Comments on: The Assessment Part IV: Overall ASP World Tour Appeal and Audience Numbers

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:20:33 +0000

Karl,

Your point is one of impatience, not what is necessarily in the interests of surfers and surfing on the whole. JJF and Medina are both very young and their spots on the CT were assured under either tour structure. Matthew’s points are far more salient.

The average spectator is not going to be able to tell the difference which is why it makes no sense. What makes much more sense is to keep the action in the water during heats the attention grabber. This is achieved with the round 4, 3 man rip-fest. More so with Slater’s dual heat format. People want to see people surfing as much as possible, period. All the other mind games are just that and ultimately do more harm than good. Drop the pointless MTV histrionics and work on the real entertainment factor: the surfing.

Freddy P is on the money with his assessments. Bobby’s tirades simply demonstrate a lack of maturity and the need to start hitting the books so that he can learn how to be more constructive and dignified in addressing concerns.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:53:48 +0000

Karl, that’s definitely an interesting way to see it.

By: Joobs

Joobs — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:39:31 +0000

I like your ideas, make contests more up-close and personal, hear the sound of the crunch waves, give the audience a better idea on what the contestants are experiencing, facial expressions instead of a small blur – don’t get in the way though but just give us more. yeah good one.

By: Karl

Karl — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:03:54 +0000

Here’s another side to your two “problems”
1) Newcomers are more than stoked on joining the tour, whether it’s at the beginning or halfway through the tour. I bet if you asked John John, Gabriel or Miguel if they were bummed at not having a shot at the title and only joining halfway through, they’d say they just psyched to be on tour. That’s what they’ve been working their buts off to achieve. And the peeps they are replacing don’t have a hope in hell of taking the title either. It pushes you to perform and it’s always nice to see some fresh blood on tour.

2) The whole reason for qualifing is to have a shot at the title and not a year on tour and if you are not performing then you must unfortunately step aside…

By: Mark Sharifi

Mark Sharifi — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:02:40 +0000

JonMark has some great insight and direction the ASP should seriously consider (i.e. implement to bring it to the next level with the camera out the back showing competitors faces in the lineup and reaction to scores, etc as well as improved sound technology incorporated into the production. Whether in a heavy tube or capturing speed and snaps off the top at a beach break, it would enhance the experience tremendously. They’ve done a great job so far, but there is a lot of room to grow and the items listed above to look at in the offseason for 2012. This would really bring in more audience members who are non surfers to the drama of the contests and heats. The only tough sell is helmets w/ cams. I own a gopro and asking surfers to add it at dangerous spots with water dripping from the helmet as they drop in would interfere with safety and performance, but I love the thinking. Gopro even has a new camera, gopro2 that has wifi and instant live video feed. I think a start would be having good surfers pre-contest wear it for stock footage to show the audience what it’s like to be in those barrels in those conditions with riders willing to wear it while their sponsors are featured.

By: Reefrider

Reefrider — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:35:49 +0000

Hey lets get real , there is so much people around the world watching this, Part of the scoring should be judged by us the internet audience. Like another judge.And the mid season surfers coming in is cool cuz they been surfing in 6 star events all over the world and their goal is to qualify in to the main tour so they surf good they have a shot to be in tour with the bests . Thats better than not being in the tour at al or waiting til next 2012

By: Ricky

Ricky — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:51:38 +0000

I agree with the scoring. The ASP should adopt the scoring system used in snowboarding where each judge scores a specific aspect of the competitors surfing and a final total given

By: Matthew

Matthew — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:00:27 +0000

Here’s two problems I have with the midyear cut-off:
1) New comers do not have a legitimate shot at the title, they only have 5 contests in which to grab points towards the title. There will always be the “what if” question, i.e. what if Gabriel surfed a full 2011 year tour, would he of posed a bigger threat to Slater’s title hopes?
2) Those leaving do not get a full year on tour, qualifying for the tour does not mean one will surf at Pipe at the end of the season. And that’s a shame. The whole reason for qualifying is to have a full year on tour and a shot at the title.

By: JonMark

JonMark — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 06:07:26 +0000

If scoring rides is such a big part of professional surfing, they should film the judges in their box, and have a camera moving from the first judge to the last, with some close ups of the judges as they think hard about what score to give… It would add more drama and the audience wouldn’t just be waiting for the score… they could actually participate in the suffocating debate the judges are having with themselves…and see the scores coming out one at a time. Make it very brief though, unless those judges are retired legends (surfers) we all want to see.
More important would be close-ups of the surfers as they wait for the waves or prepare to catch one, or exit a perfect ride. Their body language and claims is often enough, but as in tennis, some facial expression would bring us even closer to the action, the athletes, and the drama unfolding.
If each contest was a movie or a documentary, such camera work would make sense. Over the last few years contest coverage has improved a bit, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement, not so much in the equipment they use to film, but in the way it’s directed. Also, as in formula 1, it would also be interesting if surfers carried a tiny camera on a light weight helmet, at places such as Pipeline and Teahupo. To encourage the pros to carry such equipment, it should be the athlete’s own sponsor who pays for the extra equipment and right to broadcast, with possibly, the sponsor’s name overlayed in the footage, or else, equipment manufacturers such as Gopro and Contour paying for the privilege to be featured to the ASP and the athletes.
Another element missing from the footage is sound. The ocean roar, the waves breaking and spitting is such a big part of surfing. THis too should be brought to the audience with highly sophisticated sound equipments. No one knows what a wave at Teahupo or Pipeline sounds like unless they’ve been there. So let those annoying commentators stop jabbering at every opportunity and let us, the audience, feel the power of the ocean as if we were there. Or give us the option: commentators, ocean sound, crowd sound, and make some effort to bring us 5 channel sound broadcast worthy for our home theater system.

By: Larry Cooper

Larry Cooper — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:45:02 +0000

All I can say is, I’m stoked at what going on now, it a pleasure to watch. No matter how good something is, your always going to have people unhappy. I love the face that big moves are rewarded, it advances the level immensely. Yet the power turns are still held high, think Taylor Knox. ASP, good job, keep it up, this stuff is amazing, and Thank-you! Larry