Surf Ranch Announced as 2018 Championship Tour Venue
The World Surf League is excited to announce that the WSL Surf Ranch Facility in Lemoore, California, will host the world's best surfers as part of the 2018 Championship Tour calendar.
Stephanie Gilmore (Photo: WSL / KENNETH MORRIS)
"Based on the results of our test event this year and the feedback from surfers training at the facility throughout the season, next September's event has the potential to be something special for both surfers and fans," Sophie Goldschmidt, WSL CEO, said. "We're only scratching the surface of how this technology can be applied and it is completely game-changing for the sport."
"It's incredible what the WSL and KSWC teams have developed at Surf Ranch over the past year and California's Central Valley now boasts a world-class wave," Kieren Perrow, WSL Commissioner, said. "This technology, and its ability to deliver high-quality waves at any location in the world, opens so many possibilities for how we can complement and evolve the competitive experience."
Since coming online in December 2015, the WSL Surf Ranch Facility in Lemoore has undergone constant refinement and evolution of its technology. A test event this year in September delivered positive results in terms of competitive experience and the overwhelmingly supportive feedback from surfers training there throughout the season has encouraged the WSL to pursue an event at the facility in 2018.
"The experience of competing at Surf Ranch is pretty extraordinary," Adrian Buchan, CT competitor and athlete representative, said. "What the team has created is hard to fathom at first -- a perfect, 400-yard-long, bi-directional wave in the middle of rural California. I have no doubt that both the quality of the wave and the experience is befitting of hosting a world-class CT event. The ocean will always be our home, but as we grow, having the opportunity to showcase and share the stoke of surfing to new audiences and schedule with pinpoint accuracy the huge match-ups and drama of the WSL is really exciting."
John John Florence (Photo: WSL / STEVE SHERMAN)
"The surfers and the WSL have had a long-running discussion about the whole new set of opportunities that an event at the Surf Ranch facility can offer for the sport," said Sage Erickson, CT competitor and athlete representative. "We now have the opportunity to schedule events in advance, guaranteed high-quality waves, fair opportunity for all surfers and a totally new and unique environment for spectators. One of the takeaways from this season's test event is surfers really have to bring their whole arsenal -- forehand, backhand, barrels, turns, airs and timing -- to make an impact. It's going to be incredible."
A full 2018 WSL schedule is planned to be released next week.
Comments
They're certainly not wasting a moment in getting this project up into fifth gear.
Dilly Dilly!
"complement and evolve the competitive experience."
"The experience of competing"
"the experience is befitting"
Fuck me, are they all doing coaching lesson on managerial speak these days too.
You don't really believe they actually said those exact words do you? What happens nowadays is a team of writers take their original quotes and embellish them with 'key' words and tweak the shit out of what they said until it 'befits' the WSL's agenda. Who ever heard a professional surfer come out of the water after their heat and say "The waves today are very befitting to my style of surfing".
"This wave pool action plan is a no brainer. It's definitely high level blue sky thinking but before the WSL actions the project, they need to think outside the box, drill down past the low hanging fruit and be more customer centric to create a strategic fit and therefore a win win situation. Given current day Pro surfing is results driven it's in the driver's seat to run ideas up the flagpole and value add by creating a level playing field with an open door policy." Said no pro surfer ever.
Much easier to generate revenue from attendance by spectators at a venue like this...$$$ driving it.
These things will start to pop up everywhere, whether that increases or decreases or has no affect on ocean user numbers is an interesting point to ponder
Re: spectators - where will they sit to watch? There doesn't appear to be any room along the 'shoreline' - so will everyone be up one end, watching live footage fed to a Giant TV?
Yes Ben next september is a fair way off and i dare say it probably wont look like it does now by then.......Do they own the land on the left as well,anyone know?
Looking at that you'd think future incarnations they'll build a wave each side of the train. Halves the energy cost and increases wave production.
Aquanastics. Totally fair and totally boring since it removes the main dramatic element in surfing competition, the variability of the waves. But you never know, some people watch golf.
Boring!!!!
Without the unpredictability of the ocean, the wave selection, positioning, etc. they'll all be doing the same manoeuvres at different times on the same waves.. I personally will never surf or be interested in a comp at these man made things.
Sure surfing comes down to catching good waves but that's only part of the whole experience.
How does a heat work?? The man on man system would not be relevant.
Do you get 2 waves max per heat? WSL commentary team might be out of a job. They can edit a heat to two quick waves and we don't have to listen to all that dribble.
It'll become skateboarding on water which will appeal to a particular audience and will suit surfers that are light and good at pulling airs etc.
Bigger surfers such as Owen Wright who go good at Cloudbreak and Margs etc will be disadvantaged I think.
Gonna need two tours, one in pools and another in the ocean. Give me the ocean any day!!
If every wave will be the same, why even have heats. Competitors get 4 waves each, tally the best three, and you have the winner at the end of day one.
surely it cant be a 'heat'..
holding priority for the exact same wave? the hassling? the candy selling? it all becomes irrelevant
I,d hate to be a judge on that one. They may need to add some extra decimal points because I cant see 1/100th of a point being enough. Constant wave scores of 9.99 vs 9.98 s etc ., Where does the scale get set when the first competitor cuts sick and surfs it perfectly. Will there be a stopwatch for tube time etc
Good luck , but I can,t see myself tuning in to what will most probably look more like a video game than a contest .
At least we won’t see surfers leaving perfectly good wave after perfectly good wave just to hold priority & hassle etc. That’s a bad look & very frustrating to watch IMO. Apart from that it will be interesting to see how long it takes to become extremely boring viewing, same wave, same set of maneuvers etc.
Why not have each surfer in each heat ride 1 wave on their normal board, 1 wave on a mal, 1 wave on a kneelo, and 1 on a booger? Or dare I say it 1 bonus wave on a goat boat.
It's got Turpel but it needs more hype!!!
How about some backwash on the takeoff?
What about a bakery down the end and a minute of footage from the car on the drive to the ranch?
The future is wavepools and sexrobots! I'm frothing!
Will have to be 1hr heats so surfers can ride 7 waves each
How many people at a WSL wave pool comp ...surfers coaches mums dads wives girlfriends WSL team Potter Turpel Media etc ?
Simba i think Lake next door is still a wake board park.
..... soooo is anyone really not keen to watch this? (I mean anyone that isn’t trying to live up to some hardcore or soul man image).
No your right, kelly is a kook and this wave sucks. It would be terrible to see a comp based purely on wave riding ability with no variables like flat spells in the last 10 minutes.
Just the complete and total commodification and dumbing down of the thing I started doing in the late 60's as a break from everything else, has now become everything else. It is too easy as long as you have the cash. I think it will make for great viewing and could save the competition side of surfing money wise. No romance in it though or am I just a wanka? Don't answer that!
There is surfing and then there is comp surfing, they are two pretty different things. Normal surfing no one is watching and no one cares, comp surfing everyone is watching and everyone cares. Comp surfing isn’t stopping people from finding a spot with no one out and getting out there without a thought of turning.
All correct in theory, however not everyone cares about comp surfing and not everyone is watching (unfortunately for the WSL), though I get the drift. No issue with competitive surfing, just that comp surfing 2 foot waves in a pool seems a bit wimpy to me, as even I could do that. Sure the brazos will be flipping and flying all over the place, but the real waterman style test is nonexistent. Look at Flippy Toledo, he has had to work his arse off to finally get a handle on the serious stuff and he is still not much on his backhand in big, serious stuff. Mick took years to master this. For me, a novelty at best.
Maybe Kelly can pump up the swell but it seems the big wave tour is more about proving you have big kahunas.
Is it seawater in these pools....
Is kellys pool in the USA fresh water ?
A bit of detergent / bubbles could be fun !
That would be a pisser. Imagine if someone snuck in and dumped detergent into it the night before the final and they ended up surfing suds!
What the x games did for skateboarding
Wave pools will do for surfing
The jockification of a pastime you love
More chumps than you can poke a stick at vying for cred they are never going to get from the real surfers.
The hardcore will remain where they belong. In ma natures salt bath
Boring, replicate chopes in a pool....
very quick to get on the tour.. shows you how much sway Slater has. As far as the surfing goes? its gentrification, which is all over surfing now anyway so they're going the full hog - nothin like a controlled atmosphere to lively up yrself. not.
Everyone talks about the wave been the same but watch JJF and his cutback to barrel and it blew me away as to me he got deaper than everyone else as his timing was amazing.
For an Olymoc event with the crowd down at one end with a huge screen and done in a hlf pipe format I think would be exciting. Four runs and on the last run the leader gioes last etc
But how does it fit into a CT schedule when it is completely different than everything else. Can you hassle and push them up under the train line. Now there is yoru excitement . Paddle battle up into the hotdog stand or VIP seating
It needs some rocks and sharks.
I was wondering to myself if Kelly was going to be the main sponsor of the event ,, but what I didn't realise is ,the WSL{or its parent company} is a majority owner of the wave pool. I,m a touch skeptical now as to the motivation behind it all .I think the WSL may have a bit more of a commercial interest in the event , other than just putting on the event to boost the CT format.
Yep TS, the WSL bought KSWC about 18 months back, and they most definitely have a commercial interest in the success of the pool, both so they can boost the CT - programmed events, fixed timeslots, mainstream interest - and also sell licenses to the pool ($25 million a pop).
With surfing in the Olympics they're making hay.
Grunions are now invading the Clampett's cement pond clambake.
Never fear Elly May saved the day and collared the varmints. Wild Critters are under control.
Oompa loompas parade the anklet secured Grunions at Ms Universe poolside pets pageant.
Wonker wave factory spits out 5 replicant Judge Drysdales' for "Li'l Lisa Slurry Invitational".
Actually - i'm really looking forward to seeing what they can do - and pushing the limits. I always get pissed off when a lack of waves determines the outcome of a heat / comp. So this eliminates that :))
conventional surfboards will be over , tow ins on short skim type boards using bungy cords,
watch this space , kick flip indy's etc etc
25 mill for a license to the tech. i must be missing something here. please show me how i make back my 25 mill on revenue for buying your lovely wavepool.
Decent type of wave for finless surfin.
Who will set the world record here at doing 360 spins on a finless craft ?
So as to not suffer dizziness , the surfer will spin both ways to keep equal balance and not suffer dizziness !
Is this wave powerful enough to break boards ?
Is paddling involved in this genre of surfing ?
Is there a dress code for this pool ?
seems as though a bunch of posts have gone missing,what happened?
I’m not aware of any posts being removed, perhaps you’re thinking of a similar article? There’s been quite a few crossover articles on WSL/Surf Ranch recently.
Yeah Ben wrong thread oops.