The Indomitable Billabong Pro Tahiti 2017 Thread!
I'm hoping Craig can shed some guidance into the LWT/SAM from the Indian Ocean pushing across under the Maritime Continent and stalling under NZ in the long term ?
I'm hoping the waves are as good again as the JJF & KS vid Stu posted above!!
Woah, early starts for this one gents.
4 hours earlier than East coast time.
Going off a 7:30 am Tahiti start that's 3:30 am here.
Way too early to start drinking.
And almost too late to carry on.
Almost.
Going to be a big week.
GO SEABASS you 3 thumbed tube pig !!!
Six years ago I set my alarm for 3:30am, took the doona into the study, chucked it over my head as I opened my lap top and watched this...
Boy i had forgotten how heavy that was ......hows the guy around the 1 min mark almost cops the board up his date ,3 min mark the guys not moving maybe even going backwards and then at the 7 min mark how the bloke gets rolled upside down..hahahha...no wonder you had the doona over your head Stu,scary stuff great slow mo,could see how angry the ocean was.
Latest forecast has a weird mid-latitude southerly swell hitting Chopes 2-3 days before the waiting period. Strange swell and strange winds (strong SSE) for the pros to warm up in. Then it goes small but there's a ray of light at the far end of the model run.
Craig will have a forecast shortly.
He's due some luck I reckon Parko...
Gee I hope they get waves.
Stu, that is unbelievable. Even though I remember it and watched lots of it, that was freaking amazing. If you only ever use slow-mo once in your life, that is the wave and the time to do it.
The first or second one had me thinking about that scene from Inception, where Ellen Page is bending the buildings up. Take a look again with that in mind. It's like the water isn't moving at all, just the entire Pacific Ocean bending up over it. Mind-bending.
And a new world record for Captcha - 3 times cars, 6 times street signs and 4 more cars, woohoo!
And.. they're running. Looks bloody terrible - Josh Kerr just went right and boosted an air. WSL press release calling 3-5ft but they've obviously reverted to face height.
Actually, Italo just got a solid one. That was 4ft, maybe 4-5ft (couple of feet overhead).
Jeez, the commentators have got their work cut out for them today, trying to describe the surf conditions without sounding too negative!
"Challenging " conditions is the term .
AKA Dogshit
It's one of those events that is crueled by its own ad breaks showing pumping waves then when it returns to live action and the reality is heartbreaking.
Joan Duru for this heat .
Freeride has put his head down and showcased after the writers tiff on the other thread . You know where to find Longtom's offering.
Nice work, Freeride.
Just watching the replay of the day now. I thought the surf out Chopes was garbage when I had a quick glimpse this morning , but after the surf I rode today it doesn't look so bad anymore.
Replays and highlights are always better on these kids of days though.. you don't have to sit through the inbetweeners and flat spells.
You gotta feel for Ethan Ewing. He's a way better surfer than his results portray.
Bad luck to Bede not being able to find a second score.
Good to see a few meaty sets albeit infrequently.
JJF and Nat, good heat finally.
If freeride is there, it would be interesting to speak with South Oz surfing and shaping legend Dave Kelly. He craftily disappeared permanently to Tahiti, maybe 35 years or so ago. Married a beautiful French girl, and set up over there. DK ripped, charged, and must have some epic stories. I saw him a couple of times when he came back to visit, and he didn't let on much. All he said was the surf was heavy, sharp reefs. He helped the local kids, made Vetea David's boards etc.
I'd like Ace or Flores for the win.
Flores looks like he'll fall off tour otherwise .
And I'd rather a surfer of Flores calibre on the CT when the tour stops at the big barrel locations than another beachie acrobat .
Spewing.
Just remembered I'm watching a replay.
See you later Flores.
How's that feeling of weightlessness when you fly off the back after getting spat out of a barrel ?
Unreal.
Have the judges learnt nothing about throwing 10s?
Medina came out under the lip while the wave kept barreling and got caught up in a turn.
Amazing to make the section but a 10 for first wave of the heat? Dumb.
And I would love some 7ft barrels right now.
Gotta say, this event has comparitavely slipped under the radar. Most likely due to the poor forecast, but with the first two days running over the weekend, I've hardy watched any of it. And the Semi Finals will start in less than an hour. The whole comp will be done and dusted by lunchtime!
Just when i was warming to Medina I reset and have gone back to thinking he's a total wanker.
Ok, not total wanker but blocking Kolohe on that wave even though it wouldn't have got the score (shitty wave) takes away from what I want to see and that's surfing on merit, not tactics.
If he's gonna do that he should have gone.
Jeez, Medina may be a bastard, but he's a talented and determined bastard.
It's somewhat galling to watch Gabs carry on like this, but just quietly, I reckon it's making for much more entertaining viewing.
Best final in a while. Good on ya Julian, it takes a really focused mind to come back from being heavily comboed with five minutess on the clock. Well deserved!
jeez, i missed it all.
good waves here so i went for a surf before the final.
gonna have to watch the recap.
Good to see Julian win. His tally should be 4 as he easily won the Margaret River final 2 years ago.
Some amazing tube riding in this competition in that so many difficult, sectioning, clamping and technical tubes were made. Many were so much harder than the super clean days.
Nice article FR. Think you have a typo though. " Yellow jersey for California."?
OK, we're in the waiting period before the waiting period of the Billabong Pro Teahupoo - official start August 11th. Which means the loooong range charts will soon shape up. However, of greater interest right now is that Tahiti is going through an extended lull with first a high pressure blocking the swell window, and then a series of inconsequential lows.
With my limited forecasting knowledge I'm calling this a GOOD THING, as the longer the run of small surf, the greater the chance of big surf when the comp begins.
16 day f/cast for Chopes:
I could also point to the position of the Long Wave Trough if I knew where to find those graphs. Craig..?
As a benchmark for swell size and match ups, let's revisit KS vs JJF in their tied semi final from 2014, which Kelly won on count back.