Less young surfers are chasing the dream of being a pro surfer. In the 80's and 90's almost every Aussie grom had the dream whereas nowadays most groms are happy to cruise and ride a throwback design rather than push themselves towards the high performance zone. It's just part of a natural cycle of each generation wanting to be different than the last. Look at California pre Tom Curren, the majority of surfers were anti-competition. Where I surf the average age in the water on a good day is 40 plus.

Could part of this change also reflect a corporate culture change?
The ASP changed into the WSL , the new owner and top management are all focused on the Americas , both north and south.
This has also been seen in the change in presentation and presenters with Ronnie Blakey holding on as the last aussie full time face on the set .
Barton Lynch used to be a weird "colour" add on but seems to be getting more on air time as an analyst, focused on the outcomes of coaching and strategy.
The commercial need to get funds from the US media market is not going to tolerate the Occys , Hoys even the more unpredicatble guests like Dayan Neves who all gave the show a more aussie flavour .
And more humour and general shitstirring- they did not try to pass off windblown two foot cold slop as " a demonstration of how the modern competitive surfer must be able to thrive in all conditions ".
It is so much bullshit trying to excuse the poor conditions and insults the intelligence and enthusiasm of viewers.
It is perhaps inevitable that an unspoken but pervasive pressure comes to self select through judging decisions those surfers who will appeal to the prospective media audience in the US that is US surfers.
Stider could hardly contain himself during the final yesterday when there were three Californians involved.
As the business is now about money and finding viewers to pay back the Ziff family we should not be surprised to see Australians ,Kiwis and even Europeans further marginalised.A few will be there no doubt but once the large group of thirty + year olds are gone who is going to replace them?

I would speculate the reduction in numbers on the QS/CT would correlate with a reduction in recreational surfers as well....happy days!! Could this be the realisation of my dream of having surfing become uncool like roller blading?!!? Empty sessions for eternity?! best news in a while I reckon. The notion of surfing as sport has always confused me anyway

Don't worry t-diddy they are all buying SUPs and taking over a surf break near you!

nothing to do with outside forces outside of Australia , its the career path from the Boardriders clubs to the Surfing Australia model , too many coaches, too much regimenting of repertoires, a system that is producing less than nothing ..

Some many factors I believe.
What about population? Brazil and the states have way bigger numbers than us? Plus junior sport diversity is huge in Australia. Winter you have 4 codes competing for numbers, summer there is cricket, slsc, baseball etc So many options....
Board craft has changed over the years as well. if there was a twin fin or single division at the wsl nobody would beat us

Just did a quick head count on the women's qs 32 Australian ladies in the top 100. Go getters !

So if Surfing Australia doesn't operate as any benefit to competitive surfing and it doesn't operate to benefit recreational surfing, then who does it's existence benefit ?

I may as well ask who the 2 new stadiums in Sydney are benefiting as the answer is the same : Sporting business and sporting bureaucracy, of course !

I don't really see the big deal here... If we wanted to see a full Australian field, we can go to a beach and watch a free surf at snapper.... I welcome the international competition as it will mean that a) viewership goes up b) wsl is strengthened and becomes more marketable c) the world tour stays around for longer... its in bad shape, lets welcome the Brazillian and US markets and the money and sponsorship that comes with it..

And lets face it, how good is the competition and surfing level now? There is a whole generation of rippers coming out of Australia and in particular, Cronulla.. How do we get more kids like Eli Hanneman though? Bring surfing back as a cult "roots" culture and get these kids pumped to rip the shit out of waves all day, every day.. Life situation plays a huge part in all of this... Anyone follow Axel Irons (Lyndie Irons) account? How about Jackson Dorian (Shane Dorian) and look at the history and life of JJF and the whole Hawaii crew (Asing, Lau and the younger ones)... these kids live and breath surfing, that's all they do, that's all they know.. There life is a surf trip and all of their lives are consumed by stoke...

Then look at Sydney (for example) - Australia is a land now of mortgages and stress, a generation of kids who are given everything and aspire to nothing in particular.. Family life is at an all time low in most cases where mum and dad works to pay for the 2 BMW X6's in the front drive and a huge fucking house... They don't hang down the beach, they don't play in the park and skate with their family and friends anymore.. They don't go on train trips down the coast or camp to search for waves...

They get mum and dad to pay for a coach and when they get bored, they give it up and just cruise: why should they bother right? When they don't need to. Kids in Australia in general don't give a shit cause its too hard....

The Hawaiians and South Americans, for them, it is a way out of poverty, it is a goal driven by hardship, driven by sheer will to be respected and provide.. The Dorians aren't exactly short of a crust BUT they have it in them, they want to be the best, their life is surfing and being in that culture can only produce quality surfers.. The Hawaiian grommet base is insane now..

ps. You cant blame Surfing Australia for it..... its an absolute shift in mindset, economy and culture from the old glory days of 80's-90's Australian Surfing...

Once professional surfing became accessible only to the highly trained from 5 years old, Australia was always going to fade away as a force. We cannot compete on population or funding so even with the best possible talent spotting, we will struggle. Next step is for the sports scientists to identify the exact physical qualities necessary for pro surfing and start testing non-surfing areas for potential talent. This already happens in a lot of sports. The kid doesn't need to have any previous experience, just the right build, muscle composition, speed of movement etc. I find it all a bit sad. There were a few hyper-competitive sporty types in the70s but the most interesting ones, Nat, MP, Wayne Lynch, Rabbit etc were basically feral non-conformist groms who grabbed an opportunity. These days conformity is the way to go. Listen to your coach, do the training, plan the manoeuvre sequence. A few real talents slip through, but the average WSL surfer, in contests at least, comes off as a clone.

It’s a bit doom and gloom, I think we’ll be right, probably not the same numbers as 15 yrs ago but there’s always a resurrection in Aussie surfing

Yeah once the parents started to live their lives through their children it went down the toilet. A family down here have a good young surfer and decided to sacrifice the entire family for his career as a pro surfer. They moved the entire family to Sufers philistine, so the kid would improve. No pressure and you wonder what happens if he is a dud competition wise. Also seems tough on the other kids. I was brought up to believe everyone was equal and you made the best of what you had. This bullshit era of doing everything for the kids sport is nuts. Let em battle it out and if they display the killer instinct mixed with talent, all good. If they don’t , all good as well. Let’s face it, there are a lot more important things in life than surfing. Stu, your story of the BMx track is what being a kid is all about: Creating your own fun and dreams, and not getting driven around to a million sporting events, in the hope that you will keep out of trouble. I think most of us here can own up to getting in the back of a divvy van when we were young. Need to get into a bit of trouble to grow up. Old mans rant for the day.

If you grow up at Manly or Bondi today you probably have near 0% chance of becoming a tour surfer as the breaks are so crowded you are barely catching enough waves to better yourself surely. You need to live out of the major cities IMHO to have a crack these days, also a basic electrician or plumber probably earns as much over there career as a tour surfer without the competitive stress, obviously not quite as fun though but certainly more secure and they can still surf whenever they like many days, meanwhile in Brazil if you make the tour your entire family is set for life, the motivation to succeed is on another level to here.

The whole idea of having a system to produce World Champion surfers as their goal falls over, when you start seeing no discernible results and there is a major component missing in their training/systems ?
how from a young age do you harness and maintain the passion that is needed to become the worlds best surfer?
The Aust System currently does not allow for any potential surf prodigy's and has become a business first and foremost for the people working as coaches , etc , mediocrity breeds mediocrity , and that's what we have !

I wonder if it can be attributed to one very specific change: The reduction of the Pro Junior age limit from 21 to to 18.

In previous years Australians were a dominant force in World Junior Surfing, and by the time a surfer seriously made a qualification attempt he was competitively honed, and a mature surfer. He was also likely coming onto the WQS with a renewed contract following a successful Junior career, meaning he had a good three-to-five years of trying to make the big leagues. Guys like Mick, Joel, Owen, Julian, Stu Kennedy, Wilko, Jack Freestone, etc are all beneficiaries of this strong Junior heritage - and interestingly, many of them didn't qualify until their early-mid 20's - a stark contast to the Brazilians who often qualify as teen supergroms.

Looking at todays situation, a WCT hopeful graduates to the WQS when they are basically still a child. The junior series is basically irrelevant, and they've not yet had a chance to really make a competitive impression (thus reducing sponsorships & job security), so if they don't make it in their first year or two, they may very well find themselves sponsor-less and giving up by 20/21. Of course other countries are dealing with the same age changes, but this higher turnover favours countries with more numbers who have a larger pool of new supergroms to throw at the WQS each year.

It probably doens't help that the only two Aussie QS events that matter in a qualification campaign - Manly & Newcastle - favour Brazilians rather than locals. When Margaret River and Burleigh were on the calendar an Aussie could have two good results on the board without even getting their passports stamped, and at locations where they had a local knowledge/conditions advantage.

It all comes down to the desire for success and the Brazilian kids have it in spades.

Prime example: 2 foot slop, euro leg, close round 1 heat, last 30 seconds. A Brazilian kid will hit the lip in complete desperation (sacrificing style) as many times as thought possible but yet the ozzy kid will kick out in disinterest before the closeout unprepared to scrap.

The ozzy kids, much like the Americans have the talent but lack the tooth and nail approach when things get grindy. The majority look to have taken the social media, surf trip, video part or trendy free surfer approach over QS warrior . I actually don't blame them, hell of a lifestyle travelling with a bunch of mates drinking beers and getting tubed. At least while it lasts, then it's too late to go back cause a new 16 year brazzo prodigy is doing 1080's at the US open.

Jack Freestone is a classic example , of winning world juniors x 2 , finally 3-4 years later he qualifies , can't get out of a heat , came through the Australian system and now ......his career is just about over , as he makes a lot of $''s from sponsorship , but didn't requalify , didn't worry about the QS , looks like he has incredible talent , but too much too young , or do we blame Alana?