“If the sport is going to progress at all, it has
to stop with the hand-holding. Just run some heats already.”
I woke up this morning, bright-eyed and
excited. Today, I’m going to watch some surfing, I thought as I
sipped my espresso on my shabby couch, which I bought from a
neighbor for a laughably small sum of money. Sure, it has seen some
times. Yes, the cats have ripped much of the fabric clean off. But
it’s my couch and I like it.
Stupidly as it turned out, I assumed that the women’s third
round had run at Margaret River’s Main Break yesterday. There I
was, looking forward to seeing the women surf in good waves.
Surely, this would be a fun and exciting day of contest surfing, or
at least as fun and exciting as this weird sport can ever be.
So, it was a surprise to find that, in fact the women’s heats
did not run. I saw clips from the men’s heats at the Box, including
Griff’s ridiculous, shape-shifting tube ride. How could Main Break
not be good enough to run heats?
Curious, I pulled up the replay for Jordy’s heat that actually
did run at Main Break. It looked dreamy, actually. Big and burly,
sure, but as clean as I’ve seen Margaret River in some time.
Jordy’s rail surfing looked beautiful on that wide open face where
every flaw is magnified. Surely, the women could handle this kind
of thing, too.
And in fact, the WSL has run women’s heats at Margaret River in
far less clean conditions than yesterday offered. Back in 2021, for
example, Steph and Carissa squared off for a semifinal in a wild
and windy lineup. They survived, and noted big-wave charger Steph
won that heat.
For every three steps forward in women’s surfing, it feels like
there are ten steps backward. Oh no! We can’t possibly run the
women, because [fill in the blank.] If the sport is going to
progress at all, it has to stop with the hand-holding. Just run
some heats already.
Apparently, the decision not to run resulted from fears that
the Scimitar of Doom, which is to
say the cut, might not have fallen with total fairness
on the women at the lower end of the draw. Because they couldn’t
run all the women’s heats yesterday, some women would have faced
different conditions. Last I checked, this is called surfing and
part of the whole deal. The ocean is never the same.
Effectively, the cut called the day for the women. Over time, it
has felt like the cut has had an out-sized influence over events,
and especially over the final pre-cut event at Margaret River. This
sort of thinking is all the more reason to be glad the whole
misguided thing is going away next year.
Yesterday, this decision meant that the women at the bottom of
the rankings had an out-sized influence over how the competition
unfolded. Their desperate efforts to save their careers meant that
the contest didn’t run despite the good conditions. Just like
everyone else on Tour, the women below the line have had six events
to climb up the rankings. They haven’t managed to do it. Why should
they get special consideration now at the last possible minute?
This is not how any of this should work. A professional sport
should not actually cater to the lowest common denominator. An
interesting, competitive, and exciting version of contest surfing
should challenge the women at the top of the draw. Take the best
surfers in the world and push them to show what they can do — and
hopefully in the process, they’ll get even better. If you aren’t at
the top of the draw, well, you’d better get to work.
At some point before we’re all too much older, I’d like to see
the women compete at the Box, too. It didn’t happen this year, but
hopefully it will. By the time their turn would have come
yesterday, the Box was already out of play. Two heats of men ended
up running at Main Break.
Oh hey, look! A contest that ran in different conditions for
different heats! (clutches pearls, faints on shabby couch)
In a recent interview, Ryan Crosby the WSL’s CEO said he wants
to make contest surfing more appealing to the core audience. The
shift back to a points-based world championship with Pipeline as
the finale is a nice first step. Losing the cut in favor of a
late-season mini-cut is also a positive move.
But there’s more to do here.
The progression in women’s surfing has accelerated over the past
few seasons, and there’s a new generation of bold women ready to
redefine surfing in their image. They deserve opportunities that
match their ambitions and talents. The judging needs to adjust to
reward progression and the contest directors shouldn’t shy away
from sending the women out to compete in conditions that challenge
them.
Twisting into contortions to ensure that the women being left
behind get enough second chances isn’t doing the sport any
favors.
Huck it over the ledge and do some good fucking turns — or go
home.
Progress isn’t going to wait for you.
