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Airs vs Turns

B

Brawwp

Jan 11, 2022
54
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I’m genuinely curious why airs are so looked down upon in competition surfing. I’ll sometimes read the live comments on wsl events and this always comes up. It seems a good turn will usually score higher than a massive air as well (understandable with a jjf complete hack that sends water to third world countries).

I love seeing airs and wish they weren’t so underscored. Italo surfed like a madman yesterday and every heat he won there were a million comments on how his airs shouldn’t be scored high. For those that can do airs, how would you compare the difficulty to consistently land an air compared to a good turn? After watching the stab air contest where we just saw basically nobody land an air for a few hours, I just don’t get it. I think an air is much riskier and should be scored accordingly (Jjf deserves the win and I am not talking about his heats here). I also find huge airs more entertaining to watch than just all turns on a wave. What do you guys think?
 
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One-Off

One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
14,952
11,403
113
33.8N - 118.4W
Brawwp said:
I’m genuinely curious why airs are so looked down upon in competition surfing. I’ll sometimes read the live comments on wsl events and this always comes up. It seems a good turn will usually score higher than a massive air as well (understandable with a jjf complete hack that sends water to third world countries).

I love seeing airs and wish they weren’t so underscored. Italo surfed like a madman yesterday and every heat he won there were a million comments on how his airs shouldn’t be scored high. For those that can do airs, how would you compare the difficulty to consistently land an air compared to a good turn? After watching the stab air contest where we just saw basically nobody land an air for a few hours, I just don’t get it. I think an air is much riskier and should be scored accordingly (Jjf deserves the win and I am not talking about his heats here). I also find huge airs more entertaining to watch than just all turns on a wave. What do you guys think?
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Different tastes. For me it’s kind of like snowboarding the half pipe. The acrobatics are fun to watch. But maybe like gromsdad said I’m an old guy- I can’t do acrobatics. Whereas watching someone carve-I can relate to, I know the feeling.

 
B

Brawwp

Jan 11, 2022
54
57
18
One-Off said:
Different tastes. For me it’s kind of like snowboarding the half pipe. The acrobatics are fun to watch. But maybe like gromsdad said I’m an old guy- I can’t do acrobatics. Whereas watching someone carve-I can relate to, I know the feeling.
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Exactly, you know the feeling because you can do a turn. So you can agree an air would be much harder as something you cannot do and maybe never will do. Why would that be scored lower? I think there are very few surfers in the world that can consistently land and air (if you watched the stab air event this year it was pitiful how few airs were landed by professional surfers). I’d say a big turn has way less risk than sending in air in a heat.

If you watched the finals yesterday, it is honestly so boring to just watch the same turns 4-5 times on a wave every single time (jj being the exception in my opinion).

A carve or turn is classic. Same as a kick flip in skateboarding. Nothing better than watching a perfect kick flip, but I’d never watch an event that was just kick flips and just because I can’t do a trick doesn’t mean I think it should be scored lower. Makes no sense
 
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One-Off

One-Off

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Brawwp said:
Exactly, you know the feeling because you can do a turn. So you can agree an air would be much harder as something you cannot do and maybe never will do. Why would that be scored lower? I think there are very few surfers in the world that can consistently land and air (if you watched the stab air event this year it was pitiful how few airs were landed by professional surfers). I’d say a big turn has way less risk than sending in air in a heat.

If you watched the finals yesterday, it is honestly so boring to just watch the same turns 4-5 times on a wave every single time (jj being the exception in my opinion).

A carve or turn is classic. Same as a kick flip in skateboarding. Nothing better than watching a perfect kick flip, but I’d never watch an event that was just kick flips and just because I can’t do a trick doesn’t mean I think it should be scored lower. Makes no sense
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I don't know why you think the airs are scored lower? Italo advanced past three other surfers based solely on his air game. I didn't think JJ won the first heat and in the second he won based on that one blast. The Brazilian dominance the last 5 years with Flippy, Gabby and Italo was due large part to the consistency of the air game, IMHO.

I'm very impressed by the air game, i know I can't do them. I can't mogul ski either, but I really don't care to watch either, especially air reverses over and over.
 
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stringcheese

stringcheese

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Jun 21, 2017
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airs are cute. Like flyaway kickouts, they make people who don’t surf go “ooo!” They’re good for pictures because all the sponsor stickers are showing, so you can make posters to put on the wall and sell shirts and shorts to people who, again, don’t surf.

i have no interest in doing or seeing them. I like riding the wave.
 
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Brawwp

Jan 11, 2022
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57
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stringcheese said:
airs are cute. Like flyaway kickouts, they make people who don’t surf go “ooo!” They’re good for pictures because all the sponsor stickers are showing, so you can make posters to put on the wall and sell shirts and shorts to people who, again, don’t surf.

i have no interest in doing or seeing them. I like riding the wave.
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This is my point in this thread. People seem very passionate about how much they dislike airs lol. I’m not trying to change minds here, just find it interesting.
 
stringcheese

stringcheese

Miki Dora status
Jun 21, 2017
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Brawwp said:
This is my point in this thread. People seem very passionate about how much they dislike airs lol. I’m not trying to change minds here, just find it interesting.
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not passionate, it’s just regular dislike.

and I’m probably in the minority, most people do like airs. I don’t know where you’re getting this whole idea, airs have always been overscored
 
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2surf

2surf

Duke status
Apr 12, 2004
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Brawwp said:
This is my point in this thread. People seem very passionate about how much they dislike airs lol. I’m not trying to change minds here, just find it interesting.
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from my experience, an air of any kind that happens within a dozen feet of where you’re sitting or paddling out is startling. Just the sound of those fins blazing out of the water Is loud along with the breathless quiet of the flight is unique to surfing.
 
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