Like everyone currently adjusting to the Coronavirus sporting organisations are also reinventing themselves. In Australia, the NRL has earmarked a re-launch of the footy season commencing late May. However, the government and health authorities are trying to douse down that idea.
The WSL CT has even more uncertainty when it comes to talking of a restart. Surfing is synonymous with international travel and the Tour’s hallmark is putting the world’s best surfers in the world’s best waves. With no telling how long it will be until border restrictions are lifted and air travel back on the cards there’s a big cloud hanging over pro surfing.
If you’re the WSL brass the clock is ticking. The entire season looks to be canned. And there’s only so many quarantine workout routines the WSL media machine can pump out of their “athletes” before we all switch off for good.
Surfing needs to be re-imagined and this hiatus is an opportunity. CE-LO aka Erik Logan needs to make some big calls in the next six weeks if he wants to be remembered for saving pro surfing when it was on life support as the surf industry crumbles around it.
One solution: Scrap the 2020 season and re-imagine the Tour for 2021.
Cut the deadwood, bring back the best stops from yesteryear and add a couple more we love.
Make the Australian leg down just one event: Margaret River. If you want to separate the men from the boys throw them in SW WA with The Box, Main Break & North Point venue options. No place screams Australia and is more marketable than The West. The waves are challenging, the wildlife extreme and there’s no place for any pro surfer worth their paycheque to hide.
From WA hop over to *Indonesia and post up at Uluwatu or Keramas. Take your pick. But a stop in Indonesia needs to happen. I would hate to see it at G-Land mostly because I feel that the spot needs to be respected and uninhibited by the WSL circus. Leave it for the ferals who live and breathe the place each season. Some places are better left alone.
So, you want to sell surfing you say Mr. Wozzle? Then head back to Japan. The popularity of the sport in the land of the rising sun is crazy. Kanoa Igarashi is their newly found messiah. The combination of his youthful confidence and tenacity may even see him snatch a world title in the next few years. If you can line it up with a typhoon and not some soft as shit beach break it will rate.
It began in Africa. But specifically, J-Bay, undoubtedly one of the world’s best waves. We cannot live without it. The pros love it. Just post up and let the wave be the star. There is no excuse for any surfer on Tour not to perform at J-Bay. We know how well Jordy surfs it but then Filipe blew our minds. While Mick showed us how much of a stone-cold competitor he was after returning and winning the event that was almost his last.
The best left on Tour no matter what size is Cloudbreak. It’s an absolute travesty it has been laid to rest. Re-boot it and make Kelly foot the bill on Outerknown’s purse after he abandoned OK’s three-year deal. Teahupoo is another heavy water location that should be on Tour without debate.
But the most high-performance wave on Tour by far is still Trestles. I still can’t believe it hasn’t been reinstated given how much history has gone down over those cobblestones. The area is rich in history, every shaper worth his salt has fine-tuned team rider equipment for Trestles. Peel back the curtain on the WSL’s recent Vault series and rewind to the 2002 contest for one of the best events that ever went down.
Scratching Bells from the CT is controversial. But take off that cloak of nostalgia that surfing always has a way of hanging onto for just one second. Wouldn’t it be liberating to go on The Search? The Tour needs a mystery box event. An undisclosed location inserted back on the CT schedule will shake off some of the predictability we’ve become accustomed to and has the potential to take the Tour to unseen corners of the globe.
Europe adds a degree of culture, history, and education sadly in short supply from many of the pros on Tour who are more interested in the shifty peaks. Pick either France or Portugal but not both. My vote is Supertubes. France has been plagued by too many events bordering on QS conditions. But you could argue Portugal is the same. Mundaka is too fickle but might be worth a roll of the dice.
World titles that get decided at Pipe are extra special. It’s a no brainer. Surfing’s ultimate gladiator pit where one good wave can pave your career in gold or lead you down the boulevard of broken dreams.
And the second option?
*Indonesia in of itself could provide the solution to the WSL’s truncated 2020 season. Re-birth the idea that ex-CEO, Sophie Goldschmidt had proposed. A floating round-robin event in the waters of Indonesia. Cost-effective, guaranteed in perfect waves and the threat of malaria never too far away.
Follow each surfer like a fly on the wall. Capture the tantrums, the food poisoning, the homesickness, and see who eats the most Beng Beng bars (I’m looking at you Wade Carmichael). If the WSL wants to go down the UFC route then make the final playoffs a pay-per-view event and demand we pay to see who will be crowned the champ.
The 2018 concept had legs. But fell over due to a permitting fiasco with Hawaii that ultimately blew up in Goldschmidt’s face. What was proposed was the CT kicking off in February at Pipe and finishing at Teahupoo in September. The bottom 22 would be relegated to the QS and the top six surfers from each gender would compete in a “playoffs” style event in the Mentawai Islands. Remember all this hinged on cutting the number of surfers on Tour which isn’t an option this season.
It may have been a revelation at the time but if now is not the time for a robust change for the WSL, then when?
