Rant The purpose of the first few pages in a story is to get the reader hooked. Australia served that purpose well in 2017 with its (mostly) good waves and excellent surfing. Usually the next part of the narrative arc requires some background or character development; a context through which the mounting tension can be … Read more
If you could personify the three Australian events of the WSL tour, and put them on notice regarding their place in the 2018 season, who would you expect to step up to the plate and prove their worth? Which event would you have laid money on to metaphorically catch a 9+ wave in the dying … Read more
The West is Wild. “I love surfing this break, and just going fast and doing big turns.” And didn’t he just? You know: go fast, and do big turns. That’s exactly what John John did; and by gosh, he did it well. I don’t remember those turns for a few years back, but we can … Read more
The Winnner Destiny: has there been a more over-used word in professional surfing these past 72 hours? Maybe it’s just my jaded world-view, but destiny is a bullshit concept that serves to undermine the true elements that lead to success (like focus, hard work, talent and maybe a bit of good fortune). Destiny Attained was … Read more
Congratulations are in order: Keanu Asing has taken a formidable list of more talented surfers (Medina, Florence, Slater, Buchan) and soundly beaten them through smart-if-somehwat-conservative competion surfing. It was, as he admitted himself, his first event win since his junior days (including a history of no outright wins during his QS days), so we can … Read more
Drama? Check. Controversy? You bet. Cutting edge surfing at it’s best? Heck yeah! Step inside and let’s take a look at what went down at the Trestles Hurley Pro… Trestles was won on the rail. For all of the talk about ramps, new-school-above-the-lip surfing and high performance expectations, it was the surfers with solid turns … Read more
The King Returns Ok gang, I’m sure you’re all aware of what went down in Tahiti over the last few days. I’m sure you’ve probably also read an article or two or three, and seen news clips, and watched the entire replay, and been bombarded by instagram and twitter etc., etc., etc. So I’m going … Read more
JBay 2016: Florence and The Machine We’ve been ‘away’ from the surf-stats desks lately, travelling, catching some winter swells and watching a lot of contests on mobile devices. We’ll keep it short this time, but here’s the wash-up from JBay: • Mick is a machine. Never mind the busted ankle, unresolved shark issues, supposedly more … Read more
“I love surfing big, left barrels; it’s my favourite thing in the world. And… to kind of show that I can match, match or beat these guys is, not, I guess, (it) shuts the critics up, but it also gets me feeling pretty good about myself” – 2016 ratings leader and Fiji runner-up Matt Wilkinson. … Read more
“I’m not going to lie; that was a lot of hard work” – 2016 Rio women’s champion, Tyler Wright. Was she talking about winning her third event for the season? Or was she referring to the effort required by surfing fans to stay interested in the Rio Pro? I’m not going to kill myself detailing … Read more