Margaret River Pro 2025: Finals Day
Margaret River Pro 2025: Finals Day
Massively anti-climactic Finals Day after bad calls from the league squandered the forecast for available surf and left important heats to be decided in declining, inconsistent surf with howling offshores.
Somehow the Woz took the insane momentum from Burleigh and fumbled the call so badly they buried the goodwill they had created. Heads should roll. Well paid professionals should be held to account as they would be in any pro sporting organisation.
But they won't. Not a dicky bird about it from the booth today. Just sunshine, rainbows, and positive energy while five completely non-competitive heats passed by without a single comment alluding to why we were here.
Declining conditions were a factor in the lack of competitiveness in the heats, as well as surfers who had shone in more powerful conditions now looking second rate in small, tricky reef surf.
Caity (WSL/Miers)
Caity Simmers looked the opposite in the first Semi-Final of the day. As is often the case on north-east days in the west, the wind was lightest early and Simmers looked much more comfortable in head high surf with only a moderate offshore. Her surfing was beautiful, smooth, radical, and under-appreciated from judges but still enough to put a 5 point margin over Bronte Macaulay. A similar one-sided thrashing was dished out by Gabby Bryan to Lakey Peterson. There were plenty of waves ridden during that heat but Lakey looked stiff and awkward on the reads and once Gabby got the power game going it was all over.
No improvement in competitiveness as we headed through the Men's Semi-Finals.
Barron Mamiya could not have designed and executed a worse heat. He allowed Griff to take the first wave in a submissive gesture, then allowed him to go again under priority and "build a house" as we used to say in the old three-to-the-beach days. He fumbled every ride he caught afterwards and never...not at any point in the entire 35 minutes, looked like he was in the heat.
In the end, Griff did not even need to take a third wave with Barron unable to match even one of the waves Griff had caught under priority. That was a 5 point margin to Griff, which is huge at CT level - a complete pasting.
Crosby (WSL/Ryder)
The only way to exceed it is if your competitor only catches one wave. Which was the result of the following semi with Jordy Smith and Crosby Colapinto. The wind was now howling north-east across the bay. Cros and Jordy sat out a lull and got a restart. You'd think that might have triggered some response but only Jordy was able to adapt. He went to work on a left then scalped a couple of small rights. 14.67 played 6.67 when the hooter sounded.
If we were hoping for a competitive Final that went out the window in the opening exchange between Gabby Bryan and Caity Simmers. Simmers surfed with delicate poise and smooth lines. Bryan exploded through turns and what they lacked in subtlety they more than made up for with raw power. There had to be a significant spread and even if judges overcooked the spread (9.50 to 7.17) there was no denying it. Even Tommy Whittaker had to concede on the steps that the sheer physical dominance of Bryan was probably too hard for Simmers to overcome.
Gabby (WSL/Miers)
There's a major problem ahead for Bryan because Cloudbreak will decide the world title and her backside tube skills are rudimentary. There's no possible way on a unified men's and women's Finals Day a deficient skill set can somehow be shielded from public scrutiny. Gabby is gonna have to figure something out or face a very difficult day. You'd expect Coach Dog to now have this front and centre in his planning, because not even WSL gaslighting will be sufficient to cover up this deficiency.
Simmers already had her highlight with a wave surfed with dolphins (criminally underscored) which Simmers called the “most special moment ever in a heat." She expressed a desire to go home and get done with the event saying, “I just wanna wrap it up."
Her response to seeing both of Gabby's heat winning waves was classic Simmers in full Spicoli mode. While Gabby tore into a 9.50 she thought, “well, whatever."
Caity (WSL/Ryder)
There's a growing awareness now of the physical limitations being put on Caity's pro surfing ceiling by her diminutive size. It's impossible to imagine Caity hitting the gym but the genie is now out of the bottle.
What can you say about the Men's Final? Jordy got one good wave for an 8.50 and Griff did what his brother did and sat out for the entirety of the heat only riding one wave. There's no denying they got the two right guys in the Final is about the best thing can be said about it. Griff was the standout all event, Jordy right behind him.
Jordy (WSL/Ryder)
Jordy takes the Tank and yellow into Trestles. Two wins in a season is world title form in the current CT roster. Coming into Cloudy in pole position would make a Jordy world title, 18 years after joining the tour, a very live prospect.
Isabella Nichols wins the Aussie Treble for the women with a solid win at Bells.
Jordy and Isabella - Aussie Treble winners (WSL/Miers)
Despite the lame Finals Day the Treble has been a huge success for the Woz, dragging in fans who had drifted off into the ether.
The lowest hanging fruit in pro surfing would be to back up the Aussie Treble with an Indo Double.
Keramas and Ulus would see a return to interest not seen since the Slater/Irons rivalry hey-day.
Trestles and Brazil will have to do for now, until R-Croz takes the next big leap forwards.
//STEVE SHEARER
Western Australia Margaret River Pro Women’s Final Results:
1 - Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 17.33
2 - Caitlin Simmers (USA) 12.84
Western Australia Margaret River Pro Men’s Final Results:
1 - Jordy Smith (RSA) 12.00
2 - Griffin Colapinto (USA) 4.83
Western Australia Margaret River Pro Women’s Semifinal Results:
HEAT 1: Caitlin Simmers (USA) 14.00 DEF. Bronte Macaulay (AUS) 9.34
HEAT 2: Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 16.34 DEF. Lakey Peterson (USA) 11.64
Western Australia Margaret River Pro Men’s Semifinal Results:
HEAT 1: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 12.17 DEF. Barron Mamiya (HAW) 7.44
HEAT 2: Jordy Smith (RSA) 14.67 DEF. Crosby Colapinto (USA) 6.67
Comments
G land and keramas would be mad !
Uluwatu over gland for sheer venue proximity.
Thanks for the excellent write ups fr76.
It was a travesty to have the finals run in those conditions.
Disrespectful to the competitors and fans.
Spicoli Mode - love it!
I wonder what a paycheck is worth for the commentary team? Feel like they're selling their souls by perpetrating the WSL toxic positivity.
They can't even question anything in the slightest. Imagine how much more legit it would be if they could. Guess they just don't respect their viewers
thank you for the wrap up and look into the rest of the year. Speaking of Spicoli mode, has anyone seen the 2022 series Gaslit? Sean Penn is just amazing in this.
Great writeups as usual. Just read day 4 and the finals pieces back to back and I really thought Caity would have had it in the bag. Gabby was surfing well though and have to agree, she out muscles some of the blokes so definitely cuts it in powerful surf. Rudimentary is kind for Gabbie's tube riding though. She is very very ordinary around the barrel. Cloudbreak is gonna sort her out. I'm gonna go out on a limb and I reckon Erin is gonna take out that comp.
Onya Jordy. Just quietly, I'd love to see the old bugger get a well deserved title this year.
As it stands I’d bet Italo and Yago would have his number at good cloudbreak.
In good Cloudbreak?
I reckon Jordy more than a match for both.
Hope we get to find out.
You need to first go out on a limb and say Erin will make the final 5 before she can win Cloudy.
She hasn't looked all season so far like she will,and just scraped past the cut by 400 points or something like that.
Erin going to be lucky to make top 5 from here. I agree she should win if she's there but way down currently
i hoping for a sneak attack from erin and baron in proper cloudbreak, finals day will be a cracker either way
Erin won’t be at Cloudbreak unless she wins at least two of the next few events.
probably yeah
"Heads should roll. Well paid professionals should be held to account as they would be in any pro sporting organisation."
Never have truer words been spoken, but the WSL live in a little cocoon that will never crystallize.
Was a pretty good comp up to the day at the box, and then, well....
Great to see Jordy get up.
Although I agree, the WSL doesnt seem to be any different than the AFL. Laura Kane and Andrew Dillon seem to be teflon coated despite similar fan (and player/coach/umpire) sentiment towards them. Holding well paid profressionals to account seems to be a distant memory in todays world.
You generally don’t find it in the world of big corporates either. Worst case, some sacrificial lamb is offered up while the rest carry on getting fat bonuses. Accountability is for functioning systems, we are now in fully lobotomised neocon insanity land.
I can’t believe they ask some surfers if they want to paddle out or not!?
Who does that?
So as much as we want to the blame the commissioner, WSL etc the surfers themselves have a bit to answer for if they’ve voted against paddling out that arvo. Apparently a couple of the women were pretty pissed they didn’t get the chance (Molly, BSJ and Caity).
After seeing Al Cleland jr end section hit, maybe the WSL was worried someone was going to do themselves a mischief.
spot on
How did we find out about them asking the surfers? I only briefly saw it mentioned in yesterday's write up?
Any further details on this?
Lov your work FR but don't shoot the commentary team, they don't make the calls. They're paid to contrive up to 9 hours of psycho babble exalting the greatness of surfing completions and they do a pretty bloody good job, they're not paid for whistelblowing investigative journalism, as fun as that would be, Ronnie & Vaughan get to the bottom of it, who called it, who voted it
Yep, shooting the commentary team misunderstands their role. If they want to shit on the boss they can hand in their payslips.
Not their job!
They are also paid to commentate which by going silent they aren't doing.
It's one of the most frustrating thing that a spade isn't being called a spade or that the acknowledgement of a spades existence is even commented on.
I really enjoyed watching the comp, except that finals day, which would have been avoided had they pushed ahead on that glassy afternoon with pumping waves. The WSL needs to bring back the 'Dead Ahead' Fred Hemmings contester director attitude and modus operandi. When viewing 30 foot plus surf at Waimea Bay, he said to the gathering of highly nervous competitors, many who didn't want to know about putting on a contest singlet that day, "You are going out, or do I have to paddle out and show you all up." The comp went ahead. That historic Smirnoff Pro in 1974 set a whole new standard of what is achievable. Sadly in today's new era, it seems that high standard, and the courage of some so called professional surfers, has slipped with softer and better fed bellies. Come on WSL, do better please. PS - Love the Indo double idea to complement the Aussie Treble. But bring back the Triple Crown in Hawaii too, for the ultimate testing and a proper thrilling finish to the year.
Went back and read Margaret River 1990 write up after the big day, I don't think the 1990 surfers had a choice when it got huge.
You're right VJ. I was there working at that comp. They had no choice, other than which sized gun they had to borrow! Epic day resulted.
The best surfer won good job Jordy
"Massively anti-climactic Finals Day after bad calls from the league squandered the forecast for available surf and important left heats decided in declining, inconsistent surf with howling offshores.
Somehow the Woz took the insane momentum from Burleigh and fumbled the call so badly they buried the goodwill they had created. Heads should roll. Well paid professionals should be held to account as they would be in any pro sporting organisation."
This really is the most bizarre timeline, with all the failing upwards. It seems the link between cause and effect have been numbed by anaesthetic.
Looking at today’s Felicity "Flick" Palmateer‘s instagram, I’m assuming this is the day of the contentious early close of WSL proceedings…..
“The swell was building all day, rumoured to hit 5m at 21 seconds. Never seen anything like it Down South. When the WSL called off the comp, I bolted home, grabbed the 8’6, and paddled out to Main Break with minutes of light left.
It looked 10–15ft, but sets were already closing out between South Sides and Main Break. No right in play. Just the left. Goofy approved. Four of us out there, scraping into top-to-bottom bombs, no real entry point, just hold your nerve and hope.
Then the horizon went dark. A proper 20-footer stood up and the boys were screaming for me to go. I committed. Shouldn’t have. Got pitched from the top of a three-story building and pin-dropped straight into regret. No flotation, 10ft leash, and a board that felt like an anchor. Pinned to the reef.
Held down. Came up gasping. Greeted by another monster detonating on my head. Repeat that 15 times. Everyone washed into the River Mouth. I clung to my board like it was a coffin and eventually drifted to the keyhole, heaving and humbled.
Pretty sure half the hill thought I died.
Moral of the story: wear flotation. Be fitter. And maybe just be inside the tube next time.”
ha, cheers for posting that.
Yeah Wally I saw that clip of Flick too getting swallowed. If that was an hour or so after the comp finished then I say they made the right call. It just got huge quickly and I saw Ronnie talking about how the ground was shaking under that big set. Sure it was anti climatic today but I still found it enjoyable. It was still bigger today than burleigh at any point
More trilling than the main article. Thanks. Glad to read you are still breathing.
"The boys were screaming " classic.
The whole hill thought I died. That takes me back
Awesome write up Mr Shearer!
“Well paid professionals”.
Just wondering how well paid? Not that big salaries always result in competence, but how much do full time senior employees of WSL actually earn? A fairly opaque organisation but does anyone know?
Also something I would like to see - interviews with losers of heats. Too much toxic positivity. I know occasionally that they might chat to someone later, after a loss or have them in the commentary booth but it might pique some interest to have some anger or bitterness or more raw emotion from surfers in a pretty bland format. (An argument against this is that the broadcast in wave starved heats seems to pick the very moment a wave appears to cross to the previous heat winner so maybe twice as many interviews would be unwise.)
What a fizzer! The Colapinto brothers must be pissed off, one wave in 30 mins what a sick joke!!! WSL needs to take a real good look at itself after turning their back on 8ft faces in glassy conditions for a shit show like todays finals no show! As far as competitors not paddling out well it's hard to win if your'e sitting on the beach! Suck it up princesses!!!
terrible day of competitive surfing… not enough waves per heat to be contestable.
plus relatively tiny with an offshore that made it near unsurfable.
there must be ‘learnings’ by the organisers. they’ve got to stop finishing in fading, uncontestable conditions.
good style and technique… go hand in hand. Gabby has little of both, have no idea of tube riding ability but not surprised by comments suggesting it’s no bueno.
Caity’s style still shone through despite the howling offshores that were even blowing Jordy off the back of waves.
lastly… The Jordyonaissance!
If they didn’t fit the heats in at the box they would easily have run overlapping round of 16 for women and men. That was the trade off. Yes the girls didn’t want to go out in massive surf at the end of the day but they still wouldn’t have finished the heats. And reading flicks insta it was sounding pretty sketchy. Moral of the story it’s hard to get everything you want in a competition.
At least Jordy got the win after ripping the solid days apart, on a nother note where's all the clips of the pros scoring other waves in the region, NP must have some epic moments and the whole coast must have pumped on the solid glassy day when they ran the Box.
Just watched women’s highlights. One could argue Caity put the board in better places with more style but even with that offshore, barely throws a ripple of water off of her turns - like a child vs an adult. Gabby throwing buckets.
agree. so frustrating. still, different conditions suit different surfers.
Thanks Freeride for another great summary and an accurate analysis. Like everyone I was stunned WSL didn't complete the day on Wednesday for a finals day on Monday. There just seems no accountability at WSL. I still think my idea of Swellnet running a parallel commentary team along the lines of Roy & HG is a brilliant one haha!
So Steve who actually takes responsibility for the call to run or not? J M-D? Or some quasi committee that’s I’ll defined?
I didn’t watch the entire broadcast but didn’t see J M-D nor anyone else from the WSL give an explanation.
Straight out honesty from the WSL would be appreciated.
Maybe:
1. It’s too big for the surfers, they’re scared or undergunned or both so don’t want to surf
2. Our water craft can’t handle the conditions
3. Commercial pressure from our sponsors dictates we run another day
Anything resembling a skerrick of truth would be nice
That's it, just give an honest reason and people will come to terms with it much easier.
Looks like Jordy has had more experience with strong offshore winds and decreasing
Southern Ocean swells,
than the Californian kids .
Classic Woz shank today.
Final 5 to be held at restaurants, no barrel skills required.
You’ve not spent much time at Restaurants have you? It’s one of the best left hand barrels in the world and can barrel the entire length of the reef.
WSL have always had their own agenda. The commentary and scoring speak to that. Glad Jordy’s having a solid season. His surfing has remained solid. Maybe the judging is finally giving credit for his rail surfing on solid walls? Only thing that i can see that has changed are his claims. They’ve ramped up a notch. Is that the key?
judging criteria definitely changed. Jordy changed, too, i reckon. dunno how because i can't read minds but ouwardly he's looking relaxed.
How does Gabby Bryan not have a competent back hand tube riding skill set when she’s a pro surfer from Kauai?
I’d be happy to see Jordy win the title.
Been around a long time, same age as me and I’ve grown up watching him in early grom vids then in Kai Neville’s films until now. He deserves one.
the groms tend to surf the beach breaks as the main breaks are full of agro dudes.
Not trying to defend WSL but Flicks insta footage an hour or so after the comp was called off the other day makes it look like the right call. It's hard to always get it right and ultimately the demand from fans for the box was the main factor in not being able to complete on Monday. No possibility of overlapping heats at the box and if they'd stayed at main break they would have been criticised heavily anyway. But if they'd stayed main break they would have been able to get way more heats away and have finished Monday. They can't win really and I'm just trying to point out the difficulties in making the right call. But in my opinion they should always be prepared to defend and explain the call and why. Their cons are pretty useless at times
Flicks post makes it the right call? A local who is not the world’s best, got caught inside on solid sets. Happens all the time to surfers . I think when you’re younger, fitter and supposedly the world’s best with safety and jet ski assist, you should be able to navigate some solid conditions. Is that not why they stop at SW WA? Appears not!
- "Not a dicky bird about it from the booth today." Why do we keep expecting self-criticism?The booth IS the WSL. Unlike other sports where broadcasts can bash the league, refereeing, etc, etc, the 'boothees' will lose their jobs if they criticise. I am not saying it's right for the booth to never criticise, but it is just expected.
100%.
Surfers Law on a road trip, "never drive away from good waves"....4 heats could have been surfed at pumping main break on the Arvo of Box day........instead we watched lackluster finals in a fading swell with heat restarts n surfers getting 1 wave in a heat.... enough said!
Thanks Steve for your colourful & poignant insight into this competitions highs and lows.
Great waves, surfing by the guys overall was excellent.
Stylish surfers like Caity are rare gems to flow through the 'competition' scene.
Gabby loved chopping up those waves
After seeing Mark Occy at Cloudbreak, I could see Caity cruising a highline in those open tubes on a big board.
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I just watched the women's final. For me, Gabriela simply happened to catch the best two waves, which had hollow sections all the way. Caity's waves were more shouldery.
Re: the contentious stop of the WSL on the day with a rising, possibly out of control, swell.
These days, there is hopefully more of a duty of care towards employee safety, even if they are athletes. Look at the football codes. In Fred Hemmings’ day, a footballer would be concussed and assisted off the field. There would be an application of the magic sponge and maybe a passing of the test of seeing the right number of fingers and they would be sent back out there. It doesn’t happen like that anymore much. For good reasons.
Sure, there is still risk which sells certain sports, like surfing and football. They want to keep the risk. But the risk has to be managed these days. It’s not a bad thing, despite the cost in thrills and spills.
They have also reduced the fatality and injury rate for miners. It’s all part of the same thing.
Sorry if the folk watching in their armchairs are disappointed.
Risk vs reward was part of evolution, until the industrial revolution.
Now a sport, gambling's a rort...
Highly entertaining aussie treble with Isabella & Jordy taking the tank, should have been another one for Steves writeups too, great stuff.
For the life of me, if the women down voted the Box, and the wozl wouldn’t put them out there anyway, why not run women at main break and men at the box simultaneously? Would have saved the comp vs this fizzle of a finals day.
Did it really take two hours to changeover from surfing heats at The Box to Mainbreak in the previous round? What’s there to change? In hindsight again another lost opportunity to get heats completed.
Weird that they also called it off on ‘Box Day’ based on forecast surf size, rather than what was in the water at the time. And rather than going right into the closeout, the girls could have gone left if it did start to get big.
Anyway, nice write up FreeRide and great to see Jordy win.
So many "Tennis Tour" Bobby jokes, but tennis actually does it much better.
Sitting at the airport lounge watching the French Open, and during rallies we're left to enjoy and take in the game - no inane blow-by-blow from Joey Turdpail. So satisfying.
It's a huge issue that the Woz is both event organiser and broadcaster.
thank got jordy won , how the box day just was a fuck around and ended early in solid clean conditions is baffling and finals day was unwatchable it should never got to that . Good on gabby for getting a win but she gets over scored a lot along with caity to an extent but caity has a brilliant smooth style easy on the eye and i’ll leave that there .