Shaun Tomson carves a pure line - video and photos
From Shaun Tomson:
I just spent a few days at Trestles at the Hurley Pro with all the hottest surfers. I had my mind blown by the surfing, and also had an expression session heat with my old pals Simon Anderson, Cheyne Horan, Mike Ho, and Rabbit Bartholomew.
The day before we surfed in the Heritage heat, Simon, Cheyne, and I paddled out after the event into perfect Trestles. The crew gave us the sets...nice to get that respect.
Simon caught some bombs and then went in. He pulled out his camera and snapped a couple pics of us - I was stoked to get a couple pics by the legendary big man who changed surfing.
Trestles doesn't get much better. Even at 60-plus years old it is possible to carve a pure line.
Photos of Shaun and Cheyne by Simon Anderson. Photo of Simon by a punter on the beach but taken on Simon's camera. See the highlights of the WSL Heritage Heat video at bottom
Comments
After watching the Legends heat I felt that I could watch ST surf all day! Beautiful to watch... You can definitely see his style in Jordy's surfing.
I hope I'm still surfing well into my 60's.
My goal is to still be surfing at 80.
These guys are awesome.
Nice to see the younger blokes maintaining a bit of style. I watched most of it and enjoyed seeing how some of those I had the privilege of surfing with in their prime had managed the ageing process. Sadly MR's hyperbolic rave about Slater being the greatest athlete of all time was a major embarrassment. This is one of the things that is a giant turn off for non-surfers, this ridiculous self-importance. It smacks of a toxic narrowness. I can only imagine that Slater himself would have been cringing.
Yeh agree about the MR comment. It makes surfers sound naive and small town.
BB, as I usually agree with your hot takes, could we have your list of greater athletes? I've given it a little thought and have trouble picking a more dominant athlete over a longer period, if the "greatness" is limited to "internal" aspects to competition (e.g. we could take Ali as more significant overall, Jordan makes more money, Serena may yet also take her place etc.). I am not really a big fan of Slater's styles over the years and find him to be ridiculously overscored, but in terms of results and dominating the competition through multiple eras, he has few equals.
tiger, bradman, federer, rod laver, jordan, lance armstrong.... kellys up there but come on...
The whole idea is absurd. There are just too many variables. To claim that a surfer, participating in a sport with a tiny competitive base, is it, just magnifies the absurdity.
Fair enough - I find the idea of getting scored and paid shitloads of cash for hitting balls, riding waves etc. pretty absurd in general so don't find the rankings much more so.
Though to say tiny - only 150 tennis players cover the cost of playing tennis so despite the 170 mil vs ~25 mil difference in total population I don't think it's orders of magnitude like the "tiny" comment makes it seem.
Tiger definitely comparable - Jordan for sure without the break for gambling/baseball. Federer / Laver / Bradman peaks less sustained (though could accept the argument on Bradman's dominance being so much greater at peak that this carries it). As for Armstrong we can't include cheats in competitive sport.
BTW feeling like I've hit the wall with surfing in my 40s these pics are pretty inspiring.
Take the lead from old baldy ... look to your equipment, start learning how, why, what. It will open your mind and motivate you to surf more, and you'll end up finding what works for you. Refine that as you age further.
Couldn't agree more.
I've been surfing for 30 years & I am having more fun now than ever in my surfing.
The right equipment makes the world of difference.
Surfing is highly physical, requiring a host of skills, strength, timing, judgement and even gymnastic ability in the modern era. At 42 what Slater is doing is amazing. Being a top level golfer at 42 is entirely possible but ripping all size waves and pulling off advanced moves at his age is something remarkable.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Federer and many more mainstream sports stars have noted what Slater has done in extending his career well past accepted norms and draw inspiration from it.
If surfing had stayed focussed on carving, style, tubes and picking of the best waves staying competitive past 35 would not be so hard but the modern surfing moves and speed generation required are not friendly to aging bodies.
Age should not be a significant factor in surfing ability at 40 and this can be easily observed as many surfers are still performing at a high level at that age. What changes is commitment. Usually less commitment to surfing and more commitment to family and career. For professionals, by the time they are in their thirties they know that they are not likely to climb higher on the rankings, they have made good money and do look to the various other options open to them. Slater is exceptional mainly because he has been able to maintain his motivation and commitment at such high levels for so long. Part of this has been the way he constantly innovates with his equipment and manoeuvres. This requires a degree of imagination and planning lacking in most other professionals.
Surfing does not generate the wear and tear on muscles and joints of contact sports, it has a low injury rate and, while exceptional fitness helps, it is not an absolute necessity as in many other sports. As the images here demonstrate it can easily be a lifetime activity.
Great to see all these "older' guys ripping....inspirational!
You guys are forgetting Kasparov .
Pretty much world champ from 1986 to 2005.
Yep, tend agree with BB on this. Comparing athletes across many sports does not make sense. What just plain great athletes - laird Hamilton comes to my mind for surfing - just look at what he has excelled at.
Who cares they are great to watch and Kelly is inspirational on many levels and seems a reasonable guy, more than can be said for Bradman. Complete arsehole but everybody loves him.
Anyone seen the thing out the back in the water in Cheyne's pic (2nd last one). I didn't watch the webcast / video so maybe I missed something. Dolphin? Looks find of sinister....
And I tell you its not about getting longer boards etc...as someone said up top its getting the right boards and staying fit. Bar really great surfers, an average surfer say 50 if in the water regularly and riding the right short board will smash his mate who was a better surfer than he when they were both 40 who for example only surfs once a week now on his old shortboard. Throw your ego out the window and look at post 50 surfing as a new challenge in your life to build up the surfs and work on new moves etc...great thing is as an old pr8ck no one expects you to trouble them in the surf so you can knick a few off the young guys.
I am there hover, 56, got a 5'2", 5'6", 5'9", 5'11" (gun), and a 6'2" rhino chaser...I am only 5'6" and 62 kgs though.
Anyone know if there's anyone out there over 50 pulling air reverses? Getting a bit new school? Most older guys don't even try that stuff but it would be good to see. I was impressed with Shaun Tomsons carve turns too
Betcha Horan could.....................................if he lost 15kg.
Shaun must be getting old , he forgot to shoulder hop everyone like he usually does ...
I had a laugh out of that Mark. I was doing a bit of work for Surfing Mag back in the day and they told Dan Merkel, who was their lead photographer, that they wanted a shot of me surfing. I was shooting Off The Wall one afternoon and Dan asked me to go out so he could get it. Shaun was out there and a few others so I just sat and waited for maybe 20 minutes. Finally the peak came straight to me, no-one even close, I took off climbed to set up the tube section......and Shaun dropped in. I straightened out and went in. There were better places to surf that afternoon. I saw him later and he said, " It was really my wave .......you know that!" It has stuck in my mind and as one of the most spectacular lies I have ever been on the receiving end of ........ but it was a long time ago in a distant land so yeh, it would be nice to say g'day to him again at some point.
Great photos from Simon Anderson, showing a nice turn from an older fella;)
Simon is a nice fella. Had a chat to him in Bali. Extremely dry Aussie that boy. I had to tell all the young guys in the line up that that is the bloke who invented there surfboard. Had no idea.
Great story BB.
I can only think of one who clearly was better than slater, and that is Heather McKay, undefeated world squash champion for some 11 or 12 years, in a row. Didn't lose a match for well over a decade, and before you ask who plays squash, it has been a big sport all through Asia since before you were born.
Perhaps Jordan, in that it was competitive against a million genius athletes.
But Slater is right up there.
But Heather Mckay wins. :-) Bradman, not even close.