When the WSL introduced a number of radical changes a few years back, I watched with a keen interest.
Gone was the F1 style Grand Prix circuit where competitors accrue rating points as they tour from event to event with an eventual winner. Those accrued points, minus a couple throwaway results, would now qualify the Top 5 Men and Top 5 Women to a one day playoff for the World Championship.
Gone was the possibility of a barnstorming tour dominance that would secure the World Title with events to spare or at the penultimate event, thus robbing the fans of a title showdown, traditionally held at Pipeline in December. This playoff scenario would guarantee the World Champions being crowned in a best of three set Grand Final every year.
This would be followed by an off season, similar to the winter sport football codes like Soccer, Rugby League and NFL. The Championship Tour would now start at Pipeline and at a designated event, namely Margaret River, there would be a mid-year cut.
After several years of this format, with the finals being held in September at Lowers, the WSL hierarchy tweaked the whole thing in 2025. The result being a more dynamic and balanced tour with a final five showdown at Cloudbreak in Fiji.
There’s been no shortage of feedback from fans, athletes and sponsors. Change comes with some baggage, it’s not without risk and the architect of change has to shoulder the blow back, good or bad.
I think the tweaks are positive. Prior to the changes, there were only five events before the mid-season cut, now there’s seven.
The nature of those previous first five events bothered me on several fronts. They were hard, mean events, for everyone, especially so for the rookie class attempting to get their feet into a comfortable groove in the wax.
Think about the challenge being faced by surfers who have likely never surfed a heat in these locations. Pipeline is and always will be the ultimate examination. In the modern era, trying to successfully wrestle a wave during a free surf from the established pecking order is extremely rare, leaving some competitors with little opportunity to practice before donning a singlet.
Sunset then presented another test with its incredibly shifty lineup.
Then it was over to Peniche, Portugal in the height of the European winter. It might be sand bottom but on its day, Supertubos can kick your ass with its roving take off zone and mammoth beat downs.
We are in the Oz leg now, with Snapper re-joining the illustrious CT family, but Bells and Margs are not easy waves. There is no substitute for experience at either. No two waves in the set are remotely similar at Bells, experience teaches you to seek out the wave that hugs the reef, that connects to the bowl section.
Wave choice out at Margs is also of high importance. Being able to swoop in behind the peak for a barrel or get two huge carves in before the bricks is vital to progressing through a do or die heat on the cut line. Then there are the bricks, competitors must decide when to float the boat or do a larry layback and find a keyhole without snapping your fins out or breaking a leg.
The cut was brutal after only five very difficult events. If you get cut, you barely have time to shed a tear before diving head first back into the Challenger Series, where a hunting pack is ready to take down the road weary, crestfallen CT star.
The five events before the cut were ruthless. However, this year there is seven with the additions of Abu Dhabi, El Salvador and Snapper, minus the loss of Sunset. The 2025 format presents a more balanced and level playing field without losing any of the nail biting showdowns that we’ll see in Australian waters over the next month.
