Quick Pro France

Haha we did get picky toward the end but the true "long-period groundswell day with offshore winds and DOH surf" happened for only one of those days ( Sunday.) just like in every other east coast break during any given swell event (see reference April 21st Belmar NJ/Feb 13th 2015 @ satellite beach). Still thinking I need to get off this coast for true satisfaction, or at least more consistency...

 

Bravo Yankee...Bravo.

You know, I don't care for Medina's style to much (surfing or otherwise) but what I really dig is how he follows up. Whenever he lands an air or gets pitted, the follow up hack (especially backside) always seems to be really strong. He surfed the best in this contest IMO.

 

the claims (begging) is pretty out of hand, imo. The brazzos are the worst about this...especially when they do a better than average maneuver on a small mushy wave (most of tomas hermes waves). On that 10 barrel medina caught in the final, he claimed three times: stuck his arm up in the air right out of the barrel, then a two-handed "what?" followed by a fist pump at the end. Granted, maybe a claim after a 10 warrants one small claim, but, if I were a judge, I'd generally take off points for claims.

 

good point. Part of his (Medians) style I don't like. Although more subtle, a lot more guys seem to claim these days compared to before. I don't really remember in decades past guys claiming so hard...it seems like a recent phenomenon (last 5 years or so).

 

The Brazzos can punt, I agree. I am with you all, though, when it comes to the style aspect. Mick has been tearing waves apart (literally) with his insane rail-to-rail turns. There is just so much power and flow being pushed through each turn. I was hoping for France to go crazy top to bottom with some barrels but that didn't quite happen. I guess I am just angry that Brazilians keep winning when in my eyes there are other surfers that deserved the win.

 

In all honesty, Mick's my guy. Has turned his life around from the insane drinking (so bad that his alter ego when he was drinking hard had a name that even frequently made it into the media: 'Eugene') & stopped wasting his massive surfing talent as a result.

But I'll always give props to surfers who work so hard on their game & who go out in the contest conditions that those guys (and gals) do. Including Medina & the Brazzos.

 

Medina got a couple of really technical barrels in the comp. The backhand 10 in the semi was legit. So it wasn't just the air reverses FTW. The way I look at it, France is barreling beachbreak so you know going in that the judges are looking for deep barrels and punts. Rail game wins at Bells, J Bay...not so much France.