Pittwater Life December 2020 Issue

Surfing Life
Surfing Life
Pro surfing starts again – but
is anyone really going to care?
During this crazy year we’ve all been doing our own thing...
On the fourth of this
month, if all goes to
plan, you’ll see yet
another wacky first in this
year of firsts: a World Surf
League Championship Tour
event will commence.
“Bit late,” you might say to
yourself. “It’s December!”
Indeed. Even odder: this
event isn’t even part of
2020. The Maui Women’s
Pro, and the Billabong Pipe
Masters which will follow it on
December 8, are the launch
events for next year’s world
tour.
In the craziness of a COVID
year, professional surfing –
like the international travel
on which it partly relies – has
been one of those things that
never got off the ground.
While other pro sports have
scrambled and fought for their
bubbles and largely pulled
it off, the WSL and its team
ended up on the sidelines.
First they delayed the start of
the tour until June 1, hoping
the pandemic would subside.
By July, when they realised
no such subsidence would
be occurring, it was way too
late to do anything about
anything.
That makes 2020 a
complete outlier – the first
year since 1975 during which
no surfing world champs have
been decided.
And what’s odd about THAT
is it’s had seemingly no effect
on surfing whatsoever.
In fact surfing, you know,
just the thing we all do for
fun or kicks or spiritual
nourishment or some strange
mix of all three, has boomed
like never before.
Surfing numbers are
through the roof, even in
places where you haven’t
always been allowed in
the water, like France and
California. Here in Australia,
it’s led to a renaissance in
a surf industry many had
written off as a dead duck.
Surfboard sales have roughly
doubled since April, and the
industry is overwhelmed by
the biggest demand surge
this century. Most boardmakers
closed their Christmas
order books two months ago.
If you want to order a custom
board right now, get in line:
you’ll be waiting till March.
with Nick Carroll
BACK: The Pipe Masters.
Madness!
Meanwhile, pro surfing’s
been left behind in the rush.
It’s a weird thing to watch.
The pro tour’s been the
biggest single source of
news, gossip and general
noise in the surfing world
now for 45 years. It’s been
blamed for everything,
from over-popularising
surfing to ignoring the
women pros to destroying
the lives of innocent young
surfers caught up in its
64 DECEMBER 2020
The Local Voice Since 1991
NICK’S DECEMBER SURF FORECAST
It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. Right? Why do I get the
feeling this is about to be the summer’s favourite catchphrase?
Well if you were paying attention in the back half
of November, you’d have detected a clue or two about this
coming month. Hot muggy days with moderate nor-easters,
then bang! Awkward southerlies, cloud, seaweed, and air so
dense you could slice it up and put it in the freezer. It’s all
very sub-tropical, and you’ve gotta suspect in December it’s
going to head further toward being actually tropical. Watch
for more warm air falling down on us from the south-west
Pacific, southerlies that turn into easterlies, bluebottles, and
cooler weather that somehow fails to refresh you or anyone
else. There’s a massive cyclone season out there but she’s
still a month away. Meanwhile, small to moderate surf, lots
of surface bump from the wind, and water heading toward a
warmness rarely felt along the Sydney coast.
Nick Carroll
dirty-glamorous wake. It’s
showcased everything, from
almost incredible feats of
skill in death-defying surf to
miserable groveling in onefoot
mush.
But it’s never actually gone
missing, till now.
The pros don’t seem too
bothered. Many of them have
enjoyed the unscheduled year
off. Their endorsements are
still intact, and while it’s cost
them at least US$100,000 in
minimum prizemoney, that’s
been off-set by way less in
airfares and rentals. “I was
kind of looking at taking
some time for myself which
I’ve never really done,” Steph
Gilmore told Surfing World
magazine recently. “I got
more than I wished for. It was
obviously a bit of a shock
at first but now I’m really
feeling guilty for how much
I’m enjoying this strange
lockdown. This was the first
time in like 14 years I haven’t
been dragging my shit around
the world, and I thought I’d
get itchy feet pretty quick,
but I didn’t at all.”
Others might be enjoying
it a bit too much. You’ll all
have seen Kelly Slater when
he spent a few months here
at the start of winter. Kelly
headed back to the US, then
wangled a special issue
Indonesian visa. He’s just
spent an epic two months
in Bali, surfing that island’s
remarkably uncrowded
barrels. I dunno if he’ll be in a
huge rush to jump back into
battling it out for ninth places
with super-grommets less
The Local Voice Since 1991
than half his age.
The WSL has tried to
salvage something from
all the downtime by remodelling
the Championship
Tour. Rather than a world
title decided on points
from a dozen or so events
worldwide, they now plan to
host a ‘Finale’ – a one-day
title showdown scheduled
for September next year,
featuring the top five surfers,
men and women.
Win that day, and you win
the whole show.
Not all the pros think this
is a great idea. After all, the
system means you could win
half the events on tour, be
totally dominant all season,
and still miss the world crown
with a marginally off day at
the end.
But they all know one thing:
they can’t take another year
off.
As we’ve noted above,
there’s tonnes of new surfers
in the world, happily surfing
away, world tour or no world
tour. I bet a lot of those new
surfers don’t even know there
IS a world tour.
The WSL has to make itself
relevant to this potential new
fan base, and fast. Because
surfing’s just gonna roll on
regardless. And there’s a tiny,
yet ever increasing chance
that nobody’s going to care.
(Watch the Maui Women’s
Pro and the Billabong
Pipe Masters at www.
worldsurfleague.com, if
you’re so inclined. Otherwise:
Merry Christmas! Don’t get
too sunburned!)
DECEMBER 2020 65
Surfing Life