for diving, gymnastics, etc

Just had another thought about all this. During the comp, Nick mentioned that the girls should be taking off and running a high-line aiming to get barrelled through the middle section. How many of the girls have coaches? What were the coaches doing? I'd expect that even the lower earning girls would have a coach despite there not being enough coin for them to travel. We have the net to watch it live. Surely, even those coaches should have been coaching via email, twatter and fcukbook. What were they telling the girls?

And I'll say it again, I would have had a cnut of a time out there. Mostly for me, windy, bumpy and solid = hello reef

[Finn]

I usually have a week every year surfing CB, and the week I have there normally accounts for about 30% of my total surfing hours in a year, most of my ocean hours are spent running a Nipper Club and training paddling for kids, thus no free time ( showing my age..)....last year there was a Kiwi girl who was sailing around the Pacific there surfing for a few days...she had it nailed, and was really impressive watching. Every guy in the line up was feeling a little insignifcant at times. She wasnt there for her social media hits, she was there to charge.

I agree the performance was disappointing overall. Conditions were not perfect with the wind, but certainly not bad. If CB was open for business with the usual 50 + guys out on a day like that, those girls would have been lucky to get many waves I suspect. CB really is a place where you need to invest time into working out the right spot to be both on take off and down the line, so lets give them a years grace, the one's that take performance surfing seriously will make every effort to be back at Cloudy to put the time and effort in, as this contest nearly looks like low hanging fruit compared to most other contests. With a week or two under your belt there, you should be braining that contest next year. If they return and the performance is the same.....then yep, that then is a fair time to say they are not taking it seriously.

Despite the social media hits attributed I struggle to see what would get a sponsor on the hook for next year, unless Instagram get's on board...

[Lolo]

I was in Fiji the week before the Women's comp and spent pretty much the entire week out at Cloudbreak. We had 10 knots + of trades every day for the entire week and it never really got big enough for Restaurants so Cloudy was the only real surfable break.

Sal was the first one there by a few days. She was there from at least Sunday before the comp and charged the whole week prior. Good to see her win it because she put in twice the hours of anyone else. She was out there pretty much every session for the week. Tyler turned up a couple of days later and most of the girls had shown up by Thursday with the exception of Steph who I never saw.

Shame Sal and Tyler met in the 1/4s because they seemed the two who had it most dialled all week, even if it was only small most of the time. There was one day later in the week when most of the girls were there(Thursday?) when it got a bit intimidating with a few rare sets around the 5-6ft mark showing up and even then some of the girls were noticeably sitting wide and shoulder hopping. Sal, Tyler and oddly Alana Blanchard were the ones who really stood out as the ones going for it. Maybe because Alana's done a few trips to Namotu for Rip Curl's swimsuit shoots? She freesurfs better than her results in the comp would suggest.

Laura Enever had a decent crack at it too but stood out like a sore thumb for the ridiculous number of drop-ins she pulled including one over-the falls take off, attempting to pull out at the last minute which landed her almost on top of a guy who was completely barrelled at the time. Was a very bad, dangerous drop-in on someone slotted. Very ordinary.

Think part of the problem for the girls though isn't the skill level, its just the power of the wave and the conditions out there. When you're only 50kgs or less I'd imagine it would be very hard to deal with the power of the wave, especially with a bit of bump on it from the constant trades. Can't see that ever changing. It's hard enough at 85 kg.

[crabmeat thompson]

Think part of the problem for the girls though isn't the skill level, its just the power of the wave and the conditions out there. When you're only 50kgs or less I'd imagine it would be very hard to deal with the power of the wave, especially with a bit of bump on it from the constant trades. Can't see that ever changing. It's hard enough at 85 kg.

Exactly .

which is why it's not being sexist to say the girls need to put into positions setting them up for success, not failure. And success at cloudbreak no matter how wired they get it, would be a longshot at best.

[steve shearer]

Braithy, thats about as pure an example of sexist garbage as has ever been published on the interwebs.

The Taliban would be proud of that one. No we can't educate our girls, their brains are too small to ever be any good for anything but kids and housework. Lets not set them up to fail by educating them.

[crabmeat thompson]

girls surfing cloudbreak being compared to the taliban? how fcuking dramatic could you get.

Not talking about their brain size, talking about the fact they weigh 55kilos or less. Coco is 48 kilo. Taking a drop and sticking a rail and coming out down the line at cloudbreak as a bantamweight is a disadvantage to a light heavyweight.

its physics, not sexism.

[Nick Carroll]

ha ha Reno Abellira won the 1974 Smirnoff Pro, held in 30 foot plus Waimea Bay. Still the single biggest surf world championship style event. Reno stands around 5'5" and at the time was cut to ribbons, he woulda weighed less than 60 kilos.

Bianca Buitendag stands 6'1" and would weigh maybe 70 kilos or a bit more. She'd definitely out-box Filipe Toledo. Surely would have out boxed JJF when Johnny was 15, short, skinny and surfing big Pipeline.

Rob Machado won Pipe in 2000, at the time Rob weighed just under 130lb, what's that in kilos, oh yeah 59.

Alana Blanchard grew up surfing in Kauai where needless to say there are numerous dredgy reef breaks.

Maybe try to look at the athletes more directly. Trying to gender qualify 'em en masse is just silly.

[swvic]

And the coaching, Nick. Where were they? Would you have tried to coach them as per your comment at the time?

[crabmeat thompson]

There is always, no matter what pursuit you're talking about exceptions to a general rule. But even then you're offering some mind blowing comparisons there. the 1974 smirnoff pro? So much has changed in surfing I can't see how it's even relevant?

The guys standing out at waimea these days are a little different in physique, huh? And Alana? I've never seen her surf well, let alone in a heavy situation. Machado is easily your best example, and there's not too many 60 odd kilo men owning heavy reef break situations ... again, the exception to the rule.

For every alex gray, Kieren Perrow or Machado you can name, I'll give you a pancho, Sunny, Laird, Wassell, Greg long, ross clark jones, Mark Healey who imo, are displacing more water and imo, much more enjoyable to watch surf.

[crabmeat thompson]

plus Nick, I recall you writing in several places about the new prototypical modern surfer's physique and you had Andy Irons as your template.

Six-foot plus, around 80 kilo, lots of power and torque through his turns, man handling heavy reef situations from his bodyweight and muscle.


So, you have in the past acknowledged body mass and strength equalling higher performance, especially in powerful waves. Interesting how the topic switches to women, and suddenly you want to move away from your previously published paradigm.

[Beerfan]

ha ha Reno Abellira won the 1974 Smirnoff Pro, held in 30 foot plus Waimea Bay. Still the single biggest surf world championship style event. Reno stands around 5'5" and at the time was cut to ribbons, he woulda weighed less than 60 kilos.

Bianca Buitendag stands 6'1" and would weigh maybe 70 kilos or a bit more. She'd definitely out-box Filipe Toledo. Surely would have out boxed JJF when Johnny was 15, short, skinny and surfing big Pipeline.

Rob Machado won Pipe in 2000, at the time Rob weighed just under 130lb, what's that in kilos, oh yeah 59.

Alana Blanchard grew up surfing in Kauai where needless to say there are numerous dredgy reef breaks.

Maybe try to look at the athletes more directly. Trying to gender qualify 'em en masse is just silly.

All well and good nick, but the real question is how much did those surfers coaches weigh? That's as much of a legitimate statement as the last few posts. Jesus. By braithys logic to surf more than double overhead you've got no chance unless 110kg plus. Ridiculous.


I guess it's what happens when Gerry Lopez is your training partner out there on the sea.

[steve shearer]

I dunno Braithy, I think your arguments that the women can't surf Cloudbreak because they are too light, frail, interested in shopping etc etc are just risible.

That's why I bought in the Taliban comparison, because that's the kind of dinosaur bearded male sexism thinking it's representative of.

It's actually hard to believe an educated male could still actually have the front to make those arguments in public circa 2014.

next you'll be telling us women's tennis players can't hit the ball because they r too delicate.

[crabmeat thompson]

hey beerguts ... the only weight I gave was light heavyweight. That' be around 80 kilos. But don't let the truth get in the way of a witch hunt.

next you'll be telling us women's tennis players can't hit the ball because they r too delicate.

Not at all. I'd say they can't hit the ball as hard as men. But again, that's fact, not opinion.

The women can surf cloudbreak no doubt. But so can I with varying degrees of success. Compared to the men's tour it was a painful event to watch.

Lakey Peterson's heat. She never caught a wave in half an hour, despite all kinds of waves rumbling through. The womens final, neither surfer could break into double figures.

again it's all fact. Not opinion. Stating the women would thrive in less demanding waves at a time in the growth of the sport, thriving is essential, isn't a long bow to be drawing I wouldn't have thought.

[steve shearer]

yeah, true. Embarassing as all hell for the womens tour.

But to state the reason for that is because they are female is equally embarrassing.

No reason Gilmore, Wright, Moore, Fitzgibbon, Buitendag couldn't give a completely competent display out there if they showed the requisite level of professionalism in their approach to preparation, equipment etc etc.

I loved that last interview with Baldy. He basically said exactly that: I've got my shitt together as far as surfing heats goes,no reason other people can't too.

People don't watch womens tennis to see the women hit the ball as hard as men. They watch it because it is awesome elite sport.