Controversy as Best Women Surfers Denied Chance to Surf The Box at Margaret River Pro

"If the sport is going to progress at all, it has to stop with the hand-holding. Just run some heats already."

I woke up this morning, bright-eyed and excited. Today, I’m going to watch some surfing, I thought as I sipped my espresso on my shabby couch, which I bought from a neighbor for a laughably small sum of money. Sure, it has seen some times. Yes, the cats have ripped much of the fabric clean off. But it’s my couch and I like it.

Stupidly as it turned out, I assumed that the women’s third round had run at Margaret River’s Main Break yesterday. There I was, looking forward to seeing the women surf in good waves. Surely, this would be a fun and exciting day of contest surfing, or at least as fun and exciting as this weird sport can ever be.

So, it was a surprise to find that, in fact the women’s heats did not run. I saw clips from the men’s heats at the Box, including Griff’s ridiculous, shape-shifting tube ride. How could Main Break not be good enough to run heats?

Curious, I pulled up the replay for Jordy’s heat that actually did run at Main Break. It looked dreamy, actually. Big and burly, sure, but as clean as I’ve seen Margaret River in some time. Jordy’s rail surfing looked beautiful on that wide open face where every flaw is magnified. Surely, the women could handle this kind of thing, too.

And in fact, the WSL has run women’s heats at Margaret River in far less clean conditions than yesterday offered. Back in 2021, for example, Steph and Carissa squared off for a semifinal in a wild and windy lineup. They survived, and noted big-wave charger Steph won that heat.

For every three steps forward in women’s surfing, it feels like there are ten steps backward. Oh no! We can’t possibly run the women, because [fill in the blank.] If the sport is going to progress at all, it has to stop with the hand-holding. Just run some heats already.

Apparently, the decision not to run resulted from fears that the Scimitar of Doom, which is to say the cut, might not have fallen with total fairness on the women at the lower end of the draw. Because they couldn’t run all the women’s heats yesterday, some women would have faced different conditions. Last I checked, this is called surfing and part of the whole deal. The ocean is never the same.

Effectively, the cut called the day for the women. Over time, it has felt like the cut has had an out-sized influence over events, and especially over the final pre-cut event at Margaret River. This sort of thinking is all the more reason to be glad the whole misguided thing is going away next year.

Yesterday, this decision meant that the women at the bottom of the rankings had an out-sized influence over how the competition unfolded. Their desperate efforts to save their careers meant that the contest didn’t run despite the good conditions. Just like everyone else on Tour, the women below the line have had six events to climb up the rankings. They haven’t managed to do it. Why should they get special consideration now at the last possible minute?

This is not how any of this should work. A professional sport should not actually cater to the lowest common denominator. An interesting, competitive, and exciting version of contest surfing should challenge the women at the top of the draw. Take the best surfers in the world and push them to show what they can do — and hopefully in the process, they’ll get even better. If you aren’t at the top of the draw, well, you’d better get to work.

At some point before we’re all too much older, I’d like to see the women compete at the Box, too. It didn’t happen this year, but hopefully it will. By the time their turn would have come yesterday, the Box was already out of play. Two heats of men ended up running at Main Break.

Oh hey, look! A contest that ran in different conditions for different heats! (clutches pearls, faints on shabby couch)

In a recent interview, Ryan Crosby the WSL’s CEO said he wants to make contest surfing more appealing to the core audience. The shift back to a points-based world championship with Pipeline as the finale is a nice first step. Losing the cut in favor of a late-season mini-cut is also a positive move.

But there’s more to do here.

The progression in women’s surfing has accelerated over the past few seasons, and there’s a new generation of bold women ready to redefine surfing in their image. They deserve opportunities that match their ambitions and talents. The judging needs to adjust to reward progression and the contest directors shouldn’t shy away from sending the women out to compete in conditions that challenge them.

Twisting into contortions to ensure that the women being left behind get enough second chances isn’t doing the sport any favors.

Huck it over the ledge and do some good fucking turns — or go home.

Progress isn’t going to wait for you.