If it’s good enough for Dane? Is this board size the future of competitive surfing? Photo: Screenshot//CI
In another sign that razor-sharp rail work and aerial athletics might be on the way out, the World Surf League today announced it would initiate a five-stop Mid-Length World Tour for the 2023-2024 season. WSL officials said that the League was looking for a happy medium after the recent longboard vs. shortboard dustup.
“We want to keep everything right down the middle, literally,” a WSL source told me today. “The CT has become way, way too athletic what with its hard-to-judge aerials and over reliance on speed. The longboard tour is on the opposite end of that. One makes for a great broadcast product, the other, well. So we decided a middle ground would be appropriate. Oh, and our research finds that the social media engagement on mid-lengths is perfect, hitting about down the ‘middle.'”
Most of those mid-length social media shots tend to be of shapers, the source told me, slowly running a planer over foam in well-lit bays as slight hints of dust decorate the air. And they’re usually in black and white. “The engagement should be ideal for our audience.”
Mid-lengths of course, are usually between 6’5″ and eight feet, feature bulbous rails, are a bit wider, and sport plenty of volume – which of course will open up the field to more middle-of-the-road surfers. Stops for the new tour haven’t been solidified but Malibu, Middle Trestles, San Onofre, Cardiff, and Sayulita have all been thrown out there, all slopey waves that allow for the perfect blend of back arching, cheater fives, and elongated rail turns.
Other than being equal for men and women, the WSL tells me the League is still working out prize purse. “It will probably be somewhere in the ‘middle,'” the source said.
I’ll have more as the story develops.
Editor’s Note: Happy April 1, 2022. Johnny Utah is an “Eff-Bee-Eye” agent and an expert in works of satire. More of his investigative work can be found here.
