New York, New York. The biggest of all the “metro stops.” Photo: ASP/Quiksilver
According to several media announcements, ZoSea Media Holdings will take over management of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour (WCT) effective at the start of the 2014 ASP WCT season. Hopefully Zosea is thoughtfully considering making progressive changes to the current ASP WCT format that might include, but not be limited to, the items briefly touched on below.
Do away with events held at “the metro stops” (ex. Rio, New York, San Francisco, etc.) from the WCT, and bring back the events that made the ASP WCT the surfers “dream tour” (ex. J Bay, and G Land – when politically possible).
Eliminate as much subjectivity in judging as is possible, by establishing a wave scoring criteria that includes a pre-determined percentage of each of the following criteria that once combined result in the final wave score; difficulty factor and creativity of maneuvers performed, style and execution of completed maneuvers, and quality of the wave ridden.
Add capability of quick access to a former WCT head judge to the webcast commentary panel, to provide detailed assessment of questionable calls such as interference or perceived over/under scoring of waves.
Take away wave priority for the last two minutes of each heat. Sound off a warning bell as a two minute warning, whence forth competitors would have to jockey for position in order to establish ownership of the wave (surfer closest to the peak establishes ownership of the wave). This would definitely add an excitement factor, as well as be an advantage to the fittest and smartest surfer in the heat. Choice of wave selection would also be dramatically intensified during this final two minutes of each heat.
Penalize poor sportsmanship on the WCT through fines and/or suspensions, and make these fines and suspensions publicly known to the fans.
Remove wildcards from WCT events, and open up the WCT to the world’s top 36 surfers in the world. The WCT should not have event results that are decided by non WCT surfers that are either event sponsored surfers, or local specialist surfers.
Hopefully, the recent ASP appointments of Paul Speaker as CEO and Kieren Perrow as Interim Commissioner prove to be a prelude to a successful collaboration with ZoSea that moves professional surfing to an innovative and progressive future.
