Pipe Masters Swell Forecast
A lot has gone down in the six weeks since the Rip Curl Portugal comp finished: Kelly broke a couple of toes at Cloudbreak; two days of amazing big wave paddle surfing went down at Peahi; and Stephanie Gilmore was crowned the Women’s World Champ.
But now, with less than a week to go until the waiting period of the Billabong Pipe Masters, all eyes are fixed on the charts. Will the World Title showdown between Mick, Gabriel, and Kelly, get swell befitting the occasion?
In short, yes!
Since the large Jaws swell, generated by the remnants of Super Typhoon Nuri, there's been a couple of large N/NW swells for Hawaii but winds haven't been favourable for the North Shore.
Tomorrow will see a large W/NW groundswell lighting up Sunset for the second leg of the Triple Crown, but from the first day of the Pipe waiting period – next Monday – we'll see the North Pacific really fire up with at least two weeks of sustained swell in the offing.
The swells are related to a strengthening node of the Long Wave Trough developing across the North Pacific, setting into motion a couple of vigorous frontal systems aimed towards Hawaii.
The specifics and make up of each front is still a little wishy washy, and hence the timing and size of each swell is also a little elastic. However, at this early stage an initial moderate NW groundswell on Tuesday is expected to be backed up by a larger NW groundswell pulse later in the week. The second swell, which will hit Thursday/Friday is likely to be in the 10ft+ range.
Following that is yet another large NW groundswell hitting over the weekend (Sunday). But the most interesting of all developments is a possible large NW groundswell for the second half of the waiting period, hitting the 12ft+ range.
The source of this large swell will be nearly exactly the same as the Nuri XXL swell, with a developing typhoon currently north of Papua New Guinea, named Hagupit, forecast to reach Super Typhoon classification over the coming days before recurving up towards Japan and being absorbed into an Aleutian Low on the weekend of the 13/14th.
As the remnants of Hagupit makes the extra-tropical transition, it's expected to 'bomb' resulting in a fetch of storm-force W/NW winds being projected towards Hawaii. This would create an oversized long-period and powerful NW groundswell for the Hawaiian Islands, hitting around the middle of the week starting the 15th of December.
We'll continue to keep a close eye on these developments, as typhoons are always tricky to forecast, especially out to nearly two weeks. But the models have been consistent with this development and confidence is growing by the day.
In any case the outlook is excellent and there'll be no lack of swell for the contest directors to pick the eyes out of. //CRAIG BROKENSHA
Comments
Ohhhhh where we looking at in East Asia for swell off this thing? Taiwan?
Yep, Taiwan and also the the Northern Philippines, both east, north and west coasts.
Craig. With EC only going out to 10 days, I assume the Hagupit ET transition/recurve is soley based on the long range GFS model at the moment?
Last EC run appears to have Hagupit decaying out over Taiwan/South China Sea?
Correct, ECMWF seems to be the outlier at the moment regarding Hagupit, forecasting it to cross the central Philippines, and this would result in less swell for Clif as well.
Also it's worth noting that if the current re-curving of Hagupit takes place, the swell will probably be too large for the Pipe Masters in any case.
What's wrong with a world title surf off in 3rd reef pipe Craig!!! ;)
No chance. I'll fly to the heart of this sucker to get swell. haha
Good man!
Ohhhh yeah baby this is exactly the kind of stacked forecast this event deserves! What a year we've had for swell on the tour. Arguably the best J-Bay & Chopes ever and now a penultimate finish at Pipe!
Gaby, you played it so smart at Chopes but you were certainly not the best & fairest. You were able to sit in a fixed take off zone and be very very selective about what waves you wanted. The one big beating you took wasn't until the final - and then you didn't want a piece of it after that. You gifted Kelly that last set wave and miraculously he bombed it.
If its 10-12ft + 2nd or 3rd reef Pipe and competitors have to do the delicate dance of bolting to the safety of the channel when the sets start falling from the sky and then racing in to the impact zone to pick off the mid sized waves (same as when Kieran Perrow won) then its going to be a whole different level.
And then lets add in the Slater factor (and JJF). If you can manage to come through all that and take the title then you've passed the ultimate proving test (and I guess we'll all have to quietly suffer the avalanche of online chest beating from the Brazilians!)
PS - It might be unpatriotic to go for the American instead of Mick - and you'd think that 11 would be enough...but I am still cheering for Kelly. To see him win another WT in 12ft Pipe would be a fitting way to go out for sure! (That's if he ever decides to retire!)
Geez big call on the Tahiti win, and if you check the pipe history, Gabriel lost to Keiran in the Quarters 2011 after beating Dorian. Was on point and last year lost to JJF. He's no slouch in hollow heavy lefts unlike ADS and the others.
Be dangerous if you write of Kelly, but I reckon Slats is a massive underdog. Won't have confidence or form or desire and will need a few lay days to settle him in.
It's Gabriels to lose.
Big pressure on Kieran with lots of swell. Pipe has been run in some shocking days and then pulled in 'too heavy days'. Fascinating stuff. Keiran has had a blinder all year so should be run in the best of days.....unless Eddie Rothman corners him haha
Good analysis deckstrus and love your enthusiasm.
Craig, any chance of the Eddie running or am I too early for the waiting period?
From this possible 'bombing' system if it comes off, I'd say no at this stage, and we're in the period, started yesterday and is open until February 28th.
Gonna be hard to beat JJF - I remember the last time pipe was big and there was a cleanup set (or what looked like a cleanup set) marching in. Everyone was scrambling for the channel except JJF who instead paddled deeper and did a roll in from second reef. Pretty sure he got a 10 for it. Amazing stuff....wish I could find the footage - it's out there somewhere.
This one MDM?
That was sick, love his surfing something very Curren/Slaterish about his tube riding.
Are you ready to rock and roll?
did anybody see that asp vision of nazare, christ almighty, how big were some of those waves- any calls except mountainous
what do you reckon mick?
Cheers for that JJF link Ben. That was incredible!!!
yeah Ben I reckon that could be it - it doesn't show him paddling to the inside while everyone else was gunning for the channel but I think that's the same wave! At the time I remember thinking what is he doing, what does he know that the others don't? Why is he paddling to the left and not to the right? Then it all made sense....shame they cut that bit out - that was the masterstroke....
We've got a bit of an upgrade on the two swells due during the first week, too big! We'll see how the models progress over the coming days.
Tis the season to be jolly alright.
Craig when you say to big what does that mean for pipe - big fat 3rd reef washthrews with nothing surfable ?
Yeah, just unruly, chaotic victory at sea conditions with wash throughs making it very hard for anyone to catch enough waves, let alone one each.
No disrespect to JJF as that's a bullsh1t wave he rode, but I'm not sure I'd call that 10-12ft pipe, would you?
Measured in increments of fear, Don. So, for me, that's 25-30 feet :-)
am with you on that clif!
Bring on more jaws & big pipe !
What about the Paddle event at jaws? Big enough for that?
Does it take a back seat to pipemasters & the Eddie?
Will provide another update around midday Moth.
I don't think any event has priority per se - they'll all run if the conditions are right.
However more interesting is whether they've got a couple of mobile webcast rigs - the Pipe broadcast setup is permenant, but if a macking swell with good conditions appears for Jaws and Waimea during the Pipe waiting period, then they'll need to deploy two mobile broadcast setups (do they have that gear on standby?).
Thanks Craig.
Does the ASP (or whatever they want to call themselves) 'own' the Eddie?
I wouldn't of thought they would run any big events at the same time... Splitting their audience.
Imagine all three on the same day... Which would you watch?...
Is it posible to have three different 'greatest show on earth' ?
Well they can't run all three on the same day. An Eddie swell would be way too big for Pipe.
But I see your point (and agree) - if Jaws and The Eddie were running at the same time, what would be the point of dual webcasts? It's very difficult to watch both at the same time.
This is the same with the Womens Maui event overlapping the Vans World Cup - I think it would have been more preferential to slot it into its own window. Day 1's competition saw greatly reduce numbers on both webcasts because viewers had to choose between Sunset or Honolua Bay.
So what's the go is the upgrade in swell 'Eddie' size? also Waimea needs the right swell direction too huh?
Nah, not Eddie size yocal, just looking bigger through the first week of the waiting period, above that 10ft+ range at the peak of each pulse. Details to come.
Forecast update:
First week is still on track to deliver large swell, with an upgrade on the size expected Tuesday and later in the week.
Monday is likely to start out with an easing N/NW groundswell peaking through Sunday in the 10ft+ range, dropping back probably from 6ft+ with SE tending variable winds from the S'th.
Tuesday's swell has been upgraded with a touch more north in the direction as a vigorous front projects a fetch of severe-gale NW winds towards Hawaii on the back of the active sea state created by the first swell producing front.
This swell is expected to come in at a strong 10-12ft+ with those funky but light S'ly Kona winds.
Beyond this we'll see another large NW groundswell (possibly the biggest of the lot) for the second half of the week, but the models are still up in the air regrading the progression of a series of embedded lows in a vast westerly storm track pushing close to Hawaii.
Either way it will be very large and E/NE trades should re-develop from Thursday.
Parko injured......ok hopefully and able to compete at pipe
Pipe date is set in lava.
It's early winter so there's time and space for The Eddie to go off!
As to Joel Parkinson, he has major reef scrapes. Which is minor in the big picture... But, he definitely hit the reef hard and looked stiff and shocked, possibly suffering some spine and neck trauma.
Prayers, and the best Joel Parkinson... Sure he's got days in between comps. Best to Keep e'm out of the air con rooms. That surely won't help matters.
Winds don't look great for the Mon-thurs. Will they run (and finish) it however in the first four days?
No they don't, they'll probably give Tuesday and Wednesday a miss and surf from Thursday onwards. Could run Monday morning though before winds swing to the SW.
At least the Kona winds (southerlies) aren't overly strong (possibly even just variable). We'll have to wait and see.
Feck, I want the finals in the big stuff.....not fecking Rds 1-3 and then have the finals in small pipe!!!! The World Title should be decided in SOLID pipe. It only goes without saying he who wins at SOLID pipe is worthy of a world title!!
He who won in SOLID pipe last year, fell just short.
Just heard Dusty is a wildcard for Pipe, confirmation???? and are there trials, and where's Eddie Rothman......questions questions questions.
As a Hawaiian resident who is leading the triple crown, wouldn't he be an automatic in?
So which day do you think I should lock in for the start of Surfings Grand Final ?
Monday Hawaii time doesn't look out of the question for a kick start. Winds aren't ideal but if they stay light they could kick off rd 1.
Nice work Don, cheers mate. Christmas, pipe, world titles... It's all coming together nicely.
See ASP have posted Round 1 Pipe draw details
Medina vs Aranburu vs wildcard
Fanning vs Melling vs wildcard
Re title race, wildcards indeed ...
Dusty in, CJ is out.
Pipe heritage heat will a good one - Tommy Carroll SunnyGarcia Gary Elkerton Michael Ho.....go the old boys.
Hows the forecast looking ?
I watched the very first 80s Heritage Heat (although it wasn't called that then) before the final of the 2001 Pipe Masters. Machado won that final from Lowey and it was bigger, proper Pipe, no tinny Backdoor shit, lefthanders only, and each drop was an elevator to the basement. Tom Carroll put on a massive show, taking some ridiculously heavy beatings but, oh god, when he made one...? The beach went wild.
I've just had a short chat with Tom about the upcoming heat. It'll be on Swellnet this week.
2014 may be different......2001 possibly under the influence of some recreational gear, now much older but im sure just as fit and focussed and will go just as hard as ever.
go Tommy Gun we want a replay of that famous snap.
For me, that sums up the most disappointing aspect of his situation: the doubt that is now cast over many of his great moments. An utter shame, 'cause he was a superb surfer at big Pipeline.
When do the pipe trials start?
Why Stu ? He still surfed the way he did. His skills weren't enhanced beyond what he was capable of and he probably would have charged just as hard under pressure regardless. Doesn't diminish his performances just because of a little added stimulation.
See? Even you said 'probably'.
True Blowin nicely put.
Nine hundred thousand ice heads around the world and only one snap at pipe.
It was all Tommy.
Possible Monday start [tues aust] for pipe trails ,solid pipe this morning with some feathering on 3rd reef good surface /wind conditions but very untidy and disjointed .....
how many Hawaiins on the trails list ?
16 ....? did fast Eddie get his way ?
Doesn't the real deal comp waiting period start from the 8th? Or do they class the trials as part of the waiting period also?
Looks like Eddie may run Wed, and Pipe gets shut out of anything decent for the whole waiting period.
What is the opposite of Yew?
Definitely a sustained period of very big surf ahead, but I'm not sure just yet whether it'll quite reach Eddie thresholds.
Regardless, it looks like several days will be too big for Pipe - but there's more than enough sizeable days otherwise throughout the forecast period. So, Pipe should turn on.
I concur with Ben, doesn't look to really reach the Eddie thresholds.
The opposite of "Yew" is also "Yew". It's just the delivery that varies.
On an off note, what's so sic about next year's tour name change?....
WSL.
Shorthand abrev for Wassell.
The Heritage heat -Thomas Victor Carroll will be surfing a 7'8 v bottom Rawson a copy of the board he won the 91 comp on........when the heat is over this board goes up for auction for the mauliola foundation [cystic fibrosis]
Toms hoping for 8-10 ft 2rd reef pipe which looks like he going to get
pics on his instagram page.
onya Tommy.
I saw that original Rawson board that TC used in that 91' Pipe Contest whilst in Haleiwa town earlier this year. It was in one of the surf shops, framed & wall mounted, with a series of pics of that famous snap & barrel & his black Gath Helmet. The board was snapped in two, possibly three pieces by memory. I don't recall him snapping back then but it was a while ago......
How good was Joel Centios 10pt wave , on the take off back foot right on the inside rail with toes nearly hanging over...cant wait to see some from the water footage.
Looking pretty nasty out there this morning!!! Send the trialists out but!!! ;)
Pipemasters in loving memory of Andy Irons.........Why no Bruce ? ! ?
Bruce had a post on his instagram about it , been taken down now. Didn't even get a spot in the trials or wildcard.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10351394...
Why should Bruce get a spot just because he is andys brother?
Because he's a shit hot surfer, Hawaiian and Andy's brother. I think they call it respect.
Yes but this is a WCT event. And if my memory serves me correctly Bruce is shithouse in competition. He won pipe 13 years ago. His other victory on the WCT was in 2008 in indo. His recent results at Pipe have been average. Does he just deserve wild cards forever? Or should you have to earn your place in a World Tour Event?
eel, I don't think he's bitching about a wild card into the main event. He appears to be bitching because he didn't get an invite into the trails to even be able to have a crack at the main event. I could be wrong, but the only way to get a wild card into the main event is by winning the trials.
Swellnet, why don't you fellas hire Sean Doherty or get Freeride back on the books so I don't have to go back to that stinking Coastalwatch site to read a contest report ever again. You rule at everything else, don't let those gronks steal your thunder.
Overlapping heats in pretty much unsurfable conditions.......ummmmm why?
Please don't tell me they're going to run Rd 3 in this shit! !!
Big call alright,think they are worried about it could get worse .....scarey waves...balls to the wall......so is bourez riding firewires cause hes snapped a few lately,got a feeling their pu boards with firewire decals.
Gonna get pretty big by the end of the day. Can't see them running tomorrow.
"These two days are the best out of the window" according to KP a few moments ago. (I assume he's referring to today and tomorrow).
I disagree - tomorrow will be too big. Probably too big this afternoon as well.
Sure, the forecast shows that it's expected to be much smaller from Tues thru' Thurs AM. But a quick glance of the charts indicates that late Thurs has a new NW swell that's expected to hold in the 6ft range throughout Friday (19th). End of the waiting period is Saturday 20th. So that's an option at the moment.
For now they're best off running with what they have in front of them (and running today is a good call IMO) but I doubt they'll be running tomorrow.
So why not leave it til Mon or afterwards to run Rd 3? If I was slater, Mick or Gabby I'd be having words to Keiran right now saying running Rd 3 in this shit will be suicide for the world title race. Seriously winning Rd 3 will be more about good luck than the best surfer in this shit.
And do we really want to see a world title handed to the luckiest surfer or the best surfer in the world?
Just because they say they want to run Round 3 doesn't mean it'll happen. They'll call it off if conditions detereiorate further, and I imagine they'll only press the green light if they're confident they'll get the entire round run in similar conditions (ie all three World Title hopefuls should be given the same opportunity, ie the same surf conditions).
However this would give them five heats of Round 3 before the first World Title contender would hit the water (Gabs is in Heat 6, Mick Heat 9, Kelly Heat 12) if they really wanted to roll the dice.
Was the Hawaiin whinge about having to play by the same rules as everyone else, that is having 2 wildcards in, the reason they ran the trials inside the waiting period?
Because it chewed up valuable time and if you join the dots it isnt too much of a stretch to see it is to blame for Jordy's injury.
.. and we're off for the day.
There are guys out there getting bombs right now. Yet they call it off because it's too big for the top 34. This is like fiji all over again.
They would've done much better on proper 7"6-8"0 guns taking the roll ins from 2nd reef IMO.
Looks better now then it did for most of rd 2, should have held for a bit longer and called on
Yeah that session this afternoon was amazing. As soon as it was called off the wind straightened a bit and heaps of good bombs were coming through. J.O.B and John John were on fire. Seemed a bit like that Fiji situation again but was great viewing on the beach.
Good job perrow. http://instagram.com/p/wkxgr4HSPT/?modal=true
The commissioner is only making comp decisions on the wind/swell predictions given to him by hawaiis best forecasters.
Call me slow, (I am from the north coast) but it has to be the first year for a long long time that Kelly hasn't actually won an event (Pipe pending). Must be hurting being so close to a title and not having done the deed at a single event. Hope he snatches a win and number 12 soon.
Well there ya go. Apparently yesterday afternoon was the best Pipe's been all season.
Locals were saying it was going to pump in the arvo with the wind improving. This was before they called it off. How can locals know this yet Kieran Perron, the asp and the surf forecasters have no idea? They said fiji wouldn't happen again. Useless merkins.
"Locals were saying it was going to pump in the arvo with the wind improving. This was before they called it off."
Really? Where did this convo happen? Not disputing it but wouldn't mind putting it in context.
A guy from Oahu said this on the Surfermag site during Michel and Nat young's heat:
"This is one of those days that the afternoon is going to go off. The swell will clean up, the winds will mellow out and the tide will be good."
He seemed to know what was happening. Noone at the ASP did
And the very next comment in that thread:
"Indeed. Looks like some cleaner ones are coming through already. Although if the swell continues to build as predicted, it will be too big. Already looking maxed out on the bigger sets and current looks like a river."
Point being, everyone's got an opinion. It's really easy to comment about what they should have done, but it's bloody hard when you're the man on the spot making the decision, with the whole surfing world scrutinising your call.
Check the scores from the last two heats - Julian won with a combined score of 4.5 (defeating Dion, who's combined score was 0.84), and Wilko won with a combined score of 4.13.
Out of twenty-four surfers in the entire second round, only two (Kelly, Jadson) had a combined score higher than an 8.5 (!).
The average wave score for the entire round was 2.92. So, it's easy to follow their train of thought.
In a perfect world, they'd remain on hold all day - but sometimes that's not feasible, or practical.
why not stay on hold for the day ? Particularly when there was a very good chance it was going to improve. You have the site booked. Surfers, officials are all on hand. The idea is to surf big perfect pipe. They should have stayed on hold for the day and as soon as it got good start running heats. Missed opportunity. I bet we see the comp held in fun size back door. Let down. Just like fiji.
Look, I agree it'd be great if they'd have remained on hold all day.
But there are other technicalities that make this difficult. For a start, how many web viewers would hang around eternally waiting for a call - especially in the mainland North/South American and Europe markets, where viewing time was already late? There's always a significant loss of momentum (ie web viewers) when events are put on hold, and it can be difficult to regain them on demand.
If that (ratings) was there primary concern then they need to reassess their priorities.
They're a business. Without eyeballs, they've got no sponsors. No sponsors means no events.
Sure, this is a gross oversimplification. But there are many tens of factors that goes into each decision made.
I'm sure they now regret not keeping on hold (ain't hindsight 20/20?) but that's the problem with these kinds of events - everyone knows when you fuck up (and is more than happy to point it out), but there's rarely a congratulatory word for when you get it right.
Any calls on running today people ? Looks like garbage from the camera on the pipe website.
Still blowing pretty hard tonight outside and looked real messy on dark so not too hopeful on the morning.
Ok here's a very obvious question which needs to be asked. Current waiting period finishes on Sat 20th. Big swell and light winds currently forecast for Sun 21st. Why not extend the waiting period by one day and run the finals in epic pipe? I'm sure everyone would definitely want to see the world title won in the best waves possible.
It's not like the pros have another comp to go to after this and the costs to extend by one day would be sweet FA. They did it at chopes one year and it paid off.
That's five days ahead Don. Decisions of that nature should be made much closer to the time frame. However there are many factors that make waiting period extensions very difficult.
For starters, there are a large number of people on site for the competition, most of whom have accomodation/flights etc pre-booked (often flying out on the last day or soon after the comp window closes). Rescheduling everyone can be time consuming and costly. And there's also a reasonable chance that their accomodation may not be available for another couple of days.
Extending the comp would also cost a lot more $$ outside the current budget (for all of the contractors/staff etc). Plus all of the other legalities (insurance, beach licenses) means that making such a decision should only happen when circumstances really warrant it.
Ben. The waiting period is 12 days (8th-20th). Extending it by one day will increase the costs that they budgeted for by 1/12th. Small price to pay for a world title showdown in epic waves IMO.
And I would assume that all staff associated with these events are on flexible airfares. What would happen if they wrapped it up in the first 4 days? All staff have to sit around waiting for their flight on 21st? I think not. So no loss in airfares. The only dilemma I can see would be accomodation, but is there really that much going down in Hawaii after 20th Dec that all hotels would be booked out for 21st/22nd?
Anyway, its not our decision to make. I just thought the question should be asked given thay have 1.5 days left to finish the event and I think everyone (pros included) would prefer to see this world title showdown go down in epic pipe conditions, rather than potentially smaller, less world class waves.
Current forecasts are showing local winds more favourable for the 21st also, last time I checked, but agree this is sometime away to be locking in local winds at this stage.
Thursday afternoon is a dicey call to run the event IMO. Swell doesn't look to arrive until very late and even then it will be VERY inconsistent, being the forerunners of the new swell. Doesn't look overly big until very late Thursday afternoon/evening either. This will suit Gabby IMO.
Friday looks much better and if I was a betting man, I'd be running the event all of Friday and finishing the finals first thing Sat morning.....assuming pipe comes to party as Craig has alluded to below.
"Small price to pay for a world title showdown in epic waves IMO."
Are you sure the waves are going to be epic? With all due respect Don, during Round 2 in this article's own comments you said:
"So why not leave it til Mon or afterwards to run Rd 3? If I was slater, Mick or Gabby I'd be having words to Keiran right now saying running Rd 3 in this shit will be suicide for the world title race. Seriously winning Rd 3 will be more about good luck than the best surfer in this shit. And do we really want to see a world title handed to the luckiest surfer or the best surfer in the world?"
That was on the same day, not five days out.
Things can change.
Don, also the locals will go spastic too if they extend for a day. Pretty sure the licence is pretty tight.
When I was in Jbay the guys start pulling down the site after they gave Mick the big mug. Most of the crew we're booked to fly out the day after the comp. The Qantas flight we were on had probably 60 people all involved in some way with the comp.
Also getting a place on North Shore xmas, better have somewhere booked or friends.
Yes I did write that and I'm not saying Sun is going to be epic but I can say it's going to be better than Thursday. But from what I recall about my comment above pipe was shit in Rd 2 cause of all the sand on the reef still. I believe this cleared literally straight after they called the comp off and by all accounts pipe pumped straight after they called it off.
http://www.surfingmagazine.com/video/surfing-presents-uncontestable/
It they can call the comp off whenever they want why can't they call it on again whenever they want. Pros and all comp staff are all still on the north shore!!! It's not like they go anywhere else.
I get the feeling a certain script is being played out here by the asp/sponsors.
"I believe this [the sand] cleared literally straight after they called the comp off".
Are you kidding?
"I get the feeling a certain script is being played out here by the asp/sponsors."
Don, I can't believe you're going down the conspiracy theory route.
"It they can call the comp off whenever they want why can't they call it on again whenever they want."
Yes, within the waiting period. That's what it's for. Extending the competition beyond the waiting period is a complex pathway, that should be investigated only if the waves are terrible for the end of the waiting period. Craig's upgraded the forecast for Friday (from earlier indications of 6ft+): he's now expecting 10-12ft across the North Shore and 8-10ft at Pipe. That not good enough for you?
"Pros and all comp staff are all still on the north shore!!! It's not like they go anywhere else."
Actually, you're wrong. It's a couple of days before Xmas and most of them are on the first flight out back home so they can spend it with their families. Remember, this isn't a 'holiday' on the North Shore - it's work, and most of them will have been in Hawaii for a month or more.
As for your earlier comments about "all the staff are on flexible airfares" - so, you know this for a fact? And for accomodation - not sure if you've worked in the hospitality industry, but most accomodation places book up their rooms back to back. And December on the North Shore is their busiest time of the year. So I'd be doubtful that all 300 surfers/event staff/sponsors/media could easily add on another couple of nights to their rooms. As well as extend their airfares.
Ben. All my comments above were regarding calling off the comp the other day and then not being able (or willing) to call it back on. They weren't about extending the comp. apologies for the confusion. Did you not look at footage I posted above. Is that not surfable/contestable? Certainly a million times better waves ridden in that footage than what I saw in Rd 2.
They have 1.5 days of comp to run. I just hope they don't run it on Thursday arvo otherwise it will favour gabby big time IMO. Let's just hope that Friday is all systems go and they don't delay the start or end of it otherwise the finals will be run in a dieing swell Sat arvo.
Btw Ben. Not sure if it's just me but your tone in this thread comes across as quite defensive/aggressive. Not sure why you're defending the ASP so much?
Ha! Defending the ASP? Swellnet's editorial track record would suggest the opposite.
As for "calling off the comp the other day and then not being able (or willing) to call it back on" - that's not as easy to do as it might sound (and, I discussed this with eel earlier in this thread).
For the record, I agree that that's what they should do every time there's a chance that the waves 'could turn on'. And I'm sure the ASP regret not doing that on Saturday.
But - to copy my comments from page 2:
"Check the scores from the last two heats - Julian won with a combined score of 4.5 (defeating Dion, who's combined score was 0.84), and Wilko won with a combined score of 4.13.
Out of twenty-four surfers in the entire second round, only two (Kelly, Jadson) had a combined score higher than an 8.5 (!).
The average wave score for the entire round was 2.92. So, it's easy to follow their train of thought.
In a perfect world, they'd remain on hold all day - but sometimes that's not feasible, or practical.
There are other technicalities that make this [remaining on hold all day] difficult. For a start, how many web viewers would hang around eternally waiting for a call - especially in the mainland North/South American and Europe markets, where viewing time was already late? There's always a significant loss of momentum (ie web viewers) when events are put on hold, and it can be difficult to regain them on demand.
I'm sure they now regret not keeping on hold (ain't hindsight 20/20?) but that's the problem with these kinds of events - everyone knows when you fuck up (and is more than happy to point it out), but there's rarely a congratulatory word for when you get it right."
BTW, the reason I'm voiicing my opinion on this is that I've personally been in the hot seat many times. I've sat there and assisted in making some heavy calls (whether to run or not to run, whether to wait for a projected lunchtime swell increase, or call it off for the entire day, etc etc).
Trust me - it's a heavy situation. No-one knows - or cares - when you get it right. EVERYONE knows when you get it wrong (of which there's a neverending supply of "I knew it was gonna be pumping/shithouse" comments waiting in the wings").
Geez IMO these so called workers should harden up a little.
Not home for Xmas..? Not home for wifes birthday..?
Come on work is work and it pays the bills, love it and suck it up.
All that sand is swinging back on the reef so shutdowns at Pipe. Medina would be stressing.
I'm not sure in reality its a big deal missing out the other day. Say they continued on into Round 2, they may not have even got Medina's heat in....they definitely wouldn't have got Mick or Kelly's.
Anyway they always miss the best Pipe days during the comp, its happened every year for the past couple.
Good call DW. Thats what we want to see. What is the wind forecast for these remaining 6ft days? If it's clean I can't see them waiting.
Writing up the latest forecast notes now, I think they could run Thursday with a small swell and get some heats out of the way and hope that a late and strong kick in new NW groundswell fills in mid-afternoon.
Swell will be big and peaking Friday morning, 10-12ft swell magnets on the North Shore and probably 8-10ft Pipe but easing steadily so this looks like a good day to run as well.
If they don't get it done by Friday evening, they'll run Saturday morning with an easing 6ft+ N/NW swell.
I don't think they need to extend the waiting period.
But as we've seen the last few swell events, everything can look good on the forecast but still Pipe won't co-operate. Fickle beast it seems when everything isn't full aligned.
Ah yes, for sure, haven't been keeping a close eye on the up coming heats. Would love to see them battle it out Friday morning in the big stuff!
Latest update here: https://www.swellnet.com/reports/forecaster-notes/hawaii/2014/12/16/large-swell-end-week-bigger-swell-sundaymonday
Interesting photo and comment from Sean Doherty on the state of the sand at Pipe..
"The Gums sandbar is now officially covering Pipe and on is way to creating a land bridge to Japan. Looks cute though."
Interesting, I noticed that on the pipe cam this morning also and was going to ask those knowledgeable on here if they had seen before?? Surely that will be problematic for the NW bump they're relying on to close this out?!?!?
Gabby must be wringing his fingers with glee
no lefts for gabby think MF KS and DPayne will be excited...
true... I got a day ahead of myself and had in my comment that there was no sign of the new swell yet which might help gab (deleted that part). Was thinking gab is adaptable and performing in sub-par/sandbar disjointed pipe might suit... we'll see i guess
waking up this morning and seeing the lack of swell and there desire to to run, I think your onto something offshoreozzie, i can already see him busting a massive air-reverse flippy thing to win, while everyone waits for the non-existing backdoor bomb...
Luckily the new large NW groundswell is arriving late Thursday and will be thumping all night. Hopefully enough time to clear it away?
Need someone with a lit of experience here. Surely it can't clear in one night. Where are the gurus? I thought it takes a couple of swells to clear.
Yeah I was thinking it might take a bit to move it. Is this sand bank now bigger than the one a week ago? And the swell that hit it last week was bigger and didnt move it much to start with..
That sand bank is massive. I really have no idea, but bound to be someone in the know. Where's Nick Carroll, he's the expert on all things, someone send him an SOS
Latest update here: https://www.swellnet.com/reports/forecaster-notes/hawaii/2014/12/18/large-pumping-friday-bigger-later-sundaymonday-poor-winds
Looks pretty terrible on the Pipe cam this morning. Will the swell fill in before they have to call it off for the day? They can only run until 4 or 5pm can't they?
The NOAA 51101 buoy to the north-west of Hawaii has picked up a good spike in mid-range swell about 6 hours ago, and the new long-range energy about 2 hours ago. The travel time is approx 10 hours so we should see a noticeable increase in size before dark.
So probably no contest today as they need to finish by 5pm local time?
Perrow just put on standby again until about 1330 Hawaii time.
Can't see it happening personally.
Bit of a letdown for the end of season. Really wanted to see it go down in epic conditions and real Pipe/Backdoor to crown the new champ.
Possibly Maddog, but I guess they're keeping the comp on hold just so they don't get a repeat of the weekend. If swell arrives earlier and starts pumping, they'll be good to go to tick off a few heats.
Is it just me or does anyone else find it really annoying that the kind of swell info/reporting that Craig is posting is next to non-existent on the ASP/WSL/BPM web page? According to the ASP propaganda, all we want to know about is another repeat of the Mick/GM/KS showdown BS and perhaps have a walk though of the Rip Curl house (or something equally exciting...)
BTW: Thank you Swellnet (and Craig) for posting the most bleeding obvious information that most surf fans want to know about.
No worries, hope tomorrow morning pumps!!
haha what the fuck is that 'tour the house' shit! May as well set up a kissing booth at Eukhai too... $5 a kiss with your favourite pro
Might be a good idea! I'd give a fiver to lay one on Kelly's scone.
Seconded Rat-Race....I haven't had time to look on the ASP site- too many barrelling lefts here to surf - but doesn't the Pipe Forecaster (usually surfline) post up forecast updates?
If not, pretty shabby.
They do. Sometimes it is 24hrs behind or more. Pft to that I say.
I'm a consumer and this is what i want;
- Gimme an easy to access VIDEO run down of the daily conditions.
- Show me footage of pipe. Let it run for 2 minutes. Hey, show me some more in the arvo. I wont mind.
- While doing that, give me some info on the forecast.
- Do this every morning and arvo and you have a happy customer. Just make it easy... top highlighted button for example.
You're already spending $30m a year, pay some camera man $50 extra each day and the job is done.
Not complaining... Just feedback.
fuck if they run this arv you would hope the first round is at least 8ft cause Jon Jon is first-up
next call 2:30pm HST
interested to see that on the big day they called it off, 2:30 was too late in the arvo to restart and run some heats, yet today its all good to but on hold until 2:30... I know they got no time now, but interesting they used that excuse online all week
DIN, exactly you beat me to it.......watching the cam no way will it be on this arvo....2-3ft at best.
And we're off for the day.
Interesting comments from Kieran in this afternoon's ASP press release, including a suggestion that they'll "shave some heat times" so that they can finish tomorrow.
"It's off today unfortunately as the swell really hasn't picked up yet," Kieren Perrow, ASP Commissioner, said. "We're working on the best way to complete the event in one day tomorrow -- that would be the ideal scenario with the swell we have projected. We're looking at shaving some heat times and running the overlapping heat format as far as we can through the event to maximize tomorrow because on Saturday morning we'll most likely be looking at an ocean that is pretty similar to this. The goal is to complete the event tomorrow if possible, but we'll back in the morning to look at the latest forecasts and swell charts to get a better reading on the next two days."
Commisioner........ shaving some heat times.....Keiran WTF !
I can't see the world title loser/s being too happy with reduced heat times!!! Imagine if you missed the winning wave by 2 sec in the reduced heat and that lost you the world title!!! oh dear!!!
Isn't Sat morning supposed to (forecast) to be more swell than NOW in Hawaii, so I don't understand Keiran's comment above.
And one word.........."SUNDAY"!!!!!
6pm in Hawaii and no real rise in swell at pipe, overnight I guess.
I bet there is some regrets about running the trials during the event window now. Then again , even though I love watching these events, as a local you'd be spewing if competitions ate into even more of your pipe season.
Trials, chicks and old fellas all surfing during a time where they could've finished 12 heats in the overlapping system.
It's gonna be interesting to see the 20 minute Semi-Semi-Final heats overlap in fading light....
And we're running. From KP in the Press Release:
"We've got solid 8 foot waves, Backdoor is firing and there's even some good Pipe waves, so we are on, and we expect to see some incredible rides today.
We've reduced some heat times in the overlapping rounds and extended the overlapping format into Round 5 and the Quarterfinals, which gives us the ability to finish the event today. We'll see an awesome finish this afternoon and we're going to crown a World Champ and a Pipe Master."
reduced heat times and overlapping is heavy! after the first few heats you can clearly see how tough it is to get your solid scores in the last 15 minutes when you have priority!! Feels a shame when so much on the line... critical heats for WC up soon....
8 foot eh? It's luckyy to be an inconsistent 6. Perrow trying to smooth over him calling off the comp on the best day of the year.
Well surfed Medina.........but I still dislike you
Charlie get a real job you bludger.
Pretty underwhelming as a spectacle the only interest being whether mick will pinch the title from gabby, wish they'd just put them both in the water now and be done with it. Reckon it's medinas.
Id love to surf pipe like this actually looks fun.
is anyone else webcast not work midway thru R5 H1
Yeah mines not
Mine either
feed must be down .
And Medina is the World Champion! Well deserved.
Onya, Gabby...
Gabriel Medina, 2014 ASP WCT champ.
First Brazuca to accomplish such a feat.... Yew!
Well done Gabe and well deserved. Surfed hard and smart all year.
Hopefully this may kick a few tour surfers up the bottom and inspire them to take it back off the Brazzo's.
Yep Medina been a step ahead all tour, doesn't even need to surf a full heat to win. Now just a question of how many titles he gets, looking forward to seeing him and John John battle it out next year.
How did Gabby do it? Shear talent... right place, right time...
blowing off all of his no nothing young peers,
and listening to the good, solid advice of his parents. Yew!
Charlie Serrano, Man Of The Year.
Anyone have a mate at the ASP, they got the bloody heat draw wrong it should be.
Toledo won heat 1 of rd5 which puts him vs JJ in the Quarters.
Kerr won heat 2 in rd5 which puts him vs Gabby in the quarters.
Should of been JJ vs Toledo in heat 1 yet it was Toledo vs Gabby.
Should of been Gabby vs Kerr in heat 2 yet it was Kerr vs JJ.
i thought that... also no break for Julian between QF-SF or SF-Final, what happen to the stage intro they do at hawaii events, thats a great experience a surfer who makes the final should have...
No time, the locals are getting angry. Seems weird that Felipe ended up against his mate Gabriel, then threw the heat. The ASP has always been a joke.
Yewww Julian
Triple crown and Pipe champ
Any sightings of Bruce ? lots of Lindy.
I saw a lot of Lindy also. More than expected at Julians interview and the presentation awards when her tits were falling out of that "dress". LOL. Watch it back and asp was actually carefully choosing camera shots to avoid airing those bad boys
was many sights today ....
probably too many for main stream American Audiences .
First there was a nude kid full frontal playing in the shorebreak when someone was walking out on the gums sandbank , then there was a heap of Brazilion? G strings in the crowd in general , then Lyndie gets the girls out on the Podium ... it had it all today ... world record heats ran in the water apparently too . Medina had Hughie on a string today , fancy leaving a heat for a full 15-20 mins and nothing comes through .... perhaps Hughie is a fan of carnival & nudity .... hooray
'Perrow trying to smooth over him calling off the comp on the best day of the year.'
'Well ve wast fing vat you awl want to thee isth pwofesthional ewite afwetes getting sthmathshed and cwying and sthquweaming if ve thurf ith vewy big and nathty and ve bestht.'
No, like Fiji, its all a bit hard for the elite professional athletes to figure out when those days of the year will happen. Interferes with fishing days, and strumming and golfing and stuff. And a bit too tricky to call, and too dangerous for the highly tuned, elite super athletes. Like fiji, better to leave it to the amateurs, who just happen to know exactly when to hit it, and who revel in and dominate in those scenarios.
Another zomasing end to another rivetting, mid bendingly elite spectacle... did the spectacularly, elite, professional broadcast eventually work?
Well done young Medina. Controlled the controlables & left the rest to the conspiracy theorists........
Next year is shaping up to be very intersting I reckon. Lots of variables will come into play.......
Here's the pivotal, the 'climax' moment. And I must warn... anyone with a weak heart please be extremely carefull watching... you'll laugh yourself to fucking death. 'LITTLE PIGGIES ON TH BEACH'!!!!!!!!! The highlight is at the 12.26 mark. Absolutely scintillating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.aspworldtour.com/posts/89213/2014-billabong-pipe-masters-quar...
Somebody tell me that it is just a sick fucking dream. Somebody tell me they were actually commentating a different event and just got the footage fucked up. Somebody tell me it wasn't a South Park episode. Better still, somebody tell me that they are never, ever going to to do this ludicrous shit again. Ever.
'LITTLE PIGGIES ON THE BEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
'The greatest, most moving spectacle the world has ever seen.'
'LITTLE PIGGIES ON THE BEACH... THIS PLACE IS GOING NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
Somebody...
Onya, Julian!!! You got a lot of knockers.. Screw them... I called you into so many waves as a little tacker.... Knew you'd be a champ when we shared a barrel in front of the drain at Coolum........ I had to crouch but it was a stand up for you hahaha..... Mick and Nola would be so proud..... Onya, bro......
Anyone besides Stu find it funny that Gabes won at Snapper on his backhand against a Coolie kid, then won Chopes and FIJI and maybs shoulda won today at Pipe (Julian's backdoor was juiced) and yet all we white fuckwits talk about is John John?
John has won is precisesly 2 places on the WCT: Rio and France. You read that right.
Dane Reynolds never won anywhere. Yet Kelly called him "best ever."
What the fuck does the ASP matter? It means a lot to Medina who won it all and took shit for crying for a loss ( as if guys like Jordan, Federer, Ronaldo, etc...) haven't done the same thing as adults.
And Medina overcame the same shit people gave Slater 3 decades ago.
He was Mick Fanning but more talented. Both obsess over the rules, training and making surfing something like tennis on water. Hell, even the commentators are like "that progression" won't work at Pipe after Medina pulled a full roter air (Mick can do when he cuts sheep in his pastel bed)... The ASP don't even know how to follow their own rules.
For surfing!
What happened to us?
What happened to surfing? Ie: freedom, expression, art, etc?
Fuck pro surfing.
But don't fault Medina for at least, like Mick, following their playbook line by line.
The difference between Medina and JJ Florence is although there both great surfers IMO JJ Florence has that unique magic style that only comes along once in a blue moon, think MP, Curren, Occy, Kelly..some say Dane, its just something magic that they all have that makes them look good even when just doing something very simple like, taking off, trimming or bottom turn, but when barrelled that style is magnified even more. (re watch his surfing in France this year to see what I'm talking about)
Yet for someone who hates it all, you're obsessed! Go figure
I love car wrecks Bob. Thought you understood that being a SoCal guy.
Or is it a train wreck Bob? We all know the ASP is MUCH more than 30 mill in the hole.
It's fascinating. And I am a sick person.
you're a local --- remember --- Santa Cruz Locals I know! Local boy
i watch ever heat, love the shit, eat it up and the first to bitch and complain when they call events off or over score...
However one last rant for the year, and maybe some constructive criticism...
Commentating: every heat, the exact some one-liners, with only the name changed, everyone apparently progressive, determine, trains hard, good in the crunch moments etc... the US crew need to sit down and watch a five day test match of cricket and learn to commentate, in the summer i have that stuff on as background noise its perfect!! lose the fake drama, intensity and have deep breathe... and just be a lay back surfer, that informative, entertaining and not over the top, almost corporate... (history lessons are great but pottz has gotta stop saying "back in my day")
rant over... thank you
Din, you forgot the overuse and incorrect use of the word "clutch".
"That was clutch"
"That heat was clutch"
"What a clutch moment.."
Correct and appropriate uses of the word CLUTCH demonstrated below;
"He went for the break but got accidentally the clutch"
"Lindy's hooters fell out so i went for a clutch"
The end
Bring back Lindy ..........highlight of the event...well there were purple patches of surfing as well,everyones a winner......
not everyones a winner, there would have been a select few bloggers and ex- surf journalists kicking the cat every time someone got a good barrel and especially when Brazilians celebrated their new national hero. Whats the population of Brazil?
No champagne on stage?
Checked all of the Brazilian news sources. Sports and all.... Not one has mentioned much about Gabriel Medina's winning ways. Let alone front page news...
Plenty on ball sports, and MMA, but not a peep about Gabby.
No champagne being spilled anywhere.
Rottybrew, Those above the lip flicks you're mentioning? This match had to be pushed down the beach to 4 -5 foot Ain't and Gums.
Not Pipe Proper.
Most uninspiring win since damien hardman...like painting by numbers.
Also medina is not the first world title to be won by a brazillian, didnt a brazzo take out the longbaord title a couple years back?
Amazing Roller -- took 3 minutes on google to find major newspaper Brazil -- and front page there's a feature on Medina!???
Your research skills are identical to another writer on these forums!
http://oglobo.globo.com
"O Globo Published in Rio de Janeiro. The newspaper is a member of O Globo Corporation, one of the largest media groups in Brazil, which also includes a magazine, radio and TV Globo, the most important in Brazil."
http://www.estadao.com.br
Front page feature - Sao Paulo....not many people there?
Amazing -- to quote a genius from this site - "Never mind the research"
You're on a Roll here Roller ---
http://www.correiobraziliense.com.br
'yer last link, how fitting is that, double B?
even in the news from Brazil, their press has to feature a front page photo of one time ASP champ Gabs standing next to eleven time ASP champ, Mr Slater!
And neither one has of yet, a WaSseL cup....
FIFO. LIFO.
Bob's your uncle.
What's LIFO stand for ? Aren't you American Roller ? How do you know about FIFO?
FIFO - first in first out..... LIFO - Last in First Out.
'The difference between Medina and JJ Florence is although there both great surfers 'IMO JJ Florence has that unique magic style that only comes along once in a blue moon, think MP, Curren, Occy, Kelly..some say Dane, its just something magic that they all have that makes them look good even when just doing something very simple like, taking off, trimming or bottom turn, but when barrelled that style is magnified even more. (re watch his surfing in France this year to see what I'm talking about)'
Its much simpler than that. Pipe master? When its the biggest, meanest, best, real pipeline, the type of day when they call off the comps that decide the Pipe master, then Obrien and Florence are pipe masters. They wear it well... best, no matter who's out there. You'd put your money on them going all day long, no worries.
Never mind research roller --- that took 5 minutes and within one hour of your so-called
"Checked all of the Brazilian news sources. Sports and all.... Not one has mentioned much about Gabriel Medina's winning ways. Let alone front page news..."
Every link front -page??? Someones talking shit here Roller.
Join your mates - No ones watching! -- never mind research -- NZ doesn't count and Brazil??? whats the population? we were quick to figure out NZ population - and the head judge won't survive the season!
And of course, not real Pipeline, Those barrels by Wilson in the final - Roller gets them every week in his wet dreams with local boy Ritty.
In a few days, all will be good for the band of 5 -
Double B, Did you see the Youtube numbers for the event? Over the top. monster, bru.
Billabong Pipe Masters 2014 Day 12 日本語放送
by ASP
148,925 views
Billabong Pipe Masters 2014 Day 12 English
by ASP
1,266,861 views
Billabong Pipe Masters 2014 Day 12 Português
by ASP
1 day ago672,385 views
The Pipe Masters starts at the 2.20 mark.
Wow, that's some of the heaviest biggest Pipe, amazing video!
I never thought I would be saying this but i agree uplift. There i said it.
enjoy it while it lasts.
Holy shit. That was the best pipe footage I've ever seen. Puts yesterday into perspective.
Still think Medina is a more talented surfer though. If he applied his focus to barrels rather than high performance like JOB then he would be putting out gear like this.
Probably will in a few years regardless.
The kid rips.
As an aside, what about John Florence's air spin on the sandbar of a pipe left yesterday.
That shit was spectacular.
Sean Doherty on CW - a piece re the day they didn't run the comp.
before the call was made pipe had non stop 15ft wash throughs.
that vid with James Duncan 'god' Obrien - agree blowin ...best ever !
http://www.aspworldtour.com/posts/89213/2014-billabong-pipe-masters-quar...
Try and watch from the 15.30, to the 20 minute mark. However, again, be warned, its ludicrous, sickening at best. And no, I haven't tampered with the video in any way. That is Peter Mel. The shit is real shit. The scores are real scores. Its a showcase of contemporary, elite, professional surfing, the state of modern surfing. The highlight of the year. 'Off the richter'. Amasing 'double ups', 'glassy bombs'. The greatest, most moving sporting spectacle... ever seen... possibly eliciting an even greater effect than the effect 'Drift', the greatest movie ever made, had on the planet.
The 'bansai Pipeline'.
Its like North Shore the movie take 2.
Uplift, youve spent some time telling us how spectacularly bad the whole ASP scene is, in particular Pipeline. How about you offer us your silver bullet solution for all the problems your seeing. I'm intersted, Let's hear it.....
It's called show business Lifty.
For a start rabs they should have surfed in Fiji and Pipeline. When it was at its best. 'Amateurs' managed to, and got heaps of waves and all the coverage. That never happens to other 'elite athletes'. Amateurs dominating the arena and media. Same thing happened in the big wave circuit too. Obrien is the Pipe Master because he makes sure that he is. Stop making excuses. You want the pay packet, and the title, and all the 'elite athlete' claims, show up for work. Rain, hail or shine. Lots of jobs are dangerous for a lot less than ASP surfers make.
Did you watch that video, that quarter final? What a spectacular fucking joke.
I've already made my position clear. Back up the claim. For once, get some actual 'elite athletes'. There are universally accepted, measurable standards. Or, just accept the pay packet and interest. Market it completely differently, ala Rasta or something along those lines. No body cares, or ever has about the same old, feeble dribble and explanations. Hop up and down, say cool, groovy, enlightened, clever shit. Research dribble. Bottom line, no one cares. Chuck the elite ASP surfers in one of those shows against other elite athletes. They will get drubbed. Reality. It actually happened once, years and years ago. What a fucking sad embarrassment. And the guy is an absolute legend, an icon re fitness, ]power' and crap in surfing. Fucking ludicrously drubbed, it ended up beyond comical. Too embarrassing to even name him.
Cheers Uplift, you make some good points. It would of been amazing to see the best comp surfers charging Fiji & Pipe as you suggested. However the upside of those days was the awesome surfing we witnessed by non ASP surfers (mainly). I suppose the ASP has to decide if they want the best surfers to surf the best waves when "It's On"........
I agree with some of your points Uplift, at least regarding certain aspects of pro surfing being a complte farce. But why do you have to be so goddamn repetitively obnoxious about it all? You seem like a nice enough guy. If you presented your arguments with a little more circumspection and clarity it may help people to see where you are coming from? The ASP/WSL commentary and hyperbolic rigamaroule is atrocious. But in terms of conditions for running at Pipe this year, well I just don't see how they could have done any better than they did.
They are operating under much stricter timing conditions in Hawaii. The day that everyone is saying they should have run obiously turned on agter they reasonably shut it down, but they would have only got two hours of heats in anyway... maybe 4-5 heats of round 3. That scenario would have made it competitively unfair across the round. Then they obviously kept holding off because the forecast had so much potential, but they got skunked by bad sand, bad wind and a swell that peaked over the 16 hours outsie of legal/possible competition time. Conditions on the last day clearly weren't 'epic', but they were still pretty damn good and, importantly, fair. It's a pity they weren't more testing conditions, as this favoured Medina and meant that there was less chance of the title race going down to the wire, but Dusty still came pretty close to beating him and Kelly and Mick had their chances...
Well done Gabriel, freakishly talented and well deserved in a competitive light, even if he didn't show the the biggest balls at Snapper and Tahiti.
Wonder if Kelly will go another round? I reckon he's good for one final effort...
Hope so Grug.
Good on Gabs but underwhelming finish for the year. Probably the lamest Pipe masters since Bede won it in my opinion.
yep i agree Zen. And even more of a let down after the build up of such a good forecast. Although, that crazy 'fly away' rotator that JJF so nearly pulled off almost saved the whole thing... effen crazy. And the free-surfing was sick.. and well done Wilson. He does have the ability to beat anyone pretty much anywhere. just needs to stop sulking and put his ducks in row.
True Grug about JW.
Coincidentally, great mate of mine over here for skiing (Coolum local 25+ years) had dinner with him tonight, his wife and his 19 yo youngest. His daughters went to school with JW, apparently nice kid but like all younguns, sence of entitlemnet.
Can't say, can't offer an opinion but my foreign friends here say JW comes across as bit of a narcissist in the media.
I personally love the way he surfs and agree that he could be a world beater.
Sheepie might know, he's from up that way.
And Davetherave... your comments about them screwing up the draw? Are you right about that? If you are then that is a massive screw up and a pretty significant story....
Another interesting story... Lyndie Irons. Obviously it was pretty hard to miss her rather large and well constructed assetts attempting, and occasioanly succeeding, to escape her generously airy, flowing and aerated attire. And clearly, you will find VERY few complaints about such.
I find it extremely hard to believe that her ridiculously revealing dress was not a deliberate ploy on the part of Billabong and herself. When you also consider that a decision was made to wear such a dress sans brasserie of any kind... well, surely someone would have mentioned something behind the scenes in light of the fact that she was going to be presenting multiple awards on a podium in front of a multitude of live and online viewers!
Lyndie is clearly a very sexy lady, and that dress with it's 'malfunctions' basically put her nipples in the eyes and mouths of every hot-blooded viewer across the world. I'm calling it deliberate. They already had her playing the coquettish minx on the ads for the billabong house tour/competition thingy. I wouldn't be surprised if Billabong are paying her a tidy sum to not only be the widow of Andy... but also their new sex symbol! If so, this is relatively disturbing for may reasons that should be pretty obvious to all here?!
And how would Bruce feel about this?... seeings that they just denied him access to the trials event, a decision that he was very vocally pissed off about. But hey, who the hell knows what is happening behind the scenes. Just seems a little strange... and worthy of a decent surf journalist's deeper digging maybe?
Hey grug who said Lyndie Irons is a multi millionair ? Maybe like the rest of the world
she needs a job that pays some $$$ to survive. I don't think good old drugo Andy would
of left her much and I don't think flat broke Billabong would of given her a payout. Give the girl a brake she had dip shit Andys kid around the time when he died. I have zero time for drugs and dick heads.
Fuck me.... More whinging than "Dancing with the stars" or fucking "big brother".... There's a thing called the "stop button"..... If it's crap, don't watch it... I don't watch home and away cos' its crap... I sure the hell wont sit there and watch it just so I can bag it....
Medina was the best surfer over 12 months.... From soft snapper to cranking JBay to gutsy Chopes to shitty Brazil to 6 foot pipe...... A couple of the rights in the final were pretty good..... More than contestable..... So get over it..... Nothing to see here.... move on....
has anyone thought that perhaps Lyndie was just taking advantage of the moment , and " advertising " that she's still hot , and clearly perhaps available !
good luck to her , was NICE to watch ..... ;-)
as for the draw fiasco , does someone want to actually show the Fuck up on paper . i personally have no idea of the seeding in this event .
let alone no one is really complaining that the scoring in the final was really suspect . I'm not sure which wave of Gabriel's was given the ten ( i presume the backdoor one ) , which didn't look as long as JW first or as clean an exit .
But perhaps the world was balanced out with them oversoring JW's second backdoor wave . For me Medina's last wave was the best surfed left of waves outside JJ and Nat Young's ????
I'm not really criticising Lyndie. It's her life and body, she can do what she wants and I suspect you;re prbably right evosurfer, regarding her not being left with a whole lot. I just think it's an interesting and questionable call on Billabong's part, especially considering the fact that they have shut Bruce out.
Didn't have a huge prob with the scoring in the final. JW's backdoor 9.7 was thick and clean and spat it's guts hard. He couldn't have been much deeper, it just wasn't that long. Medina's last pipe wave was amazingly surfed but a bit messy and wonked out. The first backdoor exchange was hard to split... just depends what the judges were looking for. They'd already succeeded in massaging Medina over the WC line... I guess they didn't want to rub it in;D
Lyndie and Axels 8 week north shore holiday......suite at the Modern Honolulu, hire car etc....was paid for by Billabong.
Acacia swimwear....Lyndies company ? Perhaps if she was wearing one her bikini tops the puppies might have stayed in place.
Boy your a hard audience to please,except for sheepy.You"ve run Lindy ,Andy their son Axel,Medina,Julian the whole fuckin final into the ground.I personally thought Lindy was a bit OVER dressed,Medina and Julian deserved to place where they did and they ran a good contest considering the cards they were dealt.By the way Zen i also have a mate who knows Jules and family and recons hes a top bloke,you shouldnt put shit on people if you have never spoken to them IMO.
I get shit put on me all the time;)
We all life in different universes in this one universe.
I never watched it, just read about here on SN, geez there is some great banter going down tho.
I havn't put shit on anyone or anything except Billabong and the ASP for the way in which they present and commentate the comps now...
I didn't put shit on Jules Simba. I repeated what was said to me who said he's a nice kid but has/had a sence of entitlement. Sounds like your typical teenager.
And, a few blokes over here have said that Julian portrays a narcissistic streak in interviews, which in my opinion is a bit rich coming from Americans. I should have added that.
Let me repeat, i personally love the way he surfs and he could be a world beater. And as an addendum, I don't have an opinion as I don't know him but he seems pretty cool to me.
I only put shit on grug because IMO he is out of line.
O yeh also Andy because I hate druggos.
But come to think of it also the 8 that Medina got in the final. For what?
Not that it mattered.
What do you think i'm out of line about evo?... serious question, just not clear on what you're referring to exactly?
The way you wrote off Lyndy Irons like a whore. I don't know if she is good or evil but
either do you. Totally disrespectful.
Ah okay. It wasn't my intention to at all. Sorry if it came across as such.
It's her own body and sex appeal to sell if she wants to. I just found the whole thing strange and a little distasteful for various reasons. If there is good money to be made then fine, I will not judge. BIllabong, on the other hand, I will judge. Like i clearly said originally, i have know idea what happened or happens behind the scenes. I don't know Lyndie or Bruce and I never knew Andy. The situation just stuck out as odd to me within the context of all the comp stuff. It feels like Billabong are completely raping the monetary value of Andy's memory and association for all the wrong reasons and in all the wrong ways. Just a feeling and opinion, and though Billabong may well be helping to support Lyndie and Axel, it feels odd that she would be a part of something like that. Maybe her involvement is evidence that nothing is untoward inside planet billabong... maybe not. Hell i don't know. I don't even know why I give a shit about it... still think there's a story there... but Lyndie has probably had to put up with enough shit already... so maybe any decent journalist would just leave it alone.