Hurley Pro

[steve shearer]

He wrote at length about music and culture.....especially the tempo of a culture as expressed in it's language.
The paso doble played during bullfights.....especially as the matador delivers the kill and also a dance between a couple.

Nietzsche: we understand that as one grows weak another grows correspondingly stronger.

A dance where one partner is growing weaker as the other gets stronger: with a kill delivered in the closing parts of the dance.

[Lucky Al]

that's beautiful shearer, and chilling. whack into your next article i reckon.

[TMC]

Yeah good idea Shearer, you have a large enough audience to alienate 95% of them.

[Nick Carroll]

NC, whats ya thoughts on the JW-Owen interference ?

They both wanted the wave, J slightly too deep for the right, O ended up with wave possession and forced the issue.

Head judge has the final call on interference, without talking with him any comment is just babble really, but I bet he watched the replay about a dozen times in slo-mo and made the call based on a strict interpretation of the no-priority peak interference rule. Reminded me of an NRL video ref call. Without the replay, the call may not have been made.

It's always a shit way of deciding a heat but one guy made an error and the other guy didn't.

JW would have known he made a mistake by getting to his feet once he'd been outflanked on the peak, he would have been more pissed off with that than anything, even if he didn't admit it in any interviews.

By the way this heat featured perhaps the most ga ga line of a fairly hum drum commentary, from the usually quite languidly sharp Mob: "It's fun to have fun."

No fcuken way! You're kidding me.

[Cookie]

I'm not sure I buy the whole Owen got robbed conspiracy theory either. KS looked like the winner pretty clearly to me. If anything I reckon Owen has been getting the benefit of a number of close calls since stepping into the limelight in Tahiti.

J-Dub smoked him clearly in NY for mine but the judges went the other way. Jon Jon could have easily got the nod in round 3 at Trestles too. A dead heat with Mick in the quarters. Line ball decisions but all went his way.

And the interference - WTF?? J-Dub should have gone right and just run into O. Then which way does the interference go? They both get to their feet at the exact same time but in switching left and trying to get out of the way J-Dub scores himself an interference???? Maybe it looked different live but didn't look like JW was too deep for the right to me. Judges should have used some discretion and let it slide - was minimal interference if any.

Only question is can Owen maintain the rage. There's been very few guys who can maintain the sort of run he's on now. Kelly can keep getting top 5 finishes all year, can Owen?

Also do the seedings stay the same for the rest of the year? That bottom half of the draw sure seemed pretty stacked for this contest. Fanning, Parko, J-Dub, Jon Jon, Owen, even Simpo who is on a roll make that a tough half. Kelly just had Taj and all the brazzo's to get past. Even with Heitor on fire thats seems the easier side of the draw.

[Nick Carroll]

Also do the seedings stay the same for the rest of the year? That bottom half of the draw sure seemed pretty stacked for this contest.

Kind of, they get tweaked via the world rankings but it doesn't tend to change much through a cutoff phase.

Within events, the seedings change based on who makes it past round two. (Events are re-seeded into round three then the draw is locked.) On current form, there won't be much difference from now to SF -- except maybe with Jordy's return -- though he may not be sighted till Peniche.

Pipe will be all over the shop because of the local wildcard injection.

[crabmeat thompson]

I think Kelly gets a bit of a bad rap about the overscoring bit because he surfs so damn effortlessly. Other guys put everything into turns that Kelly is fairly ho-hum about.

But Kelly is clutch and methodical at the most critical time in an heat. He's like a fcuking SAS sniper.

[pridmore]

he surfs crisper and fast and dominant....and he is nearly fuc.king 40...I reckon he is the best athlete on the planet, let alone surfer...11 titles looks likely but theres a few new challengers...when will his surfing not be the best ? will age get to him ? or will the youngsters catch up to him or will he retire on top ??? Is it possible he will win 12 or even 13 ??? everyone thought MRs record wasnt going to be topped.....maybe he will be the best surfer in the world at 45

[crabmeat thompson]

My two cents is ... Kelly's biggest obstacle on being world champ at 45 or with 13 titles or whatever is losing interest.

I'd never get sick of watching him surf, so I hope he's still doing this in 5 years time.

[channels]

I think the bigger over score for Kelly happened in the semi versus Alves...his final wave of 9.57 see med pretty high compared to Alves only getting 8.5 for his effort.

[booradley]

I think Kelly gets a bit of a bad rap about the overscoring bit because he surfs so damn effortlessly. Other guys put everything into turns that Kelly is fairly ho-hum about.

But Kelly is clutch and methodical at the most critical time in an heat. He's like a fcuking SAS sniper.

This kind of misses the point . Slater is the best contest surfer if not the best surfer of his era...and it's a bloody long era and getting longer. Accepted. But there is a definite pattern of overscroring when he takes on a difficult opponent. Notwithstanding, Nick's point about parallax errors between webcast and judging tower, it seems the goalposts change depending on what KS does on a wave. When he does 5 identical reos/carves it's "classic rail to rail power surfing" when someone else does it "it lacks variety and isnt progressive enough". When he boosts or does 360's "it's futuristic and radical", someone else and "yeah, it's edgey but lacking control ". Just look at what happened with JW in his heat with Mick and Parko; that pop-shove-it-thingy must have about the highest degree of difficulty in the book, he lands switchfoot and then hits a tail slide and gets a 7.9 or something! Tell me if Slats had done that it wouldnt have been 8.5+.
And that's the issue, it's only a .5 or .8 here or there but that is making all the difference.
I wonder i fhe finds it embarrassing or can he not see it?

[Donweather]

Well it appears it's not only Kelly who's getting over scored. How the feck did Owen's last wave in the Qtrs against Fanning beat Fanning's last wave. Compare the two and Mick's wave wins hands down.

Slater's 9.57 in the semi's.....way fecking overscored IMO. How the feck that is a 9.57 ride is beyond me. Heitor's split peak left was way better.

Seriously, how the feck was Kelly's last wave in the final a 9.0. Judges obviously paid by Hurley!!!

[booradley]

Bloody hell, I just watched the Kerr vs Slater quarter - I defy anyone to tell me how Slater's 9.43 was that much better than Kerr's 7. Ridiculous

[pridmore]

I am a big Parko fan but I didnt like his comment about JW after he did the crazy aerial varial flip thingy, he said it was ugly when he landed and something else bitter...I reckon they might be a little worried about the new crew charging thru with innovative moves ....dont blame em, they are ripping especially Kerrzy and JW and a few of the Brazzos... I still hope Parko wins a title but I dont think he ever will....

[mustkillmulloway]

Bloody hell, I just watched the Kerr vs Slater quarter - I defy anyone to tell me how Slater's 9.43 was that much better than Kerr's 7. Ridiculous

pretty much the only way i can take ego tripping...sorry, pro surfing seriously is too turn the sound down and tune out from the scores.....if u just watch the surfing for surfings sake.....it's unreal

rest b/s surrounding it leaves me cold....it's that amauter its just boring

[northeasterly]

Have to agree with Parko about the JW varial thing - it was ugly.

The degree of skill is off the charts but it just doesn't seem to be that functional and the style factor drops to zero when they're trying to ride out of it.Kerr pulled an amazing one in NY and got scored well for it but it was at the end of the wave. That's where they belong - as an exclamation point. JW riding 'stink bug' into the next section probably got points deducted.

As for Slater - he gets over-scored and he gets under-scored. So does Owen. Slater was definitely the best surfer at that event and deserved to win it. His last wave was so powerful - air or no air. I'd give it a 9.

[pridmore]

I reckon it was amazing, a little less smooth and stylish but how the fark do you land that and keep it pretty ? I think it probably takes more skill and risk to do it as the first turn, then to back it up with anoth air was huge, they ask for innovation, and commitment, well there it was...I dont even care bout the score they gave him but the fact that Parko had a to make a negative comment even after he won, seemed bitter to me....maybe the landing wasnt super stylish but it was better looking than Kerrzy's landing...then to back it up with another air.. least they got to meet again later.....better than seeing the same air reverse from Jadsen every time, they are good but some variety ....

[buzzy]

I'm turning into a bit of a JW fan but I reckon Parko is right. A lot of the air stuff ends up looking ugly, or is ugly the whole way through. JW's turns on "that" wave were amazing, but the transition bits were ugly as. If surfing is about style AND radical then that should count. For the sake of appearances maybe Parko should have kept his mouth shut but the surfing community seems far too concerned about what everyone else thinks.

I reckon surfing is as much about putting in the right turn in the right part of the wave as it is about the turn itself. If a 10 second barrel was in the offing but you opted for a 10 foot punt into the whitewater instead and let the wave peel off without you, that's bad, in my eyes. Slater would get a 10 if he missed a 10 second barrel for an air, particularly if he raised both arms above his head and fist pumped the crowd.

Going back to an earlier comment from Steve Shearer, an 8 doesn't become a 9 or 10 because it happened late in a heat. The fact that someone surfs well in the late stages of a heat might add to the dramatic tension but the job of a judge is to objectively and consistently score what they see. If judges are truly overscoring waves because they are caught late in the heat, and that's a recognised part of the criteria, I reckon that's laughable. Pathetic. Etc.