The Tahiti Pro could start in about 12 hours. I hope it doesn't because conditions should get a lot better. Regardless please make your picks because they lock in immediately in the second half of the season. Every year there's someone putting together a nice season that gets completely derailed forgetting about the second half format. I have this guy in my personal league, let's call him Phil. He was actually beating me at this point last season. And although I reminded everyone in the group 4 times, he still didn't understand the second half rule. He missed out on making ANY mens picks for the event, and that coincided with a huge breakout from myself. I would have caught up regardless, but missing out on so many points sunk his entire year. Don't be like Phil:).
Ok with a lot more time to think, I've had time to tinker with my lineup. As you know, that can be a disastrous scenario. But it's too late, the tinkering hath gone down!
Not gunna lie, I'm much more confident about my male picks than female. The women are so talent dense this thing could go a lot of ways.
I have Molly Picklum as my power surfer because I feel she has a lot of big score potential, and if things get gnarly, she's as good as anyone. Plus I think she's due.
Love having a goofy footer in defending champion Caroline Marks.
Bettylou Sakura Johnson is another surfer who would love it if we get to run in big barreling conditions.
And finally local wildcard Vahine Fierro has finished 3rd the last 2 years and is ready to go all the way.
For the men there are 5 picks that feel really obvious to me: The first four, and the last one.
John Florence and Jack Robinson in the top tier. I've leaned on these two more than maybe I should. but most of the time they have paid off this year, and this wave suits them both perfectly.
Barron Mamiya has had a pretty disappointing season since winning at Pipeline, but he's great at this wave.
Leonardo Fioravanti is just really good at riding barrels and I won't look past him.
Crosby Colapinto and Imaikalani deVault are full of value and they round out my tier B picks. I also love Seth Moniz and Liam O'Brien here.
Local wildcard Mihimana Braye is someone I simply can't exclude.
And Gabriel Medina is spectacular here. Look for him to get his season back on track.
So there's the changes, I'm so excited for this event! Please hit me in the comments here and on YouTube. I want to talk about it!
Thanks,
Mike LK
you mentioned in the video that John and Jack are in the same bracket, how do you know that? Trying to figure out my picks and scared i will lose some surfers early on because of this
Tinkering continues! Apparently Liam who I already liked has been on the biggest bombs since arriving. Liam in, Imaikalani out.