Note to the ASP: If you want your franchise players to show up at an event that has—at least on paper, no business being on the dream tour in the first place, it’s best to have it early in the season, when everything is left to be decided. Things get ugly when you don’t, which is exactly what happened during Round One of the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro, which is held in Brazil's premier surfing hotbed at Praia da Vila in Imbituba. Today more than 14 surfers in the Top 48 were missing total, including half of the Top 10 with Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, Adriano de Souza, and Bobby Martinez citing injuries or simply deciding to skip, leaving Brazilian fans, some of the most surf crazed on earth, muttering “what the fuh?”

The later any beachbreak venue falls on the schedule, the longer the list of reasons not to go becomes. Brazil takes the brunt of this. As home to some of the most beautiful women on the planet (and some of the craziest parties) you can even add being married or being hitched to the list of excuses not to go. The ASP has several inherent marketing issues, among them is the fact that it’s filled with pros making decent chunks of change who don’t understand why they might want to protect whatever limited ASP assets actually exist in today’s fragile economic environment.

Fact is, if Brazil were held earlier in the season, there’s a far better chance most surfers and fans would acknowledge that the surf in Imbituba, unlike Rio, is surprisingly consistent. Last year it was actually the biggest on the entire tour…bigger than Teahupoo, Pipeline, Snapper, Trestles, Chile et al. And while today's conditions were hardly perfect, it was still overhead beachbreak, which was far better than both Mundaka and Bells and J-Bay this year.

While all of ASP’s marketing issues are too long to list, the Brazil matter belongs near the top. As is, there’s little incentive for surfer’s who’ve already solidified their position to show up. The rules allow for surfers to skip up to three events per year with no excuse—something the surfers have fought for, yet also something that belongs on the “marketing issues” list.

Nevertheless, for the hardcore fan, there were some pivotal heats today as careers continue to hang in the balance. And with the new ASP format changes slated to go into effect in 2009, the smart ones were jostling for the new Top 16 reward (a Round Two seed in select events next year.) Among those on or approaching that pivotal threshold Taylor Knox (currently 18th) and Fred Patacchia (15th) won their heats today, advancing straight into Round Three. Knox surfed up to his potential today, which was refreshing, but he was the only bright spot for west coast fans, as Chris Ward (21st) was apparently uhm, …lost somewhere in San Paulo dealing with visa issues. Timmy Reyes (22nd) also surfed well, leading for most of his heat, but couldn’t close the deal on Daniel Ross in the waning moments, which to date, is the story of his entire season. Dane Reynolds (16th) and Bobby Martinez (9th) were no shows, citing injuries.

Of course, the day couldn’t possibly end without a little judging controversy. Jordy Smith (22nd) was making the most of his trip south early on in his heat. The South African celebrity got the huge crowd cheering with his arsenal of aerials and reverses. He even earned a 9.5 on one wave, which was the highest score of the day. But then with under two minutes to go he was called for a controversial interference as he crossed paths with Spain’s Aritz Aranburu while taking off.

Citing the point/beachbreak part of the interference rulebook, the judges penalized Jordy because they felt the left that Aranburu went on had better scoring potential than the right that Jordy went on, despite the fact that Jordy got his 9.5 going right on a very similar wave, and that neither surfer was harmed by the mutual crossover. Jordy showed his displeasure with the call (which came five minutes after it occured, meaning there was a heated argument going on up on the tower) by dropping in on Brazil’s Simao Romao, racking up another triangle. Jordy will now have to take his revenge on Brazilian Pedro Henrique in Round Two, if he can keep his head on straight.

Of course, that’s never an easy job in Brazil.

LIST OF THE MISSING Reason
Dean Morrison. Pelvis
Mick Fanning Groin
Danny wills Ear Drum
Andy Irons Skip
Kelly Slater Skip
Neco Back
Bruce Irons Honeymoon
Parko Skip
Pancho Skip
Adriaono Ankle
Dane Ankle (twist)
Luke Munro Death in family
Bobby Martinez Sore throat
Chris Ward Visa Issues (Still slated for Round Two)

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