New Tour Structure Presents Regional Opportunities
In 1996, professional surfing’s two-tier system was four years old. The introduction of the World Qualifying Series in 1992 - later shortened to the Qualifying Series or just the QS - provided a pathway for the growing number of surfers from outside the traditional surfing bases of Australia, Hawaii, and North America.
The Qualifying Series also provided the infrastructure for sponsors to back smaller, local contests. In its first year, the QS had 42 contests, many in growing surf countries like Brazil, which had 8 QS events in ‘92, growing to 11 in ‘95.
Aspiring surfers could follow the QS tour and build points towards possible CT promotion. The idea, of course, was that surfers could follow the QS tour globally, yet in 1995 Brazilian Joca Junior became the first surfer to qualify for the CT without leaving his country.
In doing so, Junior was lightly mocked by the Australia surfing press, and the fact it could even happen was seen as a shortcoming of the Qualifying Series.
Fast forward to the present day, and Joca Junior is the model for the new tour structure.
As of this year, QS surfers won’t be promoted due to their global ranking, but rather how they fare within their region. That is, rather than a single Qualifying Series, there are seven Regional Qualifying Series, with each region allocated a quota of surfers to advance. They are:
- Africa – five men / three women
- Asia – six men / six women
- Australia – ten men / eight women
- Europe – ten men / eight women
- Hawaii – seven men / six women
- North America – ten men / eight women
- South America - ten men / five women
Accounting for the collapse of the surf industry - which once paid travel costs to many QS surfers - and the sheer difficulty of travel in the age of COVID, the Woz has engineered the series so that surfers can get promoted without ever leaving their country or region.
Also, the Woz announced that the two-tier system is now evolving into a three-tier system, with a new tour - the Challenger Series (CS) - sitting between the QS and CT. Ostensibly, successful QS surfers are allowed to compete in CS events alongside CT surfers, with the end of year Top 10 for men, and Top 5 for women promoted to the following year’s CT.
The Challenger Series has been slated for a few years, it serves the same function the QS did when it was introduced: providing an avenue for the growing base of pro surfers. However, it is the Regional Qualifying Series that may change the complexion of pro surfing in years to come.
Take Indonesia, for instance, which has produced a slew of great surfers over the years, none of which have been able to succeed on the QS. Various reasons have been proffered: lack of funds, dislike of cold water, no cultural push. Yet in recent years, Tim Hain and Tipi Jabrik of the Asian Surfing Cooperative (formerly the Indonesia Surfing Championships) have assembled an impressive regional tour that visits Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Philippines, plus many stops along the Indonesian archipelago. Indonesian and Japanese surfers fill the end of year rankings.
Rio Waida
This year, there are four CS events to decide who'll join next year's CT. Three Indonesian surfers, Rio Waida and Oney Anwar for the men, and Kailani Kohnson for the women, have made the cut to surf the CS events (the other places were all Japanese surfers). This effectively puts two Indonesian surfers inside the Top 100 in the world. In 2019, the last full year of competition the highest place Indonesian was 132.
Whether the young Indonesian surfers can capitalise on the changes remains to be seen, however despite a third tour being created, the road to the CT just got a touch shorter for Indonesian surfers.
PS: Tomorrow, Swellnet has an article from Tim Hain about the future of pro surfing in Indonesia.
PPS: If you're keen to see the young Indonesians surf, Rio Waida has a wildcard into next week's Corona Open Mexico
Comments
indo surfers deserve to be near the top .
must be hard for them to surf junk waves tho.
Add that to the list of reasons they've never succeeded. It's not a proven, verifiable fact, yet it would appear to make sense.
I went looking for Indo's best performing surfers and was surprised to see Made Switra's best end of year result was 325, while even more surprising was Rizal Tanjung, who travelled a bit during the early to mid-nineties, was 354.
EDIT: Ketut Menda is Indonesia's highest ever ranked surfer, finishing 52nd in 1981. Different times, different tour, but still, he's there as Indo's best in terms of comp results.
EDIT EDIT: Just to illustrate how much the tour has changed, Menda achieved that result - 52nd in the world - on the strength of just two contests.
That’s the problem for them they struggle in crap surf
Do you reckon that would be considered as an insult "only good in perfect 6-8 airbrushed freight train lefts, can't surf a 1-2 foot east coast metro fatty for shit"?
No disrespect intended .
On a dreamtour schedule they would excell .
Although anybody from the Kuta/Legian/Seminyak region would be well versed in junk waves. Onshore most afternoons and the local groms are all over it.
Could it be the fact that waves in Indo are so perfect? You'd have to ponder that growing up surfing proper waves [long period swells & reef] as opposed to junky short period beach-break waves would have an effect? I don't think it would be a huge drawback, but considering the QS is usually held in tiny & weak wind-swells, you would certainly have to train harder in those conditions.