We Are Water...WeAreH2O.Com
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Fresh Friday is a WeAreH2O.Com editorial.
May 19th, 2006
New Golden Child, Slater Out, and Total Involvement
~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pro Surf Ramblings The Drama of the Teahupoo contest seems so long ago. The contest concluded last weekend and in internet years that is…like, uh, so last week. But, Fresh Friday comes along and presents the fabulous photos and a little recap from the contest! Both Women and Men’s WCT third contest wrapped up at the infamous left barreling wave of Teahupoo, Tahiti this past weekend. A lot of drama took place and some significant events took place that may or may not be historical footnotes in the overall genre of professional surfing. 1) Bobby Martinez. I was first introduced to Mr. Martinez by the excellent 2000 film All Tha Way Live. Of course, this film featured the Hobgoods (http://hobgoods.com/) twin attack. However, the film had a short section featuring Bobby Martinez. His surfing on that film made an impression on me and I put that name in the back-of-the-brain file cabinet. That was recalled after being exposed to the cat-like finesse of Bobby at Teahupoo and his premier win on the WCT. Ever hear of the cliché, The Great White Hope? In that same vein, Bobby Martinez could be considered, The Great Californian Hope! Although Californians have always been represented in the WCT, Mr. Martinez poses a serious threat of bringing the Championship back to the Golden State. (check top ten ratings below) With his humble interviews and his letting-the-surfing-do-the-talking disposition, Bobby Martinez offers a possible new candidate for a new Californian hero. Bobby Martinez may be The Golden Child for The Golden State. 2) Melanie Redmann-Carr Melanie has won THREE contests in a row and is in an incredible lead in first place. This just may be a slap in the face to commercialized surfing as we know it. Why is that? What I have read over the internet is that Melanie has NO sponsors. That is such an incredible feat on her part. Are we seeing a new age of professional surfing where sponsors take a lesser role and the surfing takes the main stage? Melanie Redmann-Carr is definitely someone to watch and see if she call pull this thing off! 3) Live Webcast Gone are the days of old news delivered by hard print magazines and newspapers. The sport of surfing has taking the razor edge and has brought it's product to the masses via the internet. I can remember watching the ASP contest for at least the past 4 years live on the internet. Surfing, as it should be, leads other entertainment sports in portraying itself to an international scene via these webcast. Gone are the days of percieved biased judging and rumor filled results of contest. No more getting second hand rumors and news. Witnessing these contests live on the internet has brought out a greater understanding of what these Men and Women do to compete at this level. 4) Something other than a Thruster Three Fin board ridden by the pros. The really old surfers can remember when the twin fin seemed to rip the soul out of the single fin era. Others may remember Simon Anderson’s performance on the Thruster that propelled the Three-fin board as the mainstay for professional surfing. However, Danny Fuller shook up the status quo by making it to the semi-finals on a Four Fin Board or Quad. The ramifications of this are still working its way through the knowledge base of the entire surfing world. Is this the shot heard around the world and sparks off a broader interest in multi-finned boards? Who knows, but as a believer in the Quad fin board myself, Danny Fuller made me take interest in his results! 5) Slater We learned in this contest that he is actually
human! When he is cut, he bleeds. When he goes head over heels on
an attempted floater at Teahupoo he can injure ribs. In his semi-final
heat against eventual runner-up Fred Patacchia, he severely injured
himself. He finished the heat but like Jordon playing with a fever,
Ali in the tenth round looking to be beaten, or any other great
legendary athlete, he fought nail-n-rib to almost win the
heat! I haven’t heard any news of his injury, but he may be
sitting the up-coming Fiji contest out. We
Are Water wish him a speedy recovery! 6) Are we seeing a casting overhaul in pro-surfing? Excellent article: The New Force Is With Us By Wayne Rabbit Bartholomew
All photos are Copyrighted by ASPWorldTour.Com (http://www.aspworldtour.com/ )
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We Are Water Happenings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A new article by logjammer was published this past week. This Drifting article highlights the lost art of Paipo boarding. Paipo, as told in this article, is part of a lost era of surfing history. The modern day enthusiast of paipo continue a long tradition of Total Involvement of wave riding. Total Involvement by logjammer
The surf has been dismal and it looks as if the summer flat season is upon us. Boo, Hoo... Fresh Friday out...and, God Bless America! May 19, 2006 David Reid
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