What would you do if you had the keys?
Harping from the sidelines is a sport I prize. But, then, who doesn’t get their kicks from rolling their eyes at the stupidity and inertia of institutions, at the establishment?
When you’re not working the levers, whatever you say is theoretically…correct. Who can disprove it?
Some month ago, I presented my Five Ways to Improve the WSL Right Now! The ideas were hardly revolutionary, a snip hither, a cut yon, and I present them below.
1. Reduce the tour from 34 to 12
Truth is, unless you have some kinda personal contact or affinity with anyone outside the top dozen, watching ’em tag waves to the beach does nothing for you, for me, or for the supposed greater audience the World Surf League is chasing. Sure, having 34 surfers guarantees a career for men who, let’s face it, ain’t Stevie Hawkings and would therefore be laying concrete or slapping paint on walls, but it ain’t taking the game forward. It’s making up numbers. And making up numbers means…
2. You’ve gotta finish an event in two days, max
Four days for men, three days for women. Two-week waiting periods. Endless calls. Endless standbys. It’s the most lurid tempo! No wonder such a ferocious sex hunger develops around tour events. You want to see an exciting sport. Go to Speedway. Three hours. A few heats and a winner-takes-all final. Spectators with no interest in motor sports are captivated. Surfing needs a full-day super jam, two if conditions turn to grease. Which means…
3. Forget combining men’s and women’s events
Oh! You get to use the same infrastructure thereby reducing costs? How ideal! It’s an uneasy coexistence. How many joints do you know can deliver a week of good waves within a two or three-week period, across all tides? It don’t happen. And so you’re left with crucial heats running in the crummiest and most inconsistent closeouts.
Speaking of tides and inconsistent closeouts…
4. Portugal has to be iced
What should be a sideshow of tuberiding and shorebreak tumbling has become the event where world title hopes and dreams of victory are dashed upon Supertubos’ shallow sandbank. Kelly knows. And Jordy Smith, the best surfer there last year, sat in a miserable ocean and caught one wave in the final That ain’t sport at its best.
5. Live a little
Bottom line, y’ain’t ever going to get even a slice of the football or soccer or basketball crowds. Surfing is too subjective, too hard to understand. So, live a little. Let the guys on the mic, all of whom know a thing or two, loosen up.
And, you?
What would you do if you were the CEO of World Surf League? Would it be called World Surf League? Would it be a combined men’s and women’s tour? How many surfers would compete? How many events and where?
Present your tour masterplan in the comments pane below. The five best ideas will receive a pair of the new Need Essentials technical surf trunks.
I would add:
6. Do away with priority system – let them battle it out for position – create some drama and something for the commentators to talk about.
7. One big tour with top 16 (or 12) out of qualifying top 48 rotating throughout the year for the big events. Qualifying surfers to come out of the regions.
The changes will come soon anyway…… lets hope they look something similar to what’s been mentioned.
top 25 for half the year, then go into playoff mode for second half. dropping the bottom 12 and having the #1 rest during the dreaded brasil stop. add bocas as tour stop.
Well after working on the Free surf world tour on the body board side i think they got it right but id make a few changes.
1. Video part based (2-3 minutes)
2. 1 month waiting period
3. 4 wild cards from each area
4. viewer voted judging combined with, rider and official judging. average all scores
this set up reduces production cost, increases available remote location and ensures the best possible surfing from all competitors, allowing even the gnarliest of free surfers a chance to show off. Also it being a pre filmed contest, easier distribution through media channels and you can have daily updates with teaser clips from each rider.
Bring in Chris Cote full time. Fire the rest of the commentators and Judges. Maybe keep Strider…
But really, I told you what the only answer is –
Cut rounds 2 & 4 out
Score each comp differently, with focus on certain moves. Every wave at Trestles has to have an air to score at all. Barrels at Chopes. Carves at Bells. Then take the best 2 results for each surfer from each type of comp and there’s your champ. You’ll need to add a few bigger wave spots to really make this work, but it’ll guarantee that your world champ can do it all. No filipe as champ until he charges, and no Mick as world champ until he shows he can do airs that 12 year olds are now doing.
BTW, you can’t cut the tour to 10 or 12 guys – will take what little incentive there is left in pro surfing away from the guys on the QS.
Not with a constant rotation in and out
I can get behind a system where surfers can’t qualify through the QS if they’re on the CT. We’ve seen enough of the Simpos, Logies etc.
You guys are too old fashioned. Throw men and women into one big heat with their cell phones with two divisions: best selfie and best claim both judged by likes x shares / troll coefficient. Generate additional revenue by turning all other action including travel and night life into a few reality shows.
Easy!! Hire James B as the new head judge!!
Or maybe the new Comissioner, because that way i would have more surfing time between my always right calls!
The broadcasting should be done by a separate company. The NFL contracts outside companies like CBS FOX ESPN to do there commentary, and the commentators work for these companies and not the NFL. Since they are not employees of the NFL they can criticize the NFL without losing there jobs. Its great because they can shit on the NFL and as long as they don’t make any jokes about blacks, gays, trannys, or women they can keep their jobs.
Top 24 + 4 “wild cards” (Top 3 QS leaders + actual wild card) per event.
9 comps p/year, 1 p/month, 3 week waiting period p/comp
_______
Round 1:
• Bottom 12 + 4 wild cards
• 4×4 man, 40 min heats
• Only 1 wave scored. (2nd counted if tied)
• 4 winners progress
= 2.5 hours
_______
Round 2:
• top 12 + 4 round 1 winners
• 4×4 man, 40 min heats
• Only 1 wave scored. (2nd counted if tied)
• 1 & 2nd place progress
= 2.5 hours
_______
Quarter Finals:
• 4×2 man, 30 min heats
• 4 winners progress
= 2 hours
_____
Semi Finals:
• 2x 2 man, 30 min heats
= 1 hour
_____
Final:
1x 2man, 1 hour heat
___
Total event time: 9 hours.
– (1 full day, or split over 2/3 days)
– duration of heat times can vary, depending on forecast.
___
Benefits:
Round 1:
– The QS gets more exciting (interesting, watchable etc) as there’s incentive / positive consequences every comp – right from the first comp of the year.
– Fresh blood every comp.
– Do or die heats from the get go > positive television.
– Best ride wins thus encouraging high performance surfing, eliminates “boring” from the equation.
Round 2:
– top 12 surfers are rewarded by avoiding round 1.
– 2nd place actually matters ie. removing the boredom when the heat leader has “combo-ed” his competitors.
– Best ride wins again encouraging high performance surfing (2nd wave is counted if tie)
Overall:
– Best Surfer wins / constant excitement.
– Extended waiting period = best conditions possible.
– a dynamic tour,
– Actually rewards the best surfers.
.. hmmmm, maybe I’m tripping.
mate your trippen, i went to the Portugal event on finals day last year and it was a fucken sick day.
Waves were fun (better than the trestles poop) , they were serving cocktails and super bok in the VIP, mate i was smashed 30 mins in, Jordy melted, his old boy melted too. was some great viewing all round.
Scrap the CT and up the anti on the QS. Current CT events become 20,000s. WSL offers its broadcasting framework to contest organisers and administers the rankings. The current format is all too neat.
Early rounds.. Like the backdoor shootout format, with 20 CT guys and more wildcards.. Including highest ranked qs guys at time of contest. Man on man for quarters onwards. Best of 3 heats final. Better locations. It’s fucked watching these guys surf small onshore beachbreaks. Go-pro point of view footage. Coin toss for priority at start of man on man heats.
They said when they cut to 34 from 44 there would be no more sleeper heats, and the event can be done in 3 days. Then no elimination round 4 came in.
They should cut the numbers, all heats are elimination, Dane Reynolds, and Mason Ho wildcards, and lastly fire Pottz
I was going to comment and win this contest and then I remembered the Beach Grit shirt I was promised months ago and never received.
Didn’t land? Email me: [email protected] I’ll resend…
btw, if the Need Essentials guys are reading this I just forked for a long arm springy due to the link here. Was looking for one, cheers.
I mostly agree with your points Dell but Portugal stays, they just need to make it mobile again. All those waiting days last year the other side of the peninsula was pumping. They’ve got the waves for it.
OK. Format.
2 days. 18 man field. Top 16 and two wildcards.
First day three heats of 6. Hour and half or hour heats. Best three waves count. No priority. Leader board in effect. That gives guys like Dane and JJF ample time to go hog wild, to have opportunity to go big without being penalised by the sheer lack of scoring available in most 30 minute heats. With 6 surfers in the water there will be constant action.
Top 8 on the leader board go through to the next day. QF. Man on man surfing. 45min man on man heats to the Final.
That solves the problem of the current format which rewards conservative surfing.
Schedule.
Gold Coast Feb/March
Maggie River/Box, with option for North Point. March/April.
Bells. April.
G-Land May.
Mentawaii boat trip challenge May.
J-Bay July
Tahiti August
Strestles Sep.
Keramas/Canguu Late Sep.
France/POrtugal Oct/Nov.
Pipeline Dec.
12 Event Tour. All bases covered.
Rotation of bottom 8 in top 16 after J-Bay.
I’m a 32 Dell.
So slim? Email me your address?
high protein diet.
“Strestles?” I’m in love.
those trunks are the tits
1. Forbid Pottz to use the words “bottom”, “turn” and “capitalise” ever again… ah fuck it, just axe him for good.
2. Keep Turpel… we need someone to keep us calm when the situation asks for it so we can hop on the ski and reset.
3. Get Bobby Martinez, Freddy Patacchia and a couple of the Beach Grit squad doing their rounds in the booth… I won’t name names just yet as I believe this may create some internal conflict.
4. Wine on tap for the commentators… let the truth be spoken!
5. I know we do Bells because history, but let’s move on shall we? Brazil and its putrid waters have to become a bad memory ASAP and Portugal just doesn’t do it for anyone except for locals scavenging for used rash guards and broken boards. Run Margs at The Box and how in the hell haven’t they figured out a way to bring it back to Grajagan yet?
6. Reduce the number of surfers currently on tour. Halve them for starters. Let the “fans” vote for nominated wildcards for each stop.
7. Introducing a new rotating location each year. The best surfers in the best waves and all of that…
8. Grom days style lynching for the following: claiming rides under 9.93, chair rides up the beach, flag waving and bringing your dad to contests.
9. Prizes for WSL Fantasy Surfing… bring in the lettuce you tight asses!
10. An unwritten rule so we can change things a bit whenever we get bored again.
…a winner! Email your size, address etc to [email protected]
Near perfect except for #2. The wsl should hire you immediately.
…yike! I lost your address! Can you send again? And sizes?
I mentioned this last week.. Use the format from the Iron Chef, rotate the surfers who aren’t worthy of the top spot to create variety each event. Imagine how good it would be to see looks of hope and ambition turn to shame and hurt for losers who blew their one chance at stardom
Ten-event schedule. Every comp counts. No more throwaways. Send my gear to Queen Anne PO, Seattle.
…thirty-eight inch waist?
As soon as I drop the Christmas weight, yes!
Drop bells, trestles and Brazil. Add Mexico and Arica. 20 surfers max, more rosies, no more fines, new commentators across the board