How Judges Award Points at Surfing Competitions

You finally learnt how to stand up on a board without falling off and now want to join the pro surfing circuit. So how are the judges going to score your performance? Well at this stage in your surfing career you would not be permitted to compete in this type of event, and if you were it takes more than standing on a board to score points!

It is important to be aware that the best surfer doesn’t always come out on top. This is because there are far too many variables which can affect the score given by the judges (including the judges themselves). Obviously the surfers you are competing against when the heats are drawn can be vital in determining whether or not you get a place in the finals and yet choosing your heat competitors is something beyond the surfers’ control.

The number of waves a rider can take off on in any one heat, and the amount of time the competitors have catch these waves is announced prior to the competitors entering the water. Most competitions work on 20 minute heats with the average of the riders’ top two scoring waves used to determine the winner of the heat.

So what is it that makes judges give their scores? Although there are specific criteria that judges use to mark competitors there is also an objective element which is difficult to remove. For this reason there is always more than one judge marking the rides. With five or more judges the highest and lowest scores are removed and the score given for any given wave is calculated by averaging the remaining points given by the individual judges.

Judges score under the following guidelines:

“A surfer must perform radical controlled manoeuvres in the critical sections of a wave with speed, power and flow.

Innovative/progressive surfing as well as the combination and variety of repertoire (of major manoeuvres) will be taken into consideration when rewarding points for a surfers’ performance.

The surfer who performs to the criteria above, exhibiting the maximum degree of difficulty and commitment on the waves shall maximise his/her scoring potential.”

Each of the score components below are marked on a scale of 1 to 10 as follows

Ride Components

1. Commitment and degree of difficulty
2. Innovative and progressive manoeuvres
3. Combination of major manoeuvres
4. Variety of manoeuvres
5. Speed, power and flow

Ride Scores

• 0–1.9 (Poor)
• 2.0–3.9 (Fair)
• 4.0–5.9 (Average)
• 6.0–7.9 (Good)
• 8.0–10.0 (Excellent)

Points for commitment are determined by the perceived risk taken by the rider to not only to catch the wave but also to dare to attempt to pull off what are considered major moves in the best sections of the wave. Manoeuvres achieved will the score highest if performed in the curl of the wave in comparison with the same move on the shoulder of the wave. By way of example, if two riders both complete a bottom turn followed by an aerial move, the areal move closer to the “top” of the wave will score higher than the same move performed further “down” the wave. This is because the risk component of the move is comparatively less when performed on the shoulder section of the wave.

In summary, choosing the right wave in a set, paddling hard to catch that wave and taking off on the wave demonstrates the riders’ commitment to the ride ahead. The number of waves caught by the rider in any one heat is not relevant to the overall score for that heat. Similarly the length of the ride only plays a part in scoring if it allows the rider to perform multiple manoeuvers with a high degree of technical difficulty.