Fiji 2014

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[crabmeat thompson]

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.

Maybe I misrepresented myself, or did a poor job of communicating my point. The reason isn't simply because they have vaginas and are women. It was a generalised comment about physiques, strength and the obvious advantage of having more power to weight.

It had nothing to do about the required mentality -- which for the record, I think the girls have a fearlessness on tour, which has never been prevalent right across the tour as it is today.

I reckon when you talk about women in sport, if you're critical or disagreeable, it's too easy to be branded a sexist.

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.

I dunno. Their cute outfits and fit bodies have a fair bit to with why the casuals -- especially men -- watch women's tennis, I woulda thought.

[Beerfan]

Braithy, could you advise on the best weight for the following breaks

Gland

The superbank

Bells beach

Duranbah

Your advice would be appreciated as you've obviously got it sorted.

[Nick Carroll]

Tangential to current discussion - can someone say when the men's is looking likely to run, so I know to watch that day? Save me looking up forecasts etc.

Yeah, probably tomorrow or the next day

they better get it done 'cause the last four days are looking like about as exactly the opposite of a Fiji situation as you could possibly conjure up.

[crabmeat thompson]

Braithy, could you advise on the best weight for the following breaks

Gland

The superbank

Bells beach

Duranbah

Your advice would be appreciated as you've obviously got it sorted.

you need to get off the painkillers and go for a walk.

[foamy]

I was away last week on a surf trip and the only bit of the Fiji women's I saw was on ABC TV's News Breakfast with Virginia Trioli et al. They had some footage each morning, ran it a few times, and gave some heat result updates.

They ran some good footage, some of it of women pulling in and not making it, some of good turns etc. The ABC hosts kept reminding viewers of the dangers of the shallow reef. In that more general interest forum, I can assure you the women were not embarrassing themselves. Their brand was not being hurt one bit. They were proving themselves as gutsy adventure athletes.

[ctd]

Braithy, could you advise on the best weight for the following breaks

Gland

The superbank

Bells beach

Duranbah

Your advice would be appreciated as you've obviously got it sorted.

Assumng you are male, 72kg for all of them. Or whatever Mr Carroll weighs. For every extra kg you have, add 0.23l to your board.

[steve shearer]

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.

strongly agree. I thought Tyler had the most improvement in her, and possibly the best pre-existing reef break chops.

[Clif]

Ummmmm

Paige Alms charges Jaws.

I don't find myself wondering about how much she weighs

[Shoulder hopper]

The only way we will see a marked improvement is with time spent out in the water to learn the break and become confident in the expected conditions.
Hopefully now that the girls know Fiji is in the mix, that they can get the time and the backing to make some experience gathering trips there and surf to a higher level at next years comp (hopefully it's still on).

Weight might have a little bit of a bearing if you were a flyweight and in a real strong wind but I think ability , experience, right equipment (heavier boards) and confidence are the main considerations for any surfers, male or female, in any heavy reef break.

[foamy]

In Braithy's defence, weren't the waves overhead, dredging, with a bit of chop and a cross swell, and on most surfer's backhand? Bucking a little. Of all waves, those are the ones that most commonly defy the light touch. It's more clenched teeth, arm barred, pig dogging. Setting your weight low and firmly gripping the rail. A bit of weight can help, or good strength to weight ratio. One or the other is a big help. Being able to keep enough weight back to hold in the tail while having most of your weight forward, while holding your butt on the deck.

[daisy]

awesome amounts of mansplaining, or something very like it, going on in this thread.

unfortunately no(?) female surfers seem to have had the balls (i.e. been bothered) to get in amongst it here. i've been watching the heats on RS off an on, and have hardly seen a female of any description even look like making one (a comment, I mean). not unlike the situation out at CB, perhaps? maybe there is too much chatter thanks to all the wind blowing across the screen, and they are all lightweights?

any theories as to whether female surfers will ever be able to take on a really heavy setup like the RS forums?

[steve shearer]

scared to ask Daisy but what is mansplaining?

As to the question, you've got ninety posts in....why don't you join in?

[andy2476]

any theories as to whether female surfers will ever be able to take on a really heavy setup like the RS forums?

Pretty much all the female surfers I've met are nowhere near retarded enough to mix it with this bunch of dickheads.

[crabmeat thompson]

In Braithy's defence, weren't the waves overhead, dredging, with a bit of chop and a cross swell, and on most surfer's backhand? Bucking a little. Of all waves, those are the ones that most commonly defy the light touch. It's more clenched teeth, arm barred, pig dogging. Setting your weight low and firmly gripping the rail. A bit of weight can help, or good strength to weight ratio. One or the other is a big help. Being able to keep enough weight back to hold in the tail while having most of your weight forward, while holding your butt on the deck.

... yeah that's all I was getting at. After surfing it during last year's comp I thought it was a brute force, not a finesse wave. Especially that high line Nick was recommending the girls to take. Out going tide, a bit of wind bump, even at 6-8ft the wave has so much updraft on your backhand. You have to wrestle with your board to keep it down.

[steve shearer]

Nice backflip Braithy.

[crabmeat thompson]

No backflip shearer. I'm just mansplainin' myself.

Summary: The girls do themselves more harm in an asp, promoting the sport context, at places like Tahiti and Fiji than they build their brand. For all of the reasons I've explained.

I disagree with Nick when he says the girls will have a remarkable improvement next year and the year after. Should they get a macking swell, they will be exposed even further. Restaurants at 6 foot mid tide and lower, you have to be a fcuking lion to own that wave. Meanwhile around the corner its 12ft plus. Pick your poison ladies.

but ... didn't we learn this all before when the girls were made to surf Teahupo'o for a few seasons? My prediction is history will repeat itself.

The future will tell us who's right and who isn't. Not some frumped up bloke on the internet claiming women's rights on their behalf. Which in itself is a form of sexism

[steve shearer]

frumped up bloke?
Douche?

You're really rattled aren't you. Save some ammo mate, and try and play the ball not the man.

Don't worry mate, I'm sure all the little ladies will be back in the kitchen cooking dinner before you know it and this is just an aberration.