I was just doing my morning scan of my Facebook page and saw that my pal, world-renowned big wave charger Jeff Clark, posted this: “WSL calls off Mavericks to focus on becoming a Media Company. Looks like surfing Mavericks because you really want it, and because you love it will hopefully become the norm again.”
At first I just kinda went, “Oh well, good for the hardcore locals at Mavericks, bad for the guys trying to make a living on the WSL Big Wave Tour.” Two sides to every story. But then I thought about it and some legit questions found their way into my waterlogged little mind.
Here are my thoughts on this as I sit here with my coffee looking out the window at some good waves that will require my attention as soon as I finish with this:
The World Surfing League (WSL) is the governing body of pro surfing events all over the world. This includes the Championship Tour, the Big Wave Tour and various longboard events. The reasoning, as I understand it from the media reports, for dropping the Mavericks event was the logistics involved. Mavericks is at Half Moon Bay, just south of San Francisco, and breaks pretty far from shore. Not an easy place to watch a surf event and not in an area that is going to get a whole lot of media attention, other than hardcore surf press. So, it looks like a business decision.
But let’s look deeper.
Last year, the WSL took the Trestles pro event off the Championship Tour schedule in favor of holding one at Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch. This was not received all that well, especially here in Orange County where Trestles is located.
It turns out that the WSL actually purchased the Surf Ranch and has plans to build a second one in Florida, possibly more after that.
So, what we are seeing here is that the WSL is not only the governing body of professional surfing, but is also a functioning business. And, as such, is committed to the good old bottom line. Looking at it from that perspective, holding an event in your own arena over holding one at one of California’s best surf spots — one that is right here in San Clemente — would appear to make more business sense.
As my thoughts wander on, what do these things mean looking down the road for the future of competitive pro surfing?
Does it mean more events in artificial wave pools? With the WSL itself owning this technology, and having the control, this could be a strong possibility.
And, the real burning question here: “Is this a good or bad thing?” This is a huge question with two sides to it, pros and cons each way.
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Those who are against competition in wave pools say it takes away the skill of reading the surf, judging when and where the waves are going to come and the talent it takes to deal with the unpredictability of each and every wave as it unravels. To many, this is the very essence of surfing. Surfer, board and nature. It’s spontaneous and exciting.
The argument for competition in wave pools is that everybody has a totally equal chance. Every wave is the same and so it comes down to who rides the wave the best and not who gets the best wave. There is also the fact that there is arena viewing, concessions and all that stuff. They can charge people to get in to see it, and sell them food, drinks and souvenir items in the gift shops.
Also, you know that the surf is gonna be there on any given day. At real surf spots you never know — there has to be a waiting period, and even then it can be hit or miss.
Oh yeah, there is one more side. And this goes back to Jeff Clark’s comment that led me on this rant. The part about this leaving Mavericks to those who really want it and love it.
Believe me when I say that there are a lot of surfers who would love to not have surfing contests held at their favorite spots for a number of reasons. I have been on both sides of that conversation.
So anyway, that is my little wandering into what may or may not come about in the world of surfing competitions.
Ask the expert
Q. How to you set up to ride the nose?
John Beattie, Virginia Beach, Va.
A. Ah, this is one of the most common questions among longboard surfers and one of my favorites.
Riding on the nose of a surfboard is one of those crazy things that seems to defy gravity, but happens anyway. The science and aqua-dynamics of the whole adventure is a conversation that would take too long to get into here, but I can tell you how to do it.
The accepted way to “walk the nose” is to cross-step forward — not shuffle your feet, as most do when they are beginning. There is a solid reason for this, beyond the fact that it is the cool looking way to do it. That reason is that you want to always put your weight on to your front foot when walking the nose.
Your brain is saying just the opposite, but your brain is wrong. The boards are designed to actually lift when you put your weight forward. If you shuffle your feet, then your weight is mostly on your back foot and this keeps your board from lifting, makes it go too fast and then you either dig the nose or outrun the sweet spot on the wave to ride the nose.
Nose-riding is more of a stalling maneuver — it slows you down more than speeds you up.
Also, your hand and arm positions have a lot to do with it. Keep your front arm down. If your front arm lifts up, then your weight goes to your rear hip and foot, unless you are doing a classic David Nuuhiwa two-handed soul arch.
So that’s pretty much it in a nutshell. Cross-step, weight on your front foot and keep your front arm down. Good luck.
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