Remarks On Some Big-Ish Surfing In 115 Degree Desert Heat

Timing, when surfing, means a lot. 

Should have been here yesterday, the tide is too high now, etc. Mistime a turn and you look like a fumbling Cro-Magnon. Mistime the entry to a barrel and you are met with a guillotine. Mercy has no home on the spacetime continuum. 

Timing, when surfing in the controlled environment of a wave pool, means even more. 

The CT trots out the best surfers in the world, for the most part. And, in a tank, there’s not much separating what one surfer is capable of doing on the face of a wave from the next. Sure, there are subtleties—but they’re just that. It’s not like the difference between JJF and Peterson Crisanto doing a turn at Main Break. 

Thanks to timing, at least in part, Filipe Toledo had the two highest scores of the Day 1 at the 2021 Jeep Surf Ranch Pro. On his left, he did ten turns, two air reverses, and got one barrel. On his right, he did fourteen turns, got two barrels, and landed one alley-oop. On both, he was able to cultivate enough speed to sear a wrap or sit in the pocket and perfectly sting the lip. They were great. But they were not unique. It was all just well-timed and big-ish. 

If there’s one thing the judges seem to love in Lemoore, it’s things that are big-ish. 

Which is confusing, because Yago Dora didn’t get the highest score of the day. He did ten turns, got one barrel, and landed two big-ish airs. 

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That was the highlight of the day, in my occasionally humble opinion. It had the most pop, the most excitement, the most big-ish-ness. And isn’t that what you look for when competitors are cramming nearly 15 maneuvers onto one wave?

We’ll see—I feel for the judges. It ain’t an easy job, and especially not here. 

Anyway, tomorrow, we do get to see Stab’s psychic pick to win, Italo Ferreira, surf a heat in the heat. I hope he does 10 big-ish airs the whole way and breaks everyone’s brain. 

We’ll be sweaty, on site, keeping you posted.

Men’s Surf Ranch Pro presented by Adobe Leaderboard Top 8:
1 – Filipe Toledo (BRA) 17.80
2 – Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 15.33
3 – Yago Dora (BRA) 14.37
4 – Owen Wright (AUS) 14.27
5 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.80
6 – Kelly Slater (USA) 13.70
7 – Frederico Morais (PRT) 13.67
8 – Conner Coffin (USA) 13.00

Women’s Surf Ranch Pro presented by Adobe Leaderboard Top 4:
1 – Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) 14.83
2 – Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 13.57
3 – Isabella Nichols (AUS) 12.53
4 – Malia Manuel (HAW) 12.13