Take Pipeline out of the world title equation and what have you got?
I’ll start with this: I am an avid WSL fan.
I can’t get enough competitive surfing. I’m a groupie of the highest order. The old adage goes: the cursed punter would bet on two flies crawling up a wall.
I’m even worse. I’d spend half my Sunday watching four-person heats in Portuguese at a Brazilian two star if it’s all there is on offer.
Despite the bin-fire served up over the Covid period I still support the League.
I even run a fantasy comp with some mates. On the WSL platform (sorry Surfvival). It’s accompanied by a Whatsapp group chat. All the participants as one-eyed and easy-pleased as me.
I’ve come dead-last three years running. But that’s not the point.
The very fact micro-communities like this exist, dependent on the WSL ecosystem, is a sign that they’re still doing something right.
Usually at this time of year, coming into December, the chat would be running hot. A world title race on offer. Requalification dramas. The thrill of the finals.
As much as we’d consume any comp the WSL feeds us, there’s nothing like the excitement of the big league. And the Hawaii leg is the cherry on top.
But now, the chat is eerily quiet.
Only the odd clip being shared here and there. Why? Because there’s a Pipe-sized hole this Christmas.
Yes we still have Haleiwa.
But the egg nog-dipped crescendo of the Banzai Pipeline and the associated world title / Triple Crown drama is as much a part of my Yuletide routine as frenzied last minute shopping and annually-defrosted familial trauma.
I miss it.
Sure, I’m just one fan. The WSL has a bigger plan at play.
But I’m still allowed to feel robbed. In fact there’s no World Championship events at all between September 2021 and February ‘22 (give or take a day: Pipe waiting period starts on the 29th Jan)
That’s five months off air. Talk about a momentum killer.
I realise other sports run on similar seasons but if anything the year-round nature of the WSL season was it’s selling point. Now, instead of my pals discussing WSL-led narratives – Gabby’s dogged determination, Felipe’s recalcitrance, Wade’s litreage, Morgan’s hair – we’re left to fill the void. Do our own research. Ruminate as to why the WSL is like it is.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s a common feature in history.
When the proles aren’t busy they tend to turn on their masters. Give us this type of downtime and conspiracy theories thrive. Conjecture and opinion rule.
Erosion of trust in institutions is the natural result.
We hold the WSL up to the light. Tilt and rotate so that it is illuminated from every angle. Like a cheap Christmas decoration, we find some sparkle on the surface. But apply any real pressure, any real scrutiny, and it crumbles in our hand.
I get that a lot of the changes to the Tour have been positive.
But Pipe. December. World Title. Why you gotta go mess with that?
To quote Gabby himself on the changes to the format. “I don’t know about business. I don’t know how it works. They tried to do something different.”
But is different always better?
It’s a common theme among C Suite execs like Erik Logan. Move into a new organisation. Create change for change’s sake. September, according to the WSL, is a good month for waves at a variety of global surf spots.
But it effectively rules out the competition ever again finishing at Pipe.
Why?
Is it because in his time running the show Erik Logan has positioned the WSL as a media house where the audience themselves, not the surfers or the comps, have become the product?
Where all decisions are no longer based around the mantra of “World’s best surfers in the world’s best waves” but instead “How can we best market ourselves to potential advertisers?”
Is it because the WSL is being slowly hollowed out and commodified so that it is a more attractive, “safer” option for big spending corporates to waste their money on?
Turning a deadshit, dumbcunt but still unique sports outfit into a generic, compliant, corporate glory hole?
While at the same time forgetting about the tradition, the culture, the fans, that created it in the first place?
Or am I being too harsh?
Reading into it too much?
Probably.
Most of what I’ve just said is, I’m sure, a load of shit.
But idle minds beget impure faults.
We wouldn’t be having this conversation if Pipe was about to start!
perhaps you’ve mistaken the WSL as mates of our tribe? I hope you’ve now realised all they inspire in us is diatribe,
I was pretty much checked out when the new tour format was announced, and the end of the triple crown as we know it was the nail in the coffin. Bye WSL, hope yo make it to ABC sports, or whatever antiquated goal you have with this appeal to the masses. I guess the upside may be less people here between thanksgiving and Christmas now? Not that I ever surf east of Haleiwa anymore. Wow I’m grumpy
3/4 of my “surfer” coworkers are fucking VALs. Though, unlike you, I run away from them whenever I see them at work or near the beach. Exactly because of what you said.
They want to talk boards, shapes, shapers, reefs. I don’t mind talking about that shit with mates I grew up with coz they’re all good surfers who know what they’re talking about.
These VALs? Barely any of ‘em can do anything more except get to their feet (usually in 4 jerky steps) then go straight, in pooman stance.
Why the fuck do they wanna talk about boards and rails and tails when they cam barely wobble, let alone wiggle? I avoid the cunts like the plague so they all think I’m an arrogant asshole. It’s fucking glorious.
micro-communities? based on the wsl? i love you man, and am as equal a fan. but the golden times of me enjoying a comp with friends (which DID exist) have long gone. the wsl is properly fucked; sincerely, a dude who watches fuck-all sports but and amongst sizeable similar crew who wouldn’t even know when the next comp is
WSL has its moments.
Trestles was pretty entertaining in part because they let Kelly commentate.
They should have had a Lowers Expression Session in between the finals heats: Kelly and Christian and who else?
Maybe Joel?
Don’t know what happened to Steph in that event. She should have annihilated the joint.
And go watch the Tahiti Pro final in 2016 (?): Gabe vs Kelly.
That’s as good as pro surfing has ever been.
Gabe dominated but Kelly still almost beat him because of the two-wave thing.
The old Asp couldn’t make a go of it and basically gave it away, the new Wsl is doing no better, the Surf Industry seems to be dead, (wear a t-shirt with a surf logo name and look like an inland kook), surf contests are soul-less and mainstream, Vals have taken over the “unique” sport.
When something loses it soul, isn’t it basically dead.
“The cool kids (what’s left of them), are focusing on the past, trying to reconstruct surfing’s age of innocence. They’re looking back because something about ‘surfing’ today just doesn’t feel right. The magic has been drained out, leaving a pale corpse”.
–Well, just thought I’d throw that out there.
All joking aside…high school women’s volleyball is where model agencies scout talent.
Very much agree!
Watched the “docu-series” on Von Dutch a forth night ago. Could only think of what debauchery brought the major brands to their knees over the past decade or two?
Greed.
it was all over when Andy left.
I’m just stoked you got deadshit, dumbcunt and glory hole into one sentence – so good!!! Deadshit and dumbcunt 2 of my absolute favs
A couple of things came straight to mind…
1) ‘And he’s going to stall for the corporate glory hole…’
2) Who did everyone else think of as being the dumbcunt on tour? Great use of dumbcunt.
3) Can we come up with some form of celebratory self loathing, gender-fluid, non-binary like term for those of us who can’t stop watching the Woz?
4) First, Stanislavsky and now SAds, it’s been a good day of reading.
That’s gonna be a looooong journey for him.
Especially with Nicklearse Carrot’s punchline above about …”keeping surfers happy on Surfline”…
Private fantasy comp and whatsapp chats.
Hmmm…
Dungeons and dragons anyone ?
Ads I’m a CT Heroin addict to – the drama of coming down to Pipe at the end of the year was metaphorically orgasmic – especially when it was up for grabs! The only thing I don’t agree with you, its not Morgs hair it’s his teeth!
I might add here is that what I love about competitive surfing is you are watching it in real time – “free” surfers when you watch their edits, in the back of your mind you know they’ve edited down
3 hours into 5 minutes – Oh wow you’re the best surfer I’ve ever seen!
Hair and teeth both fantastic
Surfing has lost all mystique.
I miss the lies, the localism, the bad boards, the shitty wetsuits, having no idea if there were waves at the end of your three hour drive.
Mystery was cool.
Knowing everything sucks.
lol surfads, here is an alternative theory, what if the WSL’s spirit is broken? What if they’ve tried everything they got, and found that not much has really changed? What if they are in the process of settling down into a resigned middle aged competence, as these organisational phases of professional surfing tend to do, the crazy young days of “we’re spending $100 million and changing the World!” now long past, all the mad revolutionary ideas of half a dozen Kelly pools in Korea and Florida, etc, gone where the good people go, and a steady as she goes few years ahead, ticking ratings boxes and staying out of trouble?
I think you wanna worry about whether JJF and Gabriel will ever face each other in a death battle again in this lifetime. Pro surfing relies on the surf stars, if they step away, there’ll be real trouble.
sorry I’ll go back to keeping surfers happy on Surfline now.
Aah, just the man I’ve been waiting for!! Found this in a best of tracks circa ’88.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
“sorry I’ll go back to keeping surfers happy on Surfline now.”
Nice joke Nicklearse
Ya doin’ far better at the comedy than Chas…
Good point Nick about their spirit maybe being broken, even the Olympics couldn’t help the Wsl it seems, it’s done and dusted with no viable up-tick it seems. I mean, what to you do, if even the biggest sporting event on the planet (the Olympics), couldn’t help you?
Stop the financial bleeding, and dig in for the long haul? let’s face it, the Wsl probably would have gone ‘belly up’ by now, but the Wsl has a friggen billionaire and his wife as a benefactor who can keep the Wsl going indefinitely if they wish. It’s not just a normal business model.
Good to hear from you, as you bring fresh insight sometimes.
What’s the KPI for keeping surfers happy?
There he is! When is Nick Carroll gonna do a Gus Gould for the WSL?
JJ is a multi-millionaire and already financially secure for a couple of lifetimes–will he have the competitive drive like a Brazillian from a 3rd world country?
Dude just really wants to sail his boat and be left alone.
He can’t even go to Foodland by himself.
Time will tell.
I’ve never seen John in Foodland but have seen him on the beach numerous times without any noticeable crowd.
I think just being around too many people at Foodland was an issue for him.
Well we all know the historic reasoning for the mess they are in. The long game was always hold the final at the surf ranch.
Presumably because it’s the northern winter they didn’t want to hold pipe early Dec then the final at the surf ranch in late Dec.
Plus then they fucked up the permits when they wanted to hold back to back Pipe Masters in Dec/Jan.
But there’s a bit more to it. Ever since they brought in the dual tours the triple crown comps went from equal billing to Pipe plus two sideshows that no one really cared about because the stakes were zero.
Back in the day Sunset and Waimea had equal status with pipe for the title. Billabong even had the mobile comp (5A rating) and somewhere along the line Waimea was swapped for Haliewa. Pipe was for the barrel specialists (usually goofies), Sunset was the comp for the macho Natural footers and occasional goofy maniac. And Waimea was that big wave comp that had most of the pros praying it would be small.
Remember also that Pipe was not always the last comp of the year. Everyone forgets the years of split seasons where the last event was at Bells or Sydney, and the mobile Billabong comp also used to finish the season like when Nick Wood and Cheyne Horan won it at Waimea.
Having said all that, if you are going to have the title decided in December then it’s obvious it should be held in Hawaii.
For years everyone whined about Pipe being held in December when the prime season was late january and that Volcom copped true glory in the late january early feb time slot.
Now pipe is jan 28 to feb 10.
Followed by Sunset during prime season as well. Tour starting off with probable back to back epic events.
For years everyone cried about g land being off tour. Now gland is back. along w tahiti and j bay this year will be insane especially if the goat wins pipe the day before his 50 day feb 11 and carries yellow jersey into sunset.
this site full of kooks no true pro surf fans here now that LT gone
50 b day
Yes but that fact hardly suits my narrative, does it?
We want cloooooouuuuuuud breaaaaaaak!
Ideally that will be the location of the finals. Not sure how it is in September but prob good enough.
That was a good prediction about Kelly winning Pipe. Nevertheless, it is nice when it end the season.
I’ll start with this, I am ‘not’ a Wsl fan, (except when they are doing stupid things–which is pretty often).
But I am a surf (wave), groupie.