WSL Half Way Home: Worth the Wait, Worth the Ride

Kelly Slater. Who else? 

Its been a long wait... Still its worth waiting for good surf to show down. July 13 WSL reported from the frontline of another layday at South Africa WSL Stop.

The clock ticked away aiming for the start gun of J-Bay. It reached 0 but no ride was riden. One lay day follow the next and another lay day gave way. Still its worth just waiting...

Since the Australian Leg -way back down in April ended things have been stirring in one way or another at the WSL. This year kick started with lots of promises and some surprises by the bunch. Florence -top game, Wright´s -casual magical comeback,  Smith -deserved top numbers, de Souza -smiling, Wilkinson -at it again, and the rest of the clan new and old kept making beautiful noise.

Oi Rio Pro -was a stop we missed out on, so there went May out the window and Fiji Pro waves in the first Rounds did not rise to new heights so away went June...but still we kept an eye on and news. The best surfers in the world riding the best waves in the world for more than half a year, half way around a Global Surf Marathon.

Fast as it comes and halfway to the end line Hawaii at South Africa another lay day slowly crawled away the time. Still worth waiting? Why? What is this obsession we have with waiting for good surf to be streaming live and hot? We don't know, we don't care for causes. The magic will set it when the waiting ends. The battles will be battled in the sun-lighten whitewater.

Is it a race to the title? Can J-Bay separate leaders from the pack? Sure thing. Can it shuffle and shake the rankings? Sure it can. Can a rider hidden under the radar take the points? Sure thing. But is that what we are waiting for? We don't know.

To predict outcomes in a WSL CT Event is a thing we don't try to do. We don't crunch the numbers, we don't count the stats, we just wait for the rides to be ridden.

And some of the Surf Reporters out there seem to agree...

Morgan Dunn ran a report for the Inertia on July 10 titled; “I Have Absolutely No Idea Who Will Win the 2017 World Title”. And that piece read…

“Before the 2017 WSL Men’s CT season kicked off, I predicted that Jordy Smith would win the world title. Now through five of the 11 events of the year, I feel like I have no freaking clue who is going to take home the hardware. It’s been a weird season so far, and we’re coming off a contest in Fiji where we saw some serious giant slaying”.

The ranks before J-Bay started out were as follows; Wilkinson leading with a unexpected takeback of the yellow jersey, Magical JJ Florence in second separated by only 150 points, followed by Jordy Smith carving like no other this year, tied in third de Souza on a tear and Wright also tied in third rank.

Andino is in 9th, Zietz is in 10th and Medina follows 11, Fanning -which can explode any time now is in 13, Slater 18, Morais a new promise also tied in 18...and so on...where will it all stand when J-Bay ends? No one knows. That´s the beauty of each Stop, or at least part of the beauty.  

All top 5 CT surfers are separated by under 600 points. This means that anything can happen and everything will happen.

“Basically, it’s chaos. I’ll stick with Jordy as my pick, but I honestly feel as though I have no real feel for who has the best shot. And that’s a good thing. It makes life more interesting,” the Inertia reported and we agree with that. “Chaos”.

WSL, however, always finds Order in Chaos and let's face it no one crunches these numbers like they do.

WSl assures that “Jordy Smith is Coming in Hot”.

“Jordy Smith is enjoying one of the best season starts of his career. The South African World Title contender is heading into the Corona Open J-Bay hot off of a huge QS10,000 win at the Ballito Pro. Smith, you may recall, is a two-time winner at this legendary point,” WSL adds.  

Then they do Fanning numbers.

“It's a massive opportunity (for Fanning) to kick start a sluggish season that sees him sitting in unfamiliar territory, sitting behind the World Title chase at No. 13 in the rankings on the Jeep Leaderboard. A record-shattering fifth victory at Jeffreys Bay would put a charge back into his Title campaign and add an interesting element into an already tightly-contested championship race,” WSL warns.

It is impossible not talk about Florence´s performance this year. As an Athlete he is on the very top of his game and keeps raising the bar. It is always hard to find words to go with JJs surf. This time is no different. Wordless he will sure keep performing all year and more to come. He is by now a mystical establishment of this strange thing that the WSL is. Deserved without doubt.

De Souza and Medina are also definitely in the good vibe conversation play. Both know the ups and downs of unpredictability and if they jump over that fence they can be unstoppable and inspiring.

Felipe Toledo -while in 14th prior to South Africa is definitely one of those surfers that one wants to watch and watch and see him flow. To reach South Africa in 14th position, even after the Rio Incident and missing out completely on Fiji, speaks of the massive talent which Toledo has. Carving or air-borne, watch out for Toledo! He can be extremely dangerous in and out when in mode.   

Slater is in 18 but that is not the case at all. The case here is that he is “IN”. That fact speaks by itself. Slater defines the essence of what makes it worth the wait. No matter with what gear he comes down to play with, what the conditions are, what pace and mindset he gives away, or what number he is ranking, Slater always has something special to delivery. Practically spiritual ocean preaching. He is as unpredictable and as powerful and humbly inspiring as the World's Oceans themselves. Truly a representative of the sport and this incredible ocean environment. Worth the wait, worth the ride.    

So, again, if one has no fantasy team, no interest predicting price and points nor cares about superficial news, what exactly are we waiting for? And why is it worth waiting?

We are waiting for that familiar transmission to go warmth and live with an early ocean sunset. From darkness to ocean horizon breakday. Waiting to see that far out deep blue roll in and hit the coast. Waiting to see Supe-Barrels pumping, swells going orderly chaotic mad, and most of all, above all, waiting for good surf. Basically that is all.

We are waiting for that place, those ride that make us feel just good, that make us feel familiar, that make us feel that we are in good home.

Worth the wait to get there? Worth the ride. You bet.

J-Bay or Hawaii we will keep waiting and playing and riding it out. One wave at a time.