Paige Alms, demonstrating what women are capable of doing at Peahi. Photo: WSL
Last year was easily the best ever for women’s competitive big wave surfing, thanks largely to stunning performances in the Peahi Challenge in November. The WSL’s 2016-17 big wave season officially comes to a close at the end of February, begging the question: Where does the women’s Big Wave Tour go from here? On the heels of last year’s success, you might imagine the World Surf League has some big plans in store. But while next year’s men’s Big Wave Tour has a roster of events set to go, the women’s schedule is wide open — the women’s page on the WSL site sports a big white space. Given last year’s historic showing, fans are left with a few questions, namely: Will women have their own big wave tour? If so, what events do they want? Will the league establish a Big Wave Qualifying Series, as it did for the men? We interviewed two of the top female big wave chargers to get some answers. Find those and more, below.
Starting small is okay.
Though the WSL calls it the women’s Big Wave Tour, no such “tour” really exists. Last year, women competed in their own heats at Peahi, but that’s it. Eventually, female chargers would indeed like to have their own full-blown tour, says surfers’ representative, Bianca Valenti. “You want to see how people perform in different waves and different conditions,” she says.
But at this point, they’d be satisfied with a scaled-back schedule, possibly just two or three events. Because of the opportunity gap female surfers have faced for decades, the women’s big wave community isn’t as robust as the men’s. Easing into the creation of a tour could help deepen the talent pool and inspire female competitors around the world at a realistic pace. For example, several of the competitors in the Peahi Challenge were surfing the place for the first time. “It’s clear there are six people who stand a little ahead of the rest. The second tier needs to come a little stronger,” Valenti says.
Mavericks and Jaws are at the top of their list.
If you watched the men’s events at Puerto Escondido and Nazare and thought “I’d like to surf there never” you probably weren’t alone. The current crop of women’s chargers isn’t eager to add those locales to their tour.
“There are certain events that would highlight women best at this point,” Valenti says. Those are Peahi, Todos Santos, Nelscott Reef, and — if the WSL can get its hands on the newly available contest permit — Mavericks (where contests are now required to feature women). After those, women would most like to have events at Pico Alto, Punta Galeo, Punta de Lobos, and Praia do Cardoso, a Brazilian spot recently added to the men’s Big Wave Qualifying Series. “As much as I want a full tour, I don’t think they need to rush into a huge tour and money commitment,” says Andrea Moller. “Starting small is better than not starting at all.”
Here’s a quick reminder of how hard female competitors charged Jaws last year:
Piggybacking off the Men’s Big Wave Tour has its advantages.
The women wouldn’t mind if women’s events took place during the men’s events, as happened at the Peahi Challenge. This strategy can help female surfers capitalize on media coverage for the men’s events, and allow the league to save on overhead costs. “I feel like having women and men together is stronger for everybody,” Moller says.
It’s only fair to add a Qualifying Series.
Last season was the first the WSL organized a Qualifying Series for the men. The female community would welcome that pathway to qualification for the championship events, too — again, possibly running in tandem with the men’s big wave QS.
