princess margaret river pro

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crabmeat thompson
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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by crabmeat thompson » Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:49 pm

Hatchnam wrote:
Brian Brainwave wrote:bells is an unreal wave to surf. nothing like those big walls. the modern pros seem to miss the point of them.


not the old school guys but. Sunny, Occy, Egan, Hoy, Curren, Carroll etc ... they had the place wired. i remember seeing margo out there on a 6-8ft swell, mighta been when ganey was shooting pulse.

and margo at big bells was close to as good as it gets.
There's footage of Margo shredding bells in his wanderjahr film from about 15 years ago. Also tearing six foot dbah and eight foot Haleiwa bowls a new arse with boards in the 7'0+ range.

i heart margo and his use of big foamy boards.



you know a secret, hell good board?

the margo nugget by dhd. pretty much the only dhd i'd ever think about owning. I had one, 6'4" like 20 something wide and 2 3/4 thick. Used it for big beachies and burleigh in the late 90's when you really needed to paddle.
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Wed May 27, 2020 8:09 am
Would you mind throwing in a little more homoeroticism

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Hatchnam
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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by Hatchnam » Fri Mar 24, 2017 8:27 pm

I nearly pulled the trigger on that exact board a few years ago. The Margo nugget and same dimensions. The base stores used to stock them. Margo's surfing is epic. My top three of all time.
1) Curren
2) Margo
3) Occy
Sniff wrote:
Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:39 am
Not enough for a full handbeak
steve shearer wrote:full dionysian hand jive body torque

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crabmeat thompson
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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by crabmeat thompson » Fri Mar 24, 2017 9:02 pm

Mine:

Curren
Margo
Dane

Honorable mention. Rasta.
Kunji wrote:
Wed May 27, 2020 8:09 am
Would you mind throwing in a little more homoeroticism

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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by buddy » Fri Mar 24, 2017 9:09 pm

Hatchnam wrote:I nearly pulled the trigger on that exact board a few years ago. The Margo nugget and same dimensions. The base stores used to stock them. Margo's surfing is epic. My top three of all time.
1) Curren
2) Margo
3) Occy
Didn't expect your all time list to be all thruster riders, but hard to argue with.

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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by buddy » Fri Mar 24, 2017 9:22 pm

BA wrote:
Nick Carroll wrote:I like Bells a lot and feel it is underrated and often under surfed in the event. People sit way down on the end bowl takeoff and sometimes even wide of that, then surf it "slow", trying to keep the pace down in order to time those straight up and down big-spray top turns. But the waves they catch have often already peeled for 150 metres from the top takeoff outside Little Rincon. A good wave from back there is better than Winkipop -- it's very fast, it throws up a range of opportunities, and it brings you into the bowl with speed to burn. It's an awesome place to sit and wait in the early phase of a good swell, you can really pick the eyes out of a set and there's a lot of anticipation of the speed lines which is often fulfilled and even surpassed by the ride itself. You do need quite a bit of south in the swell for that kind of wave though -- more west and the wave shifts down to the bowl and Winki turns into the spot.
Great description NC. You've got me all nostalgic. I grew up surfing Bells. People always say Winki's better, but in the right swell, right tide etc. it definitely holds its own. And it just has a feel, especially at dawn or sunset. The place is just kinda raw. I hope MC and his crew keep up the good fight.

And I think Brian nailed it, bigger boards seem to work better there. The pros go too short. Just my uneducated opinion.
Yeh, Jordy takes out a longer board with more foam out there and is probably the best of the pros to watch.

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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by Nick Carroll » Sat Mar 25, 2017 6:28 am

Brian Brainwave wrote:
Nick Carroll wrote:I like Bells a lot and feel it is underrated and often under surfed in the event. People sit way down on the end bowl takeoff and sometimes even wide of that, then surf it "slow", trying to keep the pace down in order to time those straight up and down big-spray top turns. But the waves they catch have often already peeled for 150 metres from the top takeoff outside Little Rincon.

it's their boards hey. too small to link the whole wave up.
nah it's just them trying to fit the panel's criteria

"pros ride too small a board", one of the great modern furphies imo. These are people who ride 6'4"s at 10' Pipe and make it look easy.

top 32 pro surfers could ride that back Bells wave in their sleep on any board they own. Hell even an old guy like me can. Last really good surf I had out there was on a 5'9". But the judges don't really wanna see the more lateral lines you typically draw to make those longer sections running down toward the Bowl. The judges want to see vertical top to bottom turns pushed from outside the flat wave base up into the hook, riding really close to the foam and as steep as possible, and fully committed carves vertically down the face at speed out of the lip area. Plus whatever innovative big air shit you can come up with.

So going back in and deep and constructing an entire wave is not rewarded. Three megaturns in tight on the bowl section is. So that's what they do.

The delights of the back Rincon bomb don't translate to the criteria. They're just delights on their own. One of those odd times when the needs of a heat just don't quite fit the best essence of a location.

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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by Beanpole » Sat Mar 25, 2017 7:11 am

Surely that negates the need to have the comp at that location then?
Also it gives a great wave a literal slap in the face.
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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by Hatchnam » Sat Mar 25, 2017 7:18 am

buddy wrote:
Hatchnam wrote:I nearly pulled the trigger on that exact board a few years ago. The Margo nugget and same dimensions. The base stores used to stock them. Margo's surfing is epic. My top three of all time.
1) Curren
2) Margo
3) Occy
Didn't expect your all time list to be all thruster riders, but hard to argue with.
4) Cheyne Horan
5) Buttons
Sniff wrote:
Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:39 am
Not enough for a full handbeak
steve shearer wrote:full dionysian hand jive body torque

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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by steve shearer » Sat Mar 25, 2017 7:26 am

Nick Carroll wrote: One of those odd times when the needs of a heat just don't quite fit the best essence of a location.

I don't think it's that odd really. I rarely watch a heat at J-Bay and think the "needs of a heat" and the judging criteria+ modern equipment is doing justice to the wave.
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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by Rustt » Sat Mar 25, 2017 8:39 am

BA wrote:
Nick Carroll wrote:I like Bells a lot and feel it is underrated and often under surfed in the event. People sit way down on the end bowl takeoff and sometimes even wide of that, then surf it "slow", trying to keep the pace down in order to time those straight up and down big-spray top turns. But the waves they catch have often already peeled for 150 metres from the top takeoff outside Little Rincon. A good wave from back there is better than Winkipop -- it's very fast, it throws up a range of opportunities, and it brings you into the bowl with speed to burn. It's an awesome place to sit and wait in the early phase of a good swell, you can really pick the eyes out of a set and there's a lot of anticipation of the speed lines which is often fulfilled and even surpassed by the ride itself. You do need quite a bit of south in the swell for that kind of wave though -- more west and the wave shifts down to the bowl and Winki turns into the spot.
Great description NC. You've got me all nostalgic. I grew up surfing Bells. People always say Winki's better, but in the right swell, right tide etc. it definitely holds its own. And it just has a feel, especially at dawn or sunset. The place is just kinda raw. I hope MC and his crew keep up the good fight.

And I think Brian nailed it, bigger boards seem to work better there. The pros go too short. Just my uneducated opinion.
That is a pretty spot on description, Bells is a unique wave and surfs different to how it looks from the beach. I grew up surfing Bells , love sitting out at rincon on bigger days and pick the one with the peak in it, there the one that barrel and it's an awesome barrel when you snag one I've always ridden bigger boards out there since I travelled in the 80's and learnt 6'3 is not a gun :-D-:

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crabmeat thompson
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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by crabmeat thompson » Sat Mar 25, 2017 9:07 am

Nick Carroll wrote:
"pros ride too small a board", one of the great modern furphies imo. These are people who ride 6'4"s at 10' Pipe and make it look easy.

i don't think they make it look easy at all. in fact, they make it look unnecessarily hard. taking off under the lip, inside rail sliding down the face until bites and the fins hold and then they get their speed.


Craig Anderson (based off watching countless hours of Gerry Lopez) surfing that red apache single is the way to surf pipe, imo. roll in, find an impeccably stylish line with a valium stance and get spat out into the channel. that's so much more appealing to the eye than butt dragging down the face until the fins engage with the pocket and then get speed.


all subjective though. this is no right or wrong answer here... but, i've always thought until surfing takes style into account, it's going nowhere fast.
Kunji wrote:
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Would you mind throwing in a little more homoeroticism

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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by Rustt » Sat Mar 25, 2017 9:20 am

" that's so much more appealing to the eye than butt dragging down the face until the fins engage with the pocket and then get speed."

They're probably more concerned with how the board feels/rides for them than appealing to anyones viewing tastes, like you say, no right or wrong

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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by buddy » Sat Mar 25, 2017 11:18 am

They seem to get more points the harder it looks though, ie kelly slater late drop to layback recovery at chopes.

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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by Nick Carroll » Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:29 pm

I think the judges are awake to that these days, viz KS's pizza throwing top turns, they look harder than they are and the judges don't even raise an eyebrow at 'em any more

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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by Nick Carroll » Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:36 pm

steve shearer wrote:
Nick Carroll wrote: One of those odd times when the needs of a heat just don't quite fit the best essence of a location.

I don't think it's that odd really. I rarely watch a heat at J-Bay and think the "needs of a heat" and the judging criteria+ modern equipment is doing justice to the wave.
OK let's play a game! Which CT spots fit and which don't?
Heat need: two excellent rides in 30 minutes, opponent taking up half the priority time
Judging: adjusted to some location, either vertical carves, close to pocket/lip, or deep barrels and carves, airs everywhere.

Pipe, Teahupoo, Fiji triple Yes!
The beachies (France, Portugal, Rio) and Snapper yes!
Trestles kindas! (Though having watched it for real on site last year I think this is actually a shit event and should be canned)
Margaret River: yes and no depending on day and location (i.e. Box, Nth Pt, the River)
Bells and J-Bay: not really, though the free surfing at J Bay is fcuken nuts.

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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by channels » Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:54 pm

JJF instagram has the casual carve to backflip to casual ride out of it all at what looks like the Margs right. So critical yet so calm.

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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by channels » Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:56 pm

Nick Carroll wrote:
steve shearer wrote:
Nick Carroll wrote: One of those odd times when the needs of a heat just don't quite fit the best essence of a location.

I don't think it's that odd really. I rarely watch a heat at J-Bay and think the "needs of a heat" and the judging criteria+ modern equipment is doing justice to the wave.
OK let's play a game! Which CT spots fit and which don't?
Heat need: two excellent rides in 30 minutes, opponent taking up half the priority time
Judging: adjusted to some location, either vertical carves, close to pocket/lip, or deep barrels and carves, airs everywhere.

Pipe, Teahupoo, Fiji triple Yes!
The beachies (France, Portugal, Rio) and Snapper yes!
Trestles kindas! (Though having watched it for real on site last year I think this is actually a shit event and should be canned)
Margaret River: yes and no depending on day and location (i.e. Box, Nth Pt, the River)
Bells and J-Bay: not really, though the free surfing at J Bay is fcuken nuts.
NC, the Trestles call surprises me.

I thought this was the most high performance wave on tour and subsequently the one that would be most suited to modern judging criteria?

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Re: princess margaret river pro

Post by Nick Carroll » Sat Mar 25, 2017 3:37 pm

Nah the whole vibe at that event is a bit crap. While it's a full on mainstay break for Sth Orange County in summer south swells, Lowers is rarely in that Snapper type zone -- drawing off the wave base and steepening under the lip -- and it deteriorates rapidly with late morning sea breezes. It runs down the line a bit but it's flat-faced with little to no energy in the lip. Overrated except on its absolute best day. And I'm speaking as someone who's surfed the absolute shit out of it for years.

Not only that, the location isn't suited to a CT set-up, it's dusty, hot, dry, and a long walk in to a State Park area.

Better a QS I reckon.

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