It’s been nearly seven months since we’ve seen a Championship Tour event. And it’s been a dry layoff. Well, the wait is over. One of the longest running surf contests on the planet has kicked off down under ahead of Easter weekend at Bells Beach. The rookies had a day to get us started yesterday, but today, we get into the meat of competition.
So who you got this season? Can Molly Picklum repeat as world champ despite the women’s field looking as stacked as ever given the return of Steph Gilmore and Carissa Moore, along with the new generation of young chargers? Speaking of repeats, what about Yago Dora? Was his world title an aberration? A one-off like C.J. Hobgood’s? Despite John John Florence deciding not to come back, objective fans know Dora has a lot to prove given the return of Filipe Toledo and Gabriel Medina.
And the format is back to its roots. No more Final Five. It all comes down to Pipeline in December. Plenty of more questions than answers. So let’s get it started!
