Day of Days - Tuesday, March 4, 2014

I spent a lot of time as a child being cautioned against saying 'I told you so'. It's rude. It's irritating. Neither of my parents wanted to hear it, apparently.

However, when we become adults, a marvelous thing happens and we can say whatever we like. Which is lucky, because I have been saying that phrase a lot since the Roxy Pro Gold Coast completed Round 4.

It was a watershed day in women's surfing without a doubt. - Bugs

We've spoken a lot about the women's tour and our commitment to making it better – for the athletes and for the fans. One of the biggest criticisms that has been leveled our way in recent years is wave quality, and particularly the idea that 'when it's crap, put the women out'. While I can attest from the inside that this has never been the case, securing quality surf for all athletes in all rounds can be a challenge.

Apart from adding waves like Trestles, Cloudbreak and Honolua Bay, the new ASP have been very clear about our intent to give the women equal opportunity to surf the best conditions at combined WCT events. Our belief is that, given the opportunity, the girls would show up and blow up performance wise.

I told you so.

On Tuesday, March 3, 2014, we ran some of the men's heats and then started women's Round 2 in clean 3-4 ft Snapper. As the high tide peaked and the water began to drain off the bank, the waves quality increased to some of the best conditions of the event. We saw the kind of flawless lines that only the Superbank can produce, in a dreamy ' I was drawing on my notepad' kind-of-way.

It was a watershed day in women's surfing without a doubt. That's the best surf they've ever had on the Gold Coast for their event and it ranks up there with the best surf they've ever had on tour.

Regardless, the performances we saw on Tuesday, March 4, 2014 will go down in history as marking a paradigm shift in women's surfing. - Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew

The fun started with Courtney Conlogue getting super deep in the barrel for a 9.5. She backed that up with a 9 for the heat win. Critically though, her two waves were polar opposites of each other – her 9 was given after she smashed the wave the length of the point in a mixture of carves. The women went on and they meant business.

While the usual suspects of Stephanie Gilmore and Tyler Wright performed brilliantly, the standout performer of the day was undeniably Carissa Moore. The young Hawaiian and reigning two-time ASP World Champ grabbed the opportunity to stamp out any doubts whether the women could surf good waves.

I knew they could – I told you so, remember? But Carissa took it to another level that day, because the waves were befitting her amazing talents as an athlete. Her 9.90 was 4 turns: a big open-faced sliding carve straight to another giant carve in the pocket, into an air drop re-entry that she then backed up with a tailslide carve. Whoa! She backed her 9.90 up with a 9.60, and threw away a 9.57.

Performance-wise? That was the best day of women's surfing I've ever seen. - Stephanie Gilmore

I'm not even going to say that some of the Top 34 would have been scared to surf against Carissa, because she didn't surf like a man. She surfed like a woman, and I was proud.

We ran Rounds 2,3 and 4 that day, and it was the day that a new standard was set – both for the women's tour, and for ASP.

Next time you go surfing, perhaps you can consider that day on the Gold Coast – think about how you too can surf 'like a girl' and me annoyingly, saying in your ear 'I told you so'.

I can't wait until the next event in Margaret River!