This is the predicament that the ASP and Volcom are in at the moment. Run the contest at massive Cloudbreak or 6-8ft perfect Restaurants. For those who are not familiar with Restaurants, as Surfline put it, "It is the best back-up location in the history of back-up locations." This wave is a left point reef break that breaks and barrels for hundreds and hundreds of yards. Of course there will be barrels, but there will also be a ton of big turns, something that we have not really seen at Cloudbreak yet.
As of yesterday, event officials seem to have already made up their minds; it seems that the contest will be held at Restaurants. They are already starting to pack up the judges tower and bring the equipment back to shore. Surfline sat down with Surfers Rep, Kieren Perrow (who was eliminated by Ace Buchan in Round 2) to discuss the matter. I thought that there was a great quote and point made by KP about the situation. KP mentions, "If Cloudbreak really is going to be as big as everyone is saying, we'd have to run, like, hour-long heats just to get enough waves ridden." I think this is a great observation by KP, and perhaps one that some of us do not want to hear. With these massive swells, it is usually ten or twenty minutes in between sets, whereas in a smaller swell it might be five to fifteen minutes. There would most likely be many heat restarts and a lot of sitting around in the water for an hour - if there were an extension in heat duration.
Is it worth it though? Don't we want to see the best pushed to the limits? Dont we want to see something similar to this (Ryan Hipwood Cloudbreak 2011)? -
I, for one, do. I want to see the men separated from the boy. I want to see how the wonder-kid Gabriel Medina fairs in 20ft Cloudbreak. This is what the Tour is about. Putting the best surfers in the best waves. They do this because they love it, but will they shy away if it is too big? I think that some would. Most of the new young gun have no experience whatsoever in waves like this. This is a bad sign of the future of the tour for me. 10 or even 5 years ago, we have a bunch of chargers on tour and today we have a bunch of high flyers who excel in 5 foot surf and sometimes struggle in anything a few feet overhead.
With that being said, I also do not want to sit around and watch 1 hour heats where each surf MAY only catch 2 or three waves each. Restaurants is no easy wave, it is a fast and steep multi-section left in shallow water. I think it will still be a challenging wave for the boys, but not as exciting as Julian Wilson or Kelly Slater dropping into a 20 foot bomb on an 8 foot gun. Many of the surfers do not have the equipment to surf those waves and are in the process of ordering in boards overnight just in case. Kelly just had Al Merrick ship him a bag full of guns - we obviously know his intentions and what he would prefer.
My main point here is that putting these surfers into big Cloudbreak puts them out of their comfort zone. We already know that the best surfers are the best in chest high Rio, head high Bells, rip-able Snapper, etc, but are they the best in waves like this. If Joel is going to win the World Title this year, don't we want him to earn it and prove that he is the best ALL AROUND SURFER? I think that it is only fair. I do not think that we should have to settle for a small and less challenging wave that might let him pull away in the race because it suits him more. If he is going to win, or anyone for that matter, I want him to prove to me, you and the world that he is the best and that he earned it by fearlessly paddling into at 20 foot monster.
Thats my input on the matter, I will watch either way, but I wouldn't mind having to watch longer heats to see these guys fight and drop in on waves taller than some houses. But hey, thats just me.
What do you think? Cloudbreak or Restaurants? Leave comments!
Cloudbreak:
Restaurants:
Tavarua has the best surf!
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