Fiji Pro Cloudbreak 2017

[jimmy]

Spot on as usual GS. I used to be SO into the tour it makes me sick.
Doherty needs to write an article like that because when all is said and done. He's polishing a turd with this contest and the fact that the bulk of his writing centres around the tour means he has a vested interest in making it interesting.
I'm not sure what it is but since the ASP became the WSL I'm less interested.

[channels]

The heat analyser has made it too easy. I'll scroll through, watch the waves over 7.0 and move on.

Didn't bother with Brazil, haven't bothered with Fiji as didn't really know it was on.

JJF's surfing at Margo was insane, Snapper was underwhelming the way barrels were ignored, Bells quite forgettable.

Comps are too long, the 4th round no-one goes home is crap, too many surfers just making up the numbers, cut it down to 16 or so with a 1 or 2 day comp in primo conditions.

[jimmy]

I also used to find it a lot more interesting when it appeared that there was some cover ups. And there was a lot back in the day. From Sarge to Andy and countless other tales, there was a sexiness to the tour that seems to be missing now. Shit even Greeny refusing to paddle out at Waimea whenever that was. I loved that and it effectively ended his career.
Now when I hear about Owen's brain injury that was no way related to a coke bender I'm a bit.. Meh.

[Cranked]

What a cruel fate for the wild beast that was competitive surfing, taken over by venture capital and sanitized to within an inch of its very life

[offshore1]

yeah, I don't mean middle America. I mean California and the East Coast: it's been a continual series of false starts and sputtering fade outs.
And they had Curren, and then Kelly and it still couldn't take hold.

It never really took hold of the US surfing culture the way it did in Australia.

I guarantee you Steve, every surfer from Florida knows of Kelly Slater, likewise every US surfer in every state with surf. Here's the thing though,
surfers on the edges of coastal states are a marginal breed in those states.
Coastal states with surf are a marginal segment of the greater fifty.
America is populated coast to coast.

Get on the other side of the Blue Mountains in Oz, heading for Perth, you better be very well prepared.
It's a fcuking desert.
Almost everyone in Australia lives on the coast.

English, and later others , on the other hand, made landfall in America and within a generation or two moved inland to greener pastures.

Contests, I still enjoy watching them, if for no other reason than watching the subtle techniques of the best in the world. But as far as an exciting sport to watch, two or three surfers sitting in the water in shit conditions waiting for a wave will NEVER beat the NBA or the NFL in attracting American viewers.
Maybe cricket.
Or lawn bowls.

[steve shearer]

I guarantee you Steve, every surfer from Florida knows of Kelly Slater, likewise every US surfer in every state with surf.

No doubt Offy. I haven't run into any Floridian surfers for a long time, nor hardly any americanos. There used to be a small stream of travelling american surfers who would show up at the Point but I haven't seen any for a couple winters now. Maybe it's the sharks, maybe it's economic conditions in the US, maybe they are all going to Indo- I found travelling american surfers a pleasure to surf with and great for a bullshitt or a beer in the carpark afterwards...........
But I do meet quite a few travelling non surfing americans and I ask everyone of them about KS.......his recognition is low amongst non-surfers. Most have just simply never heard of him.
You could go out to Thargomindah pub and I guarantee you every cocky there will know Mick Fanning. They probably know Steph Gilmore too. Pro surfing is just a totally mainstream activity here in a way unlike any other country I can think of or have been to.
WSL haven't quite managed to fcuk that up....but they've taken it for granted and I don't think they have the faintest clue how quickly this house of cards would collapse if they lost or compromised the Australian support system for pro surfing.

[Cranked]

Theres still a big core group of americans on the bukit.

Most of the surfers in the area where I stay are yanks, usually from hawaii. The brazilians outnumber everyone, but they come and go, the yanks are more or less permanents

[The Mighty Sunbird]

And no Aussies, yeah

[crabmeat thompson]

The transition from asp to wsl, has had a tangible disconnect for a lot of people who used to follow tour surfing.

the wsl has failed, and continue to fail. where they will bottom out is anyone's guess.

[foamy]

Well, they got rid of the desk.

[Beanpole]

Not really on the radar in Fiji either. An American guy where we are staying was watching it on his phone at breakfast. Not much stuff in shops here about it. Some mention in the daily rag. Another American guy who runs a surf camp in Samoa commented about the lack of merchandise around.

[Nick Carroll]

I guarantee you Steve, every surfer from Florida knows of Kelly Slater, likewise every US surfer in every state with surf.

No doubt Offy. I haven't run into any Floridian surfers for a long time, nor hardly any americanos. There used to be a small stream of travelling american surfers who would show up at the Point but I haven't seen any for a couple winters now. Maybe it's the sharks, maybe it's economic conditions in the US, maybe they are all going to Indo- I found travelling american surfers a pleasure to surf with and great for a bullshitt or a beer in the carpark afterwards...........
But I do meet quite a few travelling non surfing americans and I ask everyone of them about KS.......his recognition is low amongst non-surfers. Most have just simply never heard of him.
You could go out to Thargomindah pub and I guarantee you every cocky there will know Mick Fanning. They probably know Steph Gilmore too. Pro surfing is just a totally mainstream activity here in a way unlike any other country I can think of or have been to.
WSL haven't quite managed to fcuk that up....but they've taken it for granted and I don't think they have the faintest clue how quickly this house of cards would collapse if they lost or compromised the Australian support system for pro surfing.

I think they already have compromised it to some extent. Nobody who puts financial energy into the Australian CTs - including the surf cos, the tourism bodies etc - are exactly fans of the organisation. The local Aussies who work for it are happy for a pay cheque but they also feel a bit weird about how the organisation distances them from a lot of other people in what you might call the working culture of Australian surfing. The WSL put quite a bit of time during the recent Aussie leg into trying to woo support from that working culture, various Australian surf businesses who they seemed to have suddenly thought might be of use to them, but almost every surf business person I've talked with since then had a very cool reaction to being involved, they actually found the approaches a bit odd and lacking in a sense of partnership or even any real intent. Gestures if you will.

Suffice it to say, I suspect anyway, that if the WSL sorta crumbled at some point, a lot of that crew would sorta be sorry in an oh-dear-how-sad-never-mind way, and just get on with whatever the next incarnation happened to be.

[crabmeat thompson]

Suffice it to say, I suspect anyway, that if the WSL sorta crumbled at some point, a lot of that crew would sorta be sorry in an oh-dear-how-sad-never-mind way, and just get on with whatever the next incarnation happened to be.

yep. it feels like to me, we're all waiting for the rich guy to get bored of making losses, and walk away, and had the tour back to surfers.

untilthen, even if the waves pump, it's still all too ho-hum.

[foamy]

Hang on. This comp has been ho-hum, but so many days on the Aussie leg were pretty top-rate surf comp entertainment.

[Nick Carroll]

hey just watching Bede vs Joel, three commentators including Kelly, and a heat just comes to life. The third voice of someone who isn't scared to call out odd scores and who pins what we're all seeing with ease. It's not that fcuken hard!

[Nick Carroll]

...and it's back to gigs.

[alakaboo]

It was odd to see Kelly concentrate while commentating for once.

Are they gonna finish it today? Pretty underwhelming waves (based on my unrealistically high expectations, if happily surf them myself)

[steve shearer]

hard marker Boo if you find that quality of surf underwhelming.