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WSL Finals

The World Surf League (WSL) announced the location for the 2022 Rip Curl WSL Finals and released the updated 2022 Championship Tour (CT) schedule. As part of Rip Curl’s three-year partnership, the second edition of the one-day, winner-take-all showdown, the Rip Curl WSL Finals, will return to California State Parks, San Onofre State Beach, Lower Trestles. The 2022 Rip Curl WSL Finals waiting period will run from September 8 - 16, an ideal time of year for solid Southern Hemisphere swells to light up the cobblestone point of one of the most high-performance waves in the world.

At the conclusion of the regular 2022 CT season, the top five men and top five women on the CT rankings will head to Lowers in San Clemente where they will battle head-to-head for the World Title.
"The inaugural edition of the Rip Curl WSL Finals was an incredible success," said Erik Logan, WSL CEO. "To see the WSL Final 5 go head-to-head in amazing waves and to witness the women's and men's World Titles be decided on the same day, in the water, for the first time was special. This new format captivated our audience and drove consumption like never before and was the most-watched day of professional surfing with the largest live digital audience in WSL history. We are excited to return to Lowers this season."

Rip Curl’s commitment and support of professional surfing continues through the three-year partnership of the Rip Curl WSL Finals.

"We’re incredibly supportive of the return to Lower Trestles for the 2022 Rip Curl WSL Finals," said Brooke Farris, Rip Curl CEO. "As a world-class, high-performance wave, it’s the perfect canvas for the world’s best surfers to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the water. While our brand was born at Bells Beach Australia, Rip Curl has an incredible heritage at Trestles, the surfing heart of California. We’re beyond excited to continue building on our brand’s legacy as we partner with the WSL to crown the undisputed world champions of surfing.”

New CT Format with Combined Men’s and Women’s Schedule Kicks Off at Pipeline
For the first time, the men’s and women’s CT will be completely combined, with the male and female athletes competing at the same CT venues with an equal number of competitions, and the continuation of equal prize money. The new CT format will also introduce the mid-season cut before concluding at the Rip Curl WSL Finals in Lower Trestles.

The 2022 WSL CT will include 10 regular-season events in seven countries, starting with the Billabong Pro Pipeline in January at the world-famous Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii. This will mark the first-ever men's and women's combined event at the legendary break. G-Land in Indonesia returns to the CT schedule for the first time in 24 years for the men, and for the first time ever for the women (Quiksilver / ROXY Pro G-Land). The world’s best surfers will also compete in El Salvador, in the Surf City El Salvador Pro, for the first time on the CT. The regular season will conclude in August, at Teahupo'o in Tahiti, and provides one last opportunity for surfers to make the WSL Final 5 before the second-annual Rip Curl WSL Finals in September.

2022 WSL Championship Tour Schedule*:
• Billabong Pro Pipeline - January 29 - February 10
• Hurley Pro Sunset Beach presented by Shiseido - February 11 - 23
• MEO Pro Portugal - March 3 - 13
• Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach - April 10 - 20
• Margaret River Pro - April 24 - May 4

Mid-Season Cut: 36-man and 18-woman fields reduced to 24-man and 12-woman fields.
• Quiksilver / ROXY Pro G-Land - May 28 - June 6
• Surf City El Salvador Pro presented by Corona - June 12 - 20
• Oi Rio Pro presented by Corona - June 23 - 30
• Corona Open J-Bay - July 12 -21
• Tahiti Pro - August 11 - 21

WSL Final 5 determined to battle for the undisputed men's and women's World Titles.
• Rip Curl WSL Finals, Lower Trestles, CA USA - September 8 - 16

With new venues and a revamped Tour structure, the 2022 CT season will start with 36 men and 18 women. Halfway through the season, the field will be reduced to 24 men and 12 women. The top-ranked surfers will automatically requalify for the 2023 CT as well as continue on to the second half of the tour, where they will be joined by two men's wildcards and two women's wildcards (one season wildcard and one event wildcard).

CT competitors will be ranked on the best four-out-of-five results before the mid-season cut, allowing them to drop one result before CT Stop No. 6. The advancing surfers will be ranked on their best nine-out-of-10 results from the season (with all events after the mid-season cut counting) to determine the WSL Final 5.

COVID-19 Updates
The health and safety of our athletes, staff, and the local communities we visit are of the utmost importance, and we have a robust set of procedures in place at every event to keep everyone safe. The WSL continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and work closely with government partners and local health authorities to make the best decisions for our athletes and the sport.
Given the complexities of global travel during this pandemic and the fluid nature of the situation, we will maintain the flexibility to adjust and react accordingly, and there could be potential adjustments to the schedule. All tour stops and dates are subject to change due to applicable COVID-19 related restrictions, and the WSL continues to work hard on behalf of our athletes so they can safely travel as we move into the 2022 season.

Watch LIVE
The Billabong Pipe Pro will kick off the new season starting on Saturday, January 29, 2022. The competition will be broadcast LIVE on WorldSurfLeague.com, the free WSL app, and the WSL’s YouTube channel. Also, check local listings for coverage from the WSL’s broadcast partners.

For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.

Winter Leftovers

A short edit I put together of B clips from last years winter and the places I explored in W.A.
I recently had to spend 2 weeks in home quarantine after being away on a 3 month QS trip, so it was good timing to try put something together with clips that would usually end up lost on a hard drive. Play in high quality or it will look like it was filmed of a potato - Jacob Willcox

Filmed by Isaac Jones, Tom Jennings, Scott Bauer and friends.

JOB, JJF & Kai Lenny

Is Jamie the only person out at Pipe that can get away riding a pink foamie? And whilst carving his way through heavy traffic, mad skills and respect for those pits for sure. JJF is on fire, and Kai Lenny pushes the limits, click in and don't miss the nailing at 13.30.

Surf Park Sector Set to Boom

Kanoa Igarashi surfs The Wave credit@ImageCabin _ DanMullins

The Wave, has signed an exclusive partnership agreement with wave-making technology provider, Wavegarden, to deliver six or more developments across the UK and Ireland. The company, that opened its first surfing lake in Bristol in 2019, is already working on a second site in London which is hopefully opening in summer 2023 and is now exploring further development sites for inland surfing destinations powered by Wavegarden Cove technology including the Peak District, Ireland and two others in the south of England.

The total investment will be over £200 million and once open they will welcome a combined total of over 2 million visitors a year. The multi-million-pound deal puts The Wave at the forefront of the growing surf park sector in the UK and Ireland - a leisure category that is predicted to boom in the next five years.

As well as the UK and Ireland, The Wave is also working with Wavegarden to secure additional sites in major European cities and has a number of sites in negotiation with local developers across Europe.

Craig Stoddart, The Wave CEO, said:

“This multi-project agreement further cements our brilliant and exclusive partnership with Wavegarden, and the deal adds significant value to The Wave Group and our shareholders. Being the first to open a surf park powered by a new technology was a leap of faith in so many ways, but we believed in the technology and the team delivering it. The waves work. More than that we have proved it is commercially successful, we have a great professional team of Wavemakers and we have now welcomed over 300,000 visitors through our doors since we opened – despite contending with a global pandemic.

“We know there is a huge appetite for surfing and its many health and wellbeing benefits, and we are now looking to bring these unique experiences to other locations around the UK and beyond. Spurred by growth in surfing in general - and the Olympic effect - this burgeoning sector is definitely on the up. We will have 5 sites open, in planning or being built in the next 5 years, and we are in the process of actively searching for land. Predictions indicate there will be approximately 100 surf parks operating globally in the next 10 years. The Wave intends to be a leading international player in this market and we have been preparing ourselves for this ambition for a number of years”

Drone shot of The Wave site credit Wavemakernick

Fernando Odriozola, Chief Commercial Officer at Wavegarden, adds:

“We are delighted to have signed this strategic partnership with The Wave so we can continue to work with the team on many projects in the coming years. The very valuable experience and knowledge we have gained together at Bristol will allow us to move forward on a number of sites simultaneously. The future looks very bright.”

Wavegarden has proven international experience and, with over 70 full time employees, has become the largest and most advanced specialist surf park technology provider in the world. The company has an extremely high growth potential in this emerging sector, currently counting 60 projects in development and has the highest number of surfing facilities open to the public across the world.

The Wave is supported by a powerful board, including Chairman Gaynor Coley, former Managing Director at the Eden Project, and Iain Shearer, formerly Chief Executive of London’s ExCel. The wider team has sector-leading experience in operating a surf park, and the business model is based on multiple revenues streams, including accommodation, food and drink, events and retail, alongside the core surfing offer. But what really makes it stand apart are its strong brand values, core purpose, and ethos focused on health, wellbeing and social impact.

Surfers enjoying a lesson at The Wave credit Katya Og

Nick Hounsfield, Founder and CVO of The Wave, explains:

“Surfing is amazing for our physical and mental health – and sharing these benefits is right at the heart of what we do. My vision was to create a space where people could get outside in nature, be active and reap the blue health boost of being in or near water.

“As a surfer I know how brilliant it makes me feel and the impact it has on my health. Being able to push perfect surfing waves at the touch of a button and to bring them inland is a game-changer for a sport that has until now been constrained by factors such as geography, tides and weather.

“Our purpose is central to everything. We want to share the positive power of waves – and the pure joy of surfing - with people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. The epic thing about the Wavegarden Cove technology is that it caters to everyone, from a beginner stepping on a board for the first time, right up to pro surfers training for the Olympics, and hopefully future Paralympic surfers.”

Michael and Mason Show

Mason’s Dad Michael Ho has been watching his son surf this crazy wave for years and was always curious about it. Usually Uncle Mike doesn’t like Mason surfing these types of waves but for some reason on this special day Pops went for it! This session took place in between days of the Backdoor Shootout event at Pipeline. Stay tuned for those clips!

Surfers: Michael Ho, Mason Ho & Sheldon Paishon.
Filming: Rory Pringle.

Island Bliss

Words and photos Tomas Grootveld @iseastories unless otherwise stated

There are gems to be found for the ones willing to seek. We hear it ever so often, but do we still really find them? I come from a country where the coastline is straight and where winds are onshore for the most part of the year. The North Sea funnels down from the North-West bringing big waves and big winds in winter and small onshore waves in summer (at best). But we do indeed have some gems and they were not too hard for me to find after all.

When I was 21 years old I started working for a surf school in Zandvoort. The waves were pretty average mostly, but I loved to spend time on the beach away from the city. The summers in Holland are packed on the beach though and Zandvoort becomes a strip of sand clogged up with all the people that live in a 50 km radius of it (basically 80% of the country’s population). I needed more space and more waves.

Cor de Jong slides away.

At the same time our surf school was expending, as the crowded beaches turned out to be good for something after all and so a year later I found myself on one of the Wadden Islands. The smallest one of the five that are inhabited: Vlieland. I was a mediocre surfer at best when I arrived there. I had surfed in a few countries and gained some experience but my surfing was nothing special.

On Vlieland I stuck to the good old soft top for the most part and I honestly had heaps of fun. The only people in the water outside the surf lessons were me and my colleague and the seals. Whenever there was a big swell on the charts, accompanied by favourable winds, we would grab our bikes and head west in search of a good sandbank. This would mainly happen in the pre-season, when we were still building up the surf school. The nights were cold and the amenities very basic and we camped from May until September. But this was living. We spend our days outside, ate peanut butter sandwiches all day and surfed whenever we could.

Empty line-ups, hell yes.

One day, the forecast looked promising and we were determined to get a session in. It must have been some day in May. Our surf school is not actually on the beach, but just behind the dunes, so you can’t see the waves from it. We decided not to go too far west and dropped our bikes after a 15 minute ride at the hotel on the beach. The sight we encountered was pretty incredible. Big waves, hollow and powerful. I was a bit scared but my friend had a bit more experience, so we hyped each other up and paddled out. The current was relentless, the sets were endless. I paddled for about 30 minutes before finding myself disillusioned on the beach. I had witnessed the best waves I had ever seen though and my heart was awakened.

I’ve traveled to many places over the years. Spent winters abroad, surfing different waves around the world. But wherever I went, Vlieland was on my mind.

Vlieland13_Jeroen-van-der-Kolk_TomasGrootveld

Jeroen van der Kolk and the acceptable type of Corona.

I started spending more time there, explored more of the island. I bought a water-housing for my camera and spend a lot of time alone in the sea. It calmed me down, looking at waves break, whenever my mind was full.

The surf school grew and the surf spot closest to the surf school saw a steady rise in the amount of surfers. I would describe it as a longboard spot, since a sandbank a few kilometres out a sea slows the waves down a bit. The island’s coast makes a slight bend here, making for some nice lefts. If you go more west, there are shortboard options too, since there is no sandbank slowing down the waves.

The beach got more crowded too over the years, but it’s still peanuts compared to the coast of Holland. A gem, Vlieland, is not even hidden. I would be crazy to share it with you right, but here’s the catch. The island has limited accommodation and getting there ain't so easy. The boat takes 90 minutes for the passage and there is no van life, since cars are only allowed by locals. Prices on the island are also pretty high, since a lot of wealthy Dutchies found their peace here too. Buying a house is impossible for a poor surfer like me. And so I know there will always be empty sandbanks here.

Cor de Jong racing through Vlieland.

And I cherish the moments of bliss I have experienced here and keep coming back for more. Keep spending summer days on the dunes, waiting for that westerly swell and wind to light up our home spot ‘Prullies’. Searching for blackberries when the sea goes flat. Paddle around the buoy when the wind dies out. Skinny dip when the bioluminescent algae turn up. Look up when the Perseids Meteor Shower lights up the night sky. These are the days I live for. Island Bliss.