Approximately 11,000 viewers (according to Alex Workman at Tracks Magazine) tuned into the ASP’s YouTube livestream to watch the women’s surfing at the Fiji Pro. It seems that a few more critics have since signed into the World Wide Web to throw some criticism at the girls they didn’t really watch.

The Surf Europe piece even opens up with: “Now I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch much of it…”

When you’re looking through a computer screen, it’s sometimes hard to comprehend the power and force of the waves being ridden in front of you. I was lucky enough to be one of the only spectators in the front row at Tavarua’s famed breaks and from the channel, it looked pretty awesome.

Having never seen Cloudbreak up close and personal before, I asked a couple of the locals whether the girls were sitting in the right spot. It looked as if they were out on the shoulder. “Nah, they’re in the right place,” they replied. With a new swell reaching the remote Pacific reef on the first day of competition, the waves seemed unorganised and the wind created a lot of chop, making it difficult for the girls to hold down solid turns.

But I wouldn’t have called them “hideously crabby” or “unimpressive”, and if we’re talking women’s professional surfing’s lowest ebb that was probably last year’s Roxy Pro in Biarritz no?

The ladies need waves of consequence on Tour, a statement the females have been repeating for the last decade. Up until 2005 the women surfed at Teahupoo and although there were moments of anticlimax and unsurfed heats, there were also moments of brilliance and incredible barrels.

Rochelle Ballard barrel at Cloudbreak for example:

“I know how beneficial it [Teahupoo] is for women’s surfing, it’s of huge importance. It shows how far women’s surfing has come,” Layne Beachley commented to the Sydney Morning Herald back in 2006 when Tahiti was taken off the tour. “We’ve been getting more respect because we’ve been surfing there. Just going to Teahupoo has improved the standard of women’s surfing,” Melanie Redman-Carr echoed.

It’s understandable that some of the girls may have struggled last week. Even though they have been competing for years through the grueling WQS and onto the WCT, none of the girls on this current World Tour would have had much practice with the jersey on at waves of this magnitude.

We all saw Nike’s Leave A Message and we know the girls can surf big. But when you’ve got even Kelly Slater telling the ASP that outside expectations cause immense competitive pressure, it takes more than just talent to perform in the excellent range at events.