2015 Elite World Best Back for Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast

The World Surf League WSL announced the kick start of the 2015 Season, with world Elite Surfers back in the historical location of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast Queensland Australia. WSL called, promised and delivered the top ranking athletes and will spice up this year with online broadcasting strategy.

Surf viewers in the past where either out on the beach or bootlegged images of the swell rides….today WSL opens the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast to the world. Recently breaking its own viewer record to over 6 million, 2015 and the start of the season at Australia´s Quiksilver Pro promises to be a changing year for the sport. WSL does all this online avoiding mainstream TV communication signals.

On February 20th WSL broadcasted the Quiksilver Pro WSL 2015 Trailer making one thing certain, the “World's Best Are Back”.

The Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast kicks off the World Surf League season.“From Kelly Slater US to Gabriel Medina BRA and John John Florence HAW, the world's best will begin the quest to become the 2015 World Champion,” WSL stated.

WSL called upon the entire world to view the event live at their main frame racing from February 28 to March 11.

The New York Times on February 23rd reported on how WSL plans to bring the international crowds of millions to the home beach at Australia. Packing the broad lines in late 2014 more than 6.2 million people turned live and online to witness the crowning of Billabong Pipe Masters Gabriel Medina from Brazil in Hawaii. The event broadcasted from the island positioned WSL into the serious broadcasting market -”it is in the sports interest”, WSL assure.

The New York Times reported that more people watched the final showdown of professional international surfing athletes in Hawaii than all those who tuned in for the Stanley Cup hockey finals.

WSL managed to do all that avoiding traditional live television of US and taking its serious business to Youtube. Over 35 % of those who watched the Hawaii event did so on mobile application -fact which speaks by itself on who is WSL demographic target and group.

“The World Surf League’s successful web-first broadcast strategy is at the leading edge of a gradual transformation taking hold in sports television...the purity of surfing’s model — reaching millions of viewers online without being beholden to exclusivity contracts with broadcast and cable networks — demonstrates the power of online audiences for sports big and small,” the New York Times jumped all over a business which is valued in billions of revenue -high impact massive sports.

With millions of dollars in purse for the sport surfers around the world take in the fact easy of how the spòrt evolves to fit modern times. Inside the league it is still about riding it out, riding the style, and loving it.

Surfer Today reported that on the Open Season 2015 and the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast Gateway.

“Gabriel Medina and Stephanie Gilmore are ready to defend their Quiksilver and Roxy Pro Gold Coast titles, as the first ever World Surf League (WSL) season prepares to ignite the Australian fans,” Surfer Today still sticks like many others to conventional surf reporting, perhaps still the best type of report for those inside.

“They're ready to paddle out. The world's best male and female surfers have concluded their pre-season training routines. It's time to surf for the judges.The spot is opening the elite season for the 14th consecutive year,” Surfer Today explains.

But why does the WSL -previously known as the ASP choose for the 14th year in a run to open the Elite Season at Australia. It is simple stuff. WSL built the scene there, and when “we say built the scene”, we are not talking about positioning the location but actually building the environment.

“Snapper Rocks is an iconic custom-built sandbar offering world-class right-hand barrels and rippable wave faces,” Surfer Today says.

Translation? WSL explains it with simple words but still cannot make the issue sound nothing else than mythical, legendary, inspiring a hard work reaping results. It all started from the dream surfers who stood out on the look out at the high point of the beach had. Counting, breathing the waves, the breaks, the tides and swells...

It is taken for granted that track building is something for professional snowboarders, professional skateboarders, professional sport car carrings, those sort of things, but the minds behind the WSL prove us wrong again.

WSL ran a report on February 20th titled “If You Build It, They Will Surf”. WSL explains the history, the how and when and what followed the creation of the iconic beach.

In 2002 Mick Fanning accompanied ASP President Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew figured out that Kirra could be linked to Snapper Rocks south if something were to be done with all the sand that filtered from Snapper. The sand was eventually pumped out by a dredging company.

“But no one anticipated what came next. Suddenly, waves could be ridden for 20 seconds or more. It wasn't long before someone achieved the holy grail, riding a wave all the way from Snapper to Kirra,” WSL states.

This year the beach will feel more than packed with millions of online spectators expected to be hot wired for the live event.

“It’s one of those things where there’s a lot of fans out there,” explained Matt McLernon, a spokesman for YouTube. “When anyone can watch it online, you open up a whole concept,” WSL told the New York Times.

The New York Times adds that WSL strategy is today utilized by most of the major sports leagues including the NHL, the PGA Tour, the NBA and other including ESPN and Turner channel events.

YouTube approached the newly formed World Surf League to become their exclusive global digital partner and the surfing league will be opening WSL Studios to meet global demands.

Surfer Today assures that the dice have been casted for the start of the Elite WSL 2015 Season and uploads top 34 surfers in and the full 2015 calendar.

Ocean Life News in Brief

Ocean Level Increase Dropping Oceans Floor: International Press reported on December 5 on the findings of new research which assures that due to ocean level increase the ocean floor is sinking. The study published online in Geophysical Research Levels used mathematical equations to accurately measure the Ocean's floor impact driven by the increased of water volume weight. Using data from 1993 to 2014 researchers found that ocean level increase is causing the Ocean floor to drop globally by the milimeters. Ocean Dead Zones Up By Four: On January 8 New York Daily reported that Ocean Dead Zones have quadrupled.Researchers warned in a new study that oxygen-starved ocean dead zones, where animals and plants are struggling to survive, have increased fourfold and it may not be reversible. The new study was published in the Journal Science. The increase of Dead Zones was linked to climate change. La Niña´s Polar Wave Hitting Hard the US -Freezing Oceans: International Press reported on the Polar Wave hitting hard the US. The event is linked by experts to the influence of La Niña. “For the past couple of weeks, parts of North America have been chilling down to record temperatures, with massive snowfall and icy cold conditions putting life at a standstill for many,” media reported. The US East Coast has been particularly badly hit with the likes of Boston down to Philadelphia reaching bone-chilling lows of near 0°F , with icy winds making it feel closer to around -10°F to -20°F. Officially 18 were dead and 100 million affected. Government of Bali Declares a Garbage Emergency: On January 5 Ocean Conservancy reported on a New Waste Management Emergency in Bali. Massive amounts of ocean debri are affecting the island. The situation has reached its peak as the Government of Bali declared a “Garbage Emergency”. Clean up works have began. “Ivory Coast Village Swallowed by Ocean Increase,” Aljazeera Reports: On January 8 Al Jazeera reported that ocean increase levels are affecting infrastructure in the Ivory Coast. “Rising tides and more frequent, devastating storms are slowly destroying what is left of Lahou-Kpanda, the offshoot of what was once a major colonial town near the mouth of the Bandama River, the longest river in Ivory Coast,” Al Jazeera reported. Arctic Ocean Radioactive Levels on the Rise: IFL Science reported on January 3 on the findings of new report which assures that radioactive levels in the Arctic Ocean are on the rise. “Concentrations of radioactive radium-228 in the Arctic Ocean increased between 2007 and 2015,” the report reads. While levels have not yet reached a mark of concern the trend is worries experts. Lauren Kipp of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution addressed the issue. New World Wide Ocean Turtle Study Says 90% of Plastic Pollution Cases Result in Death: Earth Sky Org reported on January 7 that hundreds of marine turtles die every year after getting tangled in trash in oceans and on beaches. A research published in the journal Endangered Species Research took on a World-Wide Survey covering the major oceans where turtles live. They discovered that 91 % of the entangled turtles were found dead. They also suffered serious wounds from entanglement, leading to maiming, amputation or choking. Double Whirlpools Discovered for First Time: December 4 Press reported that Double Eddies have been registered for the first time in History. Tangled up Double Eddies can travel great distances affecting ecology significantly. Eddies are a natural part of the ocean environment but double whirlpools had only been theorized by mathematicians.