This is Tom Whitaker. Why are we running a photo of Tommy Whits instead of Dane or Kelly or Owen Wright? Because Tommy’s a great Aussie surfer from Bronte who surfed an incredible heat against Dingo Morrison today, when both boy’s careers were on the line. And he deserves, at very least, a bit more love from us at Pop, and from you too. Besides, he’s got some real nice pigdog steeze.
If you looked only at the surf, you wouldn’t have thought the Billabong Pro Tahiti, happening right now at Teahupoo in Tahiti, would end up being much of a contest.
Teahupoo has been surfed long enough, and is famous enough, for surf forecasters to have the place pretty dialed. So everyone knew well before this contest started that it wasn’t going to pump. For yet another year, the best waves would be ridden in the trials, and the main event would be ground out through endless lay days followed by the best surfers in the world trying to make themselves look like it in marginal conditions.
Except for two things:
1. Marginal surf at Teahupoo is still pretty bloody good by any reasonable standard, and
2. There were plenty of careers on the line.
The ASP is changing. Right now is as interesting as surf contests have been in years. I’ll discuss the changes and what they mean in another post, but for now, my tip is to hit the Billabong Pro webcast if there’s waves today. There might not be – it’s forecast to be flat – but it’s going to be a fascinating finish, and if you’ve been kinda semi following the tour this year, it’s a good time to get kinda semi serious about it.
There was plenty of drama in Tahiti yesterday. It wasn’t the “oh-shit-he-can’t-go-this-one … oh-shit-he’s-going … he’s-gonna-die” kind of drama, it was the kind where, even though it’s only halfway through the season, the ASP’s changes to the world tour meant this was the event where guys were surfing to keep their dreams alive. Veterans and rookies, innovators and power guys were all on the chopping block. The surfers who’ve been bumped are: Kieren Perrow, Tom Whitaker, Dean Morrison, Kekoa Bacalso, Ben Dunn, Tanner Gudauskas, Neco Padaratz, Jay Thompson, Nate Yeomans, Mick Campbell, Drew Courtney, Blake Thornton. And there’s one more to go.
Kelly’s still in the event, and looking as dangerous as he has in a long time. Jordy Smith’s been knocked, but is starting to live up to his potential. And that potential is frightening. And Dane Reynolds is doing stuff like this in heats.
And surf contests are interesting again.
