It's a divine act!
Did y’see it coming? Half-an-hour ago, the WCT announced the not-so-surprising news that a little cotton farming town four hours north-east of Los Angeles would become a stop on the 2018 WCT schedule.
Lemoore, or L’Amour if you believe in love, is the home, of course, to Surf Ranch, the Slater-Fincham wave pool. As per the presser,
Since coming online in December 2015, the WSL Surf Ranch Facility in Lemoore, California has undergone constant refinement and evolution of its technology. A test event this year in September delivered very positive results in terms of competitive experience and the overwhelmingly supportive feedback from surfers training there throughout the season has encouraged the WSL to pursue an event at the facility in 2018.
“The experience of competing at Surf Ranch is pretty extraordinary,” Adrian Buchan, CT competitor and athlete representative, said. “What the team has created is hard to fathom at first – a perfect, 400-yard-long, bi-directional wave in the middle of rural California. I have no doubt that both the quality of the wave and the experience is befitting of hosting a world-class CT event.
“We’re only scratching the surface of how this technology can be applied and it is completely game-changing for the sport,” Sophie Goldschmidt, WSL CEO, said.
The rest of the 2018 tour will be announced next week and, meanwhile, the ocean, which I believe still has some validity, will host the tour finale, the Pipeline Masters.
I have just red Fiji is out of the tour for 2018 season…Huntington beach stays…kelly’s pool may be only one stop…but in the end it will be boring to watch
Stokefest! The tour needs more emphasis on tech and progression. Q: Is surfing more like a salsa dance contest or the 100 yard dash? It is judged more like a 100 yard dash. Gymnastics and figure skating (high tech, high style sports- yes the WSL is a sport) have a separate judge who only judges style, which is factored in on overall score. Since style is seemingly overlooked (ex: ADS overscored, Parko underscored)- make it more tech!! This is just contest talk people. it doesn’t change surfing itself, never will. Chippa Wilson wildcard!!
Chippa! Can you imagine?
The real victim here is Surfline
Sage.
Dell do you think it will make for compelling live sport?
If by live sport you mean cull death sport, then yes, it will make Reunion Island most compelling. The WSL could invade, colonize by wave pool and get Savior Saint status all in one big shebang’n barrelling good time.
will be interesting to see , as rumor has it there is 1 wave every 4.5 minutes , so will still take 30 mins to have a heat if you allow 3 waves per competitor , or do you just give then 2 waves and they have to not fall to get through?
This means with a mens and womans event, still going to have a total 78 heats , which is 39 hrs , are there practice sessions , as I imagine Kelly will compete , does he have an unfair advantage?
Ah so many questions , and rumors that if they want the KSWP for the Olympics , they have to have a successful CT event and still have enough time to build a pool in Japan….for the Olympics!
Imagine the scrutiny if they have both ocean and pool for the olympics. Then they can simply see how many more viewers tuned in to which medium. Then they might close the ocean forever 😥
I doubt they will entertain surfing in the ocean , as they will be able to program the Pool time comp with live surfing , and not have to deal with mather natures antics.
The end game is to sell pool/surf themeparks , so that the next event after Japan will be France then the USA , but right in the middle of summer , so Pools make sense..and $’s for the Ziff and Slater family!
For the sake of consistency, the WSL won’t scrap the 10-minute no wave caught heat restart Rule. This should present some entertaining competitive mind fucking opportunities.
I’m not against that concept – ie Olympics in a pool. Probably going to be better than Summertime Tokyo beach breaks.
Kelly is the biggest kook in the history of surfing.
He has been a cancer.
I just bought a bedbug infested roadside motel in Lemore. See you all there next year. I’ll have tallboys of PBR, Orange County 7’s that have latex allergies, 909er’s with lifted 2-wheel drive trucks, pitbulls on chains, and Limp Bizkit playing very loud.
How does one reserve a room?
Prove you’re local-ish.
is a t-shirt and an opioid habit sufficient?
yes but you need a meth pipe to get ya going in the morning , no nodding off 1/2 way thru your wave!
only if that t-shirt says on the front:
Opioid Habit Sufficient
GOT WAVES?
Fuck you’re in if you have more than 3 comments on BG. We accept EBT cards, FCS I fins (don’t have to match), broken leashes (to train our dogs with), WSL jerseys, Astro Deck trading cards, Felipe Toledo’s used tattoo guns, anything that’s ever been worn or touched by Rosie Hodge, and Red Bull hats as payment. See you in Lemore.
The most boring event in surf history…
Surf ranch it’s like the first matrix… perfect, boring, suicidal…
And it will be increasing.. like a… virus!
Thousands and thousands wave pools, surf ranches… thousands and thousands of new surfers arriving
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Shouldn’t count towards the title. Good place for some drone harassment, though. Hover just in front of the riders with a dangling carrot.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
More to the point, which of you bumbling fuckwits will travel to Lemoore to watch it?
No point. The grandstands wil be reserved for hurricane survivors from Puerto Rico. As if they haven’t suffered enough.
I will, if the curtain to media is peeled back this time. You?
Depends on the format. That pool is perfectly designed for pro competition, if not for actual spectacle. Even the wave period – one every four and a half minutes – is a near exact match for the selection rhythm of the ideal CT heat. There’s no more need for loser round shit or priority games…no freebie wiggle your way out stuff, no 80% control wins based on unpredictable wave quality. Design the right format and the competition will become the spectacle. Ie. no fucking mercy.
what format would suit in your opinion?
Should be 5 waves per surfer per heat. Best 2 waves count. Kinda like the street league skate format where the surfer can make preemptive decision on choice of move combinations. Conservatism will flail. I just hope they dont over score slater or mick maximising tube time opposed to Felipe going nuts on the end bowl.
Is there a Right and a Left off the same ‘swell’, or if not how would selection of direction go?
I think it runs up one end (the right), then it runs back the to the other end (the left). By the way, sorry to here of your passing – always loved your work!
Thanks, it (death) came as a shock, but I’m quite enjoying it (the afterlife) now.
I’d have to think pretty hard and experiment a bit to make a useful suggestion. But it’s got to embrace the completely artificial nature of the situation and use it to put the acid on the competitors…and on the judges. The ocean gives the panel as many easy outs as it does to the surfers. A good format will make everything way clearer and way harsher.
it will be like watching gymnastics. Real surfing requires the ability to read the ocean and predict what will occur and how you will respond. You know that.
I do indeed! But the pool is not that at all. The worst thing they could do is pretend it is.
I hope your are right. Because I think the rare innate ability to read and predict what a wave will do and then smoothly react instantaneously are what make your brother one of the greatest surfers ever.
I would! But only if I could get in for free 🙂
So presumably they’ll charge admission which’ll bring in some cash. And food and beer. It seems like an alright way to waste a day, drinking beers and watching surfing, if you are actually there. But it’ll be deadly boring as a web thing. Deadly.
Unless the Huntington Beach rioters turn up and the place explodes! They could send Occy and Glen Winton out for a best of three final. I’d watch that!
Oh! A riot could definitely add!
https://youtu.be/tzECHL5w1zQ
How longs the waiting period for this event? Also will the commissioner be getting a guest mechanical engineer to talk through the conditions on the morning show?
You jest, but they could could have one re wind
Wouldn’t the idea be to build a big aircraft hanger over the pond to remove any influence of nature?
Ooof. Surfing in the stench of an indoor swimming pool. Sounds soooo appealing.
Its possibly more appealing than the gentle waft of cow shit.
Oh. Yes. You have a point.
Gargh.
Interested in Chas’s thoughts on whether this wave is too dangerous – I mean surfers will be getting heavily inured on this killer wave???
You could even dislocate your shoulder if you are not careful!
And be forced onto a medicinal vape pen to ease terrible discomfort…
kelly’s feelings will be the real winner. all he’s ever wanted is to be loved by his peers.
He’s only popular now because he has the coolest toy in town
lamest toy in town
I don’t think he seeks to be popular anymore. Kelly only seeks to be trending.
Pro surfers are currently planning their routines and designing sequinned costumes.
All thats left is our very own Tonya Harding moment…
What about the ‘soaped board’ incident from Bells in the late 70s? In fact, ice skaters refer to the Nancy Kerrigan incident as “our Bells moment”.
ha , “Vaseline board “incident from a certain Mr Ho and a Wascally Wabbit!
Wow we’re more fucked than i thought.
Don’t forget the music! They’ll have to time their twirls with the tempo if they want to get into the excellent range.
24 consecutive ‘heats’ set to “that Breeders song”. They’ll have to change it up for Round 3.
looks like another event, like Brazil, which I wont be watching. Great to see that the elitism of the WSL has just stepped it up to the next level.
Finally, a venue which is totally scriptable.
Wave selection will be key to victory here.
Well played sir, well played
Somehow someone from a certain South American country will manage an interference.
It’d be cool to see if they somehow incorporate changing bottom contours to keep surfers guessing.
You mean throw the Coffey sisters into the pool?
smart money is on Rick Cain, the public is taking JJF and the points.
I’m really hoping these wave pools pop everywhere. The line ups are just getting too crowded out at those real waves.
What is the format going to be? If it’s going to be the same as the Future Classic, completely different from the rest of the Tour, why not just specialize the format for every spot?… a 12 guy limit at Teahupoo; only allowing twin-fins at Bells; a free-for-all at Trestles, with all 36 guys sent out at one time to fight the crowds and snakes; at Pipe, locals and top-5 only…
That is actually the most interesting evolutionary step comp surfing could make. It’s the first thing that has made my cold soul stir in centuries.