Shock as beloved Snapper Rocks event possibly removed from tour…
Relatively hot off the wire from Queensland is the rumour that while Bells will return to its traditional Easter slot in 2022, and for at least two years after that, Snapper Rocks is finished as a tour event.
The event, which ran from 2002 (won by Joel Parkinson) until 2019 (won by Italo Ferreira), and which was won by tour great Kelly Slater four times, was postponed in 2020, COVID, and swiped off the calendar in 2021 after the Queensland state government refused to cover the cost of quarantining surfers and the WSL’s considerable entourage.
Sensing blood, NSW and Western Australia created “war chests” of up to five million dollars to snatch the event away from Queensland, which offered half-a-mill toward the running of the event, believed to cost around four mill.
At the time, state’s tourism minister Stirls Hinchcliffe said he was “disappointed at the World Surf League’s decision to chase short-term dollars at the expense of surfing tradition… The WSL made it clear holding the event at Snapper Rocks this year was conditional on the Queensland Government picking up the quarantine tab for the WSL’s international competitors.”
The teats of state governments in Australia have long been a source of nourishing funds for pro surfing, although as Longtom pointed out after the Lennox Head fiasco, “It looks like cheap rent-seeking for a product that few want in their backyards and a story that has never really made sense except for a few rare birds who live at an altitude the rest of us will never attain.”
And, “Without a functioning business model to wean itself off State Tourism bodies the WSL is locked in a prison of its own making.”
I think, deleting the Quiksilver Pro is no great loss for surfing.
It gives Snapper Rocks room to breathe, maybe even eases the gross overcrowding a little.
Timely, too, given the retirement of Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson and their ascent, or descent, however you regard ageing, into middle age.
Or maybe it’s a bummer not to see Filipe doin’ his high-speed dance across Snapper’s pretty blue walls or Kolohe Andino chase his third runner-up finish there.
They should have canceled Snapper the year Parko beat Medina, but Medina “won” the contest. True Brazil had hosted the World Cup that year and lost out, leaving Brazil hungry for a World Champ, which the WSL was glad to provide. But the contest should have been canceled right then and there. They pillaged Snapper to raise their profile in Brazil and it worked. After stealing the win from the local, what more could they take?
Replace Snapper with the Tweed Shire Council Duranbah Pro brought to you by New South Wales.
And make it a bodyboarding event too.
Mr. Frederick Pattachia holds the Greatest Moment at Snapper in my book!
Truly rocked my world that day.
Stone cold brutal!
Wasn’t it snapper where Andy tried to hit ?mick Lowe? With his board?
Hossegor – I think it was Mick Campbell who bounced a knuckle sandwich on AI’s snoz (there was video of the incident which mysteriously got deleted a while ago) unless of course the incident you refer to was another one.
I’ve got it buried on the BeachGrit Instagram, if y’feel like lookin.
where did the J Flores / Sunny incident go down? Snapper?
Burleigh
That contest was the worst! I remember like 10 lay days in a row then it ran in such shit waves. It had obviously pumped the week previous to the window and all the free surf clips of the ct guys were on the internet to salt the wound. Freddy’s rock hop was progression and power surfing melded perfectly in an otherwise bleak lineup.
The funniest thing about Bells is watching the indidgos freezing their tits off at the prezzo.
Couldnt MC Hammer throw them a kangaroo skin pullover or smthn?
Bex ….. When they named the beach Manly it wasn’t after Pasty White Blow In Pommies working in IT but tough local blokes ? …and I am sure the locals at Bells might be used to the cold at the Equinox after 40,000 + years
I realize your colonial pommy self doesn’t know too much about pre-colonial Australian History….but down here possum skins were used to make cloaks….and it’s never cold down here at easter !!
My bad, my Noonga.
not bad just inbred !
Best thing I’ve read all day. 90% of the time its a longboard wave and if a cyclone kicks in they move to Kirra anyway. So what is the point.
It’s clear that the main reason this has been cancelled is they have run out of room on the stairs at Rainbow Bay Surf Club to put the winners names on.
I have nothing to back this up but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Olympic committee had a hand in this. Making the WSL move the event North for the future Brisbane Olympics. To give the event more “clout” or whatever.
North to where? Random open beachie ?
If I were to guess North Stradie
An Olympic event at north straddie that would make it extremely difficult for the public to attend. Nah not seeing it.
You talk as if the WSL and the ISA use common sense, have you seen the Olympic qualifying?
Not to mention the environmental impact.
Yepoon
Barrier Reef …..with Kong as a Konsultant ?
I am sure that the new K-Tub will be ready up in Coolum ‘s wet lands……..just like the K-Tub in Japan is nearly ready ….LOL !!
Ah Kolohe. Will he ever learn
I can see Kolohe being interviewed by St Peter at the Pearly Gates of Competitive Surfing Heaven …..
St P : First thing Brother , only Angels where wings here ….. so take of those ridiculous Red Bull Feather Dusters .Now down to business ….. What have you done for us ?
K : Well I won lots of NSSA titles before I was confirmed , a few QS events and second places in CT events .
St P :Well it’s not great is it , especially after the amount of resources invested ?
K:But I am really Popular and White
St P : This is Competitive Surfing Heaven not San Clemente ( god bless him ) or Instagram . Look I will see what I can do but we are full up with winners ….So I’ll stick you on the waiting list and who knows maybe Richie Lovett , Kai Otton , Keanu , Jaddy and the Panda , who are way ahead of you having won a CT , will bask in the glory of their respective CT wins and live for centuries ….. Shame …..Had you won 3 like Wilko , You could have Cloudbreak to yourself …….for eternity
You forgot Luke Egan
G Land ….. I had a few surfs with him last year at Cronulla …..he was still absolutely killing it .
If I was a certain ex world champ, I will propose another contest in my bathtub to take Snapper’s place…
One… a regular point break contest, and another, a goofy point break contest.
One opening the race title, the other, closing.
Think about people… all the tension, the duels, the drama in all actions, happiness and joy, the sadness and rage in all battles.
Will be epic!
They should hold an event at lohis or pasta Point. Perfect performance wave with easy logistics. Would keep the goofies happy
We are here – Atoll Travel / Pasta Point xoxo
I love the story of the original surfer who got shipwrecked in the Maldives and stumbled upon a plethora of world class waves …. Surfed his nuts off , integrated himself into the local community , converted to Islam , married a local …. Who then somehow kept it a secret for 15 fucken years …. even , supposedly surfing way below his level in Bali so people would not cotton on to the fact he had found a surfing paradise …..Legend .
Tony Hussein Hinde, RIP, dead at fifty-five, heart attack, Pasta Point.
guy was a legend , got shipwrecked with a whole bunch of hash oil…..one of the original scammers who nearly went straight LOL!
I read a long piece about his interesting life , possibly in the French version of the Surfers Journal …..Amazing the difference between Morning of the Earth’s release in 72 , opening the trail to Bali and beyond in Indonesia , in comparison to Hussein’s quest to keep his new found secret garden in the Maldives ….a secret…… just a year later in 73 ?
After the 2019 J Bay Final , I don’t think the long pointbreaks represent a disadvantage to contemporary goofy greats , Gabriel and Italo , who have both won the Snapper Event…. which maybe why they canceled it ?
Further and continuing evidence of a conspiracy of discrimination!
Oh I agree, people have been saying surfing points on your backhand is an advantage since the days of Wayne Lynch.
But everyone (on here) seems to complain about the lack of left hand point breaks. Mind you, the tour was always skewed towards lefts when it came to death defying waves that I wouldn’t want to surf.
Actually Wayne told my old man how when he first surfed Cloudbreak he was happy he didn’t have to surf it on his backhand.
What’s happening with Newcastle next year given they won’t have the Easter slot?
Going back being mere weather boardriders hopefully
Sources?
Nice man close to Surfing Queensland.
That’s a scoop if you can name him and publish his quotes
Is he stuck at the border ? Lovers Rock at DBah ? Close but not quite there ….
Hah! Trick answer. There’s no evidence of anyone nice at Surfing Queensland. Imagine the looks on the faces of the affected surfers as they rocked up to the local last week to find the Qld State Junior Titles running the weekend after the same peak/150m of beach break had been flagged off the previous weekend for the boardriders comp?
To be fair, there is no consternation with the boardriders, they live here and they look after the place. But every fucken weekend in summer there’s something happening on the beach and now it’s creeping into the winters.
There’s so many brazzo’s in Cooly now that the Quiksilver Pro will be renamed the Oi Rio Pro @ Snapper Rocks.
Obrigado agora vai se foder.
E gatinhas, entao ta bom!!
Brazilians are worse than Mexicans and muzzies, they multiply like god dam rats.