Kam's Komments       

Fanning, Dolphins and Jordy Smith

A big congrats to Mick Fanning for winning the 2007 title in convincing fashion. As I have banged on about all year, he showed determination in patching up areas of his game that were letting him down, namely partying and improving his large left hand wave act.

There has been talk of a turtle and dolpin turning up at the annual Sean Fanning and Joel Green Memorial comp each year. If that wasn't spooky enough apparently a dolphin rocked up during  Mick's heats leading up and just post him winning the title at the Hang Loose Pro. Mick seemed  to think it was his brother and it even brought a shiver up the spine of this old sceptic/agnostic/atheiast.

So whats next for Fanning? I guess its safe to say that he will make a motza out of endoresements etc. If  TC made a million out of winning the title over 20 years ago, the mind boggles as to how much Fanning will make. Then there is Hawaii coming up, where his form should continue if there is some good waves at Backdoor.

For the other competitors on the WCT it will be the usual, the guys who have locked away the spots for next year trying to secure higher positiong on the ladder and others simply surfing for their WCT careers. With the rampaging Hawaiin contingent champing at the bit to have a crack at the WQS and WCT competitors things are never going to be easy!*
* I just read that Sunny Garcia fresh out of prison and fit as a fiddle racked up some huge scores in the early heats at Haleiwa.

Years ago when TB knocked back a WCT spot so that he could gain more experience on the WQS, it showed maturity beyond his years, or at least a good move on behalf of his management. I just read an interview with Jordy Smtih in the latest Tracks mag and for a young fella he shows a lot of maturity in his response to some serious questions. Coming from a poor background also helps in the motivation stakes. If he really is as good as everyone says then Mick might have a fight on his hands retaining the title. For us Aussies sake here's  hoping he takes a few years to get his bearings!

OK back after the Halewia Comp

alez

Kam









Kam's Komments       

The Euro leg has wrapped up with Fanning still in the lead, but Slater and TB still very much in the running.

 

 

The Euro leg saw the two Contest Directors for the Quiky Pro in France and the Billabong Pro in Mundaka under pressure due to some poor conditions. Its  a pretty thankless job, having to balance the surfers requests, relying on a bit of luck re the swell and the skills of the forecasting guys they use.

 

 

 

The Quiksilve Pro saw some very large onshore conditions earlier in the waiting period, where the comp was postponed, with everyone hoping the swell would maintain minus the onshore conditions. Unfortunaltey this didn't happen and we were left watching the last two days of competition held in very small beachies. The crowds loved it, but it also meant that board caddies were unable to get baords to the compeitiors quickly as they traveresed through the crowds.

 

 

Case in point being Kelly Slater being out of the water for just under 10 minutes whilst his caddy ran to get a new board and bring it back through the crowd mid heat. The time out of the water meant that he lost his heat to wild card Mikel Bourez. To his credit he didn't bang on about it to much, even though he then had to watch title front runner Fanning eventually take out the comp.*

 

 

Mike Parsons was facing running a competition without holding a heat at Mundaka, something never done before. Lucky for him, it turned on just enough in the last day to run the semi's and final heat there. If you want some high blood pressue and grey hair sign up for the job!  

 

 

Finally there is rumours getting around re a former world champ and former 2007 title contender who is going through a rough patch due to a nose candy problem. Of course there has been nothing official and no news of a positive drugs test by the ASP (would they really push the issue anyway if they knew it was going to end in bad publicity). If there is any truth to the matter it would certainly explain his poor showing in the Euro leg. Hopefully he'll pull his head in and make a good fist of the back end of the year, regardless of whether the rumours are true or not.

 

 

Kams Trestles Komments

    Well there really isn't all that much to comment on post Trestles expect to say....WTF HAPPENED. By the quarter finals not one surfer bar from the top 8 bar Slater was left. This is something that is beyond belief considering the nature of the waves and how suitable it is for TB, Parko and Fanning. With the lesser lights taking centre stage in thei finals, it was like letting a lion loose on bunch of caged gazzeles with Slater smacking his chops!

    I have banged on about this in previous komment sections, but do the aussies really think they can win a title by getting bowled out in round two or threeof a comp? So far this year Slater has finished no worse then 9th in any of the WCT's. Apologists for the poor performing aussies have mentioned that competitors discard their worst two results of the year in the final points tally, but this is of little consequence, when the best surfer the world has ever seen jumps to within 200 points of the lead. All I can say is pull your fingers out fellas or you can forget the title coming down under for a long while coming.....did someone say South Africa.....

    Some of you might remember when TB was a young fella and the bidding war that saw Billabong secure his services. Well young Zaffa Jordy Smith is about to make that bidding war seem insignificant. Jordy previoulsy inked to Billabong is now being courted by all of the top 3 as well as  NIKE, with money in excessof a mill US a year being thrown around.

     I for one am stoked that surfers can make such huge amounts of money. However there is only so much cash in the pot and guys doing it tough on the tour..i.e. no sponsorship, must be looking on in disbelief. Did someone mention Bede Durbidge, ranked 7th in the world and still lacking a major sponsor......

    OK I am off to get some tablets to drop my blood pressure and go to my anger management class after that Tresltes performance, catch you next time.    

      KAM

Kams Chile Komments

     I really enjoy this Rip Curl moving comp concept. It leaves everyone guessing as to how the style of wave will effect the outcome* and a reminder that there really are some excellent waves out there that fly under the radar. Speaking of waves, El Gringo the wave where the Rip Curl Competition was held, looked nasty big or small. I was watching the live feed and the commentators kept showing the barnacles that line the shelf that this waves breaks on.....it looked like it would do some "hostel" type damage if you got bounced off it.

*speaking of outcome is there anyone that can get past the top 5 guys at the moment?

           News came through after the quarters that Kelly Slater had cracked the shits and there was an impending retirement call after his defeat by Dingo (he scored a perfect 10). I don't know about you but how good would it be to hear from Slater that he is really amped and wants to do the tour.

           All we seem to hear from him is, "oh I don't think I'll make this competition....not sure if I'll do the tour this year....really undecided about my future..". This scribe firmly believes that Slater is the best surfer the world has ever seen and certainly one of the greatest sportsmen in the modern age. However this “laze fair” attitude to the tour leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

          The tour has given Slater almost everything he has achieved so far. The ASP even let him straight back onto the tour after his previous retirement phase without having to re-qualify. How about either getting on board or buggering off and let someone who is committed to the tour to get on.

           In regards to this, why is there no news as to the possibility of Slater’s retirement on the ASP site? Surely the fans of the sport deserve to know what’s going on through a press statement, either by the ASP or via them from Slater. How about the ASP stop acting as a facilitator/cheer leader for the big surf companies and actually told the public what was going on?

           Good news is that J-Bay is coming up and that the title race is definitely on regardless of Slater’s presence, with AI cracking his first win (how convincing was it!) of the year. For the Aussies who have been waiting for a world champ since 99, there is high hopes Fanning (rocked up to Chile early again....something Parko and TB might want to pick up on) can secure a win and tighten his grasp on the rating GO MICK!

  

            To get you in the mood go and get the Stormriders DVD and check out the crazy sequence of Shaun Thomson getting 3 barrells on the one wave. Whilst your at it also get the old Billabong J-Bay invitational dvd (I think it might have been a Jack McCoy flick) and check out Slater and Margo tearing the bag out of the best J-Bay you'll ever see!

  

          Finally I need to give a "shout out" (picked that lingo up from the hip young commentators during the Rip Curl Chile Live Feed) to www.savesupertubes.com. As is the case around the world, the J-Bay surfing community are doing their best to fight off unrequainted development of their community, so check them out and see how you can help.

Kranky Kam

Note from owner - the above comments are the opinions of an old man and not the dynamic youthful team that runs Surfing-Odds.

   

 Pre Chile Komments

Well here is the first installment of the "komment" section. I have been asked to knock this up on a comp by comp basis and have been given free reign to say what I want....so here goes.

    To start off, I am unashamedly parochial in my support for Mick Fanning and his desire to get to Teahupoo early and get amongst it....I would think of about a thousand different places for a break between comps I would rather go, than a death lefthander..but thats me. I am certainly not a pro surfer who thinks they can win a title without doin well in the Sth. Pacific. Hmm well ok I am not a pro surfer so I should shut up, considering I get nervous at the site of a lefthander over 3 foot.

    Speaking of size, if its is a concern for some pro's competitive ambitions, then they would be shitting bricks at the possibility of the size of the  waves that could be on offer in the Chile comp. Check out Rip Curl's link to the site and you'll know what I mean. This dillema is surely being faced by some of the backend of the tour, who are either getting on...Occ come on already or a bit green in the big stuff...hey Luke Munro I seen you charge some monsters good luck son. They have to go up against AI, Slats, The Hobgoods. These guys have no fear at all when it comes to the meaty stuff and will be relegating crew to the second round quicker than you can imagine.

    This leads me into a really good read from last years Tracks yearbook written by Derek Hynd. It was called "The Metrohomogenisation of the Pro Tour"...I don't know about that big word, but there are four letters in there that would scare the crap out of bordering illiterates like me. Anyway the article was basically getting at the "fact" that there are only ever, at the most, a couple of surfers on the tour at any one time who are "Elite", the rest are flotsam. This is something I am sure Mick Campbell would have something to say about!. However he did have a point, when you go back through the stats ........until you get to......

    After being forced into doing this column, I didn't know tazers hurt so much, I did some research on the ASP site. I checked out some of their stats and get this:

Dave Macaulay had 7 career victories and was in the top ten 8 times, a couple of them in the top 3!

    Yet you hardly hear mention of the bloke anymore. From memory he was pretty unassuming so thats the way he would like it. However the last time I saw him, he was charging giant Gnarloo in the late 90's..certainly not someone I would dismiss as being "flotsam" .... even if the tag does stick to some of the current pros....oh god I am getting old......

Kranky Kam

 * thanks for the editing Mum!