I know this thread has been started on the longboard page
But this mornings Jaws footage was insane
it's a shame the waves in the finals fizzled out
Local knowledge prevailed in the end
I heard Billy Kemper thanking Dave Kalama and Laird for showing him the ropes at Jaws
I believe what these guys are doing is at the absolute pinnacle of surfing in this day and age
Any trained monkey can do a few spins but to take off on these monsters takes some serious balls
Take off of the century for Chalky Mathews

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TimKay said...
I know this thread has been started on the longboard page
But this mornings Jaws footage was insane
it's a shame the waves in the finals fizzled out
Local knowledge prevailed in the end
I heard Billy Kemper thanking Dave Kalama and Laird for showing him the ropes at Jaws
I believe what these guys are doing is at the absolute pinnacle of surfing in this day and age
Any trained monkey can do a few spins but to take off on these monsters takes some serious balls
Take off of the century for Chalky Mathews

Any monkey can do a spin lol. Post up your footage and show me how easy it is.

Yep massive waves takes some massive balls,but in the end it does send me to sleep. I would so rather watch a perfect jbay or trestles than what I watched this morning when it comes to pure enjoyment of watching a wave being surfed.

Big balls...go straight.... Wave over.

On a side note does anyone know why the legend Jamie Mitchell did not compete?

I'm totally with Chrispy. Big wave surfing gives me a a "WOW" for the first 15 mins, but I couldn't watch a whole contest. Highlights package so I can just see the sick waves and dudes getting lit up. Give me pumping J-Bay over pumping Jaws any day.

A good % of it is fitness and breathe hold technique's, that and a hole lot of luck thrown in..

Crazy to watch though..

What an amazing spectacle these guys really are at the far frontier of the sport! it's going to be hard to give credit to a kid who does two snaps and an air reverse in one foot slop at Rio claim to be 'the best surfer in the world'!

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jbshack said..
A good % of it is fitness and breathe hold technique's, that and a hole lot of luck thrown in..

Crazy to watch though..

Yeah nah

All those dudes are ****ing amazing surfers...there is more technique than you think when riding a very big wave that you have paddled into...sure its a different technique to the guy doing a spin but its just as specialized...look at the lines that these guys were drawing....wave and ocean knowledge are at a a lot higher level too


Breath holding, fitness and land luck are also good to have on your side

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Tux said...

jbshack said..
A good % of it is fitness and breathe hold technique's, that and a hole lot of luck thrown in..

Crazy to watch though..

Yeah nah

All those dudes are ****ing amazing surfers...there is more technique than you think when riding a very big wave that you have paddled into...sure its a different technique to the guy doing a spin but its just as specialized...look at the lines that these guys were drawing....wave and ocean knowledge are at a a lot higher level too


Breath holding, fitness and land luck are also good to have on your side

Extrapolating the biggest waves I have surfed to these things:

There's a local Bombie I surf. When it's big my style is Waimea-esque(it's nowhere near as big as Peahi) in that I run to the bottom, draw out a bottom turn then look for a cutback.

The good guys out there can backdoor the peak and get huge barrels, and find barrels where I didn't know the existed further down the line. It's not fear that stops me, just a complete lack of skill.

I also tow surf some pretty big waves and the lines I draw and those of my tow partner are completely different. Unfortunately he is the ball tearing ripper in the relationship. Small, medium or big he is a better surfer than me.

So yeah nah. I concur with Tux. You absolutely should be fit, but the skill set is huge too, just a different skill set to being an aquatic gymnast.

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Tux said..

jbshack said..
A good % of it is fitness and breathe hold technique's, that and a hole lot of luck thrown in..

Crazy to watch though..

Yeah nah

All those dudes are ****ing amazing surfers...there is more technique than you think when riding a very big wave that you have paddled into...sure its a different technique to the guy doing a spin but its just as specialized...look at the lines that these guys were drawing....wave and ocean knowledge are at a a lot higher level too


Breath holding, fitness and land luck are also good to have on your side

Sorry i thought that was a given, skill and mental ability are a absolute must.

But they all practise their breathe hold techniques, Many of them have trained with a friend in Hawaii

Albee Layer won the small wave event at the Snowdonia wave pool. Kai Lenny does it all. Along with killing it at Jaws that demonstrates the exceptional talent and versatility that some of these big wave dudes have.

I'd rather surf perfect J Baii or Trestles than sit around all day watching it
As for what happened at Jaws I'm happy to be watching
Add the comp environment and those guys were absolutely going for it.
On a side note
Greg Long is such a legend after coming back from nearly drowning at Cortes bank.
That wave he got in the final was insane
As for my spins I did a little one this morning but I couldn't give a toss about getting it documented. It probably looks **** anyway so who cares.