Trestles Pro 2025: Finals Day
Trestles Pro 2025: Finals Day
Brilliant Finals Day at Trestles that should once and for all - though probably won't - end all debate about whether Lowers should be a CT stop.
A brief summation of the thinking goes like this: There's only one true justification for the sport's governing body and that is to produce a credible World Champion. A credible World Champ has to excel across the range of disciplines and wave types and heights, from 2 foot to 20 foot. By and large, that has been the case, apart from a handful of notable exceptions - Filipe Toledo being the most high profile and recent example. Although Trestles as a Finals Day venue produced that anomaly, as a standard CT stop it functions perfectly for sorting and exhibiting the avant-garde in high performance small wave surfing. Way more than any other stop on tour.
It performed that function perfectly today, culminating in the best small wave final of recent memory, and possibly the greatest of all time.
Yago (WSL/Sharon)
Eventual winner Yago Dora credited God for supplying the turning point wave of the day for him - a last minute ride in his Quarter-Final with Ethan Ewing. Needing a 6.86 to broach the deficit, Yago went left and launched a tail-high reverse to garner a winning 7.60. That was a template no-one else was able to match, or really even attempt today. Heading left into a slight air wind (more W/SW than the previous days southerly breeze) and boosting, often twice per ride. If a surfer in the draw can do something no other surfer can do or even attempt he or she gets to set the terms of the exchange. The contest is now being effectively conducted on their terms. Which is exactly what happened in the mens final - more on that in a moment.
The remaining two Womens Quarters were not competitive heats. Gabby Bryan had a meltdown against Sawyer Lindblad to log a 5.17 heat total in glassy overhead Trestles, while Caz Marks was only able to log a solitary scoring ride against Bettylou Sakura Jonson. Surfing her 19th heat for the year through seven contests held around the world, it was Marks' first excellent ride for 2025. If I were coach Luke Egan that would be keeping me up at night. Almost ten hours of surfing in front of judges to only log a single excellent ride is not good pro surfing. They are sending her a clear signal, and I'm not sure the message is being received.
Sawyer (WSL/Sharon)
The last hurrah of what I call the surf star era culminated in the Quiksilver Young Guns program. Super yachts in Indo, private helicopters on board, big budget productions etc etc. Kanoa, Leo, Jack Robinson all feted, and had their profiles boosted courtesy of a surf industry with its Last Days Of The Roman Empire largesse. Showered in cash, global travel, and opportunity before they were teenagers. Griff was similarly pumped up by Billabong. Those surfers made up the bulk of the Finals Day combatants on the men's side. Just by contrast, to show how far we are removed from those days, rookie Jackson Bunch showed up to Bells having never surfed it, likewise Joel Vaughan at Trestles.
The Last Surf Stars, plus Yago dominated the Quarters. Griff smoked Joel Vaughan, Jack Robinson pushed past Cole Houshmand, and Kanoa edged out Connor O'Leary. By the end of the Quarters it was obvious a functional if not exceptional air game was going to be required to win the event. Even a full repertoire of turns was now being considered a notch below lofted airs. That will annoy some but I find the argument judges put forth hard to rebut. As performed by Yago Dora the air has to be lofted, has to be tail high and has to be landed clean.
It looks more like snowboarding with its emphasis on hang time than the typical, low-altitude flat spins on end sections that at times have infested pro surfing.
Yago (WSL/Sharon)
No such progression sighted on the women's side. Apart from a perfunctory and forlorn end section air which Caity Simmers failed to execute in a losing performance to Molly Picklum, it was all on the face. Molly's 9.60 was the best wave of the women's event and was enough to get past Caity for her first win in seven encounters leading her to exclaim, “oh my gosh, that was a long time coming”.
Caity hasn't looked interested at Trestles. It seems hard to go back a month and realise she was runner-up at Margs, such has been her form compared to last year. The body language has been inconclusive, she looks over it. But yet, she is coasting on pure talent to second in the world. Possible to do a Slater and pull a sickie for Brazil while rekindling the fire before J-Bay..? Just a thought.
Caity (WSL/Sharon)
I thought Pickles was the best female surfer on Finals Day. She carved harder back against the grain and smashed sections with more authority. However, she was well beaten by Bettylou in the Final. Her win against an imploding Sally Fitz at Burleigh could have been written off as a fluke but there was no denying this performance. She went huge on the biggest wave of the final with two massive turns for an 8 and then shredded the absolute bejesus out of a soft Trestles runner for a 9.
Pickles could not answer either the scoreboard pressure or find the better waves but heads to Rio third in the world, sitting beautifully off the shoulders of the front-runners if she can muster a late-season charge for the finish line.
Bettylou (WSL/Nolan)
Before Bettylou was even out of the water the beach crowd erupted as Yago threw down another massive, inverted air for a 9.53 to start the final. He said afterwards he was dreaming of surfing the Lowers Left after watching it go unloved for years during the Finals Days.
That opening ride lent a sense of manifest destiny to Yago's ascent through the Finals Day. He'd overcome Griff in the Semi-Final with a late left after scoring a 3 for what was the biggest air ever done at Trestles (according to R.K. Slater). A huge, corked out air on a right that Slater termed a “psychotic air” and insisted was a make despite Yago overbalancing on landing and falling on his heels.
Yago (WSL/Sharon)
Kelly also noted, as the surfers were clearly enjoying themselves, as opposed to locked into fierce competition, that if you are “internally inspired and at peace with yourself you do your best surfing”.
That was quite the prophecy for the Final as Yago was clearly treating a thirty-minute session at Trestles with 10,000 points and $USD 80,000 on the line like a casual free surf. He styled out of one air combo before landing on his back and performing an inverted, underwater dying cockroach (or gecko) as claim. This was not a bloke feeling pressure or competing with anger in his heart.
As stated earlier, the air set the terms of the contest and Kanoa refused to accept them, sticking to the face and shredding but unable to get above 8 points. By the time he accepted the inevitable he couldn't quite find the level of aerial expertise required to get the massive numbers required.
Every facet of small wave shredding was performed to the highest degree on Finals Day. The surf star era is over, it appears the fierce competitive era gone with it. Young Guns and fellow travellers surfed with light hearts, Womens winner Bettylou Sakura Jonson summing up the prevailing vibes when she was asked her keys for success: “stay happy and surrounded by your loved ones”.
// STEVE SHEARER
Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown Women's Final Results:
1 - Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 17.00
2 - Molly Picklum (AUS) 14.23
Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown Men's Final Results:
1 - Yago Dora (BRA) 17.90
2 - Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 16.07
Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown Women's Semifinal Results:
HEAT 1:HEAT 1: Molly Picklum (AUS) 16.37 DEF. Caitlin Simmers (USA) 10.84
HEAT 2: Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 16.24 DEF. Sawyer Lindblad (USA) 14.33
Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown Men's Semifinal Results:
HEAT 1: Yago Dora (BRA) 17.23 DEF. Griffin Colapinto (USA) 15.20
HEAT 2: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 17.10 DEF. Jack Robinson (AUS) 16.10
Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown Women's Quarterfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Caitlin Simmers (USA) 12.10 DEF. Erin Brooks (CAN) 11.66
HEAT 2: Molly Picklum (AUS) 12.50 DEF. Lakey Peterson (USA) 11.47
HEAT 3: Sawyer Lindblad (USA) 15.50 DEF. Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 5.17
HEAT 4: Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 17.83 DEF. Caroline Marks (USA) 8.70
Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown Men’s Quarterfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 16.40 DEF. Joel Vaughan (AUS) 12.17
HEAT 2: Yago Dora (BRA) 15.37 DEF. Ethan Ewing (AUS) 14.63
HEAT 3: Jack Robinson (AUS) 16.27 DEF. Cole Houshmand (USA) 15.94
HEAT 4: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 15.16 DEF. Connor O'Leary (JPN) 13.37
Comments
Wow that all sounds pretty uninspiring.
Photos don't do the waves that were on offer justice. Although it's appropriate that BLSJ is on the best looking one - she had best wave selection all day. Ripping hard with full confidence.
The air shots aren't as pretty, but Yago's style is so watchable it is a pleasure when he's in that kind of mood - just riding waves and doing whatever pops into his head on a section and making it happen.
i missed most of this... was it because i fast forwarded to only watch the surfed waves and had the sound down?
great comp. i think most folks hated on Trestles as a "finals" venue only.
i'd like to see waves like JV's with the straight air score higher. love a straight air. love Yago but some of his airs weren't up to his usual standard with the board flopping about and disengaging from his feet. hard (impossible for most) to do but looked shit.
can i fast foward past Brazil?
Men's final was great. Greasy airs by Yago, hard rail ripping and slides by Kanoa.
I thought Bettylou was easily the better of the ladies - Pickles leaning to much on safety-surfing.
Thew other thing that was so good about it was the sheer quantity of waves ridden- 18 waves.
10 from Kanoa, 8 from Yago.
There was so much opportunity.
Yeah, you could've gone to two more pages. Thought other deserved mentions were:
~ Yago's new template for Lowers Left air game success. Quite revolutionary.
~ Griff and Kanoa in particular sticking to the rights rail game unswervingly ...they were both ripping and could rightfully feel that scores should've been closer.
~ Kelly telling Cote and Mitch: "Can we have a moment of silence, please?"
And a shout-out to the WZL camera op.s who almost managed to miss Yago's audacious entrance in the final ...but didn't. Phew!
Does make you wonder what would have happened if Yago had made the Final 5 and unleashed that plan against Toledo.
It sure does if they're going to go as high as that on the first wave of a final. Would like to see what the Judges Notes for Competitors had to say on Finals day about it all.
As for BLSJ's newfound confidence and dominant display, should've got a full paragraph.
Would've loved to see a still of Kanoa's power cuttie in the final.
He did two on one wave, so I thought someone would've got it.
And Yago's response to '2nd in the world, how does it feel' question?
"Pretty good"
Good stuff.
thanks for a great write up FR! My favourite part of today was Slater’s commentary. Most pro surfers should stay well away from microphones but KS was really articulate and engaged and interesting. BettyLou Sakura Johnson nailed it today as did Yago.
Agree - hated him surfing/presser blaming but in the booth always good
Still can’t wrap my head around the score Yago got for the EE buzzer beater.
Trestles looks like a sick fun wave to surf. Just not the finals venue.
I know it should have at least been 8.5 compared to Ethan’s cutbacks and half reverse turns. One carve does not a tweaked air make. The right surfer one. It would be a shame if Ethan made it to cloudbreak instead of Robbo
I thought it was over cooked. 1 manoeuvre, mediocre height and landed on the coping. How it could it possibly be over a 7.6? 6.5-7 but no more.
That reverse air is pretty repetitive. Excellent when they get it all the way round in the air. It shouldn’t be excellent when they don’t.
And variation. Two airs the same.
Imagine if Kelly was 100% committed to trestles, wasn’t on dad duty, his body was right, the chia bowl mix was right…he could’ve won.
You forgot 20’years younger and against surfers from that age
AND wanted to be there... unstoppable!
That photo of Betty Lou is a rippa!
Didn’t watch much of this one and the write ups
really do cut the mustard. Cheers FR!!
That was an awesome contest for mine. They don't have to all be death defying waves to not be an enjoyable event with the best small wave surfing in the world. I was intrigued by Yago's comment on the Lowers left going unloved for years. I've only surfed there a few times in my life and found the left quite punchy and more pocket but could have been swell direction. Maybe Margs left might come back into fashion more too? But I loved the peak option and seeing lots of action. Great event and excellent write up again FR
Awesome comp this year, pure performance !
Sorta need a wave like this to give contrast to Tahiti, Pipe, CB.
If we could swap Super Tubos and Brasil for Maccas and ulus or G Land we almost have the real dream tour back !
I find it small minded and ignorant when people call for the Brazil CT comp to be scrapped.
They've won 7 world titles in the last 11 years,or 10 years really as there was no world title in 2020.
Plus they have the largest most passionate crowds that attend a CT event.
The quality of their surf is irrelevant,they long ago earned the right to have a comp on tour.
Besides,it's hasn't been the worst surf on the tour calender for the year a few times now anyway.
You can't cancel the one and only event from the biggest surfing superpower of the last decade.
That'd be unfair and create an uproar.
I'm not defending Brazzos at all,and i wouldn't care anymore than the next non Brazzo if the event there was cancelled lol.
I'm just pointing out the reality of global surf economics to why they have an event there and deservedly so.
Yeah they definitely deserve to have a Brazo stop on tour, but im sure most viewer's and surfers would prefer to trade a couple of the mediocre waves for Indo, after seeing the performances at Trestles imagine the progressive surfing at 5 - 6ft Maccas.
Anyway a boy can only dream.
They could trade an Indo event for an Aussie one,as 3 events in Oz is overkill considering no other region in the world gets more than one.
Or better still,we all know which event should get the arse from tour.
Trade that one for Indo.
But the Brazzos get to keep theirs.
As it says in the article,a world champ should get to show how good he is in 2ft to 20ft.
Then there it is,Brazil has the event to showcase his 2ft skills in.
OOOO now that is a very fair point. Pumping Maccas would be a serious spectacle I would love to watch. No interest as a viewer in tuning into Braz beachies - although a few years back when that big right turned on it was sick.
"The quality of their surf is irrelevant"
LOL!
thanks for picking out that line.
yeah, that's the whole beef with the Brazil stop. shit surf. good debate tactic if you can model out the requirement for decent surf.
only when it's all time conditions for the comp site is the surfing watchable.
get them to a beachie with decent banks outside of Rio. their crowds love it so much they'll travel a couple of hours to kick a soccer ball on the beach... or do they prefer comps decided by one manoeuvre heat winning waves full of backwash?
Surely they have some better setups than the usual closeout beachies? I know they exist. Even their fancy private wavepool would be better.
They have better setups but it's too fickle to get them breaking good.
Imagine east coast Oz with significantly less setups,no cyclone swell potential and very limited south swell exposure because the continent extends nearly all the way down to Antarctica.
The fact they've had 4 world champs sharing 7 world titles in the last decade under such circumstances and Oz has none still amazes me every time i think about it.
We're doing an analysis-style article shortly on some of those "better setups", and in the process I was surprised by, a) how many classic pointbreaks there are in Brazil, and b) how good they could be if they weren't so fickle.
The science part of the article explains how they formed and why they're fickle, but like so many things in surfing it's fun to think 'what if?'
Like, if not for a quirk in South Atlantic atmospherics, it could be home to a region of right points to rival Queensland or the Salina Cruz area of Mexico.
If only the South Atlantic got tropical cyclones...
'What if' Argentina didn't exist and there was all that open ocean space under Brazil for southern swells to push up from hey lol.
I think some of their quality setups are so fickle that guys like Medina,Toledo and Ferriera miss them when they're on because they're already somwwhere else in the world scoring a lot more often than they ever do back home.
Do the Brazos ever blame god when they lose? Like "God didn't want me to win, I'm going to spend a lot of time in confession to prepare for the next event."
Classic
Good question. Do they also think that their praying was much better than their opponent’s praying, considering their god gave them the winning wave? What happens when Yago meets Medina in a heat? Is it the one who prays the hardest that gets the best waves? Maybe they should hold the heat in a church to see who’s the best?
God does a countback to see who said the most Hail Marys in the last 24 hours.
Erin Brooks must be questioning her faith right now
"Do the Brazos ever blame god when they lose?" Probably not. I think they blame the Devil, haha.
They chalk it down to a cancer kid getting cured that day instead.
As competitive surfing and the WSL have enjoyed something of a renaissance of performance and interest since the appointment of Ryan Crosby as the CEO - any chance we could get an interview with the CEO from Steve?
Crosby has had a 98% lower media profile than the previous CEO Erik Logan while working his magick, so it would be good to put some pertinent questions to him and get an idea where the Wozzle is going after the departure of JMD for the rest of 2025 and into 2026?
I think that's a question for Mr Crosby. I'm guessing both FR and Stu would be very keen.
Great comp and great outcome . Gotta like Yago and Bettylou . Poor EE . I can't watch . He just aint ever gonna be a world champ with no air game . Hang it up buddy and move along .
crazy statement
Sorry if that hurts . EE has the smoothest buttery style on tour but that will never win a world your . Let's agree to disagree . I'm willing .
unless this years finals gets skunked on swell i'm guessing airs won't win it. same with future location...
EE needs to start winning more events if he'll ever be world champ.
Only 2 event wins and he'll be 27 in 3 months is very slow going.
Every world champ in history had more event wins than that by his age,even without a world title yet until later.
Some of them were well into double figure event wins by then.
He does have a style of surfing that would've been more suited to the Slater/AI/Mick/Taj/Parko era of the 2000's and early 2010's,so he's pretty heavily up against it these days.
Great comp at a great location. So much better as a routine stop, not a finals location. Agree with above, can't see EE's rail game being enough, not when Jack has a sick air game as well.
Thanks for the article FR, great summary. I only disagree with one point:
"Although Trestles as a Finals Day venue produced that anomaly" - I would say "Although Trestles as a Finals Day venue *could have* produced that anomaly".
Filipe sucks in heavy lefts, but to say he is world champ* only because of Tresles is wrong. Every year (on the men's side), the surfer in front won (JJF, Filipe, GB). So Trestles never played a role in "changing" the world champ. It could have - but it didn't.
I just can't say that to poor Carissa on the women's side, though...
Kind of true.
But then factor in Pipe being the last event like it always was,and the situation quite drastically changes for him then.
But Pipe and its corresponding points was factored in those years.
Pipe as the last event instead of the first would've had him under a lot more pressure i reckon.
Toledo and pressure aren't 2 things that go together very well at Pipe and Chopes lol.
Anyway it's all just conjecture now.
He's a 2 time world champ and it's cemented in history,regardless of asterisks next to them because of a different venue and format that helped him out immensely.
Post-heat Interview: "I would like to thank Lucifer for not sending my opponent the winning wave in the last few minutes"
Great stuff Steve, as always thx.
?si=Z_7J0qdqhW8iww9aI quite like Trestles. Especially when we get to see forehands like Yago and Cole, super crisp and exciting. That left is a 'get out of jail free' card for the goofs.
Blue Sky of the Day. More judges, *audible groan from the internet*
Hear me out- the 5 judges have their hands full scoring already. We need two more judges, a technical judge and a style judge. The normal judges don't have time to analyse any given manoeuvre and often don't seem to even notice (or score) radical new tricks.
Connor's inverted air for example would get a high technical score because we haven’t seen it before. Simmers would get maximum style even if she doesn't bother with major moves.
Thanks spinafex, the artful soap, tomdo and Gillsy for your comments.
Echoed my thoughts on the subject.
Thoughts and prayers for the losers?
Cheers Steve for keeping me informed. A tough timezone to get too invested for me.
The think the post cut prize purse may even be $100K for the winner.
Also I think it’s a stretch to say a world champion need to be adept at 20 foot. If we’re talking Australian / Hawaiian measurement there is no comp they are sending anyone out at that size on the current CT schedule. 10-15 yeah ok.
Finally, as a non-aerialist surfer, can somebody explain to be the importance or increase in difficult of ‘tail high’ - it just seems like words Joe uses and now here, what are the mechanics at play?
In simple terms, the higher the tail the closer the move is to a flip, as opposed to a flat spin.
In physical terms, the tail is further from the wave so it's harder to do. Also, the body has to counterweight by being lower than the board so commitment is high.
Stylistically, it looks way better.
Makes sense, thanks Stu
If it gets over 15 ft then the comp gets suspended as the pros don't travel with boards for that size surf,like at Cloudbreak years ago.
And a large proportion of them would likely not be keen to surf anyway as that's just a completely different realm of surfing many would't have put much time into.
JJF would stand out over the rest in such conditions.
Gotta respect the impressive acrobatics these blokes can manage, it's exciting to watch when they're really going for it, I think where it lacks for me is that everyones approach to the wave is the same with that kind of scoring, doesn't seem that progressive to me other than the amount of spinnies you can jam into your projection
I liked it better when the airshow events were separate to the world tour and viewers didn't have to endure wave after wave of brazzos doing air reverses.
Shittest comp on tour by far. Place doesn't even offer a head dip.
C'mon mate, it's an actual surf spot unlike the close-outs of Portugal or the weird backwashy crap of Saquarema.
Gotta agree with FR SR, the water camera made that place look like fun, good quality fun. Worthy of a comp. A very fair and contestable playing field.
Sorry FR. I find it incredibly boring. Any set wave above 4 foot is considered too big for the reef. Never barrels. As exciting as the wave pool. Would b fun to surf...just like the wave pool.
Different strokes for different folks though. Fair enough.
Can't believe the Lowers hate . It looks like the ocean turned into a transition skate park . Gimme two hours out there and I reckon I'd limp back to the car with a crook back for sure .
Thanks for the good reads FR.
Yeah, for the sake of pure surfing, Kanoa did the right thing in purposefully aborting halfway the airs he for a second thought of trying. Otherwise, we would have had to endure even more.
Agree. If there's not a chance of a barrel I'm just not interested. Whilst it does offer rail surfing, it turns into an air snoozefest, I find it boring as fuck.
I agree with others though that it deserves its place on tour for the type of surfing it provides, and the tour should cover a gamut of waves. It's just not for me.
Yeah fair point @sprout.
Can't wait for J Bay. Hope it pumps.
And chopes!
Agree with you. The airs are more fun when they can actually get creative with judges that understand like the stab high events. How come they can understand airs and the WSL doesnt?
Telling the surfers tail high scores higher before the event means they will try to do them... Shouldnt surfing be the other way around? Let them get creative and show us some variety with judges that actually get it!
Different spin directions going different ways for both forhand and backhand are all different. Add to that certain grabs make each spin direction and stance look different with varying difficulty. Certain grabs fit and are easier to pull off in certain spin directions. Understanding this gives easy points of difference to judge from. Of course height, wave size come into it too.
Airs have been around long enough now to really start picking them apart. Just tail high and looking big while ignoring flailing arms, awkward legs and messy recoveries should be scored down every time.
Guys like JJF with some skate experience get all this and can be seen doing it in videos all over the place. I'm sure it's part of his frustration with the tour.
Another big thing they need to address is that a mid wave air landing in transition straight into the next bottom turn should be scored much higher than off the end section to flat water with a battle to ride out.
Theres nothing wrong with airs when they fit the wave and look good. When its 10 pumps single mindedly just waiting for a ramp to throw it to flat is it really surfing? Looks like using a wave for nothing more than a launch vehicle to me. Take up wake boarding.
100%
The judging for airs is broken, and they are generally way over-scored.
"Another big thing they need to address is that a mid wave air landing in transition straight into the next bottom turn should be scored much higher than off the end section to flat water with a battle to ride out."
fully.
i want to see some functional airs where they pump hard as they land and come out of it faster. Toledo is almost there...
they don't need to mimic skateboarding other than skating's desire to make it look cool i.e. stylish. but imagine a stomped straight frontside stalefish grab (proper firm grab, then tweak it!)... no spins, just high, tweaked with no feet movement.
With you on this NG, I often wonder why Ethan doesn't do just this ? Giant frontside airs, with a little steeze mid-flight and a buttery landing he comes steaming out of. I'd score it highly, (though I'm more than happy to watch his rail carves too).
When you see him flying down the line, he carries more speed and momentum than anyone on tour, he wouldn't have to flip, or spin like a maniac, just go huge.
Spechy doesn't like airs? Is that the problem? Haha
The snowboard is the ultimate air tool, EE might not have done much, I know JJF did
Pretty entertaining overall.
Kelly is great in the booth, either calling the waves or breaking them down afterwards during the replay.
Despite the syrupy brown-nosing of Cote and Salazar, it's cool when Kelly is behind the mic.
Spin to win, haven't watched a wave from finals day.
I'm glad everyone enjoyed the "@!r show ".
Any comments from C F
?????
More questions than answers.
How's barron doing ?
I would have Def given the win to fil over griff,
Italo over J V .... closer...
Kinda faded out over those 2 calls
Busy yesterday. Will catch up tonight.
Just did the heat analyser, Ethan got absolutely hosed.
If the scale is set on Ethan's waves, then both of Yagos were juiced, but especially the last wave. Over by a point.
The consistency of the waves in the final is hard to understate. The sport is so much better when there's the opportunity such as that.
Unlike the first few days of the event - which had a single swell train in the water - Finals Day had two groundswells in the water, one at 14 seconds and another at 20 seconds. This helped to increase the consistency.
I just enjoyed watching the screwfoots surfing frontside on a rippable wave, we don't get to see much of that on tour. Also, the slo-motion replays of Yago shuffling his feet around on his board mid-air shows just how technical those moves were, even if the readjustment once landed looks a bit ugly.
Another great writeup Steve.
Great stuff. The Gecko was a cut above, and so good to watch.
But I will say I loved Kanoa's air he did for the 8.. if that wave had another steep section he was heading way into the 9's.
I think Trestles is a valid and balanced contest for the tour...one for the small wave hi-tech rippers.
And it is much better off being after the cut with a reduced field to increase the chances of getting consistent waves.
It's just not and never was a valid venue for the Final five format...I'm interested to see how Cloudbreak goes this year for the final version of the Top 5 and I think it's going to be very important to see who makes that top 5.
I'm sure there'll be a few hoping against Jack Robbo qualifying.
Yes I agree crg great wave for the high tech rippers however if I was that good to be on the CT the last thing I would want to surf is trestles it does pay the bills for the WSL though.
I want to see Toledo take the number 1 position before CB , then I want to see 12ft + CB . I hope it’s Jordy’s year for a win , Jack & EE have still got time on their side, Jordy not so much .
Ya speakin my language Supa!! :-D
Betty needs to shake this habit of wiping her face between turns
I noticed that. Although tears, got something funny going on with her arms during carves also. Kind of like they stay high throughout every turn
I wonder if you had to be told by someone far younger than yourself, what the air manoeuvre they were doing at the time was called FR? Congrats if you have kept up with it.
Spicey then nicey
The thing about Erin Brooks is, she surfs a good heat, and she's the greatest surfer ever.... the next big thing, she surfs a bad heat, she needs to get a longboard and go learn to surf properly.
dunno, ..she's only 17....maybe it's a swellnet thing?
Who said she’s the greatest ever?
Do you ask a dog why it shits also?
Sometimes.
Especially when it chooses the only spiky bush within 500m to do it in.
I usually tack on a few swear words.
And furry muff too @zen!! :-P
Rufffff!!
Thought as much..
Struck a nerve there buddy?
Ahh you had one chance to get me back with that one,,,and you blew it!
Better luck next time mate!
I don't think thats fair SR.
Over the year, as we've seen more and more of her surf, we're seeing what's she's capable of and where her level is at.
From that, we can make a realistic assessment of how she matches up to the hype.
I don't think it has anything to do with whether she surfs a good or a bad heat.
Isn't that how professional sports people get treated in other sports?
fwiw, if she somehow made the Final 5 I would still put her as red hot favourite at CB.
Just an observation of the threads FR.
Seems theres alot of blokes on here with memories of a goldfish when it comes to someone's performance and their opinions seesaw based on each heat. Happens with other surfers too. Maybe a bit of short term memory loss associated with the demographic?
She's 17. She rips. She'll b right.
It’s almost as if these absolute female talents who took the world by storm with their aerial prowess and dynamism get their wings clipped once on the CT.
Is it due to the criteria? The fact judging continues to reward conservative surfing? …………Or is that the talent is much higher and this is what brings people back to the field.
And you have some like Sierra Kerr who unfortunately can’t get out of a Challenger heat