I look forward to each event especially since you can watch live on your mobile. Im not sure about you guys but this years tour line up seems a bit weak. It seems they want to focus what the "pros" can do on local waves. The wildcard events are NY and Ocean Beach, CA....Really!?! To me it just seems that the companies didnt want to put out extra effort to get permits, insurance ect. These events just seem a bit lazy. I like to see the pros surfing some exotic location on a "world class" wave NOT some local beachbreak that might work. I mean they scored Selina Cruz, Mex so good they made a whole DVD from just the contest...btw also putting it on the map creating jobs as well as an epic surf destination. I just think places like East Africa should be the focus of the next search. There are excellent waves on this coast but we need the big companies to pave the way.
more than likely the corrupt governments for these 3rd world areas have penny pinched the ASP that the tour officials have had enough.
no, we don't. bruce brown went to east africa in the 1960's. plenty of others have gone since. we don't need rip curl or any other company showing us where to surf. if you want to go, pack your boards & go. personally, i'm looking forward to the san fransico contest...OB gets heavy at that time of year, has some crazy currents, & falls w/in the monteray bay marine preserve, so no pwc assist back to the line-up. it could be VERY interesting...i'm almost tempted to buy a plane ticket out there & stay for the duration of the waiting period. the ny thing, well...in some ways, it's nice to see the asp come back to the east coast. at the same time, i have a bad feeling about what this will do to the crowds. basically, i'm glad it's there & not here. that said, i think morrocco would be an awesome spot to send the tour...
I see where you are coming from but c'mon man. You really think the contest in NY will be boring? I have always wanted to see the top guys surf something they don't usually surf. We all know they can surf perfect lowers or some crazy reef pass in the mentawais so lets throw them somewhere that isn't "perfect". I think NY gets some sick swell and watching kelly, jordy, and owen rip **** up will be awesome. Then again, exploring some new places would be cool too. I guess its all preference though. good thread btw
"no, we don't. bruce brown went to east africa in the 1960's. plenty of others have gone since. we don't need rip curl or any other company showing us where to surf. if you want to go, pack your boards & go." "that said, i think morrocco would be an awesome spot to send the tour..." LMAO Again it comes back to east Africa. The NY contest will most likely be medocre surf. These guys earned their spot to the top, thats why it is called the dream tour. I highly doubt the rookies think NYC is a dream destination by any means. If you want to see pros go to the local comps and observe visiting pros. For example, Rob Machado surfed in LI a few years back for a comp. Really sick to see but I dont think its worth it to bring the world tour to NYC/ San Fran. They got rid of Mundaka b/c of consistancy, I can't imagine NYC being any better. But at least when it did turn on it was an actual dream tour wave. Long story short, I'm dissappointed in their choices and I can only imagine how the pros feel. And no you can't quote Kelly b/c he is a Quiksilver sponsored and has been on tour for over 20 years so I'm sure he doesn't care where it is.
I would think it is more about money then anything else. There is a lot of marketability in New York and San Francisco...
That makes perfect sense. the surf industry wants to have a broader audience and as much exposure as the skating industry.
Looks like all of the hotels in LB are sold out. You could get a rack over by JFK, wtf. Any bets on attendance figures for this NY event ? 250k pairs of flip flops ? 400k humans jammed in there ? More? Less ? Just out of curiosity, what kind of numbers does the US Open event pull in HB ? (BTW, noticed it's called Nike US Open ... corporate money is all over the sport forever now.)
what's so funny? you/we DON'T need surf companies to pave the way & show us what great surf awaits us in other countries & off the beaten path. morocco is hardly a secret spot. it arguably never really was. people have been surfing there since at least the 1970's, possibly before, & it is a pretty popular destination now, esp. for european surfers. i think it would be pretty cool to see the tour stop there one year b/c i don't think there's ever been a wct contest held in north africa & there are some great waves there. it has nothing to do w/ wanting pros & surf companies to pave the way for me. i know what's there...
yeah, I live in the "real OB" =) to the south... But OB SF is by far as heavy as they come... That place is a life ender on certain swells. But if there is swell headed towards OB SF, you will see some world class barrels. some sh** your pants barrels... Im excited for that one for sure. That whole area sucks up swell like a vacuum.
NY & Ocean beach NY and Ocean beach can get as good as anywhere in the world. Have you seen photos of OCean beach in the fall, the place is gets insane. NY in hurricane season, yeah its fickle, typically t it doesnt get 3 days straight of great surf (3 days is what is needed to comlete a contest) , but it could get one day with 1 foot overhead spitting drainers 100 feet of the beach, then the next day be light off shore clean shoulder high soft walls, then day 3 get chest high with some slight onshores. Lets look at the first two contest of 2011, Snapper wasnt firing on all cylinders for much of the contest.. Bells Beach has history, yeah Bells is a right point... but "firing bells" prdouces some of the more "boring" surf the tour rides. Lowers is percect head high A-frames when its on and the result is a high performance wave that lends to exciting surfing. I for one would rather see Jordy, Dane, Jadson and the new school contingent ramping up on chest high NY than top turn after top turn in 2 foot overhead crumbling bells. But thats just me. I love powerful carving surfing as much as the next guy, but I love a wave that pushes the limits of high performance surfing or insane barrels. I still prefer high performance surfing to 'watch" rather than a shackfest. The best way to decide a champion is to put the top 34 in the different waves around the world, from 8 foot pipe to 4 foot NY beach break. I think before we say how dumb the idea is we should see how it pans out, if the surf sucks in NY and San Fran then say it was stupid, come back on there and say " I told ya so" until then be amped that surf population in the US now has a chnace to see the worlds best on our shores 3 times, I am pumped about all 3 stops, we spend the money on the lifestyle and the sport and help to pay these top 34 salaries so yeah i want to see these guys surf our shores. Put money in the local beach economies in the US. I dont think there is anything wrong in bringing in 1 million dollars of revenue to these US surf towns!
How about the Search India, Yemen, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, or Russia. Those places would be wild. The NYC contest is not about surfing, it is about selling the sport and praying for a swell. The Search San Fran is about as lazy as it gets. How much searching did you have to do to find Ocean Beach? Now if they surfed some crazy mysto NorCal spot that was off the beaten path that would be neat, but it doesn't sound like it to me.
