“Teahupo’o was firing, and I’m at Huntington surfing these one-foot (expletive deleted) waves..."
There was once a time, in the not too distant past, where our World Surf League was a facsimile of North Korea. A magnificent Wall of Positive Noise built around the “global home of surfing.” Everything inside perfect and wonderful, progressive and wow. To suggest otherwise, from there, a capital offense, or at least a fineable one.
Well, it seems that level of control couldn’t last forever and, in fact, didn’t. Now we have champions sharing how the WSL forces them to pay for trophies and Jacob Willcox torching the Challenger Series in an expletive-laced screed.
As a surf fan, you are aware of the Championship Tour, where the world’s almost best surfers perform in Hawaii, Tahiti, Fiji etc. You might be unfamiliar with the Challenger Series, though, where hopefuls perform in Huntington Beach.
The Guardian, a British daily founded in Manchester, just profiled the grueling, often unfair, grind CS surfers are forced to endure as they ply their craft. Sophie McCulloch and Jacob Willcox were featured, Willcox letting the salty language fly. “Teahupo’o was firing, and I’m at Huntington surfing these one-foot shit waves,” he cursed. “Nothing against Huntington, it’s an iconic event, but in those moments, it drives you to want to be better.”
“It can be brutal,” he later continued. “You can go there (Portugal in this case), the waves can be absolutely dogshit, and you might not get a chance.”
Earmuff city.
Willcox, I think, might have qualified again for the 2026 Championship Tour but will have to wait all the way to April for his feet to be in the proverbial wax. Until then, he can enjoy daily offerings about beach volleyball, and such, right here on BeachGrit.
Very fun.