El Salvador Pro: Day 3
Well we got the right guy and the right gal in yesterday's recap. Steph Gilmore did prove impossible to beat and Colapinto did beat Toledo in a Final for the second time in a season - something I thought was not possible. Especially in beachbreak and scrappy point surf with an air wind.
But he did.
The Women's Semi's were dour, decided mostly by a single good ride in the heats, ala Steph Gilmore's winning formula. Almost the entire comp she has scored her best ride with her first scoring ride. No-one was able to challenge that formula. It was her third ride against Marks that sealed the deal, a 7.50, followed by a 7 and it was game over. Marks could not best her two opening 6's.
Steph (WSL/Diz)
The discrepancy between the performance level of the Women and Men surprised me. Righthand points tend to level the playing field. For instance, the right at Kelly's Tub was ridden at close to gender parity.
Mostly it was the total lack of any air game that was the difference. Judges need to think about the different scoring scales they employ between Men's and Women's heats and the possible effect this is having on encouraging high performance surfing for the gals. Why risk an air if safety turns with high completion rates will get mid 7's? Fitzgibbon was the only female surfer who punted this comp, in waves that were perfect for it.
No shortage of punts on the Men's side. Medina snookered himself trying to paddle Griff up the point, triggering a re-start for their Semi-Final. Both took to the air with perfect completion rates. The difference was the two highest scoring rides. Both shredded. For mine, Medina's air on the outside section should have seen the heat roll his way. In the end, the “new” Medina, the friend to all, the triple World Champ who has learned how to “win happy” looked a little blunt tactically.
Another third place finish still leaves him marooned down in 23rd position, with the Final 5 looking less and less likely.
Gabs (WSL/Diz)
Griff solidifies into third, with an unblemished winning record against Toledo in two finals in 2022. The unthinkable: Toledo being beaten at Trestles from the Number One spot now looks more than realistic, it looks likely.
Head high rights with an air wind and Filipe Toledo will equal multiple huge punts per wave, which is what he did to Italo. The 9.57 is likely the only ride from today requiring an investment of your time. Deep gaff, alley-oop, full rote air. That's as good as it got for Finals Day.
Filipe (WSL/Diz)
He wasn't out of form in an entertaining Final. He repeated the alley-oop, full rote, and deep gaff combination for another 9.57 for the first scoring ride against Colapinto.
Griff responded with rail and repertoire and a boogaloo claim for a 9. I have to admit, the surfing he laid down on that junky wave was impressive and damn near impeccable.
Somehow, with five mins to go judges had them locked at 16.00 a piece. With the countback to Toledo's 9.57 (highest scoring ride of the Final) that had him in first.
Five minutes to go. Toledo has the P. Has command of the heat. Can't seem him being beaten.
Three minutes and change: an undistinguished lump of brown water pops up. Filipe looks away.
He looks away!
Lets Griff paddle into it unchallenged.
Griff launches a tail high air, hits the gaff, then greases a second air on the closeout.
Griff (WSL/Diz)
Oh Filipe! You just let Griff have the last prawn at the buffet. Handed him the winning wave.
Why oh why?
Where was Dickie Toledo with the magic whistle?
Steph and Griff. At opposite ends of the career spectrum. One trying to fight a rearguard action against Father Time and a generation of new women surfers who eschew the feminine lines she has elevated the sport with.
The other seemingly on an unstoppable trajectory from boy to World Champ.
And Punta Roca, Surf City, as it likes to be known, gets its moment on the World Stage. Hoping to attract the tourist hordes and elevate the country away from spirals of violence.
It's unlikely to return as a CT venue, much more likely to persist as a CS wave.
No huge changes in the rankings as we roll onto Brazil.
What's that?
Wake me when we get to J-Bay..?
Hush your mouth, Brazil has had some of the best surf on the tour the last few years.
// STEVE SHEARER
Comments
Your write ups are far more appealing than the comp itself. Inadvertently awake last night and tuned in to watch Lakey Peterson wrench a couple of somehow-powerless power cutbacks on wonky brown shit and elected to stare at the backs of my eyelids instead. Something about the wave / place / comp gave my the irrits.
Cheers
PS What’s with the chicks all copying the saline douche / pin drop dismount at the end of each ride ? Only Steph avoids it.
Lovely mate, Great wrap as always.
I had to look up ‘eschew’. Fantastic new word and quite appropriate. Maybe Caity Simmers will be the next to look stylish on a wave again (owing to Malia Manuel getting the chop) - and have a go at an air.
I can’t believe they are not punting.
Carissa could do them in her sleep and is content safety surfing the back half of her career. Interesting point about judging scales - would work. However in this equal everything narrative can’t see them keeping their scores low. I think having more frothing women chomping at the heels of the status quo would push progress also and achieve ‘real’ equality in the process.
Dam you Griff blew the last leg in my multi.
I had Lakey and Filipe for the wins. Wrong on both counts.
These write ups are exceptional. You paint pictures in my mind Free.
Damn close though Zen.
Great wrap FR.
So after beating Toledo twice at his own gam in small crappy surf, the question has to be asked, is Griffin the best small wave surfer on tour at the moment? Coupled with his balls to the wall charging at Pipe and the heavy wave locations he'd have to be considered at the peak of his powers to challenge for multiple world titles. That must really be giving flippy the shits!!
With the scale in the semi set by Griffin's 8.5, I think both Gabby's waves were over-scored, by about a point each.
Griff also had the best wave in the final.
Hope chopes is firing cause that will sort out who the best surfers are......
also and i hate saying it but Shannon is growing on me .......sort of ...getting used to the naselly swallowed glass sound now.........almost........
You're on your own there. It's even worse at 2AM with the beginnings of a hangover.
I didn’t mind that Mitchell Salazar. Seemed to have good knowledge and tended to call it as he saw it in an understated (read: unAmerican) style. Think he’s Mexican.
Funny listening to Kaipo and Joe just plain ignore Mitch’s analysis if it’s in anyway critical. Total promo robots.
I would upvote your comment if it was possible. Everytime I would watch a heat with Salazaar announcing he would eventually say “I don’t mind…” (ie: “I don’t mind him choosing to ride a 5’10 board instead of the 6 foot one” or “I don’t mind him taking that wave with his priority”).
The second worst on-air announcer (JT is far and away #1) is Strider. Every time he talks, he says “lip line”. One time they cut to him sitting in the water, he managed to say “lip line” three times in a one minute spiel about god knows what. It’s almost like he’s made a bet with somebody saying every time he talks on air, he will say “lip line”.
Fil did the 'full rote', Griff a tail high reverse. That's like a full house vs two pair isn't it?
I don't want to have to analyse exact degrees of rotation to decide if it's good surfing, spinning isn't sexy anyway imho but don't ya gotta reward the full rotor landed and comboed to next turn more than a reverse? Good grief, can't believe Im even discussing it.
Gabe's not the comp predator anymore? I kind of liked him better before but sure he's got more friends now.
Fils the surfer to beat, he is ripping and put on a show with Italo in theQF but Griff's not scared of him anymore and the final is at his home break.
Thx Steve, you're a lightening rod. Watched this all on catch up, get my commentary here on SN
Have to disagree I thought griff was flawless in the final he had everything. He seems to link it all together with flow and style flippy has always looked ugly to me. I think I am alone on that last comment though.
You're not alone
Personally I don't think he has the power in his surfing that bigger blokes have. Not his fault, it's like boxers in different weight devisions, Fil seems to burry the rail faster than most but without the depth of rail for as long. I don't find it as attractive either Melmasurf.
Toledo must be ripping, he's wearing the yellow jersey. How he lands his no grab full rote airs is pretty cool as is the full speed cutback he links them with though yes he doesn't sink the rail as much as others and it seems like he's beatable for that reason. Never said I like his rapid fire style but you gotta admire his talent. He looks better on the thruster I think (even better on the single-fin as you pointed out). He's actually risen in my eyes as one of the real humans on tour.
The point I was trying to get at, though clumsily, he's won three times in Rio, twice at JBay, with Gabe and JJ out, he should be ranked 1 by season's end (after how many 2nd's?) and that should be his world title but no, he's still got one more heat to win !? Hometown hero Batfink has beaten him twice and is fully on fire, Jack beat him, Ethan's coming for him, it's not the kind of form he'd want to bring to a best of three at Trestles looking for the title he so desperately wants, you could say deserves even, he's won 23 events
Never doubted his talent he is a freak amongst freaks and from a distance seems a nice fella. I suppose his nemesis is chunky critical waves ala Chopes where he seems to let fear get to him and doesn't back himself. Until he can master these there is always a question mark on his ability and that is somewhere Jack thrives who is nipping at his heals.
Quick scan of the points I'd say Igarashi and Ewing will be fighting for the 5th finals spot. Italo is only just ahead of them but he's a machine and will keep banking points. Bit of daylight after Ewing to Robson.
thanks heaps for the silky smooth analysis. I’ll watch the short version when I get a chance but this storytelling is just brilliant.
In this world of equality we have to endure a Slot car comp in the middle of Formula 1 as the commentators froth on a ride that would be derided on the other track ….
We know it’s all about the money marketing machine…
I’m able to record the whole day luckily and the fast forward goes into turbo charge when the slots come on …
There’s no candy coating the entertainment value especially when the waves are shit ….
Thanks Steve -
All those Brasileiros making a fuss about overscored Australians and Americans - Felipe gave it away with a tactical error, letting Colapinto onto a scoring wave at the end of the heat when he had priority. Rather basic error for a professional of his experience.
Yes, Brasil can have some of the best waves on tour. Saquarema is one of the best spots in the country and has produced the goods previously.
Agree, just watched the final 4 minutes and Felippa was not paying any attention to Griff ......pretty loose to do that seeing that he had priority ....should have been sitting on top of him........must be kicking himself now watching it back........
Absolutely..
As FR76 so eloquently put it .. "Oh Filipe ! You just let Griff have the last prawn at the buffet."
And Griff scoffed it like a seagull on a hot chip.
FR you’re probably going to be world champion, by far the most consistent performances on tour and winning every event. Thanks
Let's do a surf trip to Brazil said noone
Missed finals day but just watched the final this morning.
I don’t think Filipe made a mistake ignoring that wave as it didn’t look like a score and with 3 minutes to go it’s more than likely a better looking wave than that would come.
And sadly, I agree with the Brazzos. That was not an 8 from where I was sitting. 6.5 for me.
But consistent with the juiced come from behind scores this year could have pushed it to a scrape through 7.07 for the win. It was no where near an 8 though.
100% agree, easy in hindsight to say he should have gone but if he hadn't chances are a better wave would have come, it wasn't a great wave just surfed as well as could be.
But that said it wasn't an 8 should have been a line ball decision of just under or just over but not a clear winning score.
I don't think it was an 8 but it was easily the 7.07 required.
They had to juice it to make it look definitive.
Well the Brazilians are crying regardless of definitive score or not so don’t know why they bothered.
Let's be honest, no one knows what score a certain ride will get. Seasoned surfers like ourselves are befuddled so how on Earth can Mum and Dad Average understand who 'wins'? Despite the obscurity of it all, we continue to tune in so perhaps it is of little relevance who gets the final nod.
Befuddled is right.
At one point the commentators were calling a Robson wave and suggesting it might score excellent. Judges gave it a 5.5.
A mongrel competitor would not have let Colapinto anywhere near that wave - would have wrapped him in cling film for the last few minutes of the final, if possible.
If Colapinto cannot catch any waves, he can't put up a score, any score - and Filipe had priority!
Toledo's own fault, needs a better coach.
I think there was too much time left.
He takes it and then Griff has priority for 3 minutes.
But griff certainly made the most of that wave.
i watched about 30 minutes total of the whole event and it was 30minutes i will never get back.
Ha, ha best comment yet of the event! So true was a dud.
I like the articles overall but felt the angle towards the civil war / cliché scared white man mentality was unnecessary. I don't see foreign media referencing the sad oppression of indigenous communities every time there is a surf event in Aus. Also a bit weird for a surf forecasting website to write off a spot based upon an unseasonable week of swell/wind, also calling the spot C grade based on the first day of the window when it's dead onshore. Anyway, I think good for the people who do travel to el salvador to surf as it could have been unfortunate for them if it was pumping.
Yeah Dork the spot sure has potential..WSL comps have just had a bad year besides margs and bells.
pipe was all time 10-12’ and sunset was well, solid sunset (until final).
apparently the Brazzo fans are planning a protest at the next comp, should be more interesting than the waves themselves..
the guy who catches the last wave in the final wins.
genuinely looking forward to Trestles if there are like 4 or more countries represented (in the mens), not so much for the surfing as for watching people blow up over the scoring.
Bobby Martinez should be commentating...
Just watched the Chopes clip from last week. https://www.swellnet.com/news/reels/2022/06/15/watch-the-last-word-teahu...
Joao Chianca in the mix in that. Would be good to see him get a wildcard for the Chopes comp.
I had to force myself to watch 2 minutes of it, same with G land. I hope next stop we actually see surfing.
Even Marg's was hard to watch for me,
No Kelly, no John for Brazil.
To be expected I guess.
Still a bummer.
Offset somewhat by Chianca getting the wildcard.
Saquerema? As much as everyone hates, waves have been good there last few times. Always plenty of 'opportunity'.
Can anyone ever make sense of Surfline forecasts for these events? I mean it's easy to tell there'll be waves but can never read between their bullshit American wave height stuff. Same when they're broadcasting in the post show talking about what's come. They talk a different language to most real surfers.
Edit: just read Craig's forecast. Much better, thanks Craig!
Nias Pro live stream...
Nias Day 2 live...
The contest was such an anticlimax(not so much for the surfing) but the waves were just so poor, given how good this place can get.