John John has a lot of work ahead of him if he is to win that title trophy. Photo: WSL / Kelly Cestari
Australia: where the ‘CT surfers showed up long before the waves. Carissa and Adriano both have healthy leads in the rankings, but we know Carissa can bring home the hardware. Adriano, on the other hand, has never been ranked higher than fifth at year’s end. What I mean is this: there’s a lot we don’t know yet about the inaugural season of the WSL. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t learned some things, too. Here are 10 things we’ve learned from the Australian leg on the WCT:
1. It’s still anyone’s year—unless it’s actually Adriano’s.
Adriano looked sharp as a tack in Australia. Question is: will he be able to keep that momentum? Photo: WSL / Kelly Cestari
Every single competitor on the men’s ‘CT except Adriano de Souza already has at least a 13th or worse to his name. If it were Mick, Kelly, or even John John who was so decisively out front, we’d be basically crowning him already. But too many times we’ve seen Adriano fade as the year goes on. He’s never had world-champion form in the South Pacific or at Pipeline (where he placed 13th four seasons in a row prior to last year’s injury withdrawal). Thus, it’s very reasonable to expect Adriano to falter. The next ten surfers are separated by a total of 6,000 points. They’re (almost) all equally poised to grab the lead—and equally desperate, as each has already generated a throwaway result.
2. In the interest of fairness and equal competition, the WSL needs to run at least one of the first three contests at a left.
Filipe Toledo full throttle at the Box. Photo: WSL / Kelly Cestari
Medina proved last year that it’s not impossible for a goofyfoot to do well at the beginning of the year. But it sure is a lot harder. In principle, it’s true that you need to be equally capable on your backhand and forehand. The problem is that the tour’s regular-footed members don’t have to prove their mettle until Cloudbreak, which seems to be a much easier wave to score well on going backside than, say, Bells. Or the Box. Especially the Box. Owen Wright may have gotten the best wave out there on his backhand—and yes, that does make him a hero—but it doesn’t take an expert to see how much harder it was for backsiders to win their heats out there. Plus, it was nice to see Taj open up his backhand on one of the few decent lefts ridden so far this year. More variety, please! Australia has lefts, right? I know Indo does.
The worst part is that surfers like Freddy P. and CJ are getting seriously screwed by this. The poor seed they have heading into Rio means they’ll face the tour’s best surfers early on in competitions and probably for the rest of the year.
3. The WSL judges don’t like pumping.
Freddy P. not feelin’ the gutless surf on his backside. Photo: WSL
They really do reward transitions and “flow” (I think I have nightmares where Rosy Hodge and Todd Kline do nothing but repeat “speed, power, and flow” over and over again to each other). They want carve-bottom turn-top turn: they’re really sticking to the “combination” element of the criteria. I like it, though. It rewards timing and, more importantly, beautiful surfing. When people like Adriano and Jordy nail those transitions, it’s a beautiful thing.
4. The rookies haven’t shown up yet.
Wiggoly’s happy with a 5th on the Goldie, but has yet to back it up. Photo: WSL / Kirstin scholtz
The best rookie result is Wiggoly Dantas’s 5th at Snapper. Italo Ferreira, ranked 17th, is the tour’s top-rated rookie. They’ve had QS-like waves at two of the contests, too, so adjusting to competing in better waves hasn’t been the problem. Every now and then, one has shown flashes of brilliance, but by and large this rookie class has looked overmatched.
5. Kolohe Andino’s frontside game gets no love—especially in Oz.
Andino’s signature slash/wrap. Photo: WSL / Kirstin Scholtz
I think he gets perpetually underscored in open-faced rights. He’s got this really unique slash/wrap that (it seems) just doesn’t win heats. In four years on the ‘CT, Andino has never placed higher than 13th in Australia.
6. John John pretty much has to get out of Round 3 for each of the remaining eight contests if he wants to win a World Title.
John John will have to really go ham in the next few contests if he wants to be in the World Title race. Photo: WSL
Since he’s lost twice in Round 3 already, all those calling for a John John World Title this year will probably have to eat crow. Unless he can place better than 13th in each of the remaining contests, he’ll be counting at least one subpar result. Of the top 12 ranked surfers right now, he’s in the worst position.
Look, the waves sucked at Bells and Snapper, and he didn’t perform. He may very well be the best surfer in the world, but if he needs good waves to surf well, then he might also never win a World Title. He was also fairly close to winning both of the R3 heats he lost, so it might not be quite so cut and dry. And it is actually feasible to think that he will not lose before R3 again this year—he is that good, after all.
7. Ross Williams has upped his commentator game.
The WSL may be looking for new commentators, but Ross isn’t going anywhere. We love him. Photo: WSL
He’s finding that line between weirdo phraseologist and clear, intelligent explainer that all the best color announcers in every sport toe regularly. Blakey complements him well, too, even if his own conjectures overreach from time to time.
8. Two weeks is not enough time to run both a full men’s and women’s contest if you really want to put the surfers in the best waves.
Hawaiians Coco Ho and Carissa Moore waiting out the back for a good wave. Photo: WSL
The WSL was as obscenely lucky in West Oz as it was unlucky at Snapper. At Bells, the waves were actually pretty good for short stretches, but it was average-to-poor for the vast majority of men’s and women’s heats. Fitting roughly 48 hours of competitive surfing (six eight-hour days) into two weeks means that the best surfers/best waves mantra is not quite holding up. And it seems seriously unlikely that the Oi Rio Pro is going to convince anyone otherwise.
9. The scoring on the women’s side is pretty out of control.
Judges gave Kate Bosworth a perfect 10 on this one. Photo: Blue Crush
I appreciate the difficulty of judging, and I’m more apt to defend the judges than criticize them. Second, the waves that the female contingent of the ‘CT surfed at Margaret River were serious, punishing waves.
But it felt like all they had to do was make it to the lip twice to get a 9. High scores were given for rides on the (relatively) little peaks that popped up in between sets. How is women’s surfing going to progress if they’re getting judged like they deserve excellent scores for just being out there?
10. The WSL has had a rocky start in 2015, but it’s an awesome product that is getting better.
You don’t even have to wait till the competitors paddle in to see a post-heat interview. Photo: Kirstin Scholtz | WSL
Pete Mel is lovable, and I always find myself rooting for him, but the first event of the Big Wave Tour this year was handled poorly in a thousand different ways, especially the mandated shutdown of the local effort to webcast the event live.
That particular move made the WSL look every bit like the greedy corporate entity that its critics make it out to be. Plus, what did they have to gain from shuttering the webcast? It’s not like their audience wouldn’t visit the WSL recaps afterwards. Additionally, the guerrilla webcast was an opportunity for WSL fans to see how much better the webcasts are. The Quiksilver Ceremonial was a big miss for the WSL, which is a shame, because it seemed like an awesome contest. Many moves the WSL is making are antithetical to what most people consider the very heart of surfing.
But if it’s not controversial, it’s doing something wrong. Just look at the comment boards on every single surfing website on the Internet—the surf community will never be happy, and surfers will always complain. That doesn’t mean the WSL can keep making mistakes, but it shouldn’t overshadow the fact that we’re getting to watch world-class surfing for free via a high-quality webcast (unless it’s in Chile). The production value continues to increase.
To the WSL: there are always going to be haters. Just try to keep decreasing the amount of ammunition you’re giving them.
