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Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:43 am
by Yuke Hunt
buddy wrote:
Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:42 am
Bad luck, Gabby.
You spelt "suck a dick" wrong.

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:46 am
by buddy
He made it entertaining.

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:50 am
by Nick Carroll
buddy wrote:
Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:42 am
I reckon the title will be decided at Pipe between these two again next year. :)
Bad luck, Gabby.
Nothing to do with luck. Gabriel made a technical surfing error against Jezza. The set where Jeremy got the first wave and scored a mid 7, Gabriel had the second wave all to himself and fcuked it up -- just a bit too close in on the takeoff so he couldn't slide in and under it. Instead he had to run it out and around. That wave was a nine plus in waiting. No other waves of its quality came through during the heat. If Gabriel had risen it to its potential he'd have won the heat. He knew it as soon as he fcuked it and from then on couldn't put a foot right.

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:53 am
by buddy
Nick Carroll wrote:
Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:50 am
buddy wrote:
Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:42 am
I reckon the title will be decided at Pipe between these two again next year. :)
Bad luck, Gabby.
Nothing to do with luck. Gabriel made a technical surfing error against Jezza. The set where Jeremy got the first wave and scored a mid 7, Gabriel had the second wave all to himself and fcuked it up -- just a bit too close in on the takeoff so he couldn't slide in and under it. Instead he had to run it out and around. That wave was a nine plus in waiting. No other waves of its quality came through during the heat. If Gabriel had risen it to its potential he'd have won the heat. He knew it as soon as he fcuked it and from then on couldn't put a foot right.
Was just a term of commiserations rather than an analytical reference :) .
But after you just said that, Gabs has gone on to say "the waves in my heat were really bad".
I guess that's all part of his personality that makes him such a competitor.

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:55 am
by Nick Carroll
and why so many people find him hard to take.

btw I wonder what the WSL honchos are thinking now about their plans to pluck the world tour finale out of the world's greatest surf zone.

Hardly the best ever day at Pipe but ... surf is surf, and the nature of surf made today very intense at times.

It was pretty gnarly the way JJF and the crew shut the broadcast out of their first 10 mins of celebration. Unintentional I'm sure, but gnarly all the same.

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 1:22 pm
by Over55yrs
John John is world champ (Medina knocked out in quarter finals). And agree, Pipeline is the place to have the final event of the year (even if the surf is not great there is an aura about the whole place - waves, crowds, close to the action for broadcast, history).

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 1:27 pm
by offshore1
" thank everyone for supporting me, even when I do stupid shit. "
Flores is pretty cool.

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:14 pm
by Yuke Hunt
offshore1 wrote:
Tue Dec 19, 2017 1:27 pm
" thank everyone for supporting me, even when I do stupid shit. "
Flores is pretty cool.
That should be the RealSurf motto !

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 4:00 pm
by foamy
The advantages of Pipe as the first event.

- Probably better surf. The sand is off the reef and more consistent swells. It might even return to being the Pipeline Masters instead of the Backdoor Masters.
- The first event of the season still carries an extra cachet. Everybody is focussed after the break and is keen to get their season off to a good start. It's never a dead rubber. The results in the first event tend to shape the season a bit. There's a raft of interesting rookies that you are seeing surf for pretty much the first time.
- Having a final in the Mentawais. A choice of great breaks. Best 6 men and best 4 women. Like finals footy, a proven formula to maximise excitement and fan engagement is to have a mini-comp at the end of the season to decide the title. They quite possibly wouldn't get a license to run that sort of boutique event in Hawaii.

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 7:26 pm
by Nick Carroll
foamy they want to do it pay per view. You can't do pay per view at Pipeline, it's a public beach, anyone can go watch it. That's the rationale behind a remote location surf-off.

You will be offered a special "premium" PPV option in the coming season by WSL. You'll still be able to watch CTs free but with the PPV option you'll be free of advertising and there'll probably be a few other extras here and there too. This will prepare the way for a broader PPV option in 2019 -- which for sure will include exclusive access to the world title showdown specialty event.

Re better surf at Pipe, ha ha good luck with that. It's either on or it's off. There's been plenty of Februarys in which Pipe has sucked horribly. It's still just that dynamic stretch of sand and reef. It also does not relate to any other aspect of the world tour, so you start with an event that looks like nothing else -- nothing can be predicted from it. Not that that matters much.

To me the PPV thing is the only rationale for the switch-around in 2019 and it's a good rationale, but it also means abandoning Wimbledon. Did pro tennis abandon Wimbledon? No.

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 7:32 pm
by Thud
Nice analogy.

What's the Rio Pro? Totem tennis in the back yard with only one bat and an exhausted tennis ball?

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 8:14 pm
by buddy
Wimbledon isn't a title deciding event, nor is it the last slam of the year.
But I get your point, they didn't abandon their heritage.

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 8:24 pm
by Yuke Hunt
Wimbledon is one of the big 4, the grand slam. So I'd suppose that abandoning Fiji would be akin to dropping a slam. Indo is a good addition to the tour, and maybe logistically easier than Cloudbreak, but they've still dropped one of the top 3 destinations on tour. I'm not so sure how a PPV thing will pan out, but keeping fiji in the mix would have made the option more attractive. Kelly's wave pool is the linchpin in this nude erection. Sorry, did I just say nude erection, what I meant to say was new direction, oh fuck it, its most definitely a nude erection.

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 8:51 pm
by godsavetheking
Some thoughts:

Ronnie Blakey is, head and shoulders, the best WSL commentator. Despite his enthusiastically Australian delivery, I genuinely look forward to hearing him. He has reached a point where he is actually enhancing the heats he calls, and that's about all you can ask for in a commentator. Whisper it, but maybe the generally unacceptable Peter Mel has allowed him a little more room to breathe than the forensically didactic Ross Williams

Joe Turpel is becoming increasingly bizarre. Each and every one of his commentaries is now a trawl through the archives, selected apparently at random and with the sole purpose of setting up Pottz for another soul-crushingly uninteresting 'back in the day' anecdote. Quite where in the WSL playbook the arcana of rivalries between second-tier professionals in the 1980s sits alongside explaining a combo as if to a moron is anyone's guess

John John's quarterfinal against Julian Wilson was simply terrific. Wilson's no slouch out there, but Florence made him look like a giant huffing spazz

Gabriel Medina's approach to surfing Backdoor reminded me of a firm turd passing through the lower intestine: smooth, efficient but absolutely lacking excitement or flair

PPV? By eleven last night I would gladly have paid a tenner not to watch that Iggy Pop advert again

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 9:01 pm
by Thud
Although you don't really care what I think, agree with you on Ronnie and Iggy, the latter is truly a reflection of our messed up world.

In regards to commentary, I think a Bill McClaren type comparing surfing to a scuffed one wood would be excellent.

You have posted a superbly shit stirring post. Australian's as over enthusiastic blobs devoid of glib European like analysis while having a little crack at Julian. Lol. You son are a naughty boy. To cold for surfing?

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 9:09 pm
by buddy
It seems Ronnie could have his way with anyone.

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 9:39 pm
by godsavetheking
Thud wrote: You have posted a superbly shit stirring post. Australian's as over enthusiastic blobs devoid of glib European like analysis
I think you misunderstand me Thud. Blakey is a good commentator. Not 'good for a surf commentator' good but actually, properly good. I was just referring to his accent; he seems to revel in his Australian-ness and why not. It works
Thud wrote: while having a little crack at Julian.
I meant 'giant huffing spazz' affectionately, of course

Re: Pipe Masters 2017

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:02 pm
by Thud
Ok, I actually enjoyed it. We need a good sardonic kick up the arse sometimes. But that wasn't the aim so all goodness. Yeh he's really come along 'Ol Blakey. He's no Occy but.

Julian. Lol. His name is Julian. He's a good Jack Freestone, but who isn't.