"This format is (poo emoji)"
Owen Wright, longtime Rip Curl star, winner of the 2012 $300,000 New York Pro and brother of Tyler, took to Instagram just hours ago to announce the exciting news that his Torquay-based sponsor has signed a three-year deal with the World Surf League to title sponsor the new one-day finals day.
CEO Erik Logan, when not busy appearing in movies not about him, rolled this new format out a year ago after melting during last year’s Italo vs. Gabe Pipeline heat.
It was a winner-take-all affair, as the Brazilians were very near each other in the standings, and thrilling.
Wanting to replicate, Logan ditched the “It Takes a Tour to Make a Title” mantra and replaced it with “Filipe Toledo Might Win if He is in 5th Place at Year End and This New Final’s Day Happens to be in Gutless Little Waves.”
Owen wrote, “It’s true! Rip Curl is stoked to announce a 3-year partnership of the Rip Curl @wsl Finals, the new one-day competition that will decide the Men’s and Women’s World Surfing Champions. Follow the road to the #RipCurlWSLFinals. @ripcurl_aus @ripcurl_usa @ripcurl_europe what do you guys think of the new one day format to decide the world champion?”
And one must wonder what led to his decision to ask the question “what do you guys think of the new one day format to decide the world champion?” unless he thinks the idea is stupid though can’t say so himself?
Or….?
The response has been predictable.
One creepily supportive comment, “I’m happy with it as long as you are on the podium.”
Thirteen, “This format is (poo emoji)” “A stupid idea. World Champion has to be earned in all conditions after many contests. It’ll be a shallow trophy.” “How about a rip curl raffle to decide the winner.” “The winner won’t be a real world champion. That’s a fact.” “Sorry mate not a fan of this. If you surf all year and in different spots surf and conditions your the best. If you win on one day event your the best on that day.”
“Fkn dumb!”
Is it odd that Owen gets so few comments per post?
Also, the PR on this is clearly not good. No real surf fan will like but the page has turned on that relic.
Would Jonah Hill like?
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Currently more of them than answers.
More as the story develops.
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fake followers. 418k followers….can’t get 500 to watch his heats.
by this stage the WSL is probably paying rip curl to put their name on.
Wonder if Rip Curl shelled out the cash for the permit.
I’m vegan.
I’m all for the tour being decided in different waves but let’s be honest.
If it’s over 8 ft it will be deemed unsurfable.
If it’s a heavy reef in W.A it be to sharky.
If it’s two foot it be incontestable.
It’s just soft. The whole 4 ft world title Woozle thing.
I’ve decided E-lo had made a decision to change the tour fundamentally from the “best surfers on the best waves”, to the “best small wave surfers on relatable waves for VALs”. Hence his decision to “showcase” waves VALs feel they could tackle…. “Man how good are x’s snaps? I wish I could backside snap like that” rather than “how good is y at packing a slabbing reef tube from a super late drop?”. The person who doesn’t understand the second wave is likely to think it’s repetitive and boring to watch, they don’t get the “inside baseball”, so to speak, of waves of consequence cuz they surf mush. With no signs of travel opening up anytime soon, better to enthuse a bunch of people about what’s right out their front door.
Taking the tour from “best surfers on the best waves” to the “best small wave surfers on Val-relatable waves” is e-lo’s final gambit. Expect a bunch of pro tutorials on bottom turns aimed at grownups not groms, and endless discussion of rotation and tweaked and loose. We may all think this is boring, but this is what VALs want… this, and Kai Lenny…
Furthermore, I predict this is going to be very very successful. Having created a massive VAL market, e-lo will feed them just what they want: a world champion on waves they understand, done and dusted in a day that they can watch on tv with all their buddies, a veritable Super Bowl of surfing.
Sigh. I’m scared, it’s starting to not sound as incompetent as I initially thought…. perhaps the only thing we can rely on is old mate fucking it up…. but if he starts to get into his stride good god we could be beyond fucked…. remember the halcyon days, me lads, for these are them….
Surely if the Wozzle wants tom hold a one day ‘world champs’ as per Downhill Mountain Biking or Skiing it should be contested in national jerseys & ‘the tour’ should be the ‘world cup championship’, but then doesn’t the ISA already hold the world surf games??
absolutely!
I’m healing the planet.
Next
70%of African countries imprison people for being gay, not very cool
Oomfoofoo.
I told you these billionaires are hard-headed, Dirk’s not going to give up easy.
P.S.
How much do you think Rip Curl would have to cough up to sponsor a ‘one day’ event?
3 mil?, 5? 10?–20?–??
I’d suggest Kathmandu ( rip curl) has signed a letter of intent.
Can’t imagine past two million with easy out clauses.
What we are reading is pr straight from a putrid dish.
It’s big business sending each other a email and copy us in on it so they can pat each other on the back on a Friday afternoon for being constructive.
Hey it’s either this or more shark stories.
The surf media is at a low tide mark atm
Yes. Kathmandu.
It’s not even owned by surfers anymore.
Who gives a fuck…
Rip Curls’ slimy way of gaining profits.
Send Tommy to Mex for 3 months during COVID…cha-ching!
Maybe Mason will crack his skull on a rock…cha-ching!
What are the Wrights’ family secrets?…cha-ching!
(Insert Mason voice) Rip Curl.
If the WSL was smart, they would hold the finals at Pismo Beach over July 4th weekend. You would have 100,00+ redneck, hillbilly, biker, Chicano and Hmong fans from Fresno down to Bakersfield. Have it partially sponsored by Old West Cinnamon Rolls and pimp the shit out of their Lemoore pool (they all go the casino anyway). 2-4 foot blown out, mush burgers seem about right for WSl champion.
You forgot to include the stop at NHC before the cinnamon rolls. (Aloha emoji)
Is that still the only weed shop in SLO county? I drove up to Cambria a couple years ago with wifey and left my stash. I was shocked to learn that we had to drive the 30 miles to Grover Beach to the ONLY spot in SLO. At least there is…strangely… good Thai food there.
They have one in Grover Beach and one in Lemoore.
That makes sense. Slot jockeys and naval Air Force fighters must love their weed!!!
Highway to the danger zone. (Aloha emoji).
Your better off without the stash.
48 weeks out of the year I would agree with you. However I love a nice hybrid strain with a bottle of Paso Robles Riesling when on the central coast. Or a mezcal paloma when in Oaxaca. Or a rum punch when in Nicaragua. Or a vodka pog juice in Maui. The real trick is bringing my “stash” to all the places it’s not legal…yet.
Come on man, that’s Zinfandel country.
my folks lived in Cambria for 30 yrs or so. I got to visit a fair amount. Interesting waves up there! Early 80’s winters? Just off the charts bomboras everywhere. We had no clue. No one did
I learned to sponge the close outs of Avila and Cayucos. Eventually I learned to surf in the mush of Pismo. When my only surfing friend and I could drive , we finally discovered the better waves in/around Cambria and Montana de Oro and some of those not so secret spots along the Big Sur coast.
what a coast!! either insanely bad or insanely good….kinda wish I had spent more time there figuring it out. Winters in my time there were just out of control. Even our 8’0 guns were just useless. Limp back home to Spongecon…
I realized summer was just as awesome too.
I would run to my own execution were it sponsored by Old West Cinnamon Rolls.
The one day format has merit if they include 3 rounds of MMA and 3 holes of golf.
and a resin bucket full of (Balter) beer before each paddle out.
Now that surfing is in the IOC family of sport – they are looking at formats like UCI or FIS that hold single events to crown a world champion. Rarely does the best skier or biker in the world win under those settings.
I don’t mind the idea of a one day final, but it should be run at a decent wave (e.g.: not trestles) with no major advantage to either stance.
It’s still a shit idea even if it’s an attempt to be able to package up the WSL and sell it to some clueless schmuck.
Kudos to Rip Curl for putting their money where their mouth is. Unlike Billabong and Quik, who got the direct to K-Mart brand destruction.
I imagine Rip Curl got extremely good value out of the deal.
not from a ROI perspective
It’s a very very bad idea! They should stick with the normal championship, and then have some sort of super cup for the end of year’s top five with a massive winner takes all prize!
Rosie Hodge is also pushing for Melbourne Cup style fashions and a red carpet on Finals day.
now, I’m not sure if that’s real or not. that’s where we are at. poe’s law etc.
ok. i am here for that! clear that runway i am coming through!
Why is it shit though? Every major sports league has a ‘post season’ which this essentially becomes. Maybe there is the argument against it being for one day, but some sort of post-season makes a shit ton of sense – show me a relevant sport that does not have a post season to crown a champ?
Every major Soccer league, and Formula One, so basically the two must popular sports in the world in terms of viewership
The Champions League is effectively a playoff
No it’s not, not at all.
Looks like it to me. It’s a tournament i.e. playoff
The Champions league is a league comprising the top teams from different European countries from the year prior. The competition actually starts before most of the domestic leagues, as the teams from weak leagues need to be weeded out. It runs concurrently to the European leagues and is considered a separate competition to the domestic leagues. It takes about ten months from the start of the competition to its finale. It is widely considered the most prestigious competition in club football
Last year they ran it as a tournament because of covid, but that was a one off
NASCAR?
NASCAR has had a postseason for a few years now but the fans generally don’t like it, they started it when viewership began declining.
Nope – field of 16 playoffs
It’s effectively a ‘finals series’ which Australian football and Rugby League have. Fans love it because there’s excitement that a team that just scrapes into contention can win it. Unlike Premier league soccer where the winner can be known weeks in advance.
Not sure if it works in a surfing context though because it heavily favours the surfer who can do fancy tricks on shoulder high waves at Trestles. That’s the big difference with the football codes which are played on the same field week in week out.
JJF could win every event of the year in the lead up and get beaten by Yago Dora for the world title. I reckon that’s a bit shit.
Show me a relevant sport where the playing field changes so much from every event to another.
I mean, if you want to base it off other sports, why not just make it like boxing? Anyone can challenge the current champion to a showdown to become the new title holder? That idea would be fucking stupid, but it is still better than the WSL’s idea because at least they would negotiate a decent venue that is equally fair to both.
Baesball fields are not uniform. Nascar tracks are different. The very team you play is vastly different. For instance in the NFL, playing the Falcons is like 2′ slop, playing the Bucs is like Pipe.
Is there a direct correlation between the Brazilian Storm and declining Western consumerism of surf garments?
The title should be awarded to the surfer with the most IG followers on that day.