While pro surfing is ever trying to ‘reach new audiences’, the extent to which is does – Olympics, Wave Gardens or not – will always be limited by the fact that it… kinda just looks the same.

It’s fairly obvious that a 30 yard volley into the top corner, a 40ft putt or a 50 yard touchdown pass was a good passage of play, even if you’d never seen any of those sports before in your life.

But how long does it take to gain some kind of handle on why one snap is worth 0.5 pts more than another?

Too long.

There was talk going round that one very high profile American surfer had been invited, but wanted too much money to come. Thing is, nobody in the crowd would’ve had the faintest idea who he was, much less cared.

“Best hundred grand Red Bull never spent” observed an anonymous savant.