It was a great year for surfing, and it was a massive leap for the World Surf League who has collectively taken our sport to unprecedented levels. Let’s have a first look at why 2016 was awesome for the sport of surfing.
Kelly Slater unveils the Kelly Slater Wave Co wave pool. The Internet breaks as the greatest man-made wave is revealed, and everyone forgets about Adriano being crowned after a long and arduous, as well as thoroughly documented climb out of the quagmire of the favelas. Technically the clip dropped on December 18, but it dominated so much news space over 2016 that I decided to include it. It was a wondrous moment. The future of surfing opened up and broke away from an uncertain outlook consisting of ravenous sharks, giant oil-spills, increasing melanoma occurrences and the rise of vainglorious SUP surfers.
The joy of the Matt Wilkinson story. With the two opening wins of the season and the clear wisdom of Glenn Hall behind him, it seemed a very strong possibility that we were going to see the young goofy-footer become a very unusual world champion. Hell, we wanted him to do it. He then fumbled a few times and faltered a few more, yet still managed to finish off the year in a very healthy and comfortable 5th place, despite racking up what is allegedly the biggest single-night bar bill in the history of the sport.
Following on this narrative, the other feel-good story of the year was the combined efforts of Sebastian Zietz and Stuart Kennedy. Both coming onto the tour through the backdoor of wildcard opportunities, both had cracker seasons riding great equipment, and both ended up in very healthy positions on the Jeep Rankings and poised for massive career trajectories in 2017. It couldn't have happened to two nicer guys either.
The inaugural Puerto Escondido Challenge was brought to the table as a replacement for the Dungeons Challenge after that South African event was canceled by the locals, and what an incredible hit it turned out to be. The event consisted of booming twenty-foot barrels, surfers charging hell-for-leather, and an embracing local community that welcomed the WSL and the opportunities that an event of this stature bought to town. Won by Twiggy Baker, who consistently found and rode the biggest right-hand barrels throughout, the South African charger started his campaign to reclaim the big wave world title that he last held in 2013.
There is so much that can be said following on the Puerto highlight that it’s hard to pinpoint the next big wave story. Nic Lamb is in my opinion one of the hardest charging and gung-ho surfers on the planet, and after a number of communications with the guy it becomes quite plain to see that he is the hungriest big wave charger out there. His end of year ratings were 3rd in 2013 and 2014 and 4th in 2015 and while he might be placed a little lower right now on the Big Wave Tour rankings, his approach at crazy Nazaré was next level. Pulling into a giant close-out barrel, a massive wipe-out on a deep right, and a horrendous over-the –falls tumble out of the sky on a set left that saw him dazed on the beach with concussion were just three of the many courageous things he got up to that day. Nic has a world title in him.
Mick Fanning’s victory at JBay this year was a fitting closure of that chapter in his life and he did it with aplomb, ripping the lines apart and doing some of the fastest and cleanest carving on the small final day. It was always going to be Fanning to take the win, it was written in his destiny. It was part of his cool-down year, and he took good advantage of it.
Tyler Wright winning the world title was an emotional and overwhelming victory for the determined surfer. With Glenn Hall in her corner and a very clear idea of what needed to be done to win, she approached each heat and each event with an unnerving calmness, and it was spooky to hear her talk about the simple things in her program. “I know what to do to win, “ she would say matter-of-factly 9and a bit eerily..), “Micro has told me exactly how to surf to win heats,” and “there’s no need to panic, I just remain calm and wait for the waves to come” was some more of the phraseology that saw her to her inaugural and very popular world title, with a whole lot more to come.
Talking about the fairer sex, we also had the inauguration of the Women’s Big Wave Tour, who got a chance to compete at Pe’ahi. The event was all about Paige Alms, who charged, won the event and now leads the ratings, but it was very exciting to see Justine Du Pont and Felicity Palmateer also give it a go. Women’s big wave surfing is set to climb a trajectory, with a number of new events a possibility.
Next: 2016 WSL Highlights Part 2
