The insuperable 2017 Pipe Masters thread!

Yeh, that's how I see it too, Stu.

Shut the gate, nail in the coffin etc etc

JJF one step closer.

Wasn't it at Kirra a few years back? Parko was slotted in a screamer and Kelly had priority, Kelly swung around down the line and went, Parko left in the barrel flicking Kelly the bird?

Can't help but be suss on scores been given here.........

JJF has this place on a string. The amount of hours he's had out here in all conditions really shows.

Yeah it was at Kirra. The difference being that Kelly took off and went right, Gabs would've taken off and ridden left straight into Parko then made a dramatic appeal to the judges.

JJF: more gates shut, more nails...

Hahaha, got to agree there Stu.

Never been a fan of Gabs and never will.

8 mins to go, Medina loses priority, now watch him go to the air.

Flores won't need to buy many beers on the nth shore tonight.

Looks like KS was with JJ to congratulate him.

Not many on the beach seem to be watching the Kanoa/Italo superheat.

Not many on the beach seem to be watching the Kanoa/Italo superheat.

Sweet.

You can put the 'Gabriel 2017' T-shirts in the charity bin. It was a fine chase, the result could've swung his way right up to the last set, but if surf fans like to be a part of the victory then the best man won.

Gabby is gunna be around for along time yet.

Gold!

Good on getting the Triple Crown Griffin Colapinto.
Doesn't make sense to me that the leader doesn't get a wildcard straight in to the main event at Pipe though.
Poor Ian Gouveia, did that make him one heat short of qualifying?

Yep, but it meant Patty G makes it.

I think.

Someone has to miss out, but to have JJF on the ropes and then hearing that cheer in the last minute of the heat would have been devastating for him.

Nooooooooo.......

Hate to be a judge.

Are the Hawaiians gonna storm the tower??

Great outcome.

Feel good story.

Goodness, i missed it all.

damn need to earn a living.

Yeah I don't know. JJ'Flo as Pipe Master might feel better.

But then J'Flo beat Gabs to allow JJ'Flo to become world champ so JJ'Flo can't be too upset.

Wonder how a world title decided at an undisclosed Indo venue will compare against Pipe?

Bloody good day...

Win win all round I reckon...JJF wins title...JFlo wins 2nd pipe and Gabby cries live for our viewing pleasure...
What a great script.

Not to take anything away from JFlo as he surfed really well, but IMO JJ got the better barrels, deeper, longer and finished them off. JFlo took a leaf out of the Brazzo book with claiming whereas he could have finished it off like JJ was. Either way, a good final and result with Gabs NOT winning the title.

I was happy to see JJF win the title, but I wasn't hoping for Medina to not win. I think those two are the best in the world, and the best at Pipe. They surf differently, and they have different personalities, but I find all the anti Medina sentiment grating.

Stoked for Jeremy!

I'm the opposite .

I love Medina's surfing and his drive to win but his petulant antics make me want to spew.

Remember the soccer fall at Trestles ? Jesus H Christ.

He summons the very worst points of competitive surfing and amalgamates them into one unloveable gronk.

- Slaters burn of Beschen at the US open.

- Damien Hardmans catching the whitewash against Tom Carroll at the Coke.

These were the lowest of the low points in pro surfing.

Medina continues in this tradition and then some. Just let your amazing surfing get you through.

Plus his scowling old man pacing the shorebreak is the antithesis of every good thing that surfing represents.

PS Stoked for Jeremy as he appears to have mellowed and his surfing has improved - lost that wretched flickiness he had when he was young.

He used to seem like a cock , now he appears to be a decent fella.

JJF has got enough glory in front of him for ten men. Jeremy was stoked !

He can't really be held responsible for his (step)dad's antics.

And I'm not a fan of blocking and playing games in general, but when they come back to bite Kelly on the arse, I'm all in favour.

Great surfing and definitely the best two on the day in the final. It could have gone either way but JJ got a close result earlier in the day so law of averages was against him. A bit more grunt would have made for a better show but, given what was on offer, the surfing was incredible.

I missed it. Been busy all day. So now i am going to go and watch the Heat replay for free for the last time.................feel like we will be paying for it in 2018.Merry Christmas ; )

In terms of the judging, they are still trying to score on a 100 point scale, which is ridiculous. No-one can define, at any given moment, the difference between a 7.2 (72) and 7.3 (73). The system is still arse around. Averaging wave scores might add to the drama but it is less reliable than totalling the places awarded by each judge, lowest wins.

agree bb, maybe a 20 point scale could be more realistic?

at a 100 point scale, the real problem that surfing judging has is ability to make objective decisions about the 5 criteria. surfing maneouvers are not tuned like that of an olympic gymnast where each competitor is basically doing standardised moves very very similar to eachother, a surfers maneovers are so individualistic and every wave is different. and the playing field is a variable ocean that requires on the fly judging adjustment as conditions change. but most of all, each judge has to comment on all 5 very complex criteria. this cannot be easy. not even olympic gymnastic judges are required to do that and they operate in a fully controlled environment.

also dont like how much the "best wave" dictates the score....you see one bloke get a nice big barrell, pop out with the spit, kick out and gets a 10, but the other guy gets a slightly smaller longer more technical barell, pops out, smashes a heavy closeout with a risky maneouver and gets a 9. wave selection is important, but dont make it all about luck.

If you want to credibly claim that someone won then I think you need a greater gap than from 16.16 to 16.23, a difference of 0.07/20 or 0.35%. Crazy stuff.

If you round off to a 20pt scale (0.0 -0.5 only). John John wins!

yep, there is no exact answer because the problem isnt the scoring system soley....surfing is too subjective and in the eye of the beholder. its what makes it surfing. course they could just hold every event in a wavepool where every surfer completes a standardized array of "tricks" performed on identical waves to eachother. then we can be sure who is the best.

True happy, but boring and measures only one aspect. The deciding factor in most heats today was wave choice. I don't really care that much but I am pretty sure that the current method is statistically invalid and unreliable. There is no perfect solution but working over a smaller score range should improve validity.

Im at it again Medina way overscored on almost every wave no doubt to keep
this exciting in 4ft pipe and the title against JJ but when he came up against Jeremy
well he pretty much just decked Medina and took him out noway the judges could help
Medina there. Was a great win to Jeremy the deserving world title to JJ and to top
it off watching Medina CRY. Now all pros and wanta be,s go home so I can a couple
there next week.
came u

Ian Gouveia has been awarded the WSL wildcard for 2018. Fortunately for him only one person injured themself this year, and that was Slater who got the other wildcard.