Hey guys I got back from Fiji yesterday. What an experience!! To answer some questions
It was surprising how little gear was trashed with the beatings that i witnessed. I only saw a couple masts and sails being wrecked. I'm sure there are heaps of scratches on boards, booms etc though. Bernt's board broke when it got wedged on the pillon of the old WSL judging tower, super unlucky!
The drama in the final with Antoine was about riders using the ski in the semi and going past a marker buoy in the lineup that they had placed for the skis to drop off competitors. I don't know any finer details so that's all I can comment on that.
The production team worked super hard and long hours to make it happen so I think the delay of releasing footage was easily justified.
Baptiste was clearly the best waverider every day and deserved the win.
I got to Fiji late on the first day so missed my opportunity (darn work and family commitments!!) I doubt I would have advanced my first round anyway but it would have been awesome to sail cloudbreak for half an hour with a couple of the current legends of the sport.
I did get one wave after the final at cloudbreak so that was a consolation!