It’s easy to bag on the World Surf League. Everyone is doing it. Look here and here and here and here and to a lesser degree here and a factual account about the WSL’s finances here and some more bagging over here and here as well and quite a big one here.
They’re relatively new to the game; many people in the management have little understanding of the true culture of our sport and as of late they have a tendency to push our sport in some wrong directions.
Yet there are many most excellent things that are happening as a result of the involvement of ZoSea. If you speak to the average happy-go-lucky surf fan instead of people on the inside track like the surf magazine crew, the photographers, the videographers and the bloggers and the bottom feeding surf journalists, you’d actually come across a surprisingly large segment of the surf fan pie-graph that is totally stoked with where we are, and how far we have progressed under the new crew. Here are some possible reasons why.
Surfers As People
It was always hard for anyone to get access to the surfers, and it was always a challenge for the former ASP to get decent interviews from the surfers. Now the surfers are always keen and ready to chat, and Pete Mel and Rosy Hodge even get to interview the heat losers. These heat-losers chat amicably, and they usually describe their loss and the performances with way more intelligence and lucidity than witnessed before. To put this in perspective, could you imagine trying to interview Andy Irons after a heat loss back in the day? It wouldn’t have happened. By interacting with the surfers in different situations as opposed to solely when they’re in heat victory exuberance, we get to see a different side to our heroes, and as such we connect more with them and see them as humble people as well as surfing champions. Sometimes they get to join the commentary booth, sometimes they are vox popped on the beach, and through it all we become privy to their non contest-vested sides. Don’t get me wrong – they are still rock stars to us average folk, but for those brief and fleeting moments when we get to see the other sides to their personalities, they become more human, and in such they become nicer people.
World Surf League Characters
With the continuous growth of the World Surf Leagues’ online and AV presence, so the need for characters and representatives have grown, and as we have embraced the fresh-faced commentators over the last 15 or so months, so we have grown along with them. It’s a bit like the familiarity of The Simpsons family – we have been traveling their road for so long that Homer – even with all his yellow weaknesses and inane shortcomings, – becomes endearing and lovable. So to do the WSL characters start to resonate with the viewers. The previously mentioned Pete Mel and Rosy Hodge are perfect examples of characters that we have warmed to, along with Joey Turpel, Ross Williams and Ronnie Blakey to name a few favourites. While they might have failings and flaws, we can relate to them and we understand them. We get what they are saying, and we connect with them as people as they talk us through our favourite surfers and their performances. And Pat Parnell has gone and Chelsea Cannell is in, which is coolness.
The Webcasts
No matter what anyone says about the webcast, it works. I’m based in a little coastal village in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. I’ve attended the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro on the Gold Coast for the last four years, and this year I couldn’t make it because indigence. I miss the joint, and all I have left is the webcast. For me it’s a savior. It’s fast and slick, and while it may have (quite) a few adverts it is still free.
I get to watch Jordy, Taj, Kelly and a few of my other favourite surfers and to cheer them on while drinking a cold (and cheaper than Australian) beer. Likewise I can jeer at the surfers I don’t enjoy watching, mock the Brazilians without fear of a Jiu Jitsu reprise, and I can freely admonish the judges with no Woody as security ready to march me off site as per other years. Being in a different time zone I can also continue to watch it in bed from my iPad, and I can wake up and watch a few heats on my iPhone while in the toilet. I can totally live the event through streaming. And in all seriousness, isn’t that still the shit?
