Stab Podcast: Did The Right Surfer Win At Barra?

Late last week, Australian Jack Robinson made history by winning his first CT event and re-qualifying for the 2022 Tour in the process. Right behind Jack was Brazil’s Devid Silva, the man Kelly Slater claims to have the best backhand on tour and who some people believe should have won the final.

Jack finished the heat two-hundredths of a point ahead of David, which is the statistical equivalent of fuck all. What’s interesting is that, despite the proximity of their totals, Jack and Deivid couldn’t have surfed their waves more differently.

Jack’s waves both started with a barrel, featured an air at some point, and had several humdrum turns in between. Deivid’s waves were significantly less dynamic but featured series of fast, connected turns that Jack clearly lacked. So it wasn’t so much a decision of who surfed better (as their surfing was apples and oranges), but rather what the judges wanted to see more.

By putting Jack ahead, the judges declared that dynamicism trumps seamless repetition, which for the sake of surfing’s progression, is the correct decision. But as Stace G says in this week’s episode of the Stab CUSP, “If that was a round one heat, I think Deivid would have won.”

Watch the heat below, then tune in to our Mexico episode above.