Contests

To be honest I've never been much of a contestant myself. I didn't play organized competitive sports until high school and never did again after. During high school I played water polo for the "tied for worst" team in the league. I was also on the swim team and enjoyed practice more than the meets. On to the topic of surfing contests.

Who the eff cares? Well obviously quite a few people. To be honest when I was first learning to surf in the late 80's early 90's I was excited to go see the Cold Water Classic. I remember Gary "Kong" Elkerton getting shafted in the finals by Tom Curran. Kong nailed a solid vertical lip bash late into the lip of an 8' wave. Curran had more turns on his waves. I felt like I missed a chance to go surf somewhere else. The finals were during low tide, I should have been surfing.

I'll still poke around a contest these days, but I'm never satisfied with what I see. Even the brotherhood/no sponsor ones turn me off. I've spectated at ASP, high school, Grom, kneeboarder, kayak, skimboarding. All the same when you break it down.

The worst was a weekday morning when the man on the loudspeaker reminded those of us surfing before the contest that there was "GOING TO BE A CONTEST" and that in one hour we would "HAVE TO EXIT THE WATER" he continued to remind us what felt to me every 2 minutes. The surf was good, the weather was good, the contest was bad.

Then there was the Surfline "Contest" in Mexico that amounted to a bunch of guys buying the beach so they could surf with their friends. Everyone was upset. Several people complained that it wasn't even a contest. As far as I'm concerned it didn't matter, it was the same story whether it be a company and "Pro Surfers" or a group of individuals. They're still excluding others.

And the latest contest detail that got under my skin, I was watching a clip from the "Somewhere in Bali" contest that I think was Rip Curl, and between the repetitive whack the lip, whack the lip, whack the lip, was a clip of a contestant climbing onto the back of a jet ski and heading back to the line-up. I may be mistaken, but it seems to me like this is becoming more and more common in contests. Chauffeured professional surfers. It's one more step towards golf! And one more step away from my personal surfing experience.

End of Rant.