Is it still surfing, or merely riding waves? Photos: (L)Photo: Stephane Lacasa/(R)Screenshot
We’ve all seen Kelly Slater’s wave. Of course, it’s perfect. It only takes ten minutes on the internet and a bit of imagination and you can visualize a top-level WSL tour event there complete with jammed stands and a world-class communication infrastructure. The main event of main events, taking place only 100 miles from Hollywood.
But even with its Platonic ideal of a wave, is Cape St. Kelly the right place for professional surfing? Sure, everyone beefs about the Brazilian surf, and what about those mushburgers that get served up when a chunk of the professional surfing world descends on Huntington for the U.S. Open each year? Naturally, we’d like to see world class surfing on world class waves for the CT, the QS and beyond.
But are football and rugby really improved by playing indoors and removing natural parameters of wind and weather? To be sure, the media product is undeniably improved because the entertainment industry prefers a duplicatable product, standardization and predictability. But something important is lost in trying to control and format the experience. Golfers teeing off in the morning at this year’s Masters found far more welcoming greens than those putting in the afternoon on surfaces dried by wind and sun. That may not be strictly “fair” to the latter, but watching them deal with the natural changes of the world we live in was part of the fun and interest in the tournament.
Randy Rarick, who should know a thing or two about pro surfing, once famously pointed out that no one gazes at a tennis court. Whereas, of course, you can’t keep our eyes off waves. In large part this is because no two waves are the same. Anyone who’s ever paddled out knows that the challenge and charm of surfing lie in constant adaptation to that changing environment.
This naturally raises problems for the organizers of the pro surfing tour, who certainly dream of being able to deliver a top-quality product exactly when and how they wish to. But will perfectly manicured, machine-manufactured waves still really be surfing as it is traditionally understood? How about the human spirit and form in constant nimble readjustment—and at times perfect fusion with—a powerful, always mutating, never fully predictable natural force?
I don’t have an answer to this question, but I think that pro surfing should give it some serious thought. Be careful what you wish for. If you look at the lines of those perfect waves long enough, they may start to look like a tennis court.
