Southern California disappears from pro surfing due greed!
Ok. I’ve done my due diligence for you, for us, for we the people and have figured out who to blame for professional surfing leaving southern California and moving to a pool in a central California cow town that happens to be surrounded by a fence.
The World Surf League.
I asked an almost too handsome source at Hurley who responded, “This is a loss for the people to be sure. The WSL determines the stops on tour. We participate where we can.”
It is my understanding, through further digging, that the WSL does, in fact, control all decisions and the value for each stop, which leads me to believe the WSL overcharged for Trestles, with Lemoore in their back pocket, and Hurley called their bluff.
For shame. For shame. For the people, who only want Famous Stars and Kolohe Andino, are left to suffer and suffer we will.
Stab, copying BeachGrit format, posted:
Breaking: The @wsl’s 2018 schedule: Cloudbreak and Lowers are out. They will be replaced by with @kellyslater’s wavepool in Lemoore, and Keramas. The title will still be decided at Pipe. Hit the link in our bio for a full run down of what we know.
Kelly Slater, because he loves commenting on social media, added:
It would go far to do a story about how events and sponsorship for them is determined. Nobody on tour or at @WSL wants to lose Cloudbreak or Lowers. It wasn’t a choice to have these events instead as is assumed by people. Fiji has been on and off tour over the years so people may have short memories in that regard. And it’s a logical choice to fill a missing event spot with a wave that’s better than most waves most days of the year and guaranteed. And keramas ain’t too shabby either. Brasil stays most likely because it has good sponsorship and govt backing and a third of the tour is from Brasil. Not having Brasil doesn’t automatically mean it is replaced with another event necessarily.
Stab, copying The Inertia’s backbone, responded:
Agreed!
But let’s really think about it. Let’s really really think about it. Nobody on tour or at the WSL may want to lose Lowers but if the powers decide the value of Lowers is ridiculously higher than it is and then put that price tag on it whose fault is?
The WSL has made sport, with the dearly departed ex-CEO Paul Speaker, of spouting silly numbers, projections and possible scope.
And now there is no more Lowers. Fuck the “spot with a wave that’s better than most waves most days of the year and guaranteed.”
People, it is time to raise our fist! It is time to put our Comme des Garçons panted knees onto the ground and raise our double stripe sleeved fist to the sky!
Chas Who gets on the Ranch to attend this event anyway ???
Not sure about the wave pool inclusion?
Should we have a wave pool circuit and a surfing circuit ?
Surfing real waves you need to account for all the associated variables at play, natural ones that Huey does or doesn’t dish up and probably more of a strategic approach.
Wave pool waves are mechanically awesome so it comes down to best tricks in the park.
Two different things in my mind. Be interesting to see how it pans out.
I’ve got an idea. Beach Grit management mortgages their homes and sponsors Trestles!
What does everyone think?
That’s what I was thinking,it would be a disaster if trestles fired as it would retain its position as the best hifi contest and take a bit of gloss off the future pro.
They are definitely playing the long game.
“It would go far to do a story about how events and sponsorship for them is determined. Nobody on tour or at @WSL wants to lose Cloudbreak or Lowers.”
Kelly, as Outerknown, inked a 3 year deal to sponno Cloudbreak. Less than a year later that deal has been broken.
Who reneged?
Over/Under for OK to be around 2 more years?
Plenty of arse licking between the WSL and Kelly’s crew. All smoke and mirrors. If OuterKnown has any cash in their pockets for any marketing/promotion inside professional surfing, I’ll meet you in the Lennox carpark for that nude Xmas session.
The guys that call Trestles their home break have to be so stoked to not have two more weeks of hell taking over their zone. Now they just need to get the lower level comps moved also. All surf contest should be is wave pools for jocks to compete and kooks to watch. Leave the real surf breaks to surfers that just want to surf. The surf industry sucks and has done nothing good for the lifestyle of riding waves. Die surf industry die. Go surf.
Then it’s back to only drug money on Hawaii.
Thats what the these guys that aren’t JJF are doing over here anyways. Da Hui would have to learn a new way to launder their money.
Couple of sociopaths who can’t let shit go
Why is competitive surfing actually even a thing?
Because we all like to suck up to guys better than us at what we wish we were better at.
maybe josh kerr should stay on tour, he will be heavily favored to win the carlsbad lagoon wake challenge. tour stop # 12
2 boats or one boat making the wave? Sierra would beat them all at the Agua Hedionda Carlsbad Open of Wake Surfing.
Kelly is in a ferocious battle that we all end up facing: – our own mortality! It just so happens that, much like in his surfing, he is an obstinate and steely competitor and doesn’t realise there’s a time to let go. It’s not enough that he’s labelled the G(competitive surfer)OAT, he refuses to be relegated to the past and let other take the limelight and live their own era so he wants to stay current… hell, he wants to be the embodiment of Surf itself! He didn’t invent surfing or the thruster, he’ll bloody well redefine it, hence this mad race to arms with his tepid wavepark, wsl events and Olympics. It’s like a drowning man frantically waving his arms. Sorry not to be able to tell you this, but everybody becomes a thing of the past. (I’m too late to this comments’ party so he probably already browsed this and won’t double dip)
Funny thing, I used to be one of his greatest fans but he’s fast fading the image I had and soon it’ll be replaced with the image of a Peter Pan middle aged man.
Last note to say that not all past champions behave much better but one comes to mind that’s ageing gracefully and being what I think he always was, a humble impressively kind person who happened to define an era of surfing – Mark Richards. KS should take a page or two out of his book…
That’s what you get from good quality (free) public education system…
Kelly is now a business man…
Like Blatter, like Valcke, Platini, like those in the FIFA or Olympics games, like Nuzman the president of COB in Brazil jailed and released from prison by corrupts with acounts in paradise locations and gold sticks at banks in Switzerland…
I don’t think he is a corrupt, but he gives a fuck about surf culture and beaches or the “dream tour”…
He now is a business man, and good for him… but he and WSL all are targeting the Olympics, with lots of money incoming.
Selling the patents os the wave pool around the world, constructing wave pools on countries with poor or nothing waves…
It’a another olympic stadium to be constructed for and specifc occasion.
Look the patent of urban destruction and corruption (political / economical / companies at diverse areas) made (and will be made) by the olympics and FIFA in countries around the world that accept those shit competitions: South Africa, Brazil, Russia, Qatar…
Another patent is the enormous quantity of white elephants rotting in the ground, and are leaved behind after their garbage and ridiculous circus go home: stadiuns, arenas, pools, velodromes, abandoned and creators of larvas,limo… Go after the history of games and FIFA since (Los Angeles in the Olympics and South Africa in FIFA games…)
Why Sweden and some other countries decline this shit?
Only countries around the world with a strong mafia and corrupt politicians / bankers / ceo and theirs companies, accept this bag of shit
This package was selling long before… in engineering / archtectural plans / plants.
All this guys and his minions and his shits are a bunch of crooks, Kelly included
What is interesting about this decision is that the USA mainland still only has 1 ct. I was sure they would keep trestles as an increase in events would gradually increase USA engagement, what’s the population on California around 35m and they have one event, oz has 24m for 3 events.
Why is the so conspiracy theorists?
Ill try. Surfing is at a saturation point in US except for the possibility of pools and new participants.US already buys more surf crap than rest of world combined pretty much. Some towns in US have more surfers than whole countries that have better surf. US needs more of those. Until pools built to bring in more noobs the marketing expense is a waste since the current events don’t inspire new participants and their purchases. And outside of surf few see any value chasing surfer dollars. In OZ more participation per capita. That is WSL goal. Until new markets and stadium venues similar to football, pro surfing is dead in US
Yeah — this seems reasonable. Also I live in one of those towns where a bunch of people surf and like, there’s chatter about pro surfing, but I don’t think anyone really goes to events in person from here. Like they’ll pop on the webcast or watch some clips, but I never really hear anyone say, oh hey, I’m going to the US Open this weekend or whatever.
Jen, you ruined your recent writing cred by using “like” 2 times in one post. And you are not even from the valley as far as I can tell. I get that the the word “like” has become a spoken word tick for many people, my 17 year old son for one, but in written form?? Chas the trained linguist – feel free to chime in.
I’ll also try. In Australia there is considerable government tourism dept support for major surf contests. All three CTs in Oz are heavily supported by such tourism depts. I am not sure of the upcoming events’ figures but in Qld and Vicco this support in the recent past has amounted to over three quarters of a million dollars apiece, and in Western Australia, a lot more than that — around the $2m mark. This is on top of numerous other sponsors including the namers in Qld and Vicco. The fact is that right now the WSL is tightening its belt on costs — if they can’t get that kind of support for events, they will exercise the option. Fiji’s got no money for a giant surf event and clearly OK doesn’t have enough to cover the spread. There’s no level of govt support for an event in California, there’s just the naming rights sponsor, and the ante was clearly upped for 2018 and beyond, and the naming rights sponsor wasn’t prepared to go there. (The relationship between the WSL and Hurley has not been exactly fabulous around that event in recent times in any case.)
Markets, ha ha, these events are webcast/broadcast worldwide to vastly more people than walk down to Lower Trestles, I mean do you guys really think anyone outside the San Clemente/North County Axis of Ecstasy goes to watch that event? Do you reckon anyone in Florida gives a shit if there’s an event at Lowers? There’ll be a CT in Florida before there’s another one at Trestles.
Re the pool, the WSL owns that thing and they are obviously keen to get it out there as soon as they can, if they’re gonna invest in an event it’s that one.
No citizen should be subsidizing a surf contest unless it creates an extraordinary amount of revenue for the community. Now in Virginia Beach they are trying to get the city’s citizen’s to subsidize a wave pool mere meters from the ocean. Was going to say the same about beach attendance. But at the same time no one in Peoria is watching online. Now if they had a pool there and a pool in Chicago and in Detroit etc you might get some real attendance and viewership from those areas. This new event is prob close to do or die because of surf industry and more a showcase to hinterland investors and Olympics upping the last one. They have been working towards this new model for the past few years. Timing with the pool was not ironic in my guesstamation.
i love Cubans, they’re zesty…
Taco flavored kisses
tacos are from Mexico dumb dumb.
Make Lemoore great again!
It’s still fucking Fresno..
More like Fresno adjacent… or as Chas would say, Frajacent or maybe Fresjacent. Chas, take your pick.
I only ask for one wave of my choice at D Street one day.
Trestles is a good contest wave and venue. Could it not have been moved to a better time of year for bigger surf? All the other
2018 locations are pure rights, or a mix of lefts and rights. No more pure lefts other than Tahiti. Fiji needs a big sponsor and government assistance, i get that. But
Bali, having a comp at another right hander? In the land of long lefts? Ah come on. The Bali Om comps at
Uluwatu in the early 1980s provided loads of possibilities for perfect
waves in big surf or small. Oh well, hope the contestants in the wave pool event get to go left, as well as right.
“And it’s a logical choice to fill a missing event spot with a wave that’s better than most waves most days of the year and guaranteed.”
Guaranteed? You know, baseball has had this debate as of late. Even so far as to argue let laser beams and computer mother boards make it all better. Surfing ain’t baseball. Kelly ain’t Babe Ruth. (Babe would scoff at KS’s beverage choice.) Take the human element out of baseball. How dare they error shit. Lets fix human error. And Mother Nature? Fuck her errors too! Yeah! She can wait in line like the rest of them.
That “guaranteed” is NFL thought. Thanks Paul.
Fuck you Seppos are good at overcalling things and Trestles is a prime example.
Sure its a fun wave but its hardly testing or quite frankly anywhere near world class. Its nice and soft though just how you Yanks like your sport.
See ya Trestles, nobody but Chas and Chris Cote are going to miss it.
Signed people from the land of Snapper and Bells. Yawn.
it was a great wave in the days of Miki Dora and Phil Edwards
You’re as much of an idiot as Trump’s advisors.
Go eat an apple..
Kelly writes so poorly for someone who posts so often. He sorely wants to be considered as the thinking man’s surfer but the more he lets loose on social media, the more insight we get into his shallow, swirling mind.
What is he going to be after hanging up the jersey is causing him to stumble forward. Curren is happy being a surfer. Slater is trying to redefine that to satisfy his narscissism. Many many see through it. Some do not. He is trying to speak to the Former while his believers are from the Outer Known.
Curren is King!!!! Best ever
Tiger Woods springs to mind
I counted three insults, backhanded compliments.
He da king of that shit!
florida trash
Maybe you should give him some writing lessons in return for surf lessons. I wonder if it would be of equal value? If not, what would the discrepancy be between his hourly rate and yours?
I once taught him a lesson on the pool table. The look in his eye when I potted out has neveer left me. I’d never dare attempt to teach him anything, Ever.
I once taught him a lesson on the pool table. The look in his eye when I potted out has neveer left me. I’d never dare attempt to teach him anything, Ever.
Kelly has had a fun few days of getting into arguments on various instagram comment feeds, follow up on that! He ‘guarantees’ Lebore will be the most viewed event of all time!
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comic…