Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries:
There's a bit of a buzz rising around surfing in New Zealand, thanks to the World Surf League taking over Raglan in May for a Championship Tour event. Despite the estimated $10 million of taxpayers' money that is going into this event, I find it unsettling that I haven't heard a word from the WSL about this event ... and I don't know a single local photographer or media person who has.
From what I hear from Raglan locals, the organisers are just ploughing through any kind of expected etiquette around running the comp there and just forging ahead with their event using their international teams for delivery. I'm sure there will be a few businesses that will be engaged, but from a media and content perspective, it's crickets (and yes, I did reach out to the WSL's CEO - no response).
I'm not sure the $10 mill will flow back into the Raglan community, but I hope it does. Certainly, the residents of J-Bay in South Africa are lamenting losing the event there.
Probably the biggest buzz is around the allocation of the male and female wildcards – one of each. That will be decided by the Backdoor King and Queen of The Point – a contest that has been run by Backdoor for years now, and it certainly breaks the mould for how a contest should run.
This year, it takes place April 15-19 at Manu Bay with a $15,000 prize pool and the WCT wildcards up for grabs. Billy Stairmand has, thankfully, already been awarded one, so cannot compete, but that leaves a fairytale story open for two talented surfers ... they just have to prove themselves in Manu Bay's lefts first.
See you at the beach, Derek
PS We have two double passes to give away to Torren Martyn's new film Southern Edge, which starts screening in Dunedin on April 9 and makes its way up the country after that (full details on our community news page). All you have to do to win these is jump on our Instagram or Facebook post for Torren's films and comment why you should be the one to win – best answer wins. We'll draw these on Thursday at noon this week. Get to it!
Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries: