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Another CT stop, another ten days of world class surfing. As Kaipo said, it's as good as any surf movie (and he doesn't mean a surf movie like Point Break!)

The time difference wasn't quite as obliging this stop. Surfing in Hawaii gifted us primetime screening. Surfing in our backyard was even better! Surfing in Australia means dawn patrol at 10pm our time and mostly I had to catch up on the results via replays the next day. WSL is getting five stars from me, as I love that I can choose between full replay and condensed heat, but inevitably I often end up watching the condensed heat and its just not quite the same without the running commentary, not to mention the matter of waves selection, which gets lost in the condensed heat.

The week got off to a small and messy start, and I was a little concerned about the pressure to squeeze men and women into ten days. But such is professional surfing, as is soul surfing - you just can't control the conditions! Happily the conditions cleaned up by day two, giving us perfectly peeling sizable waves by round of 16.

Heat of the stop goes to John John and Chianca, both of them absolutely ripping, for want of a superlative word! True to point, if you want to break down good surf technique, watch this heat again and again, and again in slow motion!

Let's talk about the men - no surprises that half of the semifinalists are on homeground! No surprises either that our favorite Brazilians hold up the other half, along with that golden boy from North Shore. I've got my own personal favorites of course (two of them!).

By the way, have you noticed how light and smooth Filipe surfs?! It's like there's no drag or friction between his board and the water, just silk on silk. I've never seen flow like it, as though at every moment his board is gliding at consistent speed, no hang ups, no burst, no drags, just flow! like a paper aeroplane on air!

And to the women, I honestly think that women's surfing has reached another level this year, credit it to spot-sharing with the men or not, it can just as easily be a new revolution in women's surf! Still for me, Tyler simply out-surfs the lot. She shows more hunger and drive than any of the women and it obviously pays off!

Update two day later: A nice change from checking emails to checking the CT score in the morning! Alas, I didn't stay up for the finals, but I did surely watch the replay. A little smaller than we'd like for a finals day, but ideal for power forces Filipe and Tyler. Perfect waves for Filipe (who never needs size for speed) and Tyler who was clearly going to throw all her energy at any ripple offering points - well deserved wins. I'd be delighted to see these champs go on to take the world titles - it's a good time for Filipe, and as for Tyler, let's see if anyone can take her on!