Renato Hickel confirms changes to the Championship Tour

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
Swellnet Dispatch

Six weeks ago, while the Championship Tour caravan was parked in Southern California, the WSL had their annual meeting of sponsors and management. The attendance of surfers is usually optional at the meeting but this year it was mandatory - an ominous sign in uncertain times.

And while attendance was mandatory, confidentiality wasn't. Within hours, news of the meeting was leaked: the WSL were proposing wholesale changes to the Championship Tour and the Qualifying Series.

Caught on the back foot, the WSL admitted change was coming but hosed down speculation. Nothing was settled. There was more news to come. "We look forward to releasing details when we are ready," said Dave Prodan.

Overnight, WSL Deputy Commissioner Renato Hickel spoke to Caterina Domingos at Portuguese sports newspaper O Jogo about the coming reshuffle. It was the WSL's first public confirmation of the tour changes.

"In 2019, the plan is to start the season in February in Hawaii and end in September in Tahiti," Hickel told O Jogo.

"Followed by a special event, in which the five or six [of the] best male ranking and the top three or four of the female would decide the world title. This event would, in principle, be in Indonesia."

Considering the timing, many suspected (and some webcast viewers hoped) Portugal would be dropped from the calendar, but Hickel put the kybosh on that particular rumour.

"The Meo Rip Curl Pro Portugal is not at risk, but will change from October to the beginning of the year. The end of February is a similar time to what we have here in October."

It was also thought that CT numbers would be culled, that the tour would run leaner and cheaper, but Hickel let drop that numbers won't change.

"Those who do not qualify in the Top 22 in the ranking can concentrate on the Qualifying Series with greater enthusiasm in the rest of the season."

Which brings us to the QS. Another whisper of gossip had the Qualifying Series only running from September onwards. Not to be said Hickel: "It will continue in the first half of the year."

So, putting all rumours aside, the CT events that are locked in for the 2019 reshuffle are: Pipe, Portugal, Snapper, Bells, Margaret River, Tahiti, and likely Indonesia for the final. At present, there's been no word either way on the other events. Stay tuned.

Comments

DeXtrus's picture
DeXtrus's picture
DeXtrus Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 3:47pm

What about Jbay? Arguably best event of the year so far in 2017.

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 3:56pm

No word either way yet. I think Corona only had a one year deal but you'd have to believe if they were ever gonna get ROI it'd be this year.

The WSL usually has their next year schedule ready by early November.

maddogmorley's picture
maddogmorley's picture
maddogmorley Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 4:52pm

No Fiji?

gillos's picture
gillos's picture
gillos Friday, 27 Oct 2017 at 4:13pm

Pls no Rio \0/

squigz's picture
squigz's picture
squigz Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 3:58pm

Pipe at the start of the year feels like a mistake to me. I know they have the Volcom Pipe Pro in Jan and it usually pumps for the event, but, all the drama and build up during the year should lead to something epic, and Pipe is surfings colosseum. It's where legends are born and champions are crowned during, and out of the event.

peabo's picture
peabo's picture
peabo Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 4:05pm

Yeah, but the last few years that has happened in pretty small conditions. Last years Pipe final was perhaps the most boring heat i've ever seen.

If holding it in Feb means more chance of 8-10 ft bombs, then i'm all for it.

Tahiti can have the same drama as a final location.

Plus, if they're not actually crowning a champ at the final event, then that Pipe drama is kinda lost anyway.

nogo's picture
nogo's picture
nogo Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 4:07pm

The WSL must be run by the same idiots the are running the F1 at the moment.

Seems as tho they have no idea of what people actually want out of these sports!!!

AndyM's picture
AndyM's picture
AndyM Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 4:22pm

In contrast to F1, this brings up the age old question - what do surfers really think of pro surfing? Do they want it to be a sport (obviously many do) or do they want to see it as something different.

I still see pro surfing as we know it as not tapping into what should be its core audience.
Of course, this audience is small, hence the decades-long search for mainstream acceptance. This, in turn, alienates the core audience.

I've been surfing for a while now and couldn't give a shit about the WSL as such but I'll go out of my way to see the top handful at primo breaks.

Why would I care about Medina claiming in rubbish waves in Portugal when I can occasionally watch, for argument's sake, someone like Clay Marzo either in a comp at Padang or free surfing in the NW?

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 4:29pm

Any chance that Pipe is shifted in order to diminish the power of Hawaiians over the WSL ?

No mention of the wavepool event ?

You'd assume the Indo event would be landbased to accomodate the infrastructure ? Macaronis ? It doesn't have the drama you'd assume necessary for a world title showdown. Mobile then ?

gekatmargs's picture
gekatmargs's picture
gekatmargs Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 4:33pm

Get rid of supercloseoutos,
luck shouldn't be a factor in deciding a world champ
Surely Portugal has some better waves

radiationrules's picture
radiationrules's picture
radiationrules Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 8:48pm

Coxos

indo-dreaming's picture
indo-dreaming's picture
indo-dreaming Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 4:34pm

Hope they keep J - Bay it's easily one of the better comps.

kavachi's picture
kavachi's picture
kavachi Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 8:14pm

true that. even without the noahs

Tarzan71's picture
Tarzan71's picture
Tarzan71 Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 4:36pm

The only way to improve something is to change it, lets hope it pays off for the corporate juggernaut of WSL. Keep Potts and Joe in a job anyways.....

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 4:43pm

I reckon they need more comps in heavy slabbier waves.
Ours, shippies type waves

Tim Bonython's picture
Tim Bonython's picture
Tim Bonython Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 4:50pm

Fuck that. I dont mind RedBull for Solander but the WSL aint going to tell me I cant film Shippies cause they are running an event there. How bout Bondi Beach??

savanova's picture
savanova's picture
savanova Friday, 27 Oct 2017 at 8:29am

I rekon Manly mid-summer 2ft NE wind swell is a spectacle that should be brought back

sharkman's picture
sharkman's picture
sharkman Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 5:02pm

The biggest problem with the WSL is there are not enough surfers watching the events , and as there are virtually no non surfers who watch , is the current format appealing to its viewers?
I would like to think that the answer is No, as surfings demographic is much older now , and one of the main reasons we watch contests is to see competitors win and lose , and not waste time and swell having silly non loser rounds , and there are way too many journeymen on the tour , who do not sell product , or entertain the viewers.
There has been a disconnect between the WSL/Athletes and the surfing culture to the point where the WSL is sponsored by one man and he is losing money to the tune of $25 m a year , and the plan for 2019 already looks pretty shaky if there are the same number of surfers and the loser rounds continue.
If they hold Pipe in Feb , then you get to fly to freezing stormy Portugal , then to Snapper , no sense , so start in Portugal , sounds possible , no France , as they were offered May , no surf at this time .
please cut the tour down to 16 surfers , overlapping heats like Pipe and hold the comp in 1 day , so we can be entertained by competitive surfing , as if I want to watch big airs by JJF/Gabby/Toledo etc.....fuck we watch videos!

indo-dreaming's picture
indo-dreaming's picture
indo-dreaming Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 5:37pm

I like the non elimination rounds.

It helps to ensure the best surfers get through to the finals.

Without the non elimination rounds it often just comes down to luck of having priority when a good wave comes through.

sharkman's picture
sharkman's picture
sharkman Friday, 27 Oct 2017 at 12:05am

So you are agreeing that there too many CT surfers that are not the best surfers , so we need to hold non - elimination rounds just in case the good surfers have bad luck ?

belly's picture
belly's picture
belly Friday, 27 Oct 2017 at 12:01pm

I ebb and flow on the non eliminations. Currently every event is 51 rounds or 25.5 hours of daylight clock time excluding re-starts etc. Too often this year conditions have been very marginal and there does appear to be a correlation between marginal conditions and length of event as nearly all the events had good waves at some point.

But then put yourself in the surfers shoes, it's their job, it's a very short career, you have the third element of nature, and you've travelled halfway around the globe for a 30 minute opportunity to prove yourself then you go home again....

PS Trestles hasn't had much of a mention... I reckon it's one of the best comps, lefts / rights, but needs to be a month or two earlier for the main winter swells.

sharkman's picture
sharkman's picture
sharkman Friday, 27 Oct 2017 at 4:17pm

The trouble is that its not about the surfers , their short career and/ or their travelling , its about trying to get the core surfing viewers back .
its pretty simple , not enough paying viewers, Mr Ziff can just shut down the WSL , as a bad investment , unless he can change the current product , which means a drastic over haul or...??
This now all about money , and if the WSL is viable for an investor , I agree that Lowers is a great venue and will now need to be probably in July /August , permits might be a problem!

Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean Saturday, 28 Oct 2017 at 10:22am

They can keep round two ....... What they really should do is take the highest heat score from each round onto the next . I.e.
Surfers from each round get two scores highest heat totals advance.
I am always confused when a surfer with a 4.00 heat average advances over a surfer with a 15.00 total .
Format is broken people !

dingoslee's picture
dingoslee's picture
dingoslee Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 5:18pm

J Bay and Fiji (along with Pipe and Tahiti) are the best locations/comps on the tour. Pro Surfing will be the looser if they don't run comps at these locations.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 5:46pm

Ok , let's get harsh.

If people are claiming that they want a shorter event and the herd needs to be culled , who should go ?

Let's name names.

Cause I bet the surfers I find uninteresting don't totally align with the surfers you find uninteresting.

Unless you're talking about Kanoa Igarashi* of course....

* Only present day Igarashi. Igarashi in a few years might be worthy once he's beefed up his body and his turns.

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 5:58pm

Kanoa Igarishi, Strider Wasilewski, and Michaela Cash.

web-cams-save-me-petrol's picture
web-cams-save-me-petrol's picture
web-cams-save-m... Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 6:30pm

Michaelia should only be allowed into events where there are waves of "consequence" (with a serious risk of drowning), be denied the opportunity to speak at any time (..eg. no post heat interviews) and be forced to wear a rubber swimming cap at all times to squash her hair flat (is she sponsored by Brylcreem?).

squigz's picture
squigz's picture
squigz Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 7:46pm

Throw Nat Young in there too, can't stand the bloke. Getting wild cards and never capitalising on it. Get the fuck back to the QS.

memlasurf's picture
memlasurf's picture
memlasurf Monday, 30 Oct 2017 at 2:27pm

Ahh... my picks are Pupo, Gouveia, Freestone, Wiggoly, Andre, Kennedy, Lacomare, Mendes, Ibelli, Fioravanti, de Souza, and Ferreira. Sorry, Chaps just a not adding much to what is done better by others. All terrific surfers but seem to just contest machines or just a bit bland.

Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean Saturday, 28 Oct 2017 at 10:26am

Kanoa put in his time at pipe, over the winter seasons. Don't underestimate the ripper he is .

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 6:13pm

And what about Joe Turpel ?

Years ago I lived next door to a family whose daughter was the epitome of a vacuous waste of space. No skills or abilities , no drive or motivation . No personality or opinion.

Dead air between long pauses.

But her mother said she'd go far in life because she had a pretty smile.

Replace pearly whites with voice modulation and this is the same route to success employed by Joe Turpel.

And before you start your spiel about the white bread necessary to provide a base for the taste of the jam....I give to you Mr Ronnie Blakey. The ultimate lead man with an opinion and a turn of phrase.

Bland is bland is Joe Turpel.

I'd rather watch the lowest ranked surfer sit waveless for 30 minutes than listen to the flavourless drone of Joey T covering the heat of the century.

Michaela Cash is the devil.

web-cams-save-me-petrol's picture
web-cams-save-me-petrol's picture
web-cams-save-m... Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 6:30pm

Joe...."Did I mention that Potts was the 87 world champ?"
Yes, Michaelia is the devil.

memlasurf's picture
memlasurf's picture
memlasurf Monday, 30 Oct 2017 at 2:29pm

Turpel could dead set talk underwater in an iron lung. You would be wondering what is that drone in the background driving me nuts?

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 6:47pm

Nick Bone's picture
Nick Bone's picture
Nick Bone Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 6:49pm

wilko in politics. yes please

Nick Bone's picture
Nick Bone's picture
Nick Bone Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 6:49pm

who chose the photo of Renato. I likey

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 7:18pm

Lovely bouffant

seal's picture
seal's picture
seal Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 7:52pm

Is he Arnold Schwarzenegger and Patrick Swayze's love child???

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 9:49pm

The Bohdinator

Legrope's picture
Legrope's picture
Legrope Friday, 27 Oct 2017 at 12:52am

That's so funny. I was thinking the same but you beat me to it!
They should cull Bells from the tour and make it a specialty event instead. Add Fiji back in.

chad schomberg's picture
chad schomberg's picture
chad schomberg Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 8:05pm

Best events= Pipe, Tahiti, Snapper, Jbay, Fiji. Best commentators = Ronnie and Potts. Take these away and im going back to watching replays of Home and Away.

crg's picture
crg's picture
crg Thursday, 26 Oct 2017 at 8:45pm

If it's losing cash as much as they say, then for absolute sure you can expect change.
Their future revenue stream as with all sports in the future will be viewing over a digital platform. If they're going to charge to view, then the content must be at a significantly higher level than what we see now with a lot more surety.
The events must be modified into shorter more flexible times and venues to maximise the best waves.
The amount of surfers must be reduced.
Infrastructure costs must be reduced.
I'm thinking future tours have to be much smaller in their blueprint altogether.

Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean Friday, 27 Oct 2017 at 12:18am

Not to sure about the whole program change. Surfers are complaing about length of tour /no off season. ... Jeeze don't try the real world then.
For some reason the indo ender finale just isn't interesting or enticing. Personally I find a lot of the waves in the ments really. Ahhhh... How do I say this remotely interesting. Or interestingly remote. (Boring. to watch more than three waves)

I think the biggest problem is the difference between the ct vs qs. The surfers in the two tours seem polar opposites to each other. The wqs seems to farm too many great great grovellers and not enough well rounded complete surfers .

The format is broken. The wsl format was borrowed from tennis. I.e. best ranked surfers, face worst ranked surfers. Rookie bullying format.
They should look to incorporate different formats to each event . ie trials/ back door shootout / highest score wins event. Top highest scores in rounds proceed to next ( rather than winner vs loser)

The World champ should be able to surf waves from one foot to twenty foot .

savanova's picture
savanova's picture
savanova Friday, 27 Oct 2017 at 8:32am

I agree it makes no sense to me how Parko won the world title but didnt beat Slater once that year.

wozz's picture
wozz's picture
wozz Friday, 27 Oct 2017 at 5:47am

If Renata Hickel is in charge of the tour changes the wsl is trouble! The guy can't even count. Remember when he prematurely awarded Slaters 10th title. This is going to be a cluster fuck.

Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean Friday, 27 Oct 2017 at 4:25pm

The amount of surfers must be reduced? Why? I think they need more surfers and less no loser rounds.
The WSL is just a business venture to monetize surfing. Competitive surfing has existed long before the WSL and will continue to long after. There is just little to no interest between surfing and the mainstream .

frog's picture
frog's picture
frog Friday, 27 Oct 2017 at 10:51pm

The tour has improved in some senses to be a fairly slick package. But the cost to run it like that is huge. The business model seems based on assuming a way over optimistic % of the world who have surfed a bit will sit glued to the broadcast and click fanatically on pop up advertisements and the buy stuff off sponsors like shopaholics. Surfers, by the way, are not avid shoppers! Multiple over optimistic assumptions have been made which cumulate into something 10 or 20 times the real level. This is a common mistake in business and more so in the internet age where theoretical reach is so high.
Personal experience: i ran an internet ad recently. Got 3000 impressions, 2 click throughs and zero sales for the product. That is just a hint at the reality behind large numbers all the web marketers get so excited about. Proctor and gamble pulled their social media advertising recently and it had no impact on sales.

I just cannot see ziff making money off the tour ever.
Surfing had a long moment in the sun when money was easily made off youth fashion. These days, my daughter shops online, prides herself on getting bargains and cares little about brands. The concept of going into a surf shop to pay full price for a name brand is very foreign to her. She buys two sizes of everything and returns the one that fits least well for free. So even the online stores have skinny margins and high costs per sale. Tough market.

upnorth's picture
upnorth's picture
upnorth Friday, 27 Oct 2017 at 11:06pm

"The Meo Rip Curl Pro Portugal is not at risk, but will change from October to the beginning of the year. The end of February is a similar time to what we have here in October."

Not really, like anywhere the difference between early autumn and mid winter is significant. Be interesting to see how it goes, they'll need to break the steamers out.

The Indo final sounds like an anti climax in the the making. Who hasn't watched endless clips of quality surfing at places like Macaronis. It's too perfect, mechanical and predictable. And setting all of that up for 6 surfers, a couple of hours viewing/advertising opportunity, is it viable? Any final should be at Pipe.

Billyw's picture
Billyw's picture
Billyw Saturday, 28 Oct 2017 at 2:03am

Nah you're wrong on this one mate. been to Portugal for years now from Aug to April and October and February are really similar, yeh the water and sand is colder but harden up. In regards to surf, no real difference, winds and swell similar.

upnorth's picture
upnorth's picture
upnorth Saturday, 28 Oct 2017 at 4:34am

Bit further north for me, Portugal feels tropical. Air temp was about 25c during the day last week, in Feb you can be in single figures and water temp down to about 13? These are the pro's we're talking about. If a winter storm roles in off the Atlantic it'll be a different prospect than we've seen. Been getting many there?

paddlepaddleduckrepeat's picture
paddlepaddleduckrepeat's picture
paddlepaddleduc... Sunday, 29 Oct 2017 at 8:33am

Surely "the tour" could be video based similar to battle clips....surfers have a month window to provide a 5 min clip of eAch stop,viewers vote....or there could be monotonous commentary added in. Surfers have a wildcard destination of their choosing. Maybe the finals could be live...perhaps in a studio with dancing girls and half time entertainment.
Whatever they do the wsl need to get the surfers individual sponsors engaged because the numbers aren't enticing to big business.

wax-on-danielson's picture
wax-on-danielson's picture
wax-on-danielson Sunday, 29 Oct 2017 at 2:11pm

If they want to increase revenue maybe they should have a mid-year stop in Vegas for bare knuckle mixed-discipline brawling at the MGM and different surfers could call each other out. I want to see Medina vs Wilson. Cali battle Kanoa vs Kolohe. Or the frenemies - Mick v. Parko. Or the ultimate revenge after choking this year's world title - John John vs Jordy!

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Sunday, 29 Oct 2017 at 2:16pm

Interesting.

I immediately assumed that the surfer with the eyes of a white pointer shark (Medina ) would cruise to an easy victory over the sun blessed Wilson.

Then I thought of Wilson's refusal to concede once his blood was up at Chopes .

Very interesting.

But only cause it's a slow Sunday arvo and I'm physically fucked, really.

The Flying Nosepick's picture
The Flying Nosepick's picture
The Flying Nosepick Sunday, 29 Oct 2017 at 4:20pm

“All he needs is a point of difference”, said Potts.

“Jeez Potts, I think I just jinxed him. He stomped it but didn’t complete it. It’s certain to stuff his score”, said Twerps.

“It got a bit repetitious but he’s such a silky showman.”

“Strider reckoned his inside barrel was so round and so square that he got a bit extended. He got reverb ribs and rips coming off the bricks. Instead of sitting based out and vertical, he held the rail before he wiped out”, said Twerps.

“Don’t forget he wasted 100 metres of scoring potential” said Potts. “It was a section begging for a madman with a chainsaw to do a combo of packed out major moves with a lipper to hit. Then he could have straightened out, to show who’s in charge”, said Potts.

“Jeez Potts, where would you rather be?”

“In the pit, Twerps”.

Mort's picture
Mort's picture
Mort Thursday, 2 Nov 2017 at 12:32am

He looks like a dude out of Baywatch.