While I was away in Mexico, Lewis Samuels released his popular Power Rankings feature (which ranks the top 45 surfers on the ASP World Tour) on his new website, PostSurf.com. Samuels created the Power Rankings back when he used to write for Surfline, and the feature became immensely popular. So much so that pro surfers would actually read, and obsess, over the rankings and Samuels' commentary. So when Surfline dismissed Samuels a couple of months ago, you'd think the Power Rankings would go with him, right? Wrong.

Surfline decided to keep the Power Rankings and slightly change up the format. Gone is the single writer ranking the surfers and giving his commentary on each individual's performance. In is a new panel of three writers, each giving their own thoughts and rankings. As a result, Surfline's rankings are a combined aggregate from the new panel, which feature the founder of the ASP Ian Cairns, former team manager Matt Griggs, and former professional and current writer Jason Borte (who helped Kelly Slater pen his book Pipe Dreams).

The new format has mixed results. While Surfline keeps their popular segment, their reputation continues to take a beating for three reasons. The Power Rankings were Lewis Samuels' idea, hence Surfline is essentially stealing someone else's work. The panel is extremely biased, as evident with the Aussie Cairns ranking Kelly Slater 45th (if he isn't Australian, he isn't a favorite of Cairns) and Borte ranking Slater 3rd (more realistic but still too high of a score). And the comment section is heavily edited. In fact, Surfline closed down the comment section, and Lewis posted on his site that he was hearing from others that Surfline was deleting numerous comments that were being critical of both Surfline and the Power Rankings.

Lewis Samuels, meanwhile, has continued his Power Rankings on his new site. In the end, what made the Power Rankings work for Lewis wasn't just the rankings themselves or the witty commentary, but it was the unbiased critique. Samuels has made a reputation for himself as the writer who hasn't become buddy-buddy with the pro surfers (just ask Luke Stedman). He has no favorites, and outside of Alex Knost and Stedman, Samuels' opinions on professional surfers are as unbiased as a surf journalist's can be.

It'll be interesting to see how Surfline's version of their Power Rankings will evolve over time. You know Samuels will stay true to form, giving his hilarious takes on the world of professional surfing. So I ask: Which Power Rankings do you consider to be the most honest and true when ranking the surfers on the ASP World Tour?