One of my kids asked a real good question the other day while daddy sank into his new Ligne Roset Togo corner piece, the fabric is that classic sandy coloured uede, a spur of the moment throw-a-lowball-offer-at-a-seller followed by panic when daddy gotta front up three gees.
“What’s worth more,” said kid, “a world surfing title or an Olympic gold medal?”
Brothers, I didn’t need to think. At least, not when the ghosts of Filipe Toledo’s two world title, scooped out of the mud of two-foot Trestles, are fresh in our heads. Johnny’s three titles are legit as hell, but nothing cuts through like Olympic Gold.
So when Liam McNamara, famous for his “deep and fearless, if ungainly, attack at Pipeline” and for getting belted on the beach by softly spoken Californian Jeff Booth at the 1992 Pipe Masters, suggested it made a helluva lot of sense for Kauli Vaast to be gifted a wildcard onto the 2025 tour, well, he got plenty of agreement from some of the sport’s heavy shooters.
“All right, so as I sit here today, I was thinking about Kauli Vaast winning the gold medal,” says McNamara. “Okay, so in order to qualify for the Olympics, you have to be one of the top surfers on the WCT or top surfers on the ISA. What about when you win the gold medal? Don’t you think it would be right for the WSL to allocate a wild card to the male and female champion if they weren’t already on tour? WCT Tour for 2025. This should be a rule. If you agree with this, share this video. WCT Tour for 2025. This should be a rule. If you agree with this, share this video.”
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Plenty of agreements from tour surfers, coaches and commentators, Yago Dora, Bede Durbidge, Strider, as well as former tour surfer Jeremy Flores as well as Backdoor Shootout and Da Haui founder Fast Eddie Rothman, daddy to Koa and Makua.
Jez Flores: Yes for sure. We’ve been on to it (making a petition). As you know, unfortunately we’ve seen this bullshit over and over again. We keep on pushing
Bede: Definitely makes sense. Biggest sporting event in the world then still not on tour. It would be hard for the punters to work out if they don’t understand surfing.
Yago: Cool idea.
And Fast Eddie: This is a no brainer guaranteed he should get a wild card, but it seems the WSL has its own little club of bullshit as usual. They hated him winning that thing guaranteed.
Makes sense to me, but so does draining a bank account for a chair I could’ve scooped up for a third of the price from one of those pirate websites.
And you?
The post Calls grow for Olympic gold medallist Kauli Vaast to be granted 2025 WSL wildcard appeared first on BeachGrit.
