Time to embrace the dystopia!
Do you remember when the World Surf League, then called the Association of Surfing Professionals, shifted focus from hosting contests in population centers to having the “world’s best surfers on the world’s best waves?”
What a novel idea! What a boon to surf fans everywhere! Now instead of watching the Huntington Hop we would get gifted iconic locations, generally good conditions and all for free. It truly was a wild fantasy.
Times change, though, and people change and I wonder if the “dream tour” model is now officially dead in the water, as it were.
The events are expensive, costing some 2 -3 million per. Online traffic is stable but not seeing stratospheric growth. Blue-chip sponsors are not knocking down the door trying to get a piece of the market. The rumors that first appeared on BeachGrit wrapped in irony then Stab in a more appropriately serious tone do make sense. The field will likely be trimmed and the locations might be trimmed too.
And now we have the official announcement that the WSL will host its first proper event at Surf Ranch in May 2018 (coincidentally the same time the highly anticipated Cocaine + Surfing: A Love Story! is set to release).
I am seeing a future where Pipe, Teahupo’o, J-Bay and Rio are sprinkled in to five different pool competitions and that is the tour. Not exactly a dream but… I don’t know. Beggars can’t be choosers.
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Well for a long while it was fun as shit. And I guess it will continue to be — for the few (soon to be fewer, thank you cb) people who get the CT gold card.
I truly believe we’re the most bitter, cynical and miserable bastards on the planet. I want to see it all burn in a pile of Hayden Shapes, Hurley boardshorts and Flashbombs. But what I get is overly optermistic commentary on waves which look like shit on my screen but I know I probably couldn’t surf anyway. The self loathing goes in one big cycle.
if only John John was like Heath Kirchart and Jordy was like Gazza.
…well Andy was like Heath Ledger, in the end.
This is possibly getting to the root of it.
1. Some surfers in 19-oatcake decided to have a contest, for a laugh.
2. ???
3. The WSL
Clutching at straws Twillsy, just like the rest of us
What the fuck are us whiners gonna do when the WSL is gone?
What a fucking joke professional surfing has become. Seriously. What a fucking joke.
Surfing in the ocean will never be accepted by the masses (America) as a sport. It’s seen as a sport in OZ, and I presume Brazil, but those aren’t big enough markets, period, end of story. He sooner we refocus the product and the marketing to the people who are actually interested it’s going to be the same broken record we have been listening to for 30 + years now.
I don’t see the wave pool significantly changing that.
I think there is a better than even chance the wave pool will end up pissing many normal surfers right off.
except if it is onshore all summer and small, or as mentioned before if you cant get to the beach until night time – I would go night surf option for sure
I get the feeling this will all end up the way snowboarding/skiing went. People become interested in what appeals to them and ignore the other sectors. I love watching the Freeride World Tour, its a very similar model to surf comps, but even that is a fringe webcast that must be haemorraging harder than the WSL. Once snowboarding hit the olympics it became just gymnastics with boards attached. Now pretty much everyone I know just froths on the movies that come out every fall and has 0 interest in any of the comps.
yeah, sounds about right. we’ll be where we deserve to be, over with skimboarding and bodyboarding on the damn fringe where we’ve actually been the whole time
I’ll repeat a question from the last round of comments. (sled-reset)
Could someone please remind me why we (real people) actually need the WSL or any equivalent thereof? Really and truly?
They provide a work day distraction in the the form a contest web cast.
I’m not convinced that’s a valid reason.
The WSL is like Surfline Live but with judges and announcers. If Surline Live (or some other entity) could provide quality production with some sort of guidance on what we’re watching (i.e. where are we, who is in the water, what boards are being ridden) then you’d have a legitimate WSL competitor. I love to watch guys surf perfect Pipe or Cloudbreak or Trestles and really don’t need judges to tell me if a ride was good or not.
But, does it really need to be live? Searching For Tom Curren, 5’5″ x19 1/2″, Dear Suburbia and Chapter 11 weren’t live and I watch the shit out of those.
I can also watch other sporting events on tape delay if I wanted to (remember when the Indy 500 used to be broadcast in prime time on Memorial Day weekend?) but it isn’t really that interesting. It’s the anticipation that makes it interesting.
That’s true. But I don’t watch basketball for the same reasons I watch surf, I guess.
Great point…they are two different things.
We don’t need – we want. So it IS a valid reason
(Read in Alex Jones voice) The flipe toledo conspiracy, if contests were taken out of the equation the Hurley sharp eye illuminati would crumble with these twin fin reptilians taking back the sport with “handshaped” stuff. Be afraid.
*sobbing* but muh guns *increase sobbing* muh amendment
Hillary is under your bed with pizza!
Lizards eat pizza? Or a kind gift?
(Keep it going in alex Jones voice) My friend,you need to educate yourself,these lizards hide children for eating purposes in places disguised as pizza places (real Alex Jones belief) her and lady gaga are coming for your children. #pizzagate #infowars
they provide excellent lunch spreads and often free beer for VIPs and media at WT contests.
there, that’s the best reason i can come up with.
not even , the food at the Hurley was next level down , cutting costs everywhere , went from excellent to below average , more cost cutting to come , the Gravy Train has been emptied , and now….?
So are you an ‘elite’?
haha , I am delite!
As a surfer I generally dont give a shit about anything but the best waves, why would someone who has never surfed in their life want to watch trestles/rio comp?
I would tune in if Cloudbreak was 6-8 (def wouldnt pay however) but even when its 4 foot and windy i just dont care.
Theres no reason some redneck fuck from Alabama is ever gonna give two shits. Surfing just isnt that good.
It’s there to remind us of the possibilities. So when we, The People™, see the worlds best competitive surfers in quality waves we are reminded of what surfing could be when we wander down to a shitty, onshore, crowded with hipsters and surf lessons, gun barrel straight sandbank, high tide, knee high local wave, coming from the wrong direction again.
Don’t you feel better knowing somebody, who were it not for the singularly unremarkable talent of not falling off a surfboard in harrowing circumstances, gets to paid to surf better waves than you?
Not falling off a surfboard in harrowing circumstances has always been my dream.
For nothing really. Their unsucessful attempt at making money is being very sucessful at crowding lineups worldwide. Cull this whole thing already
Lack of import tax crowds lineups
I haven’t actually followed the WSL or tour or whatever since I last bought a copy of ASL in the late 90s. Had I not started reading the grit I wouldn’t have even known Andy had won a title (titles?).
I am however truly confused when I see guys like JOB or Dane or Mason or even Harry Bryant surf, and then see Wilko surf. There’s like 3 guys on the whole tour worth watching, the rest are like watching paint dry.
I’m looking straight at you Mick.
dude you missed Andy? Fucken hell. You missed the last great moment in pro surfing.
The last time I really followed it, Luke Egan was still my favourite pro. Andy, Taj and Chris had just starred in the inaugural billabong junior challenge. You could argue that Occ coming back kind of just killed it for me. Nothing against Occ, but progressive at that time he was not.
Turts you gotta see this toledo guy. Im sure luke andy taj occy would agree
Toledo is one of my 3 worth watching
He’s two of my three
…because we voyeurs?
Rosy Hodge
Even watching the WSL, it’s hard not to find your favorite and a justification as to why. My theory is that humans are attracted to and want to feed different forms of prejudice and then enjoy the levels of euphoria that come from it. That is the root cause for most all that choose a side as a spectator of sport. Marketers feed that knowing most enjoy the bile of rivalry over the ballet seen when the best of the best compete.