Fiji 2014

[localbogan]

Shearer, as is usually the case, I am struggling to follow your line of reasoning.
But then again, as you have correctly pointed out in the past, I'm not very bright.
If the girls were poorly prepared for 6-8 foot CB then surely the same criticism could be applied to the men in 20ft CB in 2012.
You might argue that nobody is prepared for that, except of course for all those guys who free surfed it, including the largely anonymous boat driver guy who jagged a couple of 20 footers.
In Kieren Perrow's own words, the guys did not bring the right boards.
The suspicion however is that they simply did not want to surf because they were intimidated or scared.
If you can give me another reason as to why the comp was not run that day, even though free surfers were out surfing the entire day, then I would like to know.
The lack of preparedness is therefore equally applicable to the men, just on a different scale.
So what's your point again?

[el rancho]

Shearer, as is usually the case, I am struggling to follow your line of reasoning.
But then again, as you have correctly pointed out in the past, I'm not very bright.
If the girls were poorly prepared for 6-8 foot CB then surely the same criticism could be applied to the men in 20ft CB in 2012.
You might argue that nobody is prepared for that, except of course for all those guys who free surfed it, including the largely anonymous boat driver guy who jagged a couple of 20 footers.
In Kieren Perrow's own words, the guys did not bring the right boards.
The suspicion however is that they simply did not want to surf because they were intimidated or scared.
If you can give me another reason as to why the comp was not run that day, even though free surfers were out surfing the entire day, then I would like to know.
The lack of preparedness is therefore equally applicable to the men, just on a different scale.
So what's your point again?

dunno sounds like you just made it

[steve shearer]

exactly, I made that point vociferously at the time.

This isn't a sexist argument I'm mounting.

unlike others here.

worlds best out on a barely acceptable display in perfect surf.

In any other sport it would be called for what it is not heralded with a torrent of excuses.

[localbogan]

But my point is the women and men on both occasions were under prepared, even though they both knew what was coming.
So maybe in fact they were very prepared, just their preparation revolved around winning a world title not devoting excess time on preparing for rare conditions.
The criticism therefore is at the system and not at the surfers (men or women) per se

[steve shearer]

They were under-prepared but very prepared????
Sorry LB, you're a doctor, could you explain the logic of that statement.

[Animal_Chin]

I don't see what's so hard to understand.

Stop misquoting him Steve and you might get it too.

[steve shearer]

You could win a world title by being under-prepared?
I don't understand the logic in that statement.

I doubt Kelly Slater would either. He came on tour with a developed skill set despite growing up in Florida. There's the template, I'm always surprised so many so-called elite athletes can't understand and apply it.

[DucksNuts]

To take your analogy further SS: you prepared, adequately, for small-scale filming project. All your skills up to that point at RNSH had been honed specifically for small-scale stuff and you had been getting paid for exactly that. Mind you, you're also in your early 20's. And then suddenly, at the start of the year, with about 5 months of other small-scale project commitments in front of you, you get told that you need to take on an Avatar-scale project, or at least a Dark Knight size one.

You had the skills, sure, but how the fcuk were you supposed to translate them successfully to the big screen or impress your critics?

[localbogan]

Under prepared for heavy, rare conditions but prepared for the vast majority of waves they encounter on the tour.
If the guys were to genuinely prepare for 20 ft days (like the BWWT guys do) then it would be at the expense of their small wave act which is going to win them a world title.
Ditto the girls. They could spend every spare minute chasing big waves but it is not the optimal strategy for winning a WT.
So yes, very prepared but in another sense not prepared at all.

[Trev]

I don't see what's so hard to understand.

Stop misquoting him Steve and you might get it too.

I have to agree. I can see what he means.

[Shoulder hopper]

Yes the girls were not prepared for CB but most did a good job with what preparation that they did have. Most have never surfed CB and up until January and probably never thought they would need to.

If you have seen what the majority of the girls have had to surf to try to qualify for the CT you might be able to understand why some would be out of their depth at a serious wave such as Cloudbreak.
1-2ft crap beachbreaks is usually the norm on the QS.
Even on the CT most of the waves the girls get to surf in are 2-4ft crap beach breaks so to be put into 6-8ft heavy reef break would certainly be outside mosts comfort zone but give them a chance and I'm sure you'll see a lot better performances in the next few years.
But here's the thing, they're not men that have been surfing heavy breaks since they were juniors and their focus has been to perform in crap beach breaks up until now, so of course they might not be ripping the bag out of CB like the top men or even Lennox local legends but they're are trying to do the best that they can and will be building on their performances this year so please give the girls a few years to cement themselves.
If after a couple of years there is no real improvement, then SS and friends go your hardest and I'll probably be backing you up. And yes I'm sticking up for the girls because I know a few personally and also I know not a lot of others will.

[JSB]

Anyone know why KFC are running an ad completely based on Sally F but she never says anything? Weird.

[steve shearer]

If after a couple of years there is no real improvement, then SS and friends go your hardest and I'll probably be backing you up. And yes I'm sticking up for the girls because I know a few personally and also I know not a lot of others will.

Mate I take exception to the tone and the content of your post. I've backed womens surfing in every print and online article I've written that has mentioned the subject.
The suggestion that these girls need the protection of big strong men is laughable and ludicrously sexist.

Again, these are highly paid athletes/professionals. Gilmore/Moore/Fitzgibbon and I'm sure a few others make many multiples of my yearly income. They get paid to be the best surfers in the world, ostensibly at least.

They deserve sober, honest analysis of their performances like other highly paid sportspeople. Not ridiculously patronising excuses and "oh give 'em a few years and they'll be OK".


Mate, there's a lot of bread and circuses out there in the real world of elite sport. Thats the playing field they are on, trying to get eyeballs and dollars. They didn't have a sponsor for this event, it was bankrolled by the ASP. How many bites of the cherry will they have? This isn't a lay down misere to be sponsored into the future.

You market a product as elite sport and you better put an elite product out there. Mediocrity and excuses are a hard sell. And if you've got recreational surfers thinking " Hey I could do better than that", then you've got a problem.

I bet not one armchair critic sat in front of state of origin the other night and thought " I bet I could do that". Because people know they wouldn't last a minute out there. Thats elite sport.


Now the girls have been on a six month tour the last couple of years. What the fcuk have they been doing the other six months? Did not one elite women surfer have the imagination, foresight and professionalism to stockpile a basic working knowledge of Cloudbreak during that time? Surely they must have got signals from ASP that a major expansion of the womens tour was imminent and that would include new venues with better surf. I got those signals and I'm a bum in Lennox Head.

This event just has to be a wake-up call for the womens pro surfers. Second rate and embarrassing performances in real waves during the last iteration of the Tour were part of the reason it imploded. How many more chances can they get if they want to be elite sportspeople and not be considered hit and giggle?


The Final. Both surfers scored under ten. The peak of the event and neither surfer could score a pass mark. Thats a piss poor reflection on the standard on offer. As Roy and HG would say they need to walk into the room of mirrors and have a good look at themselves.
I'm hopeful they will but the culture of spin and backslapping is a powerful deterrent to truth.

[crabmeat thompson]

I'm hopeful they will but the culture of spin and backslapping is a powerful deterrent to truth.

The truth.

... anything to do with the ASP -- men or women -- is all spin and high fives, while honesty and accountability are treated like a venereal disease.

[BA]

I know a few personally and also I know not a lot of others will.

Yawn.

[localbogan]

You're probably not going to be convinced Shearer no matter what I or others say but I think you are being a little bit harsh on the individuals and failing to fully appreciate the system they're working within.
Put another way, imagine if Brazil, Huntington and France were replaced with Tahiti, G Land and Sunset. The planning and preparation for the entire year would be different. To win a world title you would have to be proficient in those waves because it's half the tour.
The chicken and the egg scenario is that the ASP is reluctant to take the tour to those spots because the girls aren't proficient in those waves and are perhaps a little intimidated.
But until the tour shifts it's focus away from small wave venues there will be no incentive or necessity for the girls to improve their big wave performance.
I would like to see it happen.
It would probably take a couple of years and initially be unpopular with the surfers and spectators alike but definitely worth it.
But until it does change, expect more of what we have seen at next years comp, that's just unfortunately the way it's going to be

[Clif]

Have some experienced wild cards (chargers) put in the competition to challenge tour regulars and show them how it's done. Hand pick some women surfers who can set the benchmark in these types of waves and to let the tour surfers know they shouldn't be calling themselves the best in the world if they can't surf waves like this (if such waves are to be part of the criteria for measuring such).

They won't though because the tour leaders would get their asses handed to 'em by a slew of semi-pro and amateur women who rip in such conditions, the ratings would be having spanners being thrown at it from every which way.

[Shoulder hopper]

Yes Steve and others, I agree the performances of most of the girls were sub par when compared to the men at the same venue but as I've said, with the limited experience that the majority of the girls have had in those conditions, they did well.
Sure they are supposed to be the best but only the top 5 or 6 girls have the backing to be able to drop everything and head off to surf at breaks like CB and as they haven't needed to before this year, why would they?
You'd only be too aware of the crap that most QS events are run in so that's what the girls train in, become proficient in and qualify for the tour in.

As you are using Origin as an analogy here's mine. NSW has been going pretty bad of late but you pick a young team without the big match experience, they lose, do you right them off straight away or give them another chance to gain that experience and maybe perform to the higher level?
I know that has also happened over the years with Australian Cricket when we've had to blood new players and that's where most of the girls are at right now.
If the level of performance doesn't improve next year and be better still the year after, well then of course there would have to be wholesale changes made and I'm sure everybody would agree.

As I've mentioned before, the vast majority of surfers on the men's tour have surfed heavy waves for most of their careers with the junior programs and trips etc but it's a new area for most of the girls and they need a lot more experience in those conditions for them ever to be as good as what you expect them to be.

I'm not trying to big note myself by saying I know some of the girls, what I'm getting at is that I know the struggle that most of them go through just to get to the comps financially without trying to jet set off and train at every venue the comps are run at. And I'm not trying to be the strong man there to protect them either, I'm just stating that there is a lot of people in surfing that don't like the girls on tour and not many will give them a go, be it at their local or anyplace else and I think that if they're out there having a dig at least give them a go. Who knows, one may even be one of your daughters in years to come.