Some have called the US Open of Surfing the Super Bowl of surfing. Others have just called it a madhouse. Either way, over the past week, more than million people made the trip to Huntington Beach – aka Surf City USA – to watch the world’s best surfers compete in this iconic event.
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Today was finals day with some incredible Quarterfinal match-ups to start the day: Filipe Toledo vs. Miguel Pupo; Kelly Slater vs Dane Reynolds; Gabriel Medina vs Adriano De Souza; and John John vs Julian Wilson. I think that the most anticipated heat was Kelly vs. Dane but the ocean didn’t really cooperate and give them much to work with. Kelly won the heat 15.00 to Dane’s 9.84. But the ocean did come alive for the next heat. Medina has been showing off his aerial skills all week and landed the contest’s first perfect 10. He beat Adriano 19.2 to 16.13.
In the end, it was Miguel Pupo and Julian Wilson who made it through to the finals. Pupo, one of the rising Brazilian stars, bested Kelly in the semis and Julian squeaked by Medina in the final minutes of his semi. The ocean was pretty flat when the final started and was generally messy, choppy inconsistent waves. At one point, Kelly was up in the booth commentating and said, “What are you going to do? Get mad at the ocean?” Truth.
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Julian started off strong with a 9.13 and later backed it up with a 7.5, putting Pupo in a combo situation with 15 minutes left – meaning that Pupo needed a combined score of 16.64 from two waves in order to overtake the lead. His current scored waves wouldn’t get him there. With about 11 minutes to go, Pupo gets a good set wave and sets up a nice blow tail reverse where he basically gets up and above the lip of the wave and throws his fins around towards the beach. He scores a 8.93 which gets him out of the combo situation but he still needs a 7.71 with 8 minutes to go. With 3 minutes left, both Julian and Miguel start taking off on waves and hoping to stick some airs but Julian wins it with 17.53 to Miguel’s 14.76.
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On the women’s side, Lakey Peterson (10.9) defeated Carissa Moore (8.64) to win the final event of the Women’s Tour. Lakey was the runner-up last year as a wild card in the event and this is her rookie year on the tour. Lakey had been surfing really well all week and scored a perfect 10 in her semifinal against Malia Manuel.
But here’s the interesting thing, the Men’s first place prize was $100,000. You know what the Women’s first place price was? $15,000. Maybe it’s time for some parity in surfing?
Ive never ever ever seen surfing in person.
TV and MOVIES.
must rectify that
Miz recently posted..Six steps to clean eating.
Watching surfing in person, especially the pros and folks that are really really good, is a pretty incredible thing. I could watch them all day.
Hi Christine, Thanks for the surfing update – love it! On the subject of prize disparity in surfing, a friend of mine here in Aus went in a surf comp recently. The winner in the mens division got a new surfboard and the womens winner got a cap! Agree – something is not right here! Bron
A cap?!? Really? Generally, the men’s first prize is $75K and women’s is $15K. The US Open of Surfing has a slightly higher purse because of the sponsors and because it’s such a huge event. But still, that’s a $60K difference! I hope that women’s surfing starts to get the recognition that it deserves, especially with some of the women now on tour like Carissa Moore, Steph Gilmore, Sally Fitzgibbons and up-and-comers like Lakey. Who knows but it’s an interesting question. I’m sure that some will say that the reason is because women’s surfing doesn’t have the same draw as the men’s side but maybe that’s also because it doesn’t get promoted in the same way?
The comp I mentioned was a local comp only, not a pro comp. But the disparity in prizes still amazed me when I found out. I enjoy watching both men and women surf and feel they are as equally talented to do what they do (amazing stuff really!). Maybe as more women take up surfing then womens surf comps will start to pull a wider/bigger audience. Bron
Y’know, I can tell from reading this, that you REALLY love surfing
And OMG, the disparity in prize money, what the heck?
Alison recently posted..Inertia
haha, that obvious, huh? I knew that the prize money on the women’s side was less than the men’s but not by that much. It’s crazy!
That’s not fair at all! I don’t understand why women would be overlooked….
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I think that it probably has something to do with sponsors and celebrity and visibility of the sport. Women’s surfing doesn’t get half the credit that it deserves and the women on tour now and pretty incredible surfers. Hopefully in time.
I am so not liking that disparity in the prizes. This is the stuff that women should be fighting over instead of creating mommy wars against each other!
But I will get off my soapbox now. I love your passion for surfing and it is so apparent in your writing. We have family in Cali and spend hours last years watching the surfers in Huntington Beach. I think that will be my son’s next sport!
ilene recently posted..One Counter at a Time
Somehow, I missed this comment of yours. Boo! But I totally agree. We create all this drama amongst ourselves as women when there are some many other ways we could be supporting and lifting each other up. I love watching surfing, even more so now that I have a wee bit of an understanding of what goes into it. I’m really hoping that our boys will try (and like!!!) surfing. So much easier to learn when you’re younger and not old like me!
What the heck?! That just made my head, heart and belly hurt at the same time!! What is up with that?! Haven’t these people seen where WOMEN are taking things these days?! Ugh!!!!
Kristen recently posted..Girls in Sports
It’s crazy, isn’t it? I didn’t realize the disparity was so huge. It makes my head and heart hurt too. I mean, I can understand the brands and sponsors reasoning behind it – women’s surfing doesn’t have the same clout and popularity as men, etc. – but how can that even happen if they won’t put the money into promoting it in the same way or keep concentrating on the butt shots of surfer girls? Don’t get me wrong, there are some great companies out there that are doing good things for women’s surfing but it just amazes me still.
I love the US Open of surfing! We usually try to go every year, but since our son was born, its been too much trouble to take the little guy with all those people. It will be great when we can take him for the first time.
~ Ferly
Gifts We Use {to grow, love and serve}
Ferly recently posted..My Guest Post at MomComm
I would love to go and watch in person. Yes, having a little one around does make it a bit tricky. When the ASP tour was out in New York last year, we took the boys to watch and it was a lot of fun. They played in the sand while Mommy and Daddy watched the surfing!
That’s a huge difference in prize money, and that’s not fair. That’s terrible.
Leigh Powell Hines @Hinessightblog recently posted..Simplicity On Monday: Simple and Delicious Stir-Fry Sauce
Isn’t that wild? I know that women’s sports has come a long way in a lot of other sports but I guess there’s still a long way to go.
Hi Christine,
were you in Hungtington this week-end??? I hope not otherwise I would be sad you did not contact me to hang out …
I wish!! I was watching ia all from my computer at home. I’m itching to make a trip to California that doesn’t involve visiting my family in San Francisco
I will definitely let you know if and when we make it out there!
WHAT THE F^CK!??!?!??! an 85k disparity? JAYSUS.
Cat @ Breakfast to Bed recently posted..Breastfeeding the Undead
Nuts I tell you.
Wow, that’s a HUGE difference. I mean, HUGE. (shakes head)
Janine @ The Purple Giraffe recently posted..Floating the Pemi!
This event has a slightly bigger first prize than the other events on the World Tour but even then, it’s $75K to $15K. Craziness!
Wow – those are some awesome shots! I did a big California surf trip with my partner a few years back (I recently blogged it http://wp.me/pdLdw-ya) It was just fantastic. Surfed Huntington Beach as well as virtually all the major spots between San Francisco and San Diego. Santa Cruz was the stand-out place for me though. Oh how I would love to make it back there sometime soon!
I really had no idea there was such a disparity between the men’s and women’s prize money in surfing. That is truly shocking!
Mary recently posted..Silent Sunday 05/08/2012
Thanks Mary! I wish that I could take credit for the pictures but alas, they are taken by pros. Thanks for sharing your post about your California surf trip. I can’t wait to read it. I would love to surf in California. My family doesn’t live far from Santa Cruz so maybe that will be on the agenda the next time I’m home!
Whoa. If you had told me to guess the difference, I would have guessed 50%, not 15%. That’s craziness!
Becky @ RunFunDone recently posted..My Precious…
Isn’t it crazy? I wouldn’t have guessed that it was such a big difference either.
Your passion absolutely SHINES through here! And that zinger at the end? Just ouch!
Galit Breen recently posted..Big Love, Small Steps
Awww, thank you Galit! I can get kind of riled up when talking about surfing
thats what i miss aout hawaii, all the surfing and competitions. amazing!
lindsay recently posted..Marvelous Monday: Sabbatical Week
I would like to go and live in Hawaii. At one point, before I became surf obsessed and before we had kids, Ed and I very seriously considered moving to the Big Island. Part of me kind of wished we did