I don’t know about you lot out there in interwebland but I’m a big fan of the WCT. I like the big events, the drama and much as it’s a swear word in some circles the ‘competition’. Because unlike what some marketing people like to think we’re not all bearded, eco-conscious hippies communing with Mother Nature through the ‘art of surfing’.
I like the cut and thrust, the passion, the intrigue, the gossip of drug binges and sordid sexual encounters with groupies… you don’t get that with the Malloys beardy tribe cos they’re all cous cous and cuddles.
Surfing needs big characters and the ‘CT is a showcase for a lot of them, thanks to the modern contraption known as t’interweb we get unparalleled access to the pros. The big events we can watch live from the channel, jeez you can even get Parko, Fanning and the Hobgoods on Twitter. Most recent posts ‘Wish your mums a happy mothers day cos mums are ace!’ so all is well. Well. Kind of…
You may not have noticed but there’s been a major change in the way the WCT (World Championship Tour) operates this year, a new format for the contests which is optional for the event sponsors but has been picked up by everyone except Quiksilver so far whom stuck with the traditional format on the Goldie.
Trad’ format in a nutshell- Round 1 consists of sixteen 3-man heats (top 45 WCT guys plus 3 wildcards), the winner going straight to Rd3 the other two surf again in Rd2. The loser in Rd2 goes home with a turdy-turd (33rd) otherwise known in non cuddly speak as ‘last’. From Rd2 on it’s mano-a-mano and so on until the final hooter peeps and a winner is thusly crowned. The format this way takes roughly four days to complete, which unless you live somewhere amazing is one day longer than most good swells last… Here in lies the rub- long waiting periods suck and waiting for the second swell to fill in while a lot of expensive staff twiddle their thumbs isn’t good business. So we now have the new format that diddles with the system, it goes something like this-
Rather than everyone surfing Round 1 as before the Top 16 on the end of year rankings now get an automatic golden ticket to the new Round 2. So Round 1 consists of the non-top 16 guys plus wildcards be they local or sponsor sourced. There’s no cuddly second chance now either. Round 1= the killing floor. Do the do in 25-minutes or you’re back on the plane home with a sour taste in your mouth and a turdy-turd squelching in your pocket. This system eliminates a day from the schedule allowing most events to wrap up in one swell event, which sure as shit makes it better for spectators on the ground and around the world, it gives the events more buzz and they don’t turn into laborious drag-a-thons of endless calls at 7am, 11am, 1pm etc.
On the minus side it does suck balls for the new guys. The crew like Marlon Lipke and Tim Boal that have sweated and toiled on the grind of the WQS (World Qualifying Series- the 2nd division if you will, events like the Coldwater Classic in Scotland featured on this site) now have a bit of a glass ceiling- the top-16 guys cannot ever get a 33rd. So no matter how shit they surf, how hung over or how strung out on speedballs they are they are at worst guaranteed a 17th place finish. A lot of rookies dream of getting a 17th -guys like Saffa Ricky Basnett who made history last year with a never ending stream of 33rd place finishes. He didn’t re-qualify. If a top-16 guy goes through one round he gets a 9th, string a few of those together with some 17th places and you’ll definitely re-qualify. The other downside is it means you don’t see the top dudes surf on the first day of the event- a big draw for people to go watch especially in joints like Hossegor- is getting to see King Kelly, AI or Parko in action. Day-1 may end up resembling a ghost town. It’s a tricky choice- pointless round 1 of no consequence like the old system but with the best crew to draw the crowds or the new system of kill or be killed featuring luminaries like Drew Courtney and Nat Curran who are of interest to their Nans and girlfriends only.
The pro’s are predictably divided, those within the current Top-16 are happy as Larry, those that aren’t are not. The third wheel- them wildcards- it does make life easier for them as they don’t have to surf straight away against a Slats, Bede or Fanning, they’ve got a warm up round before getting chewed up by a heavy hitter. It also means everyone does not have a round to get accustomed to a new spot- which is a big deal if you’re a first year rookie that’s never surfed Chopes…
So the new format- it has more swings and roundabouts then your local park. Good thing or bad thing I guess only the end of year results will tell the tale- if the current Top 16 this year are the same next year then we know it’s not working. For the guys that have just qualified, achieved the dream of making the cut to the WCT it’s a huge kick in the teeth as being a non top-16 CT guy is like being in the 2nd division again. The no mans land of the back 28… could a one-tier tour be that far away? Where the top-28 WQS guys get to battle the CT gladiators on the Dream Tour. Logistically a nightmare as the rankings change after every event but it might be an option. Whatever they do people are gonna bitch about it. But hey it’s more interesting than beards, single-fins and tofu…
Postscript: since I wrote this a few weeks ago the new system has been bagged relentlessly, looks like the CT is going back to the old format reserving the shorter format for events where the forecast looks dogshite…
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