A surfer needs an entire year on Tour to acclimate and get something going, even if he is a 10-year veteran.
Now that it is actually happening, the new ASP World Title Race’s flaws are becoming more apparent. The ASP needed a change, yet what is the point of bringing kids on Tour halfway through the year when they won’t even be close to competing for a World Title?
Surfers are perpetual procrastinators, especially if there are waves on the horizon. So when a new ASP World Tour format was sketched up and poorly explained by the ASP, confusion was afoot. But now it’s actually happening, and halfway through the 2011 season we say goodbye to former World Champ CJ Hobgood, Gabe Kling, and Bobby Martinez while saying hello to Gabriel Medina, Miguel Pupo, and Yadin Nicol (and John Florence thanks to Yadin’s injury).
Immediately, some flaws have become apparent. The ASP needed a change, yet Bobby Martinez has a point. It’s not that a guy like Yadin Nicol shouldn’t be on the highest stage of surfing, because he should be. But what is the point of bringing a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old on Tour midway through the year? They will only be receiving World Tour points for the second half of the year—and realistically, they won’t even be close to competing for a World Title because of it.
What about starting off slow? Some guys are notoriously slow starters (i.e.: CJ Hobgood, mainly because of the plethora of rights in the first half of the year) and need a full year to find their groove. As Bobby mentioned in his somewhat infamous video, look at Joel Parkinson two years ago. Everyone claimed he had the World Title wrapped up by the end of the second event. Then in the second half of the year he had a ton of trouble making it past the third round of an event.
An entire season needs to play out in order to get a comprehensive idea of what each surfer can do. If, by the end of the year, one has fallen from the rankings, well then out with the old and in with the new! But taking away an earned spot on the World Title Race before one can even get their sea legs is a disgrace, especially to a former World Champ like CJ Hobgood.
Speaking of having to do more events (or rather not do events), why is Dane Reynolds still on Tour despite having not surfed one Tour event this year? Freddy Patacchia received the injury wildcard, so that can’t be the reason. Dane is sitting 24th in the One World Rankings, but that’s with six results from last year (mainly of events that have already passed this year). Once an event passes, doesn’t that mean a surfer can only use the newest result? If Dane doesn’t do another event this year, do all his points carry over? Why?
From where I sit, all these moves look like a marketing strategy to get the young surfers with major sponsor backing onto the Tour as easily and quickly as possible. In years past, a surfer felt he earned the right to be on Tour by slogging all year (sometimes for many years) on the WQS. Now, you can blow up in a few PRIME events in the first half of the year and be handed a second-half year on Tour. It might make for a few more exciting heats, but realistically, what happens when a Gabriel Medina takes last in every single event this early in his career, falls off Tour, and gets nowhere near it again because of a battered psyche? The Danes, the Jordys, and the Dustys have all said that it was a mental preparation to be ready for the Tour, and it was something they weren’t ready for at such a young age.
Remember, we’re surfers, we deal with things very last minute. A surfer needs an entire year on Tour to acclimate and get something going, even if he is a 10-year veteran. But if he should have a completely bad year, well that is where the shuffle should be made. If only out of respect for starting off slow.
