Bilabong Pipe Masters is running

[oldmansurfer]

Of course you can watch Sebastian Zeitz fall onto his board and just get annihilated. His board was pointed the wrong direction.

[oldmansurfer]

There are other instances of this that can be found on the internet. Really it has happened lots of times just not filmed in the tube

[surferbee]

No doubt. Recoveries happen on the regular, especially at their level. The fact that he recovered in the tube is definitely what makes it so amazing. When you recover on a normal wave or in the whitewater, the forces at play are not nearly as dynamic and they are inside a barrel. Plus, it's not like Pipeline is just any old barrel.

[RinkyDink]

We need to get new judges or the scoring systems needs a complete overhaul. Even the commentators were so shocked at the sick performance. Sure it is amazing seeing surfers doing airs and riding deep in the barrels but it is too repetitive. I rather see something interesting like this.

I agree with you partly. Professional surfing feels way too much like Olympic gymnastics to me. That sort of Oh, she really has to stick her landing this time quality of it begins to annoy me, especially when the surfer keeps wasting a 25 foot section of wave they could have done something with. This might offend professional surfers, but I don't actually watch professional surfing so much to see the surfers. I watch it to see the waves and there's nothing that brings a wave alive more than somebody on it. Surfers make waves the stars of the show. When they stop doing that and turn the focus more on themselves I get less interested. I want to see surfers interpreting wave faces. I love aerials, but I don't enjoy repetitive hail Mary aerials. I remember getting annoyed watching one contest and thinking, "They should make a small deduction to surfer's score if they don't make their aerial." I don't think they should do that, but I think the judges should maybe not score an air as high if it's the first successful air of 8 total airs. I think they should also judge airs by how well they're integrated into a wave section or how a surfer uses one to get over a section or other aesthetic and practical moves that bring out the character of the wave. Also, professional surfers should think about their image. If their fans see too many blown airs, they start make an association between that surfer and blown airs. Does anybody really want to watch guys practicing their aerials during a contest? You either got the airs or you don't.

[RinkyDink]

I thought this was funny.

Parko goes avant-garde at 1:50 and Mick Fanning just laughs his ass off.

[oldmansurfer]

No doubt. Recoveries happen on the regular, especially at their level. The fact that he recovered in the tube is definitely what makes it so amazing. When you recover on a normal wave or in the whitewater, the forces at play are not nearly as dynamic and they are inside a barrel. Plus, it's not like Pipeline is just any old barrel.

So what it really shows is how at ease KS is with Pipeline and how focused he is in the situation, his situational awareness. There are lots of surfers not as good a Kelly who recover boards. I did it at least twice where I fell completely off and bodysurfed grabbed my board and then got back on and stood back up and surfed the rest of the wave standing. I used to do something similar in the days before the leash. I would fall and lose my board then catch a wave body surfing and come right up to the board then grab it and stand back up and finish the wave standing including one time I got in the tube after catching the board. I had another time where I got caught up in the lip and the board dropped away from me then I fell and landed on my back on the board and rode it in that position and got completely barreled and came out. Once I fell backwards off my board on a huge wave and bounced right back up on my board. That is me not Kelly Slater or some highly skilled surfer. It's not too surprising to me that someone with Kelly Slater's skill can do what he did. I think there are lots of surfers that do stuff like that but never get filmed doing it. Not everyone has someone videoing their every move. The WSL commentators purposely exaggerate stuff as do lots of other media sources and in so doing make slight of all the other surfers out there who aren't being videoed. Still Kelly Slater is awesome.

[oldmansurfer]

It sounds like Slater is saying he fell on his board so the result is even less impressive and more about his comfort level with a tubing wave and Pipeline specifically which is still awesome.