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coffee convo Hwilsin tour talk writing WSL

DOMINATING

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 […]

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coffee convo Hwilsin tour talk writing WSL

GRINDING GEARS

The Cry is Free. And the Cry was Loud. From all over the globe, really. Australia, Hawaii, USA, and surprisingly, Brazil. Everyone had some kind of complaint about the judging/scoring during the Ballito Pro. Here are a few of my favorite comments: “This is surfing, not ice skating, scores are not determined by how many […]

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coffee convo Hwilsin tour talk writing WSL

MINOR LEAGUE

Less than 4% of Division 1 college basketball players will make the NBA. This is why I prefer college basketball over the NBA. Those kids play with so much more passion, so much more love and respect for the game, and they don’t expect anything from it. A college scholarship and an education (if they […]

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coffee convo Hwilsin tour talk writing WSL

HOT WATER

Ironic. I guess that is just the way life works sometimes. I’ve sat here posting for years whinging about the WSL, and now here I go about defending them. Satiric. In my defense it is not so much the WSL I’m backing, but the judges. Those are my people. And from the outside, it’s understandably […]

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coffee convo Hwilsin tour talk writing WSL

DOORS

When one door closes, another one opens, as they say. The old season has ended, and the new one is set to begin. April is quickly approaching, and the first of the month brings Opening Day for the Bells Beach event window.  Ah, the good old Championship Tour. The gold standard. This is where hopes […]

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coffee convo Hwilsin tour talk writing WSL

‘TIS THE SEASON

Tears of joy and tears of heartbreak; yes its Qualifying Season. The last event of the North American ‘QS’ year wrapped up in Barbados just last week, and now the Challenger Series season is about to come to a close at the Bioglan Newcastle Surfest in less than two days. That means we’ve got new […]

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coffee convo Hwilsin tour talk writing WSL

THE PROVING GROUNDS

They don’t call it “The Mecca Of Surfing” for no reason. Pipeline absolutely roared for the first ever Challenger Series event there, and wow – it was fantastic viewing. For some reason or another, this feels like a tone setter for the rest of the year for the WSL; as if there is a hint […]

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coffee convo Hwilsin tour talk writing WSL

2 BIRDS 1 STONE

Mikey McDonagh, Jordan Lawler, and Al Cleland each won an event on the Challenger Series. Not one qualified for the Championship Tour next year. Ian Gouveia skipped 2 events and finished 2nd in the CS rankings.  Miguel Pupo, Joel Vaughan, George Pittar, Edgard Groggia, and Jackson Bunch never even made a Final, yet they all […]

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coffee convo Hwilsin tour talk writing WSL

PICK OF THE LITTER

Have we already talked about how fucking gnarly the Challenger Series is? For example, Jordan Lawler didn’t surf at Snapper, but he won the first event he surfed in – the Sydney Pro. He then got 33rd in Ballito, and now has back-to-back 73rd (dead last) place results. He currently sits in 14th place on […]

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coffee convo Hwilsin tour talk writing WSL

SHOULDA, COULDA, WOULDA

Commonly referred to as “one of the best to never win a World Title”, Julian Wilson is attempting to make his return to competition. Per his Instagram: “This time three years ago I was sitting in a hotel quarantine room in the aftermath of my Tokyo Olympic campaign, watching my dream as a WT surfer […]