Billabong Rio Pro 2012

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Yesterday was the final day of the Billabong Rio Pro - the third of 10 events on the ASP World Tour. The sometimes unpredictable beach break served up pumping barrels on the last day. In the end, John John Florence (16.37) came out on top, beating Joel Parkinson (11.44).

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Sadly, I was at physical therapy this morning. I missed watching the final rounds and instead had to rely on my Twitter stream to stay updated. I may have gotten some weird looks from folks as I anxiously clutched my phone and tried to will the thing to update. I may have let out an audible gasp once or twice.

Within the first 90 seconds or so of the final, John John caught about three waves and left Parko comboed with 28 minutes left, meaning that Joel needed two new high scoring waves in order to move into first place. While Joel surfed well throughout the event, he couldn't seem to find his rhythm in the final. With his second place finish, Joel is now leading the World Title race.

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John John Florence is only 19 years old and this is his first ASP Tour win. He joined the tour during the mid-season rotation last year and has been surfing incredibly well over the last six months or so in all kinds of conditions. Even Kelly Slater, who sat out the event due to an ankle injury and has known John John since he was little, was stoked about the win.

Here are video highlights from the final day and you can read a recap here. The next stop on the ASP World Tour is the Volcom Fiji Pro which will be held between June 3-15, 2012.

What do you think? Will John John make a run for the title this year?

Watching Bells Beach

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I have a confession. I love watching surf contests. I know that I've mentioned it before but I really do. This week was the 2012 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, the second of ten events on the ASP World Championship Tour. Since the contest was held in Australia, it didn't usually start until about 5pm EST, which meant that I had most of the day to work. On the flip side, that also meant that I spent many late nights watching heat after heat of the contest.

Yesterday, they ran the Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals of the Men's event. The first semifinal, Kelly Slater versus Jeremy Flores, was a bit of a bummer. Jeremy never seemed to get into a groove after Kelly scored a 9.93 out of 10 points on his first wave of the heat. Then, when Jeremy finally gets a great ride, he's called for interference. Kelly had taken off on a wave but was too deep on the wave to really get past the section and make it back on the open face. Jeremy took off on the same wave but further down the line and got a good score. But the interference penalty meant that Jeremy's highest scoring wave in the heat would be cut in half, pretty much making it impossible for him to win. Kelly won the heat 15.10 to Jeremy's 7.83. In the second semifinal, Mick Fanning took on Joel Parkinson. 

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Coming into this event, my pick to win the event was either Taj Burrow or Joel. Unfortunately, Taj was eliminated in the third round. Both Joel and Mick have been the guys to beat. Did you know that since 2009, either Mick or Joel has been in every final at Bells Beach? And, in the 13 times that these two have faced off, Joel has won 10 times? Needless to say, it was a great heat and they battled back and forth. Ultimately, Mick (15.83) defeated Joel (14.43).

By that time, it was somewhere past midnight, probably closer to 1am. They weren't going to start the finals for another hour or so and I knew that I had to go to sleep. I really really wanted to say up and watch what would no doubt be an epic final between Mick Fanning and Kelly Slater. Apparently, they didn't disappoint, exchanging wave after wave during the 35-minute heat.  Despite Kelly's full rotation aerial which resulted in a perfect 10-point score, Mick won with 18.80 to Kelly's 18.07. They say that this final is the best in Bell's history.

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What gets me time and time again is what a freak of nature Kelly Slater is. I mean, he turned 40 in February and continues to get better and better. But it's not only his surfing ability, it's the fact that he seems to commune with the ocean and the ocean serves him up gorgeous sets of waves right when he needs it or he lands ridiculous aerials that he seems to throw in just for the heck of it.

My favorite heat of the event was in Round 3 - Kelly vs. Nic Muscroft one of the best local surfers. In the last minutes of the heat, Nic earns a 9.5 to take the lead. Kelly needed a score of 8.07 or better to win. In the last minute, a huge set of waves comes in. Not only does Kelly takes off on one but he actually has time to paddle back out and catch another wave before the buzzer. He crushes the wave and throws a Hail Mary aerial at the end and stomps it on the beach. He wins 17.00 vs. 16.30. Freak of nature. 

You can watch videos of the heats here. Just select the round and heat you want to watch from the drop-down menu. I can't wait for the next event - the Billabong Rio Pro beginning on May 9.

Tell me, are you a sports fan? Do you get riled up watching games/matches/contests like I do?

Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast 2012

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After Kelly Slater won his 11th World Title in November and the final surf contest of 2011 at Pipe Masters ended in December, the Men's ASP World Tour took a few months off. Last week, the surfers were back, kicking off the 2012 season with the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast of Australia.

It's a little ridiculous how excited I was for the tour to start up again. As I've said before, I love watching sports. All kinds of sports. Surf contests have filled a gap for me that I didn't even know I had and it's helped me appreciate the sport of surfing more. Yes, it's awe inspiring to see the beautiful acrobatics, aerials and swooping turns that surfers can carve through the water. However, surf contests combine the athletic and graceful with a mental and strategic game that I think take these pros beyond the image of just being laid back surfer dudes.

In the Finals on Saturday, Australian Taj Burrow faced Brazilian Adriano de Souza. Despite the fact that the conditions were mediocre, Adriano was all over the waves during the heat, seeming to feed off the energy of the large Brazilian contingent on the beach. Right away, he started off the heat with a 8.00 ride, landing a big reverse air. Taj, on the other hand, had a slow start. It was almost ten minutes into the heat before Taj rode his first wave, a low scoring 4.60. It seemed like he wasn't going to be able to pull one out from under Adriano like he did last year. Then, Taj caught the best wave of the heat and scored a 9.43. He followed that up with another solid score of 6.43. In the final minutes of the heat, Adriano needed a score of 7.87 to overtake the lead. It came down to Adriano's last wave and it was a good one. As Taj waited on the beach and Adriano waited on the back of a jet ski, the winner was announced. Taj won with a two wave total of 15.86 to de Souza's 15.60.

You can watch a video of the final here and highlights from the event below.

The Women's ASP Tour also kicked off at Snapper Rocks with the Roxy Pro Gold Coast. Steph Gilmore won the event against Laura Enever.

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The World Tour heads next to Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia from April 3-14.

Ode to Kelly Slater

When I was 12 years old, my Mom and I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. My brother and sister were attending college there and my Mom wanted to have the family closer together. As a East Coast transplant, I quickly became mesmerized by the ocean, at least the idea of the ocean. It wasn't that I hadn't spent time near the water growing up - we often spent part of our school vacations on Sanibel Island in Florida - but I guess it was the whole idea and image that's associated with California - the beaches, the bikinis, the surfers. I would often rummage through Surfer and Surfing magazines at the local bookstore and tear out pictures of waves and surfers. Oftentimes, those pictures would include Kelly Slater.

So you can imagine how excited I was when, 20+ years later I had the chance to watch Kelly surf in person at the Quiksilver Pro New York event in Long Beach, NY. Giddy would be one way to describe it.

In between heats, I went for a walk to check out the other happenings around the contest site. As I passed the main Quiksilver tent, I saw Kelly standing there, taking pictures with fans and signing autographs. I stopped dead in my tracks. I thought briefly about running back to get Ed and the boys but there was no way that I was going to miss my chance to meet Kelly and have my picture taken with him. So I stood in line with everyone else, handed my iPhone to the guy behind me, held my breath and smiled. I also gave Kelly my Yankees baseball cap to sign. It was the only thing that I had with me!

My hands were literally shaking. What was I? A 12 year old girl? It was embarrassing. I wanted to tell Kelly congratulations on winning his heat, how great it was that the surfers were in NYC, etc. but I couldn't form any words. I just smiled and chuckled. He must have thought that I was a Japanese tourist who didn't speak any English. 

As I walked back to find Ed and the boys, I was still shaking but I had the biggest grin on my face. I showed Ed the picture and he immediately gathered up the boys so that they could have their picture taken with Kelly too. It's no secret that we want our boys to surf. How cool would it be for them to look back and see that they have a picture with one of the best surfers of all time? When we got back to the tent, Kelly was still standing there even though his heat ended over an hour ago. He could have been long gone but instead, he made the time for his fans.

I said before here, what I appreciate the most is the fact that he's been doing this for 20 years professionally and has ability to adapt to basically any ocean condition and to his competitors in order to take his game to a higher level. As his competitors get younger, Kelly gets better. 

In honor of Kelly's birthday tomorrow, I've composed a silly little poem

Here's to the best and the greatest there is. 

Eleven times over - World Champion that is.

You've elevated your game when it's counted the most. 

The fiercest competitor on every coast.

Power carves and aerials in all types of break.

There isn't a trick that you cannot make.

You've kept the young ones guessing and wondering too.

Is there anything that this bald guy can't do?

You're nimble.

You're quick.

You're adaptable too.

Flying through the air like all those younger dudes

Kobe + Jordan don't have your number.

Even despite the ASP's blunder.

So here's to one of the greatest sportsman of all time.

Watching you surf is truly sublime.

Quiksilver Pro New York...Cancelled for 2012

Adriano de Souza surfing in Round 5 against Jadson Andre

Kelly Slater in Round 5

Joel Parkinson in Round 5

Last week, the ASP and Quiksilver announced that the Quiksilver Pro New York event for 2012 was cancelled. I'm kind of bummed about the announcement. 2011 was the first year the event was held in Long Beach, NY and the first ever World Tour event held on the East Coast. New York isn't the first place that comes to mind when you think about world class waves or world class surfers so this was an incredible opportunity to bring greater exposure to the sport and its East Coast athletes. The event definitely had its supporters and detractors - folks who were upset about the exposure and attention the event would bring to surfing and a surf culture that now lies largely out of the mainstream. For me, I thought it was an incredible opportunity to be able to see some of world's best surfers surf in conditions that I could potentially surf in. Yes, that would mean that I would no longer be able to blame the waves for my surfing foibles but I would also witness the potential of NYC waves.

However, Hurricane Irene had other plans in mind for Long Beach which was directly in the hurricane's path. Quicksilver had actually planned a huge music, BMX and skateboard festival along with the surfing contest to make a big splash in the NYC media market. But a week or so before the event, it didn't look like the contest was going to run because of the damage caused by the hurricane. But the town and the surfers rallied together and Quiksilver pared down the event to just the surf contest. And luckily they did. Hurricane Katia sent a well-timed swell straight to the NYC area and huge crowds came out to watch the surfers. The consensus seemed to be that it was a great event. There were big crowds, good waves and the word was that the surfers had a lot of fun. You can see the highlights from the contest here.

Ed and I even got a chance to take our boys out for the afternoon to watch Rounds 4-5. It was our first time at a pro surf contest and we had so much fun. The boys even took a few breaks from playing in the sand to look out to the water and watch. I was really looking forward to taking the boys out again in September to experience it again.

Pipe Masters

Round 4 - Gabriel Medina, Michel Bourez and Evan Valiere. Evan Valiere surfing.

When one of the ASP World Tour surf contests is running, I can't get any work done. Pretty much, for the entire day, my laptop is open and streaming the contest. I guess that's one of the perks of being a freelance consultant who works from home?

I love watching sports, from baseball to tennis to swimming to soccer to football (when my husband has it on TV), but I had never really thought about watching professional surfing. Maybe it's because it's not televised on a national level and I just assumed that you had to be there on the beach in order to be a spectator. Now, you can watch all these contests online and it's pretty cool.

 

Yesterday was the final day of the Billabong Pipe Masters held at the Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu. It is the 11th and final event of the ASP Men's World Tour and the final event of the Vans Triple Crown. Pipeline is considered by many the world's perfect wave with its picturesque barrels. But it's also one of the most dangerous waves and you definitely witnessed that during the competition this year - Josh Kerr sustained a grade one concussion, Laurie Towner dislocated his shoulder, Julian Wilson got stitches in his heel, Shane Dorian took a nasty spill and showed up in the commentary booth the next day with his right elbow bandaged up. With 6-12 foot swell, Pipeline was pumping this year, the biggest it has been in years during the Pipe Masters contest. Kelly Slater reckoned that there hasn't been a good swell like this during the contest window since 2000 when Rob Machado won the event.

There were a lot of amazing stories at Pipe this year which I'm sure many of you have already heard about but you can read more about them here and here. The two stand-outs at the event were John John Florence, the 19 year old Hawaiian who grew up surfing Pipeline, joined the tour at the mid-year rotation and won the Vans Triple Crown title (the youngest ever), and Kieren Perrow, the event winner from Australia. Keiren was on the verge of falling off the World Tour, needing to make the Quarterfinals in order to qualify for next year's tour. I'm really happy for Kieran that he won.

Needless to say, I have come to enjoy watching professional surfing. Some might say I'm obsessed. I admit that I can drive my husband crazy with my recap of each heat. However, I just say that I'm a big fan. Yes, you get to see some of the best surfers perform at top surfing locations around the world but I think I enjoy the mental aspect of the competition more, not just the mental focus it takes to charge hard and be committed but the mental tactics and strategy - wave selection, how to use priority, etc.

For example, John John Florence was on fire during the event (and the two prior events of the Vans Triple Crown - The Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa and the Vans World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach). Afterall, this is his home break and he dropped a couple of 10s during the event. In the Quarterfinals against Kelly Slater, he committed what many consider a rookie error. With about five minutes left in the heat, he had Kelly in a combo situation, meaning that the combined total of Kelly's two highest scoring waves at the time was more than 10 points behind John John's two highest scoring waves. That meant that Kelly needed the scores from two new waves to overtake the lead. This was the second time in two days that Kelly found himself in this situation against John John. Then, Kelly somehow summoned an amazing wave and scored a 9.7. As the minutes ticked down, John John held priority. All he had to do was stick to Kelly like glue to prevent Kelly from catching any wave that could potentially get him the 7.0 score that he needed. Literally, at the last second, John John let Kelly take off on a wave. The scores didn't drop until they were already on the beach - 7.9 for Slater. He won the heat and moved on to the Semifinals.

I think that knowing what the judges are looking for has helped me to enjoy watching contests. I now know that it's not just about the length of ride or the one cool maneuver that someone pulls off. It basically boils down to this: The surfer who performs the most committed maneuver, with the most speed, power and flow, in the most critical part of the wave gets the most points. Of course there's a lot of controversy as to what this actually means in the eyes of judges and surfers but that's the judging criteria. I know that it's much more complicated than that but as a novice surfer, it helps me look at and think about surfing more critically.

You're not necessarily going to see the most innovative or daring or high performance surfing during contests. The format of the events, with their timed 30 minute heats and judging criteria, limit some of the creativity and risk that you might see in a free surf session, but isn't that how it is with all professional sports to a certain extent?

If you didn't get a chance to watch the contest, you can watch the heats on-demand here. Definitely check out the John John vs. Kelly Quarterfinal. John John's Round 2 heat against Kai Barger was pretty good too. I'm looking forward to the 2012 World Tour which commences in February on the Gold Coast of Australia as well as following the women in competition too. Here's the rest of ASP schedule for 2012.

November Fools!

Yesterday, as I was trolling through my Twitter feed, I came across a tweet from Kelly Slater saying that there had been a mistake and that he hadn't won the World Title yet. What?!? As many of you have probably heard, Kelly Slater did not clinch his 11th World Surfing title on Wednesday as we all thought. Looks like the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) miscalculated and the race for the World Title isn't quite over. Ooops. Technically, Kelly still needs to win one more heat - either Round 4 or Round 5 - to seal the deal. If he doesn't win another heat in San Francisco and if Owen Wright wins the Rip Curl Pro Search, then the race continues to Hawaii at Pipeline. The craziest thing about it all is that Kelly Slater himself apparently brought this to the attention of the ASP. Honest mistake or manufactured drama?

World Surfing Champion x 11

Yesterday, I had to the opportunity to witness history in the making. We are in San Francisco, making one of our pilgrimages out West to visit my family and to let the boys spend some time with their Grandmother and cousins. It just so happened that Rip Curl chose to hold its annual Search contest in San Francisco this year...in November...when we were going to be in town.  When the news was announced a few months ago, I was super excited that the contest coincided with our visit. And then, a few weeks ago, after Kelly Slater came in second in Portugal and we learned that he could potentially clinch his 11th World Title in San Francisco, I was beyond stoked. He just needed to win two heats - just four good waves - and he would win a record 11th ASP World Surfing title.

I checked the surf forecast religiously, hoping that the swell would fill in and that the fickle San Francisco conditions would cooperate so that the contest would run during the first few days of the waiting period. And it did. Beautiful, uncharacteristic fall days in San Francisco. I mean like crisp blue skies, NO FOG in Ocean Beach, pumping waves and downright hot. We managed to convince my Mom and my brother to take the boys to the zoo in the morning so that we could head to the beach early. When we learned that Kelly would be surfing in Heat 6 of Round 3, around 2:30pm, I promised my Mom that we would be home by 4pm. There was no way that I was going to miss being there on the beach to watch his heat.

There was an incredible crowd on the beach and throngs of people rushed towards Kelly as he made his way to the waters edge on the northern end. With Dan Ross in the lead and Kelly was no where in the heat for the first 15 minutes or so, you could feel the tension and anxiety building on the beach as everyone focused on that orange jersey in the water. He finally got some decent waves but he needed a 6.88 to move into first place. As it always seems to happen, Kelly got the score he needed - a 7.60 - with one minute to go. Kelly seems to have this uncanny connection to the ocean, a way of making waves appear out of nowhere, to almost will it to happen, to take a meager looking wave and rip it to shreds. 

Kelly Slater paddling out for his heat. Can you see him there in the orange jersey?

I don't know why I feel so moved by his win. Maybe it's because of my new found obsession with surfing and appreciation for surf contests. Maybe it's just because it's truly an incredible feat from an amazing athlete and competitor. I feel humbled to have had the opportunity not only to watch him surf in person but to see him surf in familiar territory like NYC and SF. Plus, he's like one of my teen idols. But what I appreciate most is the fact that he's been doing this for 20 years professionally and his ability to adapt to basically any ocean condition and to his competitors in order to take his game to a higher level. It's that ability to adapt and to be flexible and agile that I would like to cultivate more in my life, to not be so bound by convention and expectation, to be OK with things as they happen, to evaluate a situation, come up with a plan and execute it.

Congratulations Kelly Slater. Here's a pretty cool video highlighting his amazing year.