Watching the WSL finals in a crowded G’s Boathouse in Huntington Beach where the locals were shouting themselves hoarse at every wave made by Caz Marks and Griffin Colapinto, it was hard not to feel a tad defensively nationalistic.
After all, we had our Molly Picklum in the yellow jersey as top seed and needing only one or two heat wins to take the title (don’t ask, it’s complicated), and gutsy Jack Robinson coming in at fifth seed and needing to surf brilliantly all day to get across the line, which we know he can do, and Steph’s already done it. So, ‘go Aussies’, your columnist murmured, not wishing to disturb the patrons. Okay, Griff is true blue San Clemente and it’s also Caz’s adopted home, but it’s all part of Orange County, and to be honest, the HB crew don’t need much provocation to boozy belligerence.
In any case, I had my favourite local, Peter Townend at my side, and although the ’76 world champ has lived in California for more than 40 years, he still roots for the Sharks, the Magpies and any Aussie with a shot at the WSL world title. So there we sat, back to back for security, Coronas in hand (his a Zero, I might add), and let the games begin!
As the first of the women’s got underway, later than scheduled because of the wait for the arriving swell, I couldn’t help but feel that this was my perfect Cloudbreak, big enough to challenge, small enough not to hurt. Which is another way of saying it was way too small to decide a world title or two, but I would have loved to be out there. As the day progressed, maybe not so much, and by the grand finals, it was pumping.
First heat of the women’s title match, Caz Marks, 2023 world champ and feeling at home on her forehand and under the tutelage of Luke Egan, who has won big events at most of the world’s best lefthanders, including this one, looked in charge from the first exchange. Under the rules, Pickles wins the first set, she’s the champ, loses and she gets another chance. She loses.
Maybe this plays into Molly’s game plan all season long, when you’re in trouble, just go for it. And she does, equalising in the second with clean, concise carves to go excellent once with a perfectly timed barrel and close for a backup. Evens. The decider is all Pickles. Double excellent and she’s the new champ.
The men’s progression is much more complex, yet in some ways similar. Perhaps Australia’s greatest surfer on the world stage at the moment, not with the grace of Ethan Ewing but more adaptable, Jack Robinson does virtually nothing that can knock Italo Ferreira off balance, and loses with a single digit total. New start next year for the zen master.
2019 champion Italo Ferreira gets taken down by a rampaging Griff Colapinto, who then meets #2 seed Jordy Smith, a tour veteran who has had a brilliant season and is a sentimental favourite to take a title before bowing out. Not to be. Griff is on fire. (At the Boathouse the crowd is going wild.)
Patriotism and sentimentality aside, it is hard to deny that Brazil’s speed machine style master Yago Dora has been the most worthy competitor of 2025. Griff, in my opinion, number two.
First set goes to the wire but it’s really all over halfway through. Griff reaches deep and pulls out some incredible moves, but no one is going to beat Yago on this, his day of days.
And so we say farewell to the seriously flawed play-off finals series after a handful of years at Lower Trestles and now the experiment of Fiji. If Cloudbreak had been maxing out, it would have been a very different contest, but producing the same result. The advantage of being top seed and coming in fresh when it counts would have been amplified while a lower seed (like Italo or Caz) fighting their way up would have had to contend with exhausting reef encounters and sets on the head.
For all that I thought it was an intriguing day’s surfing (albeit a rowdy one from my bar stool) but I’m very happy to see the WSL revert to the time-honoured and much fairer first past the post system next year.
And now, with a few days left in California, I’m off to Malibu to try to get through a heat or two in the codgers’ event at the MSA Longboard Classic. Wish me luck, I fear I’m going to need it. And I’ll report on this momentous event in this space next week.
