Wasnt interested when it all started.....less interested now. My view of surfing hasn't changed a lot since I was 15 years old. The pro -circiut is extremely dynamic and good to watch , but does it serve any usefull purpose , apart from marketing ?
Not so much here…
I tend to evolve my designs into somthing that I like to ride. That said, I have and will never be in a surf contest. I like what I do and the way it feels and I tweak my designs to give me more of what I like. 
Oops. Double post - sorry.
YAWN
No interest whatsoever, neither now nor at any time in the past.
The whole idea of “scoring” a ride is antithetical to everything that makes surfing fun and interesting for me. In addition, the contest format fosters an approach to wave riding that is often forced, tediously monotonous and ungraceful.
My idea of “surfing competition” is to try to ride to ride better today than I did yesterday.
Those of you for whom surfing is all about box scores and bullhorns: knock yourselves out. To each his own…
The pro circuit’s there to move units.
But remember the bad old days when you couldn’t get a job if they knew you were a surfer/drug addict/degenerate/layabout? The pro circuit did help clean up those perceptions.
Are my shapes influenced by pro designs? Naah.
I don’t care what anyone says, I love the webcasts of the contests. How awesome is it that we get to watch this stuff live from clear on the other side of the globe!!! My first exposure to surfing was seeing it on Wide World Of Sports back in the early 70s. Went thru most of my life craving watching surfing on TV but it never came. Could only see surfing on a screen by going to the occasional surf flick at the Ocean City Youth Center. Then came videos and DVDs. Now on a cold night in December I can turn on a live webcast of the Pipe Masters or while eating my breakfast before work I get to watch a live webcast from Snapper Rocks. This fall half of our office at work had the live webcast of the NewYork contest up on their computers. How cool is that!!???
Say what you want about pro surfing but we are lucky to live in an era where we get to see this stuff live on the web.
The only affect to me personally is surf contests clog our local breaks several times a year.
Otherwise I'm in complete agreement with Dropknee. Don't care for it at all.
If anything "pro surfing" is one aspect of surfing that is stagnant.
The real innovators are here on Swaylock's.
Same. I believe it was Tom Morey who said that judging surfing was like trying to gauge who ate the best. Or, something to that effect.
Personally, pro surfing has had no positive effect on my own situation. I view at as a completely negative entity that has been the main contributor to crowding and the poor state of the so-called surf media. One of the most ridiculous terms that’s entered the surfing lexicon is “free surfing”. I know what it connotates and find it offensive. Last time I checked, surfing was always “free” . As I view things, there’s surfing, and there’s contest surfing. The contest variety does not represent surfing as I know it or define it.
If the whole surf industry collapsed and took all of the competition side down with it, I would not mourn the loss one bit. Pro surfing is the reason why your local spots are full of crowds who have no clue or no respect.
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Pro surfing is the reason why your local spots are full of crowds who have no clue or no respect.
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Amen to that.
I had no interest until they started webcasting.
Before the webcasts I can honestly say I never saw a surf contest except the few NSSA ones I was in back in college (and like someone mentioned above, a couple snippets of ABC’s Wide World of Sports broadcasts). For those who are thinking I am a pro ho, competitive type, I was eventually kicked off the team for refusing to get out of the water during a contest at Blacks. I’d never surfed Blacks before and it was solid overhead and perfect. I wasn’t getting out after 30 minutes! Thus ended my competitive career. Haaha. I didn’t really care. Competition meant signing in at 7 waiting for your heat which might not be until it got blown out. The team wanted you to stay in the “competitors area.” You surfed your 30 minutes and that was it. Sucked.
But I have to say I enjoy watching the webcasts. You can say whatever you want, the guys are insanely talented. Yeah, some have styles that are hard to watch, but some have really good style- Parko, Slater, Knox. There are definitely surfers who I don’t bother to tune in. Others I really enjoy watching. Come on. Kelly Slater, in Portugal, getting a tube and coming out body surfing, throwing a shaka. How can you call that boring or monotonous?? Also, by watching a few you start to understand a bit of the strategy. I never thought I’d be interested in watching bicycle racing either, but having lived in Italy and having watched several Tour De Frances you start to understand the strategies and it gets interesting. I’d rather watch an ASP contest than any ball game. Like I tell my students, “Ball game’s are not my thing. I don’t play with balls.”
As far as crowds, I think surfing is so fun that there would be crowds, pro surfing or no pro surfing. Ever seen footage of Malibu in the 1960’s?? I definitely don’t attribute crowds to pro surfing. Surf schools…now that’s another discussion.
Oh and I’m not a grom. I’m 50 and have been surfing over 35 years.
Love it.
How can you Not!
Really! watching great wave riders on waves. sometimes epic waves, sometimes not so.
It’s Better then a bunch of buffoons chasing a ball around…There is no other sport like pro surfing.
…Why so negative towards it.
Jealous… I know I am.
Nothing is perfect. Tennis is getting close to being fair, but come on. Tennis!
I think the ASP is doing an awesome job.
Because of pro surfing a lot of our friends have jobs too.
Long live/love pro surfing
Hate the haters!
you don’t have to watch there for you don’t have to Hate also!
The circus just came to my beach and I was wondering the same thing for the fist time in 20+ years.
Sad to say that I didn’t go the 1 1/2 miles to watch. I did check out the web cast after I went surfing, pretty cool stuff.
I absolutely loved watching the 2009 Eddie Aikau, I was glued to my monitor from beginning to end! It’s a special contest because the only rule is to go out and catch the biggest waves. To me everyone out there surfing it is a winner! I am hoping it happens again this year.
I love the webcasts , specialy when the waves are good.....but Ive seen most of the pros surfing far better when theyre free surfing , and not restricted by the rules.........Yorky , I don't think pro-surfing has provided any extra jobs , particularly in the area of makin surfboards......there's a lot of people in the line up that would be just as happy playin golf or tennis.......
I don’t hate it. I just don’t pay attention to it(contests and magazines).
Liked it when it was new, when riders rode different equipment ( MR Vs Cheyne Vs Carroll) and new manouvers were being invented,
now its a lot of aerial rotating with the greatest attraction being the waves themselves. I find Im looking at the wave more and not the surfer.
Pro surfing is not the heart of surfing despite the hype.
On a one off average surf day I’d rather play Golf or tennis too, But 3,4…10 times a week. Might be a bit much for the average hacker and expensive too.
As for the Pro sportsman, maybe snow boarding might equal surfing for 24 hr stoke.
Jobs created by Pro surfing…yeah I don’t know? at a guess I would think so, But I really don’t know.
…Back to the question
How much does pro surfing effect You?
Quite a lot of early mornings late nights - love it
I really wish there was more interest or expression concerning pro surfboard design on this site.
…I have been around on Sways for a little while now and I have drawn my own conclusions why and what have formed peoples perceptions about {{{PRO SURFING}}}
2 roosters in a hen house
2 shapers in a “hen” house
Most Every “Pro” shaper is an Ego driven…well, wanker ha ha ha.
True? Yes, No ?
…Well at some stage of their career anyway…Me too lol nature of the beast!
Human nature jealousy
ha ha ha
your all a bunch of jealous haters
…?
