BOP Crash Kai v Connor

[stoneaxe]

I understand what you're saying but closing for an event is closing for an event. It would have been OK if it was a surf contest? I think your analogy is a bit extreme. More like closing a ski slope for a downhill event....I'm sure the snowboarders wouldn't be happy but the skiers have the right to hold events too. The BOP wants surfable waves for the race not closeout beach break....the fact that they got a little more than bargained for doesn't matter. Mother nature doesn't follow our schedule and event planners have all they can do to control what they can. I don't think this hurts the sport at all....pissing off the locals at Salt Creek isn't going to harm the sport and the coverage and scale of the BOP on the world stage...pretty powerful.

[headmount]

Love this shot.  Gal is still going to stab in for a stroke despite facing obvious obliteration. 

Karen's email said "The organizer of the BOP, Barrett Tester, said he would not even entertain a protest - even after the video was released and was presented to him - cause he didn't want the event to have any negative repercussions!" 

At any rate it sure generated a ton of interest didn't it?  These days interest is only that.  Doesn't matter how it's spun.  Next year everyone will have their gloves off.

 I thought the rocks were especially gnarly and wonder what the stats were for dinged boards.  One guy in the vid has got it made, good stance and all but he hits a rock and flies over the front.  Had to have gouged his board heavy.  The whole vid was off the charts.  Very entertaining and I didn't have to be there to see it. 

[headmount]

Also heard the water quality was better at SC than the other place they had it before, which I've heard is the dirtiest water in SoCal.  That's always nice, especially if you're going to be in a bunch

[Eagle]

CHARGE !!! 

 

[kayadogg]

I thought the rocks were especially gnarly and wonder what the stats were for dinged boards.  One guy in the vid has got it made, good stance and all but he hits a rock and flies over the front.  Had to have gouged his board heavy.  The whole vid was off the charts.  Very entertaining and I didn't have to be there to see it.

The rocks were the scariest part of the day. The 1st elite qualifying race had a high enough tide that they weren't an issue. The 2nd qualifier they started to become exposed as the tide dropped and it got worse and worse. At one point they had 3 lifeguards in the water, forming a line straight out and a ref with a megaphone shouting to stay left of the guards because "you are approaching a rock garden". We saw some people take some nasty spills in the rock garden. Scary to watch, especially as they were coming in and all of a sudden the wave would suck out and they would realize they were screwed. Saw a lot of busted fins and big gashes in the bottom of boards.

[SeaMe]

Karen's email said "The organizer of the BOP, Barrett Tester, said he would not even entertain a protest - even after the video was released and was presented to him - cause he didn't want the event to have any negative repercussions!"

I'm curious about the full text of this email that's been referred to twice now.

[PonoBill]

Karen needs an editor. I know it's a mom writing about her kid's participation in a sporting event, but this isn't little league, she's acting as Connors publicist, and that's an important part of a professional career. No PR pro would have written that letter.  If they did write something remotely similar, they'd make everything as clear and balanced as possible and ensure that they did not create opportunities for others to point out their purposeful omissions. I'll try to talk to her about it when I get back to Maui. I haven't worked in PR for a long time, but I might be able to help.

The waves and the fear factor were a big part of this event. I almost hosed my board coming in from  the course race. The lifeguards were yelling at me: "Rocks, rocks" and pointing. I couldn't see anything but I turned (not a simple thing for a geezer in an overhead wave standing on the last six inches of a 17' board) and finally saw some ominous lumps in the water. So I turned harder, my board rounded up, lost whatever rudder authority it might have had, and slid sideways for the last twenty or so yards. I finally fell and landed on a rock, which was fortunately smooth and not all that uncomfortable.

Back to the subject at hand, everything I've seen and heard makes this a situation that is getting out of hand. This is a young sport that doesn't have a tradition of unsportsmanlike conduct as NASCAR and Formula 1 have. Both of these guys are supported my sponsors, I would expect the sponsors to tell their athletes what kind of ambassadors they want them to be. I doubt this is what they have in mind. If they do, then shame on them.

[Piros]

This video just popped up OMG. Start the clock at 1.39 min. After watching this I wish I was in it , what an incredible race. The spectators must have been going nuts.

[headmount]

One could get mowed down on the beach before you ever got on the water. 

How did they mark who made it out to the buoy and who just washed back in?

Mayhem incarnate

[Admin]

I went to BOP Hawaii a few years ago.  The waves were small.  The hotel we were staying at gave us some complimentary fruit and I brought a peach with me to the event.  I ended up looking at that peach as much as watching the event.  I even took a few photos of it.  I ate it near the Chicane.  That was a great peach.

BOP without breaking waves is like golf without...its like golf.

[stoneaxe]

I went to BOP Hawaii a few years ago.  The waves were small.  The hotel we were staying at gave us some complimentary fruit and I brought a peach with me to the event.  I ended up looking at that peach as much as watching the event.  I even took a few photos of it.  I ate it near the Chicane.  That was a great peach.

BOP without breaking waves is like golf without...its like golf.

That would be golf without beer, lots of beer....

[Admin]

That would be golf without beer, lots of beer....

Hallway walker races at Mount Sanai Geriatric in Boca.

Ohhhh, Edna Lenny is making her moooooove.  She's swinging that polio foot like nobody's business.  Could she-yes!  She's inched past Ida Baxter in a prune-fueled burst of octogenarian glory.  Wait, Baxter has swiped at her oxygen tube and...ohhhh its pulled free....

[yugi]

pics or it didn't happen!

[TallDude]

Maybe they should start running marathons on the freeway, in traffic. I'd watch that! Only the pros though..... Remember to go straight only on the off ramps. Oh... the potential carnage! The bicycle races I used to do in Mexico, they never closed the roads. At least 2 to 3 people died every year. There weren't any spectators though, just an outrageous party in Ensenada at the end. Can you say "Tequila gun".     

[PonoBill]

I went to BOP Hawaii a few years ago.  The waves were small.  The hotel we were staying at gave us some complimentary fruit and I brought a peach with me to the event.  I ended up looking at that peach as much as watching the event.  I even took a few photos of it.  I ate it near the Chicane.  That was a great peach.

This wasn't like that.