*** Official Rip Curl WSL Finals Thread ***

jkb

Tom Curren status
Feb 22, 2005
10,042
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oh, is it up to us?
When they first proposed this finals day idea, they said the location would rotate.

I heard they had a 3 year contract with state parks to run the finals at Lowers (I think it was 3 years). After that, it could very possibly move to another location. Especially if their viewership is vocal about it.
So as the end user, we demand Cloudbreak :cursing:
 
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oeste858

Phil Edwards status
Sep 11, 2017
6,931
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San Diego, CA
When they first proposed this finals day idea, they said the location would rotate.

I heard they had a 3 year contract with state parks to run the finals at Lowers (I think it was 3 years). After that, it could very possibly move to another location. Especially if their viewership is vocal about it.
So as the end user, we demand Cloudbreak :cursing:
Go JKB, go! Mobilize the troops!
 
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coquearaujo

Miki Dora status
Aug 18, 2004
3,774
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Curren, in '94 surfin' big waves, ok, i'll bite...

Tom won his 1st World Title back in what, '83?
HE did not make a Final at Pipe nor Sunset nor Haleiwa, if i recall correctly, then, ok?
means he wuz a small to medium wave competive surfer, then excellin' in some conditions, not in other heavier wave sizes.

esh, let us have a read,
as i did recently, of VOL 28, NO. 5, 1987, of our beluved Surfer Magazine, as i recently did, cover to cover,
Special Issue
HAWAII
The Whole Story

page 79
Just Get Out There and Rip: The Performers.
by Mike Latronic

Mark Richards has won his 2nd Billabong Pro, competin' in large Wiamea to pumpin' Sunset, MR rips Hawaii!
Kong took a 2nd, not a metion of Tom here, even though he wuz already a World Champ, iirc,
hmmm.

Of Pipeline,
well it wuz Derek Ho, Ronnie Burns, Tom Carroll, Occy, even Brian McNulty + Chris Frohoff,
but no mention of Curren,
hmmm...

Tom Curren is made mention of, though, here, by Mike Latronic, below, allow me to quote, ok?
"Well, Curren is the master of the game but on this stretch of the tour he didn't go above and beyond the call of duty.
Outstanding, yes, but but thrilling? Not really. Curren played it smart, fairly safe and survived at Sunset.With the world title at within reach, that's probably understandable. It's just that, well, we all somehow expected more from Curren."


Now, sir,
if ya know your surf history, go find that tissue of Surfer Magazine,
count how many pix there are of Curren in this Hawaii ~The Whole Story, ok?
TC sucked in bigger waves when he went for his early World Titles,
even though, in this particular issue, well Tom Curren is ranked #1 on Thee ASP Tour,
before it headed to finish in Australia, he wuz ahead of Occy, Carroll, Hedeman, Kong, Shaun Tomson...

Curren ripped in small to medium sized waves at this point in his life,
but heavy waves, nope, he did not, might ya agree, now, with my argument?

me have to go + rinse me mouth out with soap~ie?
nah, hahaha!
l8z, rw
:waving:


Edit add~in:
Congratz to Felipe Toledo on his 1st World Title!
i'm sure his surfin' will get better + better, and he'll start chargin' more heavier waves,
like Curren did, l8er in life...
:jamon:

All of you comparing Tom Curren to Filipe Toledo have no clue of what you're talking about.

First: no one gave sh1t to Filipe for not winning Teahupo, what we're talking is about a World Champion who doesn't even try to paddle a wave during his heat. So it's a World Champion who can't ride 8' waves on one of the tour stops. That's a shame.

Now go and search some footage from Tom Curren surfing Pipe, Backdoor and Sunset during the 80's, even during the year's he's been World Champ and then check his results. He wasn't a winning at Pipe, but he was competitive and obviously: he rode waves of consequence in those spots.

So: Tom Curren's case has nothing to do with Filipe Toledo. If you know about surfing history as much as you say: maybe you can better compare Filipe to Damien Hardman and other pros...

Look, you made me go out of my coffin here in surfermag... :shark:

BTW: Mike Latronic was a hawaiian defending his hawaiian peers who were also title contenders in an era when everything was much local than now.
 

coquearaujo

Miki Dora status
Aug 18, 2004
3,774
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Felipe will be winning Pipe and Tahiti next year. He didn't want to get broke off at Tahiti and spoil his 100% chance of winning the title.
Yeah, that's the very same reason why he didn't paddle into waves the years he needed to have a good result in Teahupo to be in position to be a title contender... :drowning:
 

~rwright~

Michael Peterson status
Apr 14, 2015
2,527
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All of you comparing Tom Curren to Filipe Toledo have no clue of what you're talking about.

First: no one gave sh1t to Filipe for not winning Teahupo, what we're talking is about a World Champion who doesn't even try to paddle a wave during his heat. So it's a World Champion who can't ride 8' waves on one of the tour stops. That's a shame.
~snip~

yea,
i can tell that this really bugz ya, hmmm...
i wonder what Tom woulda done, thee 1st year he won his Title?
charge, or be scared sh!t~less, for ah his back~side wuz not his strength, iirc, back then...

tell ya a lil' story or 2, ok?
year is 1979, October.
Tom is already a US Boyz Champ, but he has now moved up into Juniors.
i put on a comp jersey, in a WSA District 3+4 comp, in thee final, i took a 3rd, Tom a 4th, at Santa Clara Rivermouth, pumpin' lefts, got me my 1st surf trophy, my Mom'z, ~{she whom had bought me my 1st surf~in' board}, well she wuz stoked, i had beaten a United States Champ!! i got him again, same spot up there, another heat, then at Churches, ah, {down from Lowerz}, we had an invite only, un~official West Coast Championships event contest Tom won, i took a 2nd, Willy Morris, John McClure, Mitch M, 3rd, 4th, 5th, respectively. I watched Tom in that Final stand up on his board as a set of many waves approached, wondered what he wuz up to, he wuz tryin' to pick out thee best next wave to ride, nifty idea. so i have worn a jersey a few times against TC, also used to watch him in vidz, as a goofy~footed surfer, by watchin' him surf usin' a mirror, hahaha...

Willy Morris, from WSA District 4, {after District 3+ 4 split to form Ventura + Los Angeles},
well he turned pro before Tom did, i, a fan, watched him compete on tv at what wuz it, the World Cup at Haleiwa,
he made a final there, 1st year, iirc, stocked!

of Tom Curren,
well i am a fan too, obviously,
for both of these dudes were youngsterz like i wuz waaay back then, from WSA Distric 3 +4,,
TC excelled better in small to mid~sized waves when he 1st won The Title, makin' us American surfers f**kin' proud,
Willy ~{rip}~ excelled in thee heavier juice...

Felipe Toledo does some gnarly sheee~it,
i'll betcha that his chargin' skillz get bigger as he getz older,
if your thoughtz differ, oh well...
have a good day, sir!
rw

ps ~ by the way,
i only surfed against Latronic once, i got him,
but that wuz expected, for he excelled in heavier Hawaiian kinda waves,
me: in California waves...
:shaka:
 
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potato-nator

Phil Edwards status
Nov 10, 2015
6,066
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The skill gap between Italo & Felipe and the rest of the CT is ridiculous. It wasn't really the final 5, just the final 2. On the rights it looks like Felipe surfs with moon gravity. There will be no other champs than Felipe, Medina and Italo until they retire.
or til JJF paddles out...:nana:
 

coquearaujo

Miki Dora status
Aug 18, 2004
3,774
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48
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www.waira.com
yea,
i can tell that this really bugz ya, hmmm...
i wonder what Tom woulda done, thee 1st year he won his Title?
charge, or be scared sh!t~less, for ah his back~side wuz not his strength, iirc, back then...

tell ya a lil' story or 2, ok?
year is 1979, October.
Tom is already a US Boyz Champ, but he has now moved up into Juniors.
i put on a comp jersey, in a WSA District 3+4 comp, in thee final, i took a 3rd, Tom a 4th, at Santa Clara Rivermouth, pumpin' lefts, got me my 1st surf trophy, my Mom'z, ~{she whom had bought me my 1st surf~in' board}, well she wuz stoked, i had beaten a United States Champ!! i got him again, same spot up there, another heat, then at Churches, ah, {down from Lowerz}, we had an invite only, un~official West Coast Championships event contest Tom won, i took a 2nd, Willy Morris, John McClure, Mitch M, 3rd, 4th, 5th, respectively. I watched Tom in that Final stand up on his board as a set of many waves approached, wondered what he wuz up to, he wuz tryin' to pick out thee best next wave to ride, nifty idea. so i have worn a jersey a few times against TC, also used to watch him in vidz, as a goofy~footed surfer, by watchin' him surf usin' a mirror, hahaha...

Willy Morris, from WSA District 4, {after District 3+ 4 split to form Ventura + Los Angeles},
well he turned pro before Tom did, i, a fan, watched him compete on tv at what wuz it, the World Cup at Haleiwa,
he made a final there, 1st year, iirc, stocked!

of Tom Curren,
well i am a fan too, obviously,
for both of these dudes were youngsterz like i wuz waaay back then, from WSA Distric 3 +4,,
TC excelled better in small to mid~sized waves when he 1st won The Title, makin' us American surfers f**kin' proud,
Willy ~{rip}~ excelled in thee heavier juice...

Felipe Toledo does some gnarly sheee~it,
i'll betcha that his chargin' skillz get bigger as he getz older,
if your thoughtz differ, oh well...
have a good day, sir!
rw

ps ~ by the way,
i only surfed against Latronic once, i got him,
but that wuz expected, for he excelled in heavier Hawaiian kinda waves,
me: in California waves...
:shaka:

Nice story, thanks for sharing. :)

BUT, the thing here is that Filipe was able to be World Champion in a year he can't paddle into 8' walls at Teahupo and he didn't even need to try because this new system allows him to win the title in the very last event, no matter what, as long as he's in the Top 5. So: I (and many others) don't think Toledo is the best competitor this year, and I (and many others) think this new system is much worse than the previous.

So that's my point: Toledo being a World Champ who shouldn't be and a system that's much more unfair than the previous.

On TC, to be truth I think it's amazing that he was able to improve so much on bigger waves and shows you how good he was and how committed he was to be a better surfer. That's no easy thing to do. But I saw videos of him riding big waves and big Pipe on his peak years (I started surfing in 1992).

Toledo, on the other hand, has been on the tour for 13 years, 9 of them on the WCT, so I don't think we're talking about the same case.

PS: BTW, this thing doesn't bug me at all
 
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Boneroni

Tom Curren status
Mar 5, 2012
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BUT, the thing here is that Filipe was able to be World Champion in a year he can't paddle into 8' walls at Teahupo and he didn't even need to try because this new system allows him to win the title in the very last event, no matter what, as long as he's in the Top 5.
After Teahupuu, he was still number 1. So, even if the finals day never happened, he was still number 1.

he can't paddle into 8' walls at Teahupo
For fvcks sake, how many time do I need to post this.....

I'm not saying he's a XXL charger, but saying he didn't go is just plain wrong.
 
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~rwright~

Michael Peterson status
Apr 14, 2015
2,527
955
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Los Angeles~California!
congratz to Felipe Toledo!
#1 goin' into the final event,
A World Champion after~it~all!!!
He earned it, yow!

if thee Title Final wuz held in Australia,
like it wuz in 1987, he would have still won HIS 1st World Title, i would have betcha...
i say so, with respect, to each +all of our us in thee peanut~gallery with our opinionz, yow~za!
+ dig this, his big~wave chargin' will only get mo' better as yearz go onward, i'd betcha, too...
l8z, rw, out!
:waving: