Surf contests exist in many forms but one might posture that the goal of an elite surf event is something like the following. To take world-class surfers and place them in a geographic and psychological environment, which brings out the best in their surfing performance; then to present the content to an audience in an entertaining manner, while still reflecting the core values of surf culture and the broader surf community. If you take the above as an acceptable criterion for what makes a good contest then you’d have to say the crew at Natural Selection have done a good job with their inaugural surf event in Micronesia, which was taken out by Soli Bailey and Milla Brown today.
Once upon a time the wind-blown, slabby, Micronesian reef- point-break setting might have been deemed far from ideal for a contest. However, the modern pro is not put-off by cross-shore ribs and stretched out sections. If anything, the modern surfer likes something that looks a little less than perfect at face value, particularly if it’s barrelling and poses a serious challenge. If there are sections to hit or boost off, well that’s just gravy for this gang of invitees – Soli Bailey, Al Cleland Jr, Harry Bryant, Eithan Osborne, Noah Beschen, Kauli Vaast, Victor Bernardo, Mikey February, Coco Ho, Milla Brown, Kirra Pinkerton and Anne Dos Santos.
And of course, from a fan’s point of view, even if we didn’t want to surf it, the wave had the necessary mystique. Certainly, way more intrigue than a mechanical wave pool in Abu Dhabi. If it was a heat between contests, then the WSL definitely lost that one. No matter how long someone got tubed in Abu Dhabi it was never going to match Eithan Osborne’s mutant double-up with a doggy-door exit. Although he didn’t win the event, Eithan’s wave was undeniably the biggest talking point.
It should be noted that the ruffled conditions considerably favoured the natural footers. It’s arguably much easier to ride rough-shot over cross-chop and dodge chandeliers on your forehand. It came as little surprise that neither of the goofy footers made the final – maybe that’s just ‘Natural Selection’ at a wave like this.
What then of this criteria or CREDO as they called it? Creativity, Risk, Execution, Difficulty, and Overall impression. It had been borrowed from the other Natural Selection events (Skiiing, snowboarding, bikes) but would it work for surfing as a one size fits all? It certainly functioned as a welcome alternative. At first, I found myself hungry for scores, something to keep me in tune with the heat and to create context. However, by the final I could see where scoring can limit the surfing. A score puts a number on a surfer’s head. The number doesn’t always measure the ‘overall impression’ of the performance. Increasingly the number in the WSL is a measure of what you didn’t do rather than what you did. We gave you a nine because we felt there was hypothetically more out there. It’s not a score for what was, or the impact or creativity, it’s a score for what might be. Remove the score and it’s just a killer turn or barrel or combination of turns – a positive. Somehow the lack of a score as a measure of your worth seemed to inspire slightly better surfing and it’s all about trying to create a headspace for the surfer that facilitates the best possible surfing – because that’s what we want to see. Admittedly the criteria could be summed up as ‘feeling the vibe’ but it’s a welcome alternative and contrast to the numbers. For the first event it worked well, with clear winners in most heats, but just like the WSL the Natural Selection will become more competitive at some point. It was all peace, love, brotherhood, sisterhood and camaraderie to begin with, but if big dollars get involved for prize money, it will potentially be a little more heated between the surfers.
As for the presentation of the content? No expense was spared on the camerawork and coverage and the commentary team certainly gelled. Tanner Gudauskas has the right mix of upbeat tone, dynamic vocab and surf knowledge to ensure we don’t get bored, and Lisa Anderson certainly lends a laidback authenticity to the booth. Barton Lynch gets his revenge on the WSL for failing to use his services. His knowledge, beard and good will makes every spoken sentence seem like an insightful gift from Santa Claus. Anchorman Ed Leigh is slick but could pull back a notch where he risks trying to go hyperbolic in moments that don’t warrant it. Meanwhile, Nathan Fletcher as the ‘roaming intro guy’ is a stubble-chinned stoic whose voice echoes years of hard-living and heavy waves. Like some kind of character from the wild west. The WSL wouldn’t let him in through the swinging doors, but he was holding it down on Natural Selection. He played it straight when he had to then let rip, “My prediction is guys are going to be going mental!”
Then there were the judges, in front of the camera, commenting, opining, discussing – full transparency – and then coming to a consensus. Brad Gerlach even had time to do classic impressions of the Australian heat marshals from back in his competitive days.
And yes, the whole thing was a bit looser, a little more like a boardriders club round or a regular day at the beach. Far less vanilla than the other mob and a lot less country-club with tea and scones. When Alan lead-foot Cleland came in from the final, he roared in full earshot and view of the cameras, ‘We fuckin’ scored for this event’ and he was the guy who knew he’d just lost. Big Al, whose surfing is a pleasure to watch, dropped three more f-bombs in consecutive sentences. That’s not to say that simply swearing makes for a better event, but it was indicative of a setting where surfers felt they could express themselves as they wanted to in and out of the water.
Victory in the men’s went the way of a born-again Soli Bailey, a genuine talent who never really thrived in the WSL setting. It’s interesting that he fared better here. Soli only came into the event when Noa Deane dropped out, but certainly left his mark with a mixture of deep tube riding and stylish lip-bashing.
The world now knows more about Wunderkind Milla Brown. At 17 she already has the complete act, blessed with superior confidence in and out of the water. It will be interesting to follow her trajectory, wherever it takes her. She is perhaps the raw-edged Australian answer to Erin Brooks.
If Natural Selection does continue there will always be the debate about which tour has the better surfers and is therefore the true reflection of the best surfing. Perhaps that discussion has already started. Natural Selection is off to a good start in surfing, but one contest does not buy you a place in history. Other breakaway tours have tried before – air tours for example – and failed to endure. The more contests you do the harder it is to replicate the success. It will be interesting to see if an annual event is all they are aiming for. Will there be a war for the best surfers? It’s possible that both tours will happily co-exist; surf fans like watching all kinds of surfing. However, the WSL execs might have squirmed a little when they looked at the positive comments thread for Natural Selection, which also contained a few barbs for WSL. Hopefully it serves to simply keep them on their toes, but it will be intriguing to see if they loosen the threads and get more creative with their own contests or move further into country club territory.
