I tried to warn you. All of you. Look what we have now. 2 events down on the ‘Challenger Series’, 2 wins for CT surfers.
Headline correction –
“Championship Tour surfers step down, Dominate Challenger Series Stop # 2 in Huntington Beach at the Lexus US Open of Surfing”
6 CT Surfers were in the Round of 16 on the Men’s side.
8 CT Surfers were in the Round of 16 on the Women’s side.
4 CT Surfers were in the QF’s on the Men’s side.
3 CT Surfers were in the QF’s on the Women’s side.
3 CT Surfers were in the Semi’s on the Men’s side.
NO CT Surfers were left in the Semi’s on the Women’s side.
2 CT Surfers were in the Final on the Men’s side, ensuring a CT win at Challenger Series Stop Number 2 – the Lexus US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach.
4 of the Top 10 (inside qualification) in the updated Men’s CS rankings are CT surfers – Jake Marshall (1), Cole Houshmand (2), Mateus Herdy (6), and Kanoa Igarashi (8).
1 of the Top 6 (inside qualification) in the updated Women’s CS rankings is a CT surfer – Francisca Veselko (2).
So it seems we are looking at a bit of a split: the Men CT surfers are Dominating the Challenger Series, while the Women CT surfers have not quite found their footing. It is worth noting there are a few surfers looming just outside the qualification line on both sides – Bella Kenworthy (9), and Brisa Hennessy (10) on the Women’s side, and the Colapinto Bro’s on the Men’s; Griffin (12), Crosby (14).
With 3 events remaining, but only your Top 4 results counting, one has to start wondering about Double Qualifiers. Say Cole Houshmand wins the Challenger Series at year’s end, and finishes 22nd, just inside the Cut Line for the CT – would the CS seeding be a better route for him to elect looking forward to next year? Does he get to make a choice, or is automatically awarded his CT slot? The CS qualification position would then presumably go to the next highest ranked surfer? How bad is it going to look if 5 or more of the top ranked CS guys are double qualifiers? It will prove to be a justifier for the WSL if a few surfers save their spot on Tour via this route (the Challenger Series).
Again, as mentioned in my last rant on this topic, if you have the tiers set (Championship Tour, Challenger Series, Qualifying Series), it’s supposed to work like a feeder system. Why, why, why muddy the waters and let them compete and rank within each other? It is 100% taking away from the lower tiered surfers, and I don’t understand how people see it any other way.
Let’s play this out. Pretend today is the end of the season. Falling off Tour and relegated down to the Challenger Series would be: Oscar Berry, Ramzi, Luke Thompson, Seth Moniz, Jordy, Eli Hanneman, Mateus Herdy, Al Cleland, Joel Vaughan, and Cole Houshmand.
Qualifying and graduating up to the Championship Tour would be: Jake Marshall*, Cole Houshmand, Wesley Dantas, Jackson Bunch, Taj Lindblad, Mateus Herdy, Deivid Silva, Kanoa*, Hayden Rodgers, and Ian Gouveia.
*Since Jake Marshall and Kanoa are inside the qualification line (double qualified) on Tour at the current moment, their spots would be relegated to the next highest ranked surfers, which would be: Jarvis Earle (11), and Lucca Messinas (13). Griffin (12) was skipped because he is in a re-qualification position on Tour, as is brother Crosby (14).
So Cole and Mateus are meant to fall off Tour, but since they are already ranked inside the Top 10 on the Challenger Series, they would retain their spot, thus taking away a position from a CS Surfer like Ian Gentil (15) or Kade Matson(16).
If you take CT surfers out of the events and rankings, this is what the qualification line (Top 10) would look like: Weslley Dantas, Jackson Bunch, Taj Lindblad, Deivid Silva, Hayden Rodgers, Ian Gouveia, Jarvis Earle, Lucca Messinas, Ian Gentil, Kade Matson. Nice fresh crop, right? A few fresh faces and a few returners; I’d much prefer this look. Then those CT guys can surf the CS events for a year. They already have shown they can Win and succeed at this level, right? Again, they are already on Tour – graduated. Should be able to do it again next year, in a full year on the Changa’s.
What about the prize money, you ask? Well my math is probably off, but I counted up $167,850 in total handed out on the Men’s side. $54,550 of that prize money went to Championship Tour surfers. 32%. Have a count for yourself. They took a third of the money home, er, to Tahiti.
Speaking of which, I’m done talking about this now. My gears are grinded to a halt. The results will speak for themselves at the end of the year, but I’m glad to voice my clear objection to letting CT surfers compete in Challenger Series events. We are going to move on to Teahupoo, which might start in a few short days. I will leave you with this last opinion – Hayden Rodgers should have won The US Open.
Let me know what you think below. Are the events more intriguing to watch with CT Surfers in the draw? Do you think CT Surfers deserve a chance to surf and rank in multiple tier events? The comment section on Stab’s post about this was busy, so I know there are some feelings about this. Here is the place to air ‘em out. We don’t judge (yes we do).
Also, while you’re at it, hit the subscribe button. I’m getting much more active with the weekly emails. Keep you up-to-date.
Talk soon.
Cheers,
hwilsin
Drew Stanfield