Who should be holding the Pipe Masters trophy? Photo: ASP
Let me begin by saying that, next to John John Florence, Julian Wilson is my favorite surfer on tour. So, as you can imagine, going into the Final I wanted nothing more than to see Julian post a couple of 9s with Medina not catching a single wave. Well, actually, I was willing to give him one wave – but just one. After all, Gabriel already won the World Title. How rad would it be if both competitors emerged victorious on the final day? But, of course, favoritism has no influence in crowning the Pipe Masters Champion. Or at least as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t.
This opinion is an opinion, and I get that. And it could be said that it’s silly to argue the issue of subjectivity subjectively. However, maybe the videos will provide enough evidence to suggest that Julian Wilson was over scored on his 2nd highest-scoring wave.
My intention is to provide a comparative analysis, rather than a quantitative one, because, still, the way in which judges come up with these numbers is completely beside me. Really, how in God’s name do judges determine if a wave is one-hundredth of a point better than another?
Let’s take a look at Julian and Gabe’s top 2 waves.
Julian Wilson’s 9.93
This is Julian’s opening wave and easily his best of the heat. It was one of the larger waves of the day and it was a clean, throaty and classic Backdoor tube. He was super, super deep as he pumped several times through several foam ball sections, remained in the tube even after the spit, and made a clean exit. Incredible. The judges awarded a 9.93 and set the standard for the rest of the heat.
Gabriel Medina’s Perfect 10
This wave was very similar to Julian’s first, but Medina could not have surfed this wave any better. He took off behind the peak, grabbed rail, and he was in the barrel deeper and longer than Julian. And for a moment, it didn’t look like he was going to make it out. The judges awarded a perfect 10. This seemed like a pretty fair exchange between the two surfers, right?
Gabriel Medina’s 9.2
This was Medina’s 2nd highest scoring wave and the only Pipe wave used in both competitors’ heat total, which makes it more difficult to compare to Julian’s heat-winning Backdoor wave. Medina airdropped, stalled, got barreled, spit out, pulled in under another section, and exited cleanly. It wasn’t as great as his/Julian’s first wave, but the judges awarded a 9.20. For the level of difficulty, I think judges could have easily thrown Medina a few more points, but that’s not my beef.
Julian Wilson’s Heat-Winning 9.7
This was Julian’s heat-winning wave, which was ultimately the deciding factor in crowning the Pipe Masters and the Triple Crown Champion.
First, this wave was big, clean and absolutely perfect. He took off behind the section and got pretty deep. However, his barrel riding, in my opinion, was not as critical as Gabriel’s. One of the most important factors that contributes to my belief that Julian was over scored is that his time in the barrel was significantly shorter and less critical than his competitor’s. There was still scoring potential on this wave, had Julian stalled and got a bit deeper and stayed in the tube a bit longer. A clear indication of this was the fact that Julian exited the barrel well before it spit. The judges awarded a 9.7. Fair? Seemingly, but highly debatable.
Still not convinced? Let’s take a look back at Julian’s Backdoor barrel in Heat 4 of Round 5 that earned him a 9.63. This wave was slightly smaller than his 9.7 in the Final, but it was significantly longer and much more critical. As he pumped several times through multiple critical foam ball sections, he shocked the beach by making a clean, flawless exit.
It is widely understood that Julian had an incredible performance on the North Shore this year. He made it to the Quarters at Sunset and then just came up short to Dusty Payne in the highly contestable Final at Haleiwa. Thus, this issue begs several different questions that I am in no way, shape or form claiming to know the answer to:
Did coming up short in previous contests, despite an incredible performance, have any influence on the scores that were dished out in the Final? That is, were officials compensating for a mistake made by the judges of the Haleiwa contest? Did Gabriel having already won the World Title have any influence on the scores given to each of the surfers? You can bet your ass the judges thoroughly deliberated the final exchange from different angles, but did the angle and initial perspective from the judge’s tower (from there, Backdoor barrels look much longer) have any influence on Julian’s score?
