Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries:
So last week surfing took an interesting turn. On Tuesday at the Surf Ranch in Lemoore, near Fresno, almost 200km from the California coastline, Kelly Slater opened up his wave pool for a select group of the world's best surfers and held a surfing competition: The Future Classic. Held in a wave pool.
And World Surf League (WSL), who bought the Kelly Slater Wave Company in May 2016, was the driving force with an assembly line of investors, visionaries and surf leaders wheeled in to watch history pumped out in clean, barreling 3-4 foot sets. Carissa Moore picked up the women's title (despite a 14-second barrel from six-time world champ Stephanie Gilmore) and Gabriel Medina won the men's event from a lineup that included Filipe Toledo, also of Brazil, Mick Fanning, of Australia, John John Florence, of Hawaii, Kanoa Igarashi, of USA, Jordy Smith, of South Africa ... okay, you get the picture ... an almost 2020 Olympic line-up, right? Here's the WSL report of what went down.
So is this part of the move to wrangle the vaguaries of nature and bring surfing to the masses with a schedule that hums to the flick of the switches and the pulse of the pump? Yes. You bet it is. Taking control of the elements means TV slots can be optimised, sponsors can rely on the spectacle and, possibly most important of all, spectators can plan trips to exotic inland locations to watch the world's best much like other stadium supersports.
WSL is banking on that being an important part of surfing's future. So much so that a few days ago, it confirmed the rumour that Surf Ranch will hold a 2018 WSL specialty event – pencilled in for May.
And that could herald a whole new era and competition format for professional surfing – especially when you consider the complexities of fitting surfing into an Olympic schedule. Having the ability to call the shots on nature could bring some consistency and balance to the contest arena. And in an Olympic event, that would assure parity for competitors.
For the 2020 Olympics at least we'll be at the whim of nature. Tsurigasaki Beach in Ichinomiya, in the Chiba prefecture, has been selected as the Olympic surfing venue. It is one of Japan's iconic surfing areas and just 90km south-east of Tokyo.
But something went down in Lemoore that suggests a new direction for elite surfing contests. Witnesses like freesurfer Dane Reynolds described it as "one of the best days of my life". And he didn't even get to ride a wave. But these are real waves. With sections and barrels and some scary moments. It may be the future of surfing, but WSL should be reminded about the sheer beauty of the formula that currently strives to put the best surfers in the best waves possible. That, I really like. To see Bells, Teahupoo, Cloudbreak, The Box in WA, J Bay and Pipeline in full song with the world's best surfers vying for supremacy – that's easily worth a three-week waiting period. Part of that journey for me is to watch how the world's best handle that rogue set, that unpredictable slab section, and the vaguaries of nature. Without that surfing would lose some of its gloss. But perhaps, alongside that, we'd have the best of both worlds.
See you at the beach – Derek
PS Like seafood? Like good times? Here's your Saturday sorted.
Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries: