It's been two years since the Quiksilver Ceremonial at Punta de Lobos last ran. For four months last year, the entire time of the waiting period, the waves failed to reach the minimum size threshold. This year however, a swell appeared within the first few weeks of the waiting period.

The World Surf League (WSL) was onto it quickly, giving first a yellow alert and advance notice, followed on Tuesday by a green alert and widespread press campaign. The excitement from the international community - and who doesn't love watching big waves? - was tempered by a line in the WSL release: "The Ceremonial will not be broadcast live but big wave fans can keep up with the event with real-time updates and on-demand video highlights."

It was assumed that the WSL couldn't webcast the Ceremonial as they had their own ceremony - the annual Big Wave Awards at Anaheim, California - to run just 24 hours later, plus the Oakley Lower Testles competition is also being webcast. Despite the four month waiting period for the Ceremonial the WSL's resources stretched only so far.

Fortunately for surf fans, local Chilean TV crew Via de Escape stepped into the breech and offered a down-home webcast filmed from the cliffs above Punta de Lobos. The news was well received by surf fans and Chileans who couldn't make it to Punta de Lobos.

The comp was due to get under way at 10am though a delay in the swell pushed the start time back, first to 11pm and then well into the afternoon. The organisers sounded the siren to the first heat at 3pm. However, there was no live footage to be seen. Reason being, the Via de Escape crew had their production shut down by the local constabulary around midday. The Via de Escape said the orders came from the WSL. From their Facebook page (translated):

"Dear friends, we regret to inform you that for the decision of the WSL, we was banned from go on with our transmission from the ceremonial, we made a tremendous effort in order to be able to bring them to you. We will do everything possible to reverse this situation but we see it very hard... Waiting for your understanding we invite you to keep tuned to our news."

As expected the WSL's decision hasn't gone down well with the surf community. Irate fans have vented on any comment page with a WSL logo attached, and it ain't all simplistic "here we are, now entertain us" criticsim either. Journalist Matt Rott wraps a bit of context around the issue:

"...when a local crew steps up and fills the gap left by your own incompetence, broadcasting a “world tour” event that would otherwise not be seen by the world, in a town where Big Wave Tour competitor Ramon Navarro has been actively advocating for the rights of locals in the face of foreign development and gringo self-interests, during a year in which the local South African big wave contingent pulled Dungeons from the BWT roster over concerns that the WSL doesn’t have the best interests of local communities at heart—well, claiming ownership of Punta de Lobos and taking an “If we aren’t broadcasting, then no one is” stance doesn’t exactly endear the WSL to its fans, does it?"

Ken 'Skindog' Collins was also outspoken getting straight to the point: "Now I know why South African Dungeons Locals and Jeff Clark [Titans of Mavericks organiser] did not want to partner up with WSL. Image the Super Bowl without live coverage, would not have many fans."

Following the delayed 3pm start time the WSL only had enough daylight to run four heats. The organisers subsequently made the decision to run the rest of the competition the next morning. It's night time in Chile now and the WSL have posted one highlight clip from the first heat of the day. It remains to be seen if it's enough to allay the pent up anger of surf fans, and also assuage the resentment now felt by the Chilean surf community.