A very unlikely final in San Clemente at the Nike Pro. Ireland's Glenn Hall faced off against Brazilian Gabriel Medina. The match up is strange in a few ways. For one, Glenn Hall was a veritable unknown heading into  the event, but his surfing was powerful and consistent, reminiscent of a young Tommy Carroll with big carves off the lip  and deep gouging cutties. Although he came unglued in the final, there was no stopping the goofy footer from putting down all comers en route to a finals appearance. On the other end, there was Gabriel Medina who had rocketed into the spotlight last year and was being touted as the next Kelly Slater. Even the MC's at the Nike event were surmising if he was a good as Slater. I don't quite get the comparison because there is none...totally different surfers with styles that have no real comparable common denominator. But critics were writing Gabby off as a flash in the pan as we headed into  the third event of the year, and there he stands as the victor in good, clean surf against the best in the world.

The question: Has South America arrived?  South American surfers seemed to hang on to the tour by sheer determination and guts, but the most dominant innately talented surfers generally hailed from surfing strongholds of Australia and America. But just take a gander at this year's rankings. Gabriel Medina finished in 4th ahead of Jordy and Julian and Mick. And he didn't do this by slogging it out with 9th and 17th place finishes,. He won events convincingly. And what needs t be stated is that he only hopped on tour at the mid year cut off. Bam! Big airs and big turns (sure, in smaller waves), but he also made the quarters of the Pipe event, Dare I say this is nothing to be sneezing at? Which brings me to the next great South American hope: Adriano de Souza. De Souza is more seasoned and emits less flash and spark, but with 4 straight top-10 finishes, he ain't just lucky. This guy has repeatedly beat the best and for fleeting moments lead the tour at 1st place. Now Heitor Alves does come off as the traditional work horse rather than an innate surfing talent, but his moments have been brilliant all over the world, and he comes in a respectable 16th in the rankings, just above a young and aggressive newbie Miguel Pupo. Pupo is cut from the same cloth as Medina but may lack that competitive animal inside. That remains to be seen as Pupo's radical aerial attack doesn't look to be looks to be looming over the more traditional players as evidenced by the emphasis on power surfing in  the past few events..

As a young surfer, I spent all my time in the water focused on the here and now. Surfing's history meant nothing. It was all about the next wave and my next move. After all, surfing is a very transitory experience. The feeling is intense and unexpected and then it's gone, and we are left scrambling to replicate it. My mission was to dash the past and forge on to something new, neglecting the rich history of surfing and the insanely talented characters and athletes who made up the skeleton of a narrative in  which I am merely an insignificant ghost. Today, I have gained the patience to sit still for a few moments and reflect on the path that ends at my back and being penciled in as I step forward.

Just take a gander at the final heat of the 1978 Coke Surfabout held in solid tubes in Sydney, Australia. The wind blew off-shore under a blazing sun. Shaun Tompson was on the play-by-play and Nat Young was doing interviews from the water. Earlier heats saw Simon Anderson laying into deep, dramatic cutbacks (not hacks) and Peter Townend leaning on fully committed bottom turns (not punts), but it wasn't until we see the final that it's obvious surfing hasn't really changed. This is 1978 mind you. Barton Lynch had skipped class to sit on the sand and watch Pipe master Larry Blair faced off against a fully charged Wayne Lynch. Now, here's the coolest thing for me. These guys are riding single fins. They are flying through sections and redirecting on a dime. Lynch backdoors a sick one and Blair looks aggressive and loose. Analyzing the surfing in terms of today's equipment and modern sensibilities, I see the seedlings of today's top turns and artistic tube riding approach.

But for real, these single fins are flying with minimal herky-jerky drama. The best surfers know that surfing is all about timing, position, and control. It's no different than today. What's cool is that this is a moment where two goofy footers in perfect lefts are operating at full mojo in front a full house. Things change, but good surfing is good surfing. I'm sure Blair and Lynch are stoked with the way things are moving in the sport, but let me just say that is one sweet moment. A moment Surfer Magazine called one the top 5 surf contests in history. We should all be so lucky to have just one like that.

Miki Dora was a surf maniac. He bled and breathed the lifestyle and pulled hijinks and hoodwinks along the way from SoCal to South Africa to France to New Zealand to Chile and beyond. No job and no responsibility from day one to his death bed and with surfing at the top of his to-do list, Miki Dora lived life close to the bone and left burnt bridges and a trail of fake checks and passports in his wake. The book: All for a Few Perfect Waves highlights the problematic nature of the surfing lifestyle just as Dora's life epitomizes a blend of the surfing dream and the surfing tragedy. What do surfers have to give up to ride waves? I don't mean just hitting the waves once a month on a Sunday afternoon. I mean really committing to the salt, sand, and sun to be there whenever it's on. It takes sacrifice and ends up affecting others in your life. Your wife, your boss, your kids, maybe even your pets. Complex, confusing, tragic. It's Shakespearean almost...almost.

The problem with waves is that they are here and then they disappear...whoosh! Gone like ghosts and unique like snowflakes. Your surf experience is only as rich as your last session. Everything else is just a vapor. My goal: Get to sleep and grab the last few drops of that swell in the morning. The dream: Get every wave you can before you die. Those memories have to be more valuable than money when it's all over. The life as wave metaphor is as cliche' as it gets, but no metaphor captures the essence of life so completely.

Every sport goes through growing pains for sure. Surfing has had its share. Heck! Surfing was never supposed to be a sport, but from the world contests to the IPS to the ASP, surfing is getting its feet on the ground as a legitimate global sport. New communication and forecast technology make possible the feats of planning and broadcasting a surfing event held on an island in the middle of nowhere to Middle America and beyond.

Case in point: Jeju Island in the Republic of Korea will be the site of the newest edition of this year's ASP schedule. Being a 2 star event, it may not pull in all the top dogs, but the talent will show. The men's Murasaki Quiksilver Open of Surfing will go down on Mun Beach this June. Matt Wilson (ASP International Event Director) says this is part of the ASP's vision "to expand and develop professional surfing in these regions." With an event in China last year and a roster of contests in beach breaks and reef breaks on every continent, I'd say this vision looks to be coming to fruition. However, after researching South Korea a bit, I find the surf doesn't look epic (it ain't no Cloudbreak), but then again, Brazil doesn't have the most potential either. Sometimes though, the spots with the least to offer will often times deliver in big ways.

Look back to the New York event last year. The surf was great and the surfing was insane, much to the chagrin of critics and naysayers. What's cool about the ASP schedule is that is offers surfers an array of playing fields to test their mettle. Lefts, rights, sandbars, shallow reef slabs, and point breaks offer potential for different approaches and skill sets. Plus, the ASP needs to make money, so there are lots of criteria to take into consideration. Another thing is that crappy waves don't equal crappy surfing, especially in progressive aerial surfing. Full rotations above the lip, Superman airs, and blow tails are all on the table when the surf is small to medium in size and the wind is blowing lightly onshore.  We'll see if South Korea can deliver the goods. For the record, it looks like the topographical features offer potential if Google Earth can be trusted. The Murasaki Quiksilver Open of Surfing Jeju Island event will take place from June 14 - 19, 2012.