Kelly Slater’s perfect 10 in Tahiti. Photo: WSL
Kelly Slater takes off on the first wave of the heat and late drops straight into the pit, pumping like a mad man, then disappears behind the curtain of what looks like a straight up Backdoor close out. As the wave shuts down, he comes flying through the smallest of doggy doors. The hairs on the necks of those watching rise up with the witnessed perfection. The judging panel feels equally astonished. Without hesitation, they give him a perfect 10.
This event just occurred in last month’s Volcom Pipe Pro. It had me yelling obnoxiously “TEN!” at my screen as soon as I saw Slater flying out of that impossible barrel. It was a great moment in pro surfing, but a bad moment in judging that needs to be addressed. There should be an unwritten rule where there should never be a perfect ten in the first half of a heat, let alone on the first wave. As outlined below, I will discuss examples from 2014 of how setting the scale of a heat too high too early can have a negative effect on the outcome of the heat.
Heats should be judged in isolation. The last heat should be totally independent of the next in terms of surfer score. This year, Kelly Slater received a ten for his first wave of the heat in Brazil. Yes, it was the best wave of the contest, but how did the judges know that something better would not happen for the remainder of the heat? By the time that first wave was done, they had scored themselves into a corner. Usually it’s not a 10, but a mid-to-high 9 that throws off the scale in the beginning of a heat. During a round 4 heat at Trestles, Adriano de Souza cleanly surfed a wave from start to finish, connecting all the dots, but nothing exciting, and was rewarded with a 9.07 ride on the first wave of the heat. This was a heat that featured John John Florence and Kelly Slater. Are you telling me that the judges thought that John John or Kelly could not score more than a point higher than a well-connected wave at Trestles by Adriano de Souza? No offense to de Souza, but I bet he felt he had more than a point higher in him if he pushed it harder on the wave. John John pulled out the heat win throwing down multiples 9s, but had to surf a dangerous heat to claim victory.
In what became the heat of the Teahupoo contest, and later the heat of the year, John John Florence scored a near perfect score on the first wave of the heat. The very next wave Kelly Slater scored a perfect ten. The judges were left with 0.1 left to score any further waves that were potentially better. John John goes on to drop four 9+ wave scores. The heat ends in a count back with both surfers tying at 19.77, and Kelly taking the win with the higher single wave score. There should have been more room left in the scale to judge the best heat of the year than 0.1.
This happens way too often in pro surfing. The judges have to leave emotion out of scoring, as in any sport. If a surfer surfs a flawless wave on the first wave of a heat, the highest the judges should ever score is in the 8.5-9 range and set the scale based off that wave. This allows them the ability to exceed what they might have thought was a 10-point ride later in the heat if the performance increases, which, with the current level of skill the tour, can easily happen.
Over-scoring early in the heat has a dramatic effect on the outcome. It forces the behind surfer to press the envelope instead of surfing a smart heat. While this can be exciting to watch, it’s not exactly riveting to watch a less skilled surfer simply by connecting the dots while the other guy is forced to huck hail Mary attempts the rest of the heat.
During the Triple Crown, I saw two examples of high scores being withheld at the right time and received at the right time. Firstly, Glen Hall wrangling a miracle barrel at sunset in the dying seconds of his heat and receiving a 10 for one of the biggest barrels of the day. Revise. Another example of proper scoring was Jadson Andre’s how-the-hell did-he-make-it barrel in the tenth heat of the second round at Pipe. Seriously, go back and watch that heat on demand. I have no clue where he went in that thing. It was the first scoring wave of the heat, and it easily had perfect 10 written all over it, but he was rewarded with a 9.37.
One of the worst examples of this type of over-scoring came in the Pipe Master finals. One of the first waves ridden in the final was scored a 9.93 on an amazing Backdoor wave by Julian Wilson. On the next wave, Medina was given a ten for his efforts. That .07 difference was not much for the judges to work with for the remaining thirty minutes of a heat in the most prestigious contest of the year.
The only drawback to withholding high scores at the start of the heat is bruised egos for heat totals. Heat totals should not matter as long, as the judging scale has room to reward waves properly. If a wave that is surfed 1-2 points higher than a 9.5 that was dropped at the beginning of heat can only be given a ten, the judges have failed. Nines and above should only be reserved for the end of a heat. This would reflect a small change to overall judging, but would allow more minute dissection of scoring instead of adhering to the current judging scale of 8-10 point for an excellent wave. Keep it flexible and the right outcome will be easier to score.
See more from Justin Baar Happyinthebrine.com.