So we are three (plus) days into the El Salvador Pro, and the Fantasy Surf World is reeling. Griffin got knocked out by Al Cleland Jr, Ethan Ewing lost to Callum Robson, and Filipe was beaten by Kauli Vaast. Three event favorites out in Round 2. Eli Hanneman threw me a (tiny) middle finger for placing him DFL (Dead Fucking Last) in the first official Power Rankings last week. The Women are onto the Quarters, and Caity Simmers looks like the favorite in the long, stretched out walls of Punta Roca.
I’m not recapping the entire event here and now. They ran 3 Heats of the Men’s this Round 3 this morning, and then called it off. So in the meantime, I have something for you to ponder. I’ve asked this question before, but with this event it was right in the front of my mind – does posting Pre-Event Warm Up Clips affect the scoring? The judges are humans, just like you and I. If we see Filipe going crazy in the freesurf, and he doesn’t quite match the same level in his heat, are his scores held back? We know he just threw 3 airs on one wave literally yesterday, why is he only carving in the pocket for his heat? We’ve seen his potential..
I will say that I know the CT judges are not supposed to be following the athletes on Social Media. They don’t want any portrayed biases, friendships or relationships between the judges and the athletes. That is understandable. What I am curious about now is since the WSL is hosting “Fantasy Training Sessions”, are the judges still not seeing that? If not, why not? Shouldn’t they have some kind of scale to work off of? Should they not be up-to-date with the surfing that the world’s best is doing on a day-to-day basis? And with that in mind, do you think some surfers would not surf as hard as they can in those freesurfs? I don’t think I would want anyone to see my surfing, I’d like a bit of an element of surprise. Maybe.
What do you say?
The waves have been pumping, but it’s obviously tricky to surf – speaking on El Salvador. Scores have been low – Caity Simmers has the high Heat Total on the Women’s with a 16.50, and (shocker) Eli Hanneman has the best showing for the Men – 16.16 Heat Total. Did you see any clips of Eli Pre-Event?
Something to think about.
Cheers,
hwilsin
Drew Stanfield