Watch: The Impossible Wave
OK, truth be told, it's a pretty ordinary video, though worth watching if you really need to know how Fernando Aguerre went from rubber soles and soft porn* to surfing's point man for the Olympics.
However, the actual reason I'm running it is this: Since ELO got disappeared, there's been much speculation about who'll replace him, but I don't think it goes far enough.
You see, it's my belief that it's not just job roles that rest on shaky ground but the Wozzle's whole artifice. For instance, it's been five years since then-CEO Sophie Goldschmidt said about the Ziffs,"...they bought [the WSL] for business reasons. And I think they have already significantly increased the value of the company."
One rebuffed sale, two CEOs, and a number of setbacks would suggest otherwise.
The Ziff's fund numerous charitable causes, so in a world of dwindling pandas and rhinos, when a cashed-up benefactor can spin the globe and find a problem that needs repairing, how much longer do they pump the bilge on the good ship Wozzle?
If the Woz were to go the way of ELO and be disappeared, contest surfing will survive - the will to compete is too strong to deny - but which person or organisation will pick up the Woz?
Hola Fernando!
Tell me it doesn't make sense. The WSL have had zero input in the Olympics, it's all Nando's work, and it's become the one sure thing in the surfing calendar. When the Olympics was first proposed a number of surfers spoke out against it, such as Carissa and Owen, who went on to gold and bronze respectively.
Also, the Olympics is being held out as the spectacle to drive audience engagament - because ten years of the Woz hasn't worked.
It will solve the square-peg-round-hole fit between WSL and ISA qualification, that this year saw at least one domestic surfing body furious how WSL surfers could block Olympic qualification of ISA surfers. Keep an eye out for that one.
And lastly, with his five-ring dream having a gestation period of 27 years, Nando has shown he's got the staying power to see something through.
*Reef Sandals built their marketing on the backsides of scantily clad models. 10,000 print ads are testament to this, none of which appear in the above video.
Comments
I found myself to those Reef ads, so he gets my vote (also because I don't care about comp surfing anymore, including the olympics.... at least until when/if my little fella gets into it!).
And who can forget that 'song'?
Me.
Whoever is in charge will need to go back to basics before coming up with new innovations. In this world that means dropping this Trestles bullshit, bringing Cloudbreak back, and finishing the season in Hawaii. And I might start watching again.
Edit: That video is such shameless propaganda, it's horrible.
so true flollo
The 'league' has to be not only an embarrassment but a liability for a man of Ziff's wealth. At this point I'd imagine he'd take the loss (and subsequent tax write off) and move on. He also knows the situation that prompted ELo's immediate dismissal and the fact that he placed that fish out of water as CEO is embarrassing enough.
My ideal if they want to maintain mid-season cut and finals, and want to maintain interest in the USA Trestles event:
-Snapper (February)
-Bells (March)
-Margs (April)
-Cloudbreak (May)
-Trestles (June) [CUT HALF THE FIELD]
-J-Bay (July)
-Teahupoo (August)
-September (Hossegor)
-Late October (Mundaka) [FURTHER CUT TO 8 SURFERS]
-December to January [8 MAN FINALS AT HONOLUA, SUNSET AND PIPELINE, TRIPLE CROWN STYLE]
Strange but I seem to have a strong sense of De ja vu with this list.
Haha its almost like they nailed it ten years ago. Only real difference is the cuts and the finals format if they're desperate to keep finals.
If I remember it was too expensive to run. The WSL does have excellent coverage of the surf which apparently costs a bomb hence the shitty but accessible locations for a big chunk for the schedule (that is what they told me - 'they' is in the ether).
Snapper wouldn't be expensive to run, I think the WSL just had a biff with the Queensland government during Covid which they need to get over. Most of the other events are already on the schedule. Running the finals at Trestles was clearly a financial move which has clearly failed, so the triple crown Hawaii finals can't be that much worse financially (and would be far better surf-wise). The only sure-fire way to kill the financial viability of the tour is to keep up the current trend of making it worse rather than better for fans.
Love a OZ event but that is two too many in OZ
"spectacle to drive audience engag[e]ment": language symptomatic of the insincerity of the corporate surfing oligarch.
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) to the rescue? LIV Surfing League? 8' Kelly pool is set to open in Abu Dhabi...??
If I was Fernando I’d shut the Olympic door on the WSL and let all the clowns grind their asses in 35 heats of Repercharge against hungry underpaid kids from the 4 corners of the world. He’d have more than one ethical reason to do so.