What is the WSL Championship Tour? — Surrey Surf Girl

Surfing in the UK is a bit of a lesser known sport and many people may not be sure how to follow the top levels of wave riders. With the official surf championship season kicking off, I thought I would do a quick explainer of how the championship tour works and what it actually is.

So, the WSL, or World Surf League, is the official governing body for professional surfers and was founded in 1976, although it has been run under several different names. They run the world championships for surfing (longboard, short board, big wave riding etc. categories) and all the sub levels/divisions of competition.

**That brings us to the original question, what is the championship tour?**

The CT, or championship tour, which generally refers to the shortboard world championship, is the official top competitive surfing circuit. It is comprised of 13 events at some of the most world class waves in the world.

And the top female and male surfers (based on a points system from the last championship tour and qualifying tour) compete to win the overall title. There are also wildcard competitors to take into account and local qualifiers at each event.

In each heat, that lasts for 30 minutes, the surfers can get as many waves as they want but their top two scoring waves (scored by a panel of judges) make up their final total. There is a priority system in place, which means different surfers will have the right to any chosen wave within a heat they want over the other competitors, and this is switched around depending on who just caught a wave.

Obviously, at the moment, the WSL are following all COVID-19 safety guidelines and as such the first tour event stops, Honolua Bay and Pipeline, are non-spectator events, but are being broadcast online on the WSL app and website.

th (2).jpg — It’s worth mentioning at this point that there wasn’t a 2020 Championship tour – it was postponed due to the pandemic and in its place eventually developed several smaller events (including the European Cup of Surfing and Rumble at the Ranch) which all observed the correct Corona Virus guidelines for the regions that they were held within.

This year’s championship tour is not only exciting because it hasn’t actually run for a year, but certain stops are on the calendar for the first time in over a decade (like G-land in Bali) AND the format of the tour has changed!

Before, by the final event of tour the World Champion could have already been crowned because of the points system in place (the further in any one event you get - seeding rounds, quarter finals, semi finals etc. - the more points you receive and this accumulates through the year).

Last year for example, on the women’s tour the final stop was Honolua Bay and Carissa Moor won, even though she lost the event. She had gained enough points when she got to a certain point in the event that regardless of how any of the other ladies placed, they wouldn’t beat her. On the other hand, you had Italo Ferreira and Gabriel Medina battling it out in the finals of the last stop on the men’s tour (Pipeline) because their points were so close. It was very intense to watch!