Photo: WSL / KIRSTIN SCHOLTZ
On Wednesday, in a slew of other internally-generated news, the WSL announced its schedule for the 2019 Championship Tour. Now, you can read 500 words on the familiar stops and locations and take note of a couple minor but mostly inconsequential changes just to get them off our plate: the season will start in April instead of March, Bali has been placed between Bells and Margaret River, and the Surf Ranch Pro is still intact with no return to Trestles…and oh yeah, what’s that glaring bright mark on the calendar you can’t stop staring at come December?
Pipe is still there.
Never has a familiar event been such a surprising sight in its exact same slot. Remember when Pipe was possibly going to become the World Tour opener? And then the WSL announced they were going to drop it from the Tour altogether? Well apparently after what felt like the most confusing permitting conundrum ever between the WSL and the City of Honolulu, everything landed right back to…well, normal.
2019 Men’s Championship Tour Schedule:
Gold Coast Men’s Pro: April 3 – 13, 2019
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach: April 17 – 27, 2019
Bali Men’s Pro: May 13 – 24, 2019
Margaret River Pro: May 27 – June 7, 2019
Oi Rio Pro: June 20 – 28, 2019
J-Bay Open: July 9 – 22, 2019
Tahiti Pro Teahupo’o: August 21 – September 1, 2019
Surf Ranch Pro: September 19 – 22, 2019
France Men’s Pro: October 3 – 13, 2019
Meo Pro Peniche: October 16 – 28, 2019
Billabong Pipe Masters: December 8 – 20, 2019
“We are disappointed we will not be able to run the 2019 Billabong Pipe Masters,” WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt said back in February. “However, we are pleased that the Mayor recognizes that fundamental changes are required to the permit process that will benefit Hawaiian surfing, the surfers, the community and other stakeholders. We will assist however we can during this process and once we understand the changes, we will be able to determine which events we can invest in bringing to Hawaii in winter 2019 and beyond. As previously stated, we would love to continue to bring our full array of events to Hawaii, but we need to be able to plan long term and receive the appropriate local support in order to help grow Hawaiian surfing in a sustainable way.”
Wednesday’s WSL press release made no mention of how they were able to sort everything out in not only keeping the Billabong Pipe Masters on the Tour schedule but in also holding it right in its familiar anchor position (we’re looking into it right now). The WSL’s message was mostly focused on the later start offering a slightly longer offseason for athletes — a valid change in its own right.
“In terms of the pacing, the feedback we’ve had from a lot of the surfers is positive on the later start and longer offseason in terms of being able to prepare for the year ahead as well as breaking up the longer blocks of events into more manageable legs,” Adrian Buchan, CT surfer and surfer’s representative, said. “I think both changes will contribute to the surfers performing at their best.”
The Inertia reached out to the WSL for comment concerning keeping the Billabong Pipe Masters on its 2019 calendar following the announcement earlier this year that Pipe would be dropped. Any new information will be updated as it’s made available.
