What's Wade Riding at Chopes...?
posted on Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Let’s take a minute to remember Wades equal 5th place finish last year in small but clean chopes, losing out to fellow Aussie Owen Wright in Quarter Final 2. Often refered to as a powerful rail surfer, Wade's barrel prowess slips almost routinely under the radar. Not that the underdog status seems to bother Wadeo, it's almost as if he thrives off it, in turn making him more dangerous. Unfortunately his quarter final birth at Tahiti in 2018 didn't give Wade the chance to showcase his barrel riding skills in the same way he did in Barrinha earlier that year, Instead it left us hoping that 2019 would bring bigger and better conditions.
QF2 Owen Wright VS Wade Carmichael - With the barrels not really opening up as much as expected, Wade struggled to fit his big rig into the tiny barrels offered up on finals day, opting instead to go to the face, with some super sharp and vicious backside attacks, surfing a 6’1 x 19 3/8 x 2 1/2 – 30L round pin Bam Bam, Wade was looking on point. Owen's sleek frame and goofy foot advantage in the smaller cylindrical conditions although allowing him to thread a long and flawless tube, finishing with a turn on the end section for a 9.17pt ride, leaving Wade needing a combination score to move onto the semi’s. He didn't get it.
Looking forward to this years event, and running with the same trend as we’ve done all year... Wade’s 2019 Tahiti quiver has inflated volume and new curves. Wade is travelling with 2 standard 6’1’ round pin’s, identical to what he rode to his QF finish last year but tricked up with all the new features. We are hoping he doesn’t get to use these! The rest of the quiver is where it gets interesting:
Roddy has designed up a 6’8, 6’6 and a 6’5 but cut 3 inches off the nose of each, effectively leaving the wide point forward of centre leaving him with a 6’5, 6’3 and a 6’2, shortening the overall rail length of the board to fit in the curve of the Teahupoo face better. Roddy has also added thickness to the centre of the board for paddle power, and has run with the same tail’s that Dion Atkinson rode to a QF finish in 2014, in arguably one of the best contests in the history of surfing.
With plenty of slab surfing experience, chasing waves around his hometown with friends, or trips deep into the desert of South Australia, we are hoping the forecast brings big heavy barrels!
Tahiti Board Breakdown:
Bam Bam 2 // 6’1 x 19 3/8 x 2 5/8 – 31.4L - Standard
Bam Bam 2 // 6’1 x 19 3/8 x 2 5/8 – 31.4L - Standard
Bam Bam 2 // 6’2 x 19 ¼ x 2 5/8 – 31.6L – Hawaii Standard (6’5 pin tail)
Bam Bam 2 HYBRID // 6’2 x 19 ¼ x 2 ¾ - 32.4L – Chopes specific (6’5 pin tail)
Bam Bam 2 // 6’3 x 19 ¼ x 2 5/8 – 31.8L – Hawaii standard (6’6 pin tail)
Bam Bam 2 HYBRID // 6’3 19 ¼ x 2 ¾ - 32.8L – Chopes specific ( 6’6 pin tail)
Bam Bam 2 // 6’5 x 19 ¼ x 2 5/8 – 32.6L Hawaii Standard (6’8 pin tail)
Bam Bam 2 HYBRID // 6’5 x 19 ¼ x 2 ¾ - 33.7L – Chopes specific (6’8 pin tail)
Thanks,
Dave Seymour
