Judging Criteria: APP Ride of the Season

The APP sat down with Head Judge of #APPRideoftheSeason, David Noirrit, to find out exactly what the judges are looking for, how to score highly and how to make it on the Cascais All Stars trip this October.

Kicking off on July 1st, SUP surfers are to upload a surfing clip to Instagram with #APPRideoftheSeason alongside #Unsponsored if you are not an APP seeded athlete. The shortlist will be based off the number of likes the post gets, which is then put into the hands of the APP’s official judging panel. Each clip will then be judged according to the following criteria…

1. Commitment and degree of difficulty (“radicality”)

Commitment is a major criterion for the judges of APP Ride of the Season, as it is on all Surf events on the APP World Tour. To score well, athletes should demonstrate 100% commitment through all their manoeuvres. This relates to:

• Driving turns off the bottom with the full rail of the board engaged in the turn.

• Seeking the most critical part of the wave without hesitation.

Degree of difficulty is clearly an important factor in determining the quality of ride, and athletes will be awarded for technical difficulty of their ride.

“Major manoeuvres in major sections” – APP Judge, Joao Maya

2. Innovative and progressive surfing

To score highly in this section, the rider must show manoeuvres that push the limits of SUP surfing, which are both creative and progressive.

• Manoeuvres like airs, blow tails and rotations will all score highly.

• A crazy barrel will be highly rewarded as one of the most technically advanced elements in Surfing.

“I want to see manoeuvres which blow my mind” – Head Judge, David Noirrit.

3. Combination of major manoeuvres

• While a single manoeuvre ride can score highly (e.g. a barrel or a big air), Judges will look for a combination of major manoeuvres to achieve the best scores.

• This demonstrates impressive wave lecture, controlled but dynamic surfing and the ability to ride out of radical manoeuvres and into the next (flow).

What makes a quality manoeuvre?

• A quality manoeuvre is one that a SUP surfer performs with speed, power and control in the most critical part of the wave where it has verticality and curve and the energy is at its highest.

4. Speed, power and flow

• Speed – dynamic surfing that maintains speed and even accelerates through manoeuvres.

• Power – using power to emphasise turns, throw more spray in the air and generate speed

• Flow – linking together manoeuvres with flow and style that maximize the scoring potential of the wave

To keep up to date with all things APP Ride of the Season follow appworldtour.com and @appworldtour