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surfresearch.com.au
phil
edwards : what is good? 1964
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In my experience I have
taken part in many of these discussions and judged many contests and they
have always boiled down to one common lacking-what is good?
No one knows.
We are in a new sport
and have not decided what is good.
There are different
styles of surfing and different lines of thinking, but until we combine
the thinking of the leaders in the sport, the contests will not take on
the meaning they should have.
In contest surfing there
are two schools of thought.
There is the "stylist".
I have been termed
this by many people who have borrowed the word from skiing.
As far as I can ascertain,
applied to surfing, it would mean that the surfer concentrates primarily
on maintaining complete control at times - with good form (whatever that
is).
This naturally limits
maneuverability and tricks.
I know of no name for
the other school or style, but in every surfing contest I have judged there
was always the contestant who "gets the job done."
These surfers do many
things on a board and are willing to lose some control and composure and
even take an occasional spill.
In contrast, , there
will be an equally good surfer doing a little bit less, but always maintaining
control. In other words, the "stylist" will look smoother, but he I won't
be doIng as much.
If he was, he wouldn't
look as smooth, and vIce versa.
During the winter on
the north shore of Oahu, the best surfers live and surf together every
day. Naturally, there is competition among them.
In fact, the keenest
surfing competition in the world can be seen almost every day of the week.
No one is better qualified
to judge this competition than the surfers themselves.
They are experts in
their own field and only they know enough to compensate for the various
surfing styles.
At the end of the winter
these surfers usually know where they stand on the list of champs.
The big letdown for
some is that there is never a complete victory:
The "north shore competition" offers no trophies, but often the winner are recognized through surf movies, magazines, and elevated reputation.One will have done the best in big waves.
Another will have done better in the smaller surf.
Still another (sometimes a tie) will have done best in the intermediate sized waves;
One will get the best ride of the year.
There will be the most aggressive or daring rider of the year.
Finally, there will be the smoothest wave rider.
The surfers who have
done best in contests are the ones who have completely understood the rules
and conditions and have been able to adapt their style of surfing to fit
the situation.
Now it is up to us,
if contests are to continue, to clearly define the difference between the
various styles and abilities and weigh them accordingly.
The contests cannot
improve until the leaders in the sport understand more of what they are
trying to accomplish and what they are judging.
Setting up better contests
must start somewhere and the start can be in trying to set up standards
of what is good.
The skiing contests
have presented
similar problems which
have been handled well.
An association has
standardized rules, regulations, and judging.
If our contests are
to improve,. we must have standards that the judges can use in selecting
the winners.
In the situation that
exists now, you are often limited by obsolete rules and if you judge the
way they tell you, the results will often be different from your own opinion.
The most successful
contests have been the "loose" ones where the judges were left to judge
on their own.
A different cross section
of judges will bring different results.
Older judges will pick
a contestant with control.
Young judges will pick
strictly performance.
If Australians were
judging, the surfer that had the best wipe-outs would win.
Remember, there are
two schools of thought - often it becomes apparent in the style.
In the first, the wave
is an incidental means of expressing one's ability to others; often a gym
or track field would serve the same purpose.
In the second, or other
school, a wave is simply a beautiful expression of nature and respected
as reason enough to participate.
The "stylist" merges
with the wave, while the former merely "uses" the wave.
What is good?
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