#WSLSHAME, #WILDCARDS SCANDAL, #WHATEQUALITY???
The surfboard shaper Jon Pyzel, whom you know as the stud who gives world champ John John Florence wings. has joined a chorus of voices demanding the winner of the Billabong Pro Pipeline, Moana Jones Wong, be gifted a wildcard to the Portugal event, which begins in four days.
Pyzel reposted an Instagram story from Peter King, the outspoken photographer and former bandmate of Kelly Slater.
“Good point!” writes Pyzel. “What’s the story WSL?”
You might remember Peter from his #TourNotes series, candid, funny, and which was bought, watered down into a bad cordial and subsequently killed by the WSL.
“Wow. If Barron Mamiya or ANY GUY was in third place in the rankings, do you think the WSL would not include them?” wrote King. “What a joke. #radiosilence #WSLshame #WhatEquality??? Moana should be in Portugal. Equal pay but not equal play.”
Jones Wong, who won the Pipeline women’s event as a wildcard and who was subsequently given a wildcard into the second event at Sunset where she finished seventeenth, wasn’t invited to event three on the card, MEO Pro Portugal.
The wildcard was given to Hispanic surfer Tia Blanco, the winner of ABC’s Ultimate Surfer.
Still, it ain’t just Pyzel and King throwing their support behind the Hawaiian Jones Wong.
A few weeks ago, the baseball -bat swinging, send-the-king-of-the-Hui to jail hell-raiser Ian “Kanga” Cairns called on the WSL to gift Jones Wong a wildcard to compete in every event for the remainder of the Championship Tour season.
“She has singlehandedly put the WSL Women’s CT on her back and she’ll make Margaret River, Grajagan, Teahupoo and even Super Tubos electric,” said Cairns. “To earn respect and to build a sport, that’s what Moana can catalyze in women’s surfing. Today’s waves have changed the game. Every young girl at BSR or Urbansurf now knows the pendulum has swung.”
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
Sorry, didn’t read article, however, noticed your Instagram account is no longer present. Did you guys say something too offensive to some twatty snowflake?
Jones Wong embarrassed every girl on Tour at Pipe. They don’t want a repeat so soon…
She has a path to the Tour.
It’s up to her if she wants to take it.
Courtney, Sage, Steph, Tati, Tyler, Sally … all way past their use-by shelf life.
Time for the boring stiff old ladies to retire and let the young wahines take over.
The excitement over Gilmore’s overscore of 10 for that small tube at Keramas was hilarious.
I can’t wait for Tia to spank some okole.
I’d like to spank her Okole
yeah me likey young wagines…
Giving one of the many incredible young Portuguese women a shot seems like a sensible move since they can actually do a backhand turn.
So they should get rid of Steph Gilmor and give her spot to a local?
Sounds good to me
WOZL alrady maxed out their quota of browns
A sensible compromise would be to give her wildcards for two heavy water events: Pipe and Chopes, since she’s proven that she can charge in big hollow lefts.
It would be an inspiration to the new generation of female surfers and a challenge to ‘CT girls to get better at tuberiding. If she wants to be on tour, earn it on the QS.
I’m guessing that’s what will happen. if nothing else, this push will have her gifted G-Land and/or Tahiti
She clearly out surfed Carissa at sunset regardless of the biased judging results.
You have no clue what you talking about
She’ll have no issue out surfing the QS gals and getting on tour then.
That system doesn’t lead to the best surfers competing for the title.
It leads to a tour made up of people who can’t surf in world best waves and world champions that get embarrassed by wildcards. It completely discredits the woman’s tour and stagnates the progression of women’s surfing. There are zero QS contests in Hawaii. If you don’t have wealthy parents than you can forget making it to the CT.
Hopefully they give her an entry into chopes and g land so that there is something to watch.
Same applies to anyone doing the QS, not just the women.
It was better when it was top 30 plus two wildcards, and one, if not both, were from trialists. I remember well thr old “quiksilver trials” which determined who got to compete at bells.
Having a top 30 +2 also eliminates the first two meaningless rounds that take up an entire day of competition.
Isnt that how tom curren won in 1990? Unseeded and cane through the trials in every event?
It’s semi-scripted. This is due to the monopolization of the product by sponsored _ _ _ _’s! They’ve seen the wildcard thing play out before on some beach break or something. This scared them, the way she effortlessly smoked them. They made JMD the Hutt do this, no doubt in my mind.
I was on board until you quoted Cairns.
So true.
The oversized kook is all bark and no bite. Not a fuck is given about what he thinks.
Prick doesn’t even surf.
WSL: Give her the wildcard!
Didn’t we have this discussion in relation to Jack Robinson?
Good enough at Margaret, Pipe, etc. to be on Tour but still couldn’t qualify the good old fashioned way?
Well…He eventually figured out how to surf the QS like almost everyone else and now he’s earned his spot on Tour.
Moana better get cracking on those QS beach breaks.
Pro surfing for rich kids only.
Great system.
Did Italo, Felipe, ADS, or even Kelly Slater grow up rich?
The new QS regional qualifying series certainly makes it easier. No need to fly around the World chasing points.
For all we know MJW told the WSL she don’t wanna be part of this dumb fucken wannabe tennis tour
Alternatively maybe she doesn’t fancy surfing in tit freezing Atlantic water in early March. But if WSL magnanimously have a change of heart then I judge she may do well in decent Supertubos conditions.
Even for the WSL, this is a true wtf moment. A true pipe warrior and agent of real change to women’s performance, passed over for a reality tv surfer.
Is she trying to qualify for the tour the like everyone else?
Maybe they are worried about the old guard being dropped off the tour. Maybe it’s the old guard causing grief in the background. I would think that MWJ has enough points to make the midway cutoff anyway. It’s clear the tour is moving on and it’s time for some of the women to call it a day and let the new crop takeover.
Jeez best watch those sorts of comments,they are a bit close to the truth to be on the BG, Nick Carroll and the mainstream WSL police will hound you down.
Funny thing is, she misses this event right, and maybe a few more and then gets the wildcard for G-Land and Tahiti, wins em both ands the year in the top five… You can’t script that hey.
Oh wait, I think I just did. Oops 🙊
G land and Tahiti both after mid year cutoff. Moana is toast she will spend her summer surfing Bowls and Goat Island.
Oh to be Moana!
Europe -threatened with nuclear war.
Woozle- athletes rashes at half price.
I just don’t feel any sort of desire to assist people who get paid to surf to get paid more to surf.
My guess is that Carissa Moore makes a lot of money and the rest of the women don’t. Moana is probably not rich at all. Adriano was making a LOT less than JJF when they both had one world title, based on a Sean Doherty article in Surfer mag at the time. I think people on the Challenger series are lucky to break even after paying for air travel, hotels, etc.
We know Moana just banked 80k prize money, more than enough to fund a qualifying campaign.
Uncle Sam takes a healthy chunk.
after tax that’s maybe $50k — flights: Oahu — Portugal — Bells — west oz — Indo — El Salvador — Brazil — j-bay — Tahiti — plus all those hotels … could be close — esp. with board bag fees these days!
They’re the CT venues.
that’s where she’ll go if they keep giving her wildcards, which they should — do you know how much money surfers make it they lose in the quarters for example?
Last place (17th) in the Woman’s get $10,000 US.
what is the entry fee?
I doubt any at CT level.
Here’s a breakdown on annual membership costs ( you have to be a “member” before you can gain entry to a comp)
: Full QS Men: $250 US. Full QS Women: $150 US*. One-off event: Set by the region.
Entry costs ( to a comp) are broken down as follows:
Men’s and Women’s QS1000, Junior and Longboard events set by the region
Men’s QS1500 and QS3000: US$200 maximum, plus tax if applicable
Men’s QS6000: US$250 maximum, plus tax if applicable
Men’s QS10,000: US$350 maximum, plus tax if applicable
Women’s QS1500 – QS6000: US$100, plus tax if applicable*
* yes, it’s not “equal” .
Plus insurance-
if you are competing outside your country of residence, you must purchase an insurance product as your usual government or private health coverage will not apply. If you are surfing in QS events, you should purchase (or upgrade to) a QS Event insurance.
Q: What does the insurance cover?
A: Short Term: US$325. Allows you to compete in 2 events during the Tour year. Coverage is for the specific event dates. If you decide to surf more events after using the insurance, you must purchase the full Under 21 or Over 21 policy. Under 21: US$370. Coverage begins from purchase date to December 31st of the current Tour year. Over 21: US$650. Coverage begins from purchase date to December 31st of the current Tour year. Tax may apply in some regions.
I’ve copy and pasted most that from wsl
this does not talk about the WCT
I have looked, can’t find anything about the CT or wildcards costs. It’s all secret woozle stuff I guess?
All tax deductable as it’s her “job”.
why would she want too? stay in Hawaii, enjoy her money, work on a social media image JOB style and enjoy life without the cluster fuck of working for the woozle would be a better idea.
she could settle down, if she wants she could marry, I know there’s a lot going on but she’s too young , that’s her fault
That’s just it. If she doesn’t want it, she shouldn’t be in the conversation.
Yes, get what you want to if you want
‘Cause you can get anything
OK Gramps, let’s get you back to bed.
It’s not time to make a change
Just sit down, surf it slowly
She’s still young, that’s not our fault
There’s so much they have to go through to sell her off
She should just get married hey!
if she wanna leave, take good care
Hope she have a lot of nice things to wear
a lot of nice things turn bad out there
Maybe she doesn’t want to compete in waist-high freezing cold beachbreak slop?
if you take a look at the forecast for supertubos you will see its not going to waist high slop some side shore for a couple days but solid swell for the all comp pretty much, I live in penuche and the waves are nonstop for days the only problem is too much swell like it hapenned a few days ago.
you mean her “coat of armour”