Plus the addition of Steamer Land and Sunset!
In another Machiavellian flourish, World Surf League CEO Erik Logan just revealed that the first finals of the re-vamped tour will be hosted at once-banished Trestles plus declared that both Steamer Lane and Sunset will be added as stops and that the whole business is getting started on schedule, merely weeks away.
Whoa!
Let us go straight to the press release, still sizzling, and then discuss.
The world-renowned surf break of Lower Trestles is back on the WSL Championship Tour (CT) calendar in 2021, this time as the stage of the first-ever WSL Finals. The men’s and women’s World Titles will be decided in a single-day competition, where the top five men and top five women ranked during the CT season will battle for their respective titles in a new surf-off format at one of the world’s best waves. The WSL Finals waiting period will run from September 8 – 17, 2021.
“Putting on an international tour amid a global pandemic is not an easy task, but the dedication and work of the entire organization, gives us confidence that we can safely execute these competitions on behalf of our athletes, staff and the local communities,” said Erik Logan, WSL CEO.
The WSL will add two new tour stops to the CT for the 2021 season. Firstly, the CT will return to the iconic Sunset Beach in Oahu, Hawaii from January 19 – 28, 2021 for the Sunset Open. This will mark the first time there has been a combined men’s and women’s CT competition at Sunset since 1991 and the first Women’s CT stop on the North Shore of Oahu since 2010. 33 years after the first CT competition at Steamer Lane, the world’s best surfers are planning to return to Santa Cruz for the Santa Cruz Pro, from February 2 – 12, 2021.
So?
Trestles final, addition of The Lane and Sunset?
How are you feeling?
Cautiously hopeful?
Abundantly cautiously hopeful?
I don’t know that Trestles will capture the intense magic of Pipeline as the crowning event but, as beggars, choosing is a bad look.
Also, if Filipe Toledo doesn’t win this year then he can be officially classified as a poor professional surfer.
More as the story develops (i.e. Longtom wakes up).