i am sick of watching airs

Finally someone other than me admits to being sick of all this crap. I can understand when the wave is nothing but a closeout but damn can you get that board on rail and do a smooth roundhouse once in a while. That's why I love wathcing someone who knows what they are doing ride a fish or another alternative shape. So refreshing to see some style.

 

Cookie cutter surfers nowadays

 

It's funny, I catch myself surfing like that from time to time. Racing over perfectly good sections where a nice silky turn is justified just to build speed. Then I find mself way out in front without the skill or inclination to blast an air. That's usually where a compressed turn on rail puts me back towards the pocket with a bounce off the whitewater and back where I should have been the whole time, lol. If I can get caught up in the cookie cutter style after all these years in the water I can't imagine how hard it would be for a kid today to develope his own style with so much imagery available.

 

I don't know if it's just me, but I find vimeo to have better quality surf vids than youtube or any other website. Not all are good of course, but some are very interesting.

 

im assuming this post was inspired by the latest Surfing issue?
i completely agree though, i'd much rather watch raw power surfing or someone with more style. those guys lack any real style or flow, because every single wave is wasted on pumping through sections, then hucking a sloppy punt about 1 foot off the face

 

+1 ... tell it like it is

 

until recently these upside-down 360 air flip moves were not possible.
they deserve credit for doing things no one ever did before.
but why would they want to?
now that people are doing it,and i haven't seen the new surfing issue,i can say that it is not really surfing.
it's athletic people doing tricks that have nothing to do with riding waves.
amazing gymnastics.
perfect walls,beautiful sections going to waste while some guy is flying around showing off.
i also find the turns lame.
high-speed 'hacks' that slap the wave.
MP at Kirra,Rabbit at Burleigh Heads,MR on a twin fin,Wayne Lynch in Western Australia,Shaun Tomson at Off The Wall,BK at Sunset,Lopez at Pipeline,Tom Curren at Rincon,Lance Carson at Malibu,everyone knows what they're looking at.You can't surf better than that.off the lips,cutbacks,tube rides.surfing riding waves.not flying around in the air above a perfect,beautiful wave.

 

Buttons,Bertlemann,Dora,style,ripping,flowing...who will be remembered like these images for a 'sick rodeo 360 slob'?
all i have to do is say the name from over 20,30,40 or more years ago and you see the picture of a surfer riding a wave,and it is a thing of beauty

 

Airs, 360s, super close up pics with mostly stickers... been sick of it for a long, long time! Mind numbing.

 

............maybe some nice footage of Rincon, with sweeping S turns......, or some power turns at Sunset, ala Barry Kanaiaupuni style. Let' s see some footage again of Sammy Hawk,or Tom Stone driving with the power of the wave,..smooth, deliberate, driving action.---------Mark Healey, present day Hell man gets a vote too.

Aloha, Randy

 

Aerial surfing is here to stay... like it or not. And it's not new, either. But clearly, it's been the emphasis of waveriding... some would even say the outright goal... for the current generation. Airs are now the measuring stick... if you're not surfing above the lip, you suck. Whether we like to watch it or not is another matter, but I don't see surfing as a spectator sport. To me it's not what it looks like that matters, it's how it feels. And usually, if it feels good, it looks good... but that's just an accidental byproduct of of the primary purpose of surfing... to do what feels good and allows you to express yourself.

In that sense, I think we're all a lot alike. Whether we know it or not, our emotions come out in our surf sessions. Sometimes we're out there just to have fun, and it shows. Sometimes we're in a soulful mood, and it shows too. And sometimes we're out there to release some pent up aggression, and that sure as he11 shows, too. In fact, if you have a quiver, your mood is probably starting to surface when you go out to the garage and choose a board.

There's only so much face on a wave. Great surfers exploit that potential to the fullest. Kelly has that magical ability to combine power, flow, and style in literally everything he does... turns and airs. That's the ideal combination of talent. He never seems to pass up an opportunity to do a turn in order to do an air, or visa versa. He just seems to do the right thing, at the right time. And if it's not, he makes it look like it is.

But that's the difference between the new gen and a guy like Kelly... wait till these kids mature, and their ADD mellows out a little. You'll start to see these guys mixing it up a lot more, once they get over the fact that it's not ALL about airs.

 

I have a solution: Surf with me. I promisie you won't see anything that resembles an air. I hope you aren't sick of 3 turns & a wipeout, though....cause I got plenty of that!

 

Don't forget Dane Kealoha.....

 

mags have to keep the kids buying 'surfer clothes and shoes' and shades that make ya look angry by putting someone busting air between ads. having been introduced to surfing in the 80s i love the power surfing but if we could do real airs we would. i see spastic failed attempts that folks say are airs all the time.i thought i could 'progress' to aerial surfing after 25 years of rail to rail and wound up getn good at bunny hops.needless to say i abandoned that chase right quick. watch some old occy or potter or kong or garcia.that to me is real surfing.and that jimmy slade guy too. good thread

 

Glad to see someone finally had the courage to say what a lot of us vets have been thinking for awhile. Thanks njsurfer42 you are not alone. I wonder if Martin Potter and those guys intended for it to turn into the aerial circus it has become...

Long live power surfing.

 

hmmm Ever notice how almost every airbourne picture you'll see in a magazine focuses on the person with the wave mostly cropped out of the picture, as if the focus has completely shifted from the real subject of adoration to an egotisic individual.

 

Good point. It's like it's all about the glory hound, their image, and advertising..forget the wave!

 

There's no reason to hate. Different surfers have different personalities and therefore surf differently. It would be boring if everyone surfed the same. Don't let the surf media's aerial-centric bias get you down. Stay Above the Weather!!