Surfing competitions!!!

oh yeah he can surf old school...but i still reckon he gets up-scored like slater with the hype etc...but then i AM a cynical old man......:P

Enjoying watching Dane and Medina. Hope either of them take it.

Occy!

Glad Medina won. He was surfing so good, really consistent and absolutely ripping! Be interested to know what boards where being used by the likes of Timmy Reyes and Toledo...

Yeah Medina was a stand out. My only gripe is he clearly had a system that he knew was going to get a good score.
Big air reverse on the first section, link two turns the best the wave and his positioning after the first air would allow, then finish with another air reverse on the inside. I think every single one of his 9+ scores involved the same system. Fair play to him for being consistent enough to pull it every time, but it got a bit boring and predictable to watch.
I'd rather watch someone who surprised me on each wave. Medina is a competitive machine though, so consistent, but for me it's not exciting surfing to watch.

a win is a win and good luck to the kid BUT as skillful as they are I cannot help thinking this surfing belongs in an air show type comp and I too find it all a little boring to watch now. I think Kelly has the been able to adjust the best - he is the best at blending old school and new school on the right wave.
Maybe I'm just older and love heavy carving - Occy's bottom turn into reo at Nike Trestles comp comes to mind, no little double pump bottom turns just straight into it!

Yeah, I reckon if one blasting air is worth a 10 then Occy doing 3 bottom turns that are the best bottom turns you'll see is worth a 15.

I watched the heat replay for the Ocster against gudang and felt he was unlucky. His turns take your breath away. Gudang was good, but flicked and twitched while Occy gouged.

Yeah, my favourite surfing to watch these days is the full carving, power turns with that extra flair of a controlled release at the end of the turn, or through a super critical section. I've been impressed with Brett Simpson's surfing lately and obviously Michel is right up that street when he's on.
Those critical turns can't be perfected and mechanical like the airs because they are so much more expressive and vary so much from section to section. Going by how few guys are really surfing that way and the fact that the best guys still blow a lot of those critical turns it goes to show how much more difficult it is also. I get more excited seeing a guy push a turn beyond the limit than watching mechanical airs.

You're right Goanna, that straight top to bottom approach Occy has is awesome. It's something I really want to improve on. When we finally get some waves I'm really going to work on surfing more fluidly and making the most of the whole wave.

PRJ that makes me think of Taylor Knox!!!. Did he surf well or wha`t
Occy still impresses despite his 46years experience in life.
Medina you are right, the guy had a routine and he stucked to it...but what a routine. The kid did not fall once doing those airs, he was able to recover from the weirdest positions and was able to land those on the wall of the wave.He will have to get a bit more unpredictable in the future

bummer the FW got bounced early, though I guess a lot of big names did.

regarding occy, i just think the judges pumped him up a bit. he had flow, but he was slow compared to everyone else and never broke a fin free. guys were doing critical reverses and getting 5s and occy would do three pocket hits keeping his fins in the water and get an 8. i just don't see how you can score someone higher than others doing things that that particular surfer can't do. To me that is not a true measurement of ability...

I guess I am not old fashioned enough but that's just me....