Just as the World Surf League announces sweeping changes to the championship tour for next year, including abandoning the mid-season cut, the Margaret River Pro again throws up some great surf and several compelling reasons to keep the cut.
Over the on-again-off-again waiting period at Margaret’s, the animated discussion on the blogosphere about whether to cut or not cut has only been interrupted by a ferocious but soon forgotten argument about whether to slab or not to slab.
To take the fleeting first, after a great day at Main Break, with more forecast to follow, the WSL took the brave decision last week to move the men’s round of 16 to The Box for the first time since 2019. Sitting at the other end of the picturesque bay, The Box is deceptively beautiful to look at and potentially lethal to surf, with sharp and shallow spurs acting as markers just below the water level. Some of the greatest surfers in the world make it look like a cakewalk, but for the majority, even CT surfers, it poses questions of ability, judgement and guts that they would rather not answer.
When the comp goes to The Box, the spectators can’t even see what’s going on, but the viewers get to see a nano-second of blissful glory, accompanied by minutes of wondering if the surfer is going to ever surface, and even more minutes of waiting for a set to hit the reef at the right angle. In short, it’s not great television, but then again…
The WSL ran just six heats at The Box before realising that it was getting harder to find a makeable pit, and sensibly moving back to Main Break, where they senselessly ran only two more heats before calling it a day on a rising swell and good conditions. Don’t get me started.
Up first at The Box, San Clemente’s Griffin Colapinto was masterful. Having a shocker of a year so far, this former title contender threaded a horribly nasty, ledging pit that no normal human could come out of. In the second heat Italy’s Leo Fioravanti, showed that no guts, no glory in fearlessly dropping out of the sky on several before getting two that allowed a path. Of course there are no waves of consequence in San Clemente or Italy, but both these surfers have shown an absoluter commitment to testing the boundaries wherever they find them.
Japan’s Connor O’Leary (always hurts a bit to write that of the boy from Cronulla) just wouldn’t let go in the third, and Hawaii’s Barron Mamiya surfed with absolute precision. Local wildcard Jacob Willcox showed he knows his way around The Box, and any serious wave, but most of the vanquished didn’t really disturb the scorers. With The Box, you either know or you know you don’t know, and that is something of a problem for professional surfing at the highest level.
But let’s get back to the cut, which sees 10 men and six women relegated to the Challenger Series to try to force their way back onto the WCT for next year. It’s brutal, no doubt about it, but it also adds an entirely new element of suspense to proceedings, and if you like that, there’s no better canvas for it than Margaret River. The Box, as above, but Main Break offers its own spectacular opportunities for cut-line surfers to shine and survive. Witness our own (well, via Denmark and now the Gold Coast) Isabella Nichols saving her spot by a whisker at Main Break only to fall off tour at the cut the following year. But Bella, like fellow cut-line regular Sally Fitzgibbons, is nothing if not resilient. They seem to see the demotion as an opportunity, rather than a punishment.
Of course, there is the financial side. On the CT the winner takes $US 80,000 (or roughly $125K in real money) and last place gets $US 10,500. On the Challenger it’s $US 20K for first and if you’re out at ninth you won’t cover expenses at $2,500. Still, with a bit of sponsorship, or help from the bank of mum and dad, you can do it.
I say, bring back the cut!
Wrecks are back!
I used to say, lock up your grannies, but I’ve been warned it’s not very woke, so let me just say that the annual surfin’ hootenanny for refuseniks (refuse to give up) over 50 is on next weekend. I refer of course to Noosa Malibu Club’s Wrecks and Relics Get-Together, now in its 21st year with age divisions stretching now from over 50 to over 80.
The Mal Club calls it a “get-together” because it’s not meant to be competitive at our age. Ha blood ha! The blokes I’ve been surfing against pretty much since this event began are fine fellows to share a libation with, but put them in a coloured jersey and point them at the waves and civility waits on the sand. And none of us would have it any other way.
Best of luck, all you other Wrecks, and let’s pray for surf!
FOOTNOTE: The Margaret River Pro is going right down to the wire with several cut-line ramifications (especially for the girls) and beyond deadline as I write, so a recap next week.
