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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 23, 2010 - 11:24am PT
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Peter,
Do you still surf? Except for vacations in Hawaii and Vancouver Island, I haven't surfed (aka bobbed in the break) since the early 90s. I was never particularly good at catching waves, and boy has that gotten harder with age and, ahem, weight.
I still trip on the differences between surfing and climbing in both culture and the physical/mental requirements of both. I also can't believe how good young high school surfers, who apparently don't have two brain cells to rub together, are at judging breaks and catching wavers.
Darwin
~
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the kid
Trad climber
fayetteville, wv
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Sep 23, 2010 - 01:27pm PT
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I have been dubbed WISE by the Coz, guess that means i'm also getting older..
love it..
the best is the one having the most fun..
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Sep 23, 2010 - 02:07pm PT
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Yeah Silver, that is Teahupoo (pronounced: chopoo, nicknamed "Chopes"). It is in Tahiti. It is in a really amazing shallow reef situation and can hold enormous size but still be tight. It is such an amazingly powerful phenomenon.... it actually is upsetting to look at, it is so powerful, deadly and pure.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Sep 23, 2010 - 02:18pm PT
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One guy missing from the mix here is the Canibal Eddie Merckx.
Not so. I brought him into it way back on the first page, wondering whether Kelly Slater would have
stayed on top as long as he has if he faced the amount and level of competition that Merckx faced.
That guy was something special.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Sep 23, 2010 - 02:46pm PT
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Peter nice pic of those sukers paddling..... i'd be shitting a brick full of fear!
i like to rent some of the surf videos from netflix then pump up the volume then you can kinda hear what it would sound like.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Sep 23, 2010 - 04:14pm PT
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Speaking of the Big Drop, we're doing another big wave surfing book, The Big Juice, co-authored with Sam George, former editor of Surfer. Looking strong so far. Will post a few pics later.
JL
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Sep 23, 2010 - 05:00pm PT
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"And the problem now for Alex is the next logical steps from there!! eeyee!
That ole endless loop of harder and harder climbing.... "
Peter, so true about Alex. We're all waiting to see what he chooses for his next tick.
It's sort of like watching Croft's soloing exploits. Tipps, up AND down! The Rostrum,
then Astroman, then both...Yikes! But Croft is cool as a cat, and now see what he's doing.
Still enjoying himself in the mountains, wise enough to know when and where to draw the line.
If Hondo never did any harder soloing, he'd still have my full and unworthy praise.
As for that Tahiti wave, I hear the ocean just Sinks in front of the wave, like an elevator going Down.
Look at the pics, the top of the wave is level with the rest of the ocean...
Brass is what that took to surf first!
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Sep 23, 2010 - 05:25pm PT
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Yeah Kelly. It has to be the most sucked-out larger wave anyone rides....and remember the speed of those island waves is nearly 50% faster than ordinary continental shelf waves--- the waves you see say in Santa Cruz that have to drag their asses across miles and miles of shelf before they reach the shoreline. Surfable super shallow reefs in front of really deep water channels or deep open ocean aren’t all that common. Mavericks is similar in this when the swell lines up with its channel, but still it is not as shallow as Chopes, though M can be quite a bit bigger.
Crotch, incredibly wonderful strong film, thanks for the link; I never would have seen it otherwise! NO raz-matazz, just personal and involving, plus some hellacious waves...!
I guess those shots of Laird Hamilton on Teahupoo were when he or basically anyone had ridden it really big for the first time. It was apparently a life-changing experience (like Potter and Houlding said after doing Southern Belle a couple of years back). But as with all things, now Chopes is ridden even at its largest rideable condition by a number of big-timers. Apparently Laird was in tears afterwards, it was that emotional being in there. There is a movie on this.
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Roxy
Trad climber
CA Central Coast
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Sep 23, 2010 - 06:24pm PT
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bump for "The Big Juice", sounds like it might be another Largo collected anthology in the same vein as "Liquid Locomotive"...that would be dab for sure!
Will it be released in time for the Holidays? Fingers crossed.
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TripL7
Trad climber
san diego
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Sep 23, 2010 - 07:14pm PT
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"Peter nice pic of those sukers paddling out.....id be shitting a brick full of fear."
Actually, there are only a handful(6-8 max)of those guys who are capable of surfing a wave of this standard out there on any given day of this size(triple overhead).
Just a few of those guys who actually get deep enough into the peak, and eventually go for it on a day like this.
The rest are just watching. Watching some of the best big wave surfers in the world, and want "a ring side seat".
The vast majority of the surfers you see in this pic fall into this category (watching) and for the most part stay well out of the take off zone.
Pipe(Banzai Pipeline)on a big day is the same way(there are allot of guys sitting in the channel to the right).
There are allot of people(and boats)out there that you can't see in this photo(which was probably taken from a boat).
Edit: You can barely see a surfers head in the upper right hand corner who is in "deep" enough to take off, and where you would want to be to actually drop in.
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bjj
climber
beyond the sun
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Sep 23, 2010 - 07:26pm PT
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I can't believe anyone would say it takes the same effort as a stoner going to the kitchen as it does to drive a race car.
Beyond ridiculous.
F1 racing takes reaction time and endurance you can't even begin to understand.
There was a top gear segment a while back where one of the hosts, a person who drives fast cars on a daily basis for a living got behind the wheel of an F1 car.
On a regular track where he was the ONLY driver, he couldn't even get the car going fast enough to heat the breaks to a point where they would work properly. He was too scared to open it up for fear of crashing and killing himself.
Past that, whoever said Karelin and Dan Gable has the right idea. Wrestlers are some of the most well conditioned athletes out there.
After I got forced out of climbing in 2003, I started practicing brazilian jiu jitsu (thus my screen name bjj). Even after 7 years in the art, I had an incredibly hard time with the former wrestlers who would come into train. They could put on and sustain a pace that was hell to deal with.
But, my vote goes for top cyclists. The tour gets my vote for hardest sporting event in the world. Most guys can't even finish it the first few times.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Sep 24, 2010 - 12:35am PT
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Here, here Coz. Yes
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Sep 24, 2010 - 10:44am PT
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I was in Orange County last week visiting my mom and I had Saturday morning free before I caught a plane back. The Trestles pro surf event was in progress, so I thought I would take in my first surf contest. I walked down the trail to the colorful, elevated stands. After being denied entrance to the stands—surf industry only—I found a spot on the beach, among the tattooed masses, to watch the proceedings.
A guy comes jogging by me, blue wet suit, surfboard under his arm. He high-fives a young kid and I realize that it is Slater, getting ready for the next quarter final heat. My timing was impeccable—I had just an hour to watch a surf contest and I hit it just right to see the “world’s greatest surfer” in action.
Slater is up against a guy named Owen Wright. The format is head to head competition for 30 minutes, with the winner determined by judges scoring them from the beach. The sets are inconsistent, but after 15 minutes or so, a big wave approaches. Slater and Wright both take off, Slater to the right and Wright to the left. My eyes are on Slater and he is doing these beautifully controlled high speed turns, showing complete mastery of the rail.
I am impressed, but the crowd first gasps and then cheers. I think the cheers are for Slater’s last ripping turn, but the announcer says, “Wright just had a huge punt!”. My view is blocked by a television camera, so I don’t see it. Slater is announced the winner of the heat. Later, I learn that he goes on to win the semifinals and the contest.
When I got home, I pulled up the video to see the maneuver that wowed the announcer and the crowd.
Here it is; select Qtr 2 Slater v. Wright
http://www.hurley.com/hurleypro/videos.cfm
Wright did not do just one, but a couple of amazing aerial moves, and to my climber’s eye, he should have beaten Slater. His moves were more committing, more daring, more difficult, and way more crowd pleasing. I am not an expert in surfing (a kook, if truth be told) but there seems to a disconnect in the scoring system.
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pc
climber
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Sep 24, 2010 - 10:52am PT
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Rick,
Thanks for the post. Those were some amazing tricks by Wright. Slater's always rock solid and fun to watch.
Cheers,
pc
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FeelioBabar
Trad climber
One drink ahead of my past.
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Sep 24, 2010 - 11:00am PT
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So it has to be available to the masses to be a "real" sport?
Just curious Donini....ever surf?
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Sep 24, 2010 - 11:06am PT
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Rick, you're right. No way should Kelly have taken that heat. Owen pulled off 2 aerial 360's and landed them. That first one was huge! It should have scored big points and won over Kelly just carving it up, although admitingly Kelly was REALLY carving it up.
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crøtch
climber
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Sep 24, 2010 - 01:48pm PT
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Bump for big wave photos.
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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Sep 24, 2010 - 01:52pm PT
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Nice shot Crotch. Brobrah looks set for a world of pain in T-minus 3,2,1...OUCH!
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