Here are Mayhem's thoughts after the Hurley Pro.
Yes, that's right. Kelly is the winner.
I think it's three wins in a row. He's won the thruster, the quad,
He was riding a hybrid board with lots of EPS carbon fiber. He was riding the waves he wanted to ride,
He won because he was better than everyone else. He never messed up and was efficient.
And other athletes who have won and lost, we designed for them.
We were delighted by the excellent performance they showed on the equipment.
Here are some highlights.
Julian could have beaten Mick Farming but didn't make it into the heat.
If he had tried just a little harder, he would have won the judges' hearts.
The resin-tinted F1 stub really let him release the "R".
Early release from sliding.
It made me realise there were more than a couple of boards that showed off his strengths.
His powerful big turns were amazing.
His luck ran out in the final minutes when he was overtaken by the winners of rounds two and three.
I went surfing after the second day of the event.
That evening, I noticed Dusty Payne holding up his new board that he'd picked up from our place.
He seemed very happy with the board and we were all excited too.
He won heat R1 and advanced straight to R3, where he chose the MAYHEM board and his surfing was amazing.
He made solid progress on every wave, landing smooth, powerful airs and even carving. But he chose the wrong waves. He lost his heat. But he showed us he's back, surfing at the world's best. He'll treat the remaining tournaments as "nothing to lose" practice and rehab as he looks to win the Triple Crown and enter 2013.
As I said before, Adam Melling really surprised us in this tournament.
I feel guilty for not realizing how good his surfing was. Fast, crazy, powerful surfing, he put up a good fight against Taj in R3.
He has a Driver P/E (with raised nose and tail ends), a Whiplash TB and an F1stub.
I'm going to try and not overcomplicate things and create a few Drivers for the next Santa Cruz.
I'm perfectly happy with Bretts losing to Jordy in round 3.
The problem, at least in my opinion, is choosing the right wave.
If you don't choose the best waves, you can't beat Jordy.
Even if you were better at surfing than him (which I think Brett was), you shouldn't give Jordy an advantage.
I chose this shot with Coach Gally because they know each other very well.
Taj's surfing was amazing, a compilation of all the highlights.
More shots of Taj were posted online than any other surfer who caught more waves during the tournament.
Every heat...poster-worthy turns and air shots on most of the waves.
The problem was, once again, Mick was getting some really good waves, but he kept his cool and stuck to his game.
Taj, you can't beat Mick Farming unless you're riding a better wave than him.
Taj, you did a great job.
I think they rode a variety of boards from the arsenal I made for this competition,
It's a very well made product, and the difference between the boards is subtle.
This proved that it was possible to easily interchange and use a number of different boards.
"Mini Hero" Adriano De Souza. He's a typical board and passionate.
He also showed precision and fearless surfing, ravaging the rising stars (Medina and John John).
There was a stoppage due to his insistence. In his heat against Medina, two lefts put him ahead of Medina, and Medina couldn't make a comeback. Early in the competition, he rode a right in Travis Roggie's heat, which was one of the best waves of the competition. He earned nine points. In the quarterfinal against John John, who had no waves, he got the points he needed on a barely passable wave. I was so excited to see him on the board I made for him. I respect him and I'm so grateful for his approach. He's an incredible athlete who treats himself like a world-class athlete and makes it his job.
He made it to the semi-finals and finished third, making him the best surfer to ever ride our boards.
Congratulations to him! If my old friend Christian Fletcher gets angry,
I wanted Adriano to beat John John from the Astrodeck team.
These were Mayhem's thoughts after the Hurley Pro finished.
