Is the WSL running a literal Ponzi scheme on the Big Wave World Tour?
It’s fitting the BWWT’s primary sponsor is a wristwatch peddler. So pointless, who still wears a watch? Who’s the market for bottom tier luxury watches? I understand the real nice ones are on the conspicuous consumption trip, but Tag Heuer’s priced low enough to be expensive to poor people, cheap to rich ones. Like a low end luxury car, the people you’re trying to fit in with are laughing at you, the rest of us just think you wasted your money.
(Editor’s (Chas) note: I love wristwatches more than anything else, maybe. I am wearing a vintage Rolex right now.)
On the subject of wasted money… Todos Santos, really? Are we pretending it’s still a relevant wave, in the context of top tier insanity surf? Cold, scary? Sure, but line it up against what’s going on at Pe’ahi, or Mavericks, or Nazare, and it looks like a big wave version of the US Open. The last time someone caught a wave out there that mattered was in ’98, when Taylor Knox scratched into a bomb. A big deal, at the time, but it’s been nearly twenty years, a lot has changed since then. Boards have gotten bigger, surfers have gotten crazier, I’ve grown armpit hair and a gorgeous chest pelt. Ch-ch-ch-changes…
Today ain’t great. Howling winds, interminable lulls, boredom kind of broken every twenty minutes when someone chatters down the face and kicks out. Big wave contest business as usual.
Speaking of business as usual, I wonder when the guys in the water are going to realize they’re being ripped off. Did you know that prize money changes depending on the size of the surf? It does, and in swells like today’s, running in 20 foot surf, the boys are on the low end of the scale.
First place gets $12.5K, not a substantial sum of money. Enough to buy a decent used pickup truck, though not once you’ve taken into account the cost of last minute flights and extortionate over-sized baggage fees.
But the real kick in the nuts comes lower on the totem pole. Of the twenty four guys in the event, no women because the BWWT is sexist as hell, the bottom 18 take home a whopping $1000! A little more than half my monthly rent.
Surf’s over forty five feet? Like, in the scary death realm? Then they double their money!
Considering the fact that competing is a losing proposition, financially, for pretty much everyone in the event, and that no one really cares who wins, I’m hoping it’s just a matter of time until some people start realizing that their money is better spent chasing swell for clips instead of results.
Or the WSL will stop being a bunch of cheap ass motherfuckers and start paying guys a living wage, which they deserve. But I’m not holding my breath for that one. I can hold my breath a long time, but not, like, forever.
(Editor’s (Chas) note again: I had no idea this was running and clicked on it and saw Josh Kerr and Damo Hobgood surfing in the final? Maybe the final? Who knows! But I’m invested!)
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Would the Hawaiians earn less, given their scale system is probably knocking off ten feet?
Kauai is pretty and all, but I can’t stand the idea of living in a place where people don’t need to know what time it is.
I rarely know what day of the week it is, much less the time. It’s a lovely way to live, I recommend everyone tries it.
And how does one afford to do that?
ruthless
I’m tough, but fair.
By being very lucky.
Lotto?
I married well.
Kerr and Damo worked that group like some 1st year WQS’ers.
I’d have to agree with Trogan…I mean did you watch the stream?… Not sure if it’s the camera angle or something else but they were far from risking their lives out there. Didn’t look like big wave surfing for them, which is probably why Kerzy won it over all the “big wave surfers” who were waiting for the bombs to take off on…still waiting for them though.
Take off, surf the white wash and slowly make your way into the channel…thanks but no thanks, they could have saved some money on the live coverage, not worth it imo. I’m not saying I’m capable of surfing there but I know what every single one of these guys are capable off. That was cat piss.
Getting paid $12.5k for it (or 1k to just float around)…I wouldn’t complain too much to be honest, it wasn’t entertaining for us, it wasn’t challenging for them and it didn’t really make the world a better place.
Surfing is supposed to make the world a better place?
No, surfing websites are.
I believe that Beach Grit is the ONLY one actually accomplishing that goal.
They sell sustainably-sourced yoga pants on here?
Where? I need to get me some!
you are an optimist. i like it!
Twas in jest, mi angelito, twas in jest.
If they deserved it, they’d get it. Surfing big waves adds zero to the economy and that’s about what these guys deserve.
They’ll get more money if they demand it, never before.
The WSL chooses the venue, and the date. If the event is boring, like this one was, the blame falls on the organizer, not the surfers. The WSL ran the shitty webcast, the guys in the water did the best they could.
They’re getting ripped off, plain and simple. BIlly Kemper flew out from Maui and earned $1000. Factoring in costs of travel, lodging, food, transport, how big of a dent do you think it put in his Pe’ahi winnings?
The current situation has the surfers shouldering a part of the cost of the event. That’s fucking retarded.
Isn’t the prize money secondary for these guys? Isn’t trying to find and/or keep their sponsorships and a regular paycheck the primary focus? Big wave events aren’t run consistently and they are run at places that aren’t necessarily accessible by the average fan so they need to take any exposure that they can get. Their freesurfs even more so (who is doing the run to Cortez???) Was this anticlimactic compared to Jaws…HELL YES! But it’s webcast/face time and these guys take what they can get.(full disclosure…Wll Skudin is a local Long Beach guy who works his ass off and I know he needs the exposure)
Oh, yes, being paid in exposure.
“Come do this job for me and maybe it’ll convince someone else to pay you in the future.”
Such a lovely lie. Allows you to profit off someone else’s work and then make it seem like their fault when they’re broke as fuck.
Hmmmm…I didn’t see anyone in the lineup being forced to surf at gunpoint, did you? If these guys were better than the BWWT then stay away from the comps and go surf an outer reef break with maybe 100 other guys watching. And when their sponsor asks why they didn’t surf the comp they can stand on their principles while their contracts aren’t renewed. If you really want to look for athletes getting screwed look no further than the NFL (which is probably Speakers biz model without the billions in TV money). In the meantime spare us the sanctimonious WSL-is-evil bullshit.
practice squad guys in the NFL make more than top 10 surfers on the planet
Yeah, and? When the WSL gets the biggest TV audience week in and week out from September to February then they’ll get paid more.
you said NFLers were getting fucked
Because their contract aren’t guaranteed. However…they still deserve more than surfers because the NFL makes more money.
ESPN just opted out of Thursday nights, maybe its not doing as good for em as it used to
They arguably contribute to the ultimate product (the team’s performance), and very few can do the job they do. Plus, they’ve got a strong union – surfers willing to go on strike?
you didn’t see my Curt Flood reference? of course they’ll keep costs as low as possible, prize money is part of the cost equation, yet to see an org that wants to pay the athletes more than they’re willing to accept. the owners told these baseball guys that scabs would take their place too. it didn’t happen.
Basically, they have pro surfing internships.
exactly. seriously, that’s the fucking pitch to these guys
So what? Let’s say it was perfect 50 foot Todos. So what? Who benefits from these guys riding waves? Who exactly is supposed to pay them all this money? Where’s that money coming from? At least clothing companies have revenue to support their payroll. Does Ian Walsh move product? I don’t know, but my kids certainly don’t care about him like they do JJF and Filipe.
The WSL benefits from them riding waves. They might not be making any money off it now, but if they didn’t think it’d earn them some bucks, one day, the BWWT would not exist.
I’m sure that, for tax purposes, all the surfers are independent contractors. But the rule book states that they’re only allowed to surf in WSL sanctioned events, and can be fined up to $50K for violations. In my eyes that makes them employees, and you have to pay your employees a living wage. The power to punish without the obligation to pay comes closer to slavery than employment.
How much product the surfers move isn’t relevant, the WSL doesn’t sell soft goods. Sponsor/surfer relationships are totally separate from surfer/governing body relationships.
well, no you don’t, actually. If they’re not happy making what they’re paid, they’re just like every other worker out there – free to go find a better gig if they can get it. I’ve changed career paths twice in my adult life and so have you, no?
And no, I don’t think the WSL is making any money off them at all. By all reports, they’re bleeding dry. Where exactly do you think these big paychecks should come from? If these guys want to make a living, they need to look to their sponsors or “teams” just like football players do.
And let’s take it one further – QS guys grind way harder than the big wave guys and almost none make money. And if you’re from South Africa or some other small, far away market, you’re definitely losing money, sleeping on floors etc. Does the WSL need to pay them more too? Should they be making a comfortable living because they show up to surf?
By the way, how expensive is the QS in 2016 for a Saffa with the Rand tanking like it has? (Not Ayn Rand, she’s clearly thriving in Trogan’s perspectives on labor).
its not worth doing if you’re American and can fly out of LAX, nobody outside Brazil or Portugal cares
Curt Flood. Rory, do something important here, then.
you’re on some kinda long-term Ayn Rand shit
Love to see Rory go full anarchist and take a swing at property rights……poor old Troges would bust a haemorrhoid.
Rory’s wife’s a lawyer. Have to assume he respects property rights! Civilized society must have rules!!! Actually, just don’t take my ocean view and I’m good.
rules? Hang on, you’re shifting the goalposts……you were spruiking for a purely Darwinian Randian objectivism before; now you want your precious ocean view protected by the state. Weak sauce.