Hi!
The way I see it, the surfing sport has very little competition in it.
Maybe it’s just because I’m not a particularly good surfer but once I’m in the water I find that it is mostly a dance (or struggle, depends on the days) between me, my surfvehicle of choice and whatever the ocean is throwing that day.
Of course I compare myself with others (mostly in an aspirational way) but, at the end of the day, all that matters is my state of mind and how much fun I can have catching and riding lumps of water.
At the same time, I enjoy watching surf competitions. They’re somehow funny.
Imagine watching the best football players in the world, playing against one another in 35 minutes matches (called heats) were most of the time there is no ball. So they just sit there, waiting for a ball to come by while the commentators try to fill up this gap rambling about anything.
Conditions in surf competitions can vary from half a meter and so bad you wouldn’t get in the water (the first day of competitions in Newcastle, a few days ago) to giant perfect flawless scary barrelling waves.
If you’re curious, below is one of the greatest surfing heats I’ve seen – in its entirety. Kelly Slater and John John Florence in Tahiti in 2014.
Not only I find surf competitions funny, but also fascinating. It’s cool to watch the best surfers in the world compete against each other within a fixed time and ocean–conditions constraint. There is strategy, skills and randomness at play and nothing is ever certain until the heat is over.
All of this to say that I’m happy the Championship’s tour returned, albeit in terrible conditions. Competition or not, you get what the ocean throws at you and – in the time you have available – you try to make the best of it.
When the competition resumes, you can find it on the World Surf League website. 100% better than watching Golf or Curling competitions.
WORLD-CLASS COMPETITORS
After a three months break, top level surfing competition resumed this week (in sub sub-par waves) in Newcastle. While some surfers shared vlogs detailing the gruelling 14 days mandatory quarantine to get into Australia, others released banger surfing edits (presumably to instill fear and doubt in their competitors).
Seems like Leonardo Fioravanti’s vlog appears in this newsletter every other edition. Is it because it’s good or because we’re biasedly Italian? Up to you to decide, but this is a great look at what all competitors had to go through in the lead up to returning to competition in Australia.
Yago Dora’s strategy was to release an edit, Ciclo, to assert his (aerial) dominance over the rest of the field. I am sure it worked, since this is an extremely good hi-performance surfing video.
Ryan Callinan’s strategy was the same as Yago’s: Just For Now is a must watch if you enjoy powerful, acrobatic unpredictable surf. Claiming Newcastle as his hometown, you can bet that all the eyes are on him to bring the prize home this upcoming week.
Girls Can’t Surf (or can they?); just released in Australian cinemas, this is the untold story of how a band of renegade surfer girls in the 1980s fought to create their own professional sport, changing surf culture forever. For now you can enjoy the trailer here:
FREE-SURFING IDOLS
It almost feels that if you are a competitive surfer you have to, somehow, stick to the rails of what’s expected of you as an athlete and public figure. But what if you are a free surfer? Sponsored and (sometimes) paid to surf in exotic locales? Then you can do whatever you want.
Diogo Appleton, a shaper and surfer from Portugal visited Morocco with a diverse quiver made of finless boards, longboards and fishes. Doesn’t this look fun?
Is Tomas Valente crazy? Is he a genius? For sure he’s highly credible as a drug dealer & highly capable as a tube seeker. Check out his surf edit / Breaking Bad parody below:
When you’re a free surfer you can wake up one morning and think: “I’m going to surf Teahupoo – one of the heaviest waves on the planet – on a longboard”. This is what Kelia Moniz did and while the results were not optimal, it was entertaining (at least for us viewers).
And you, would you rather be a proficient surf competitor or “just” a free surfer?
No wrong answers, as long as you’re having fun in the water and not taking it too seriously.
🤙,
Gian & the surf tribe