Big Wave World Tour

So, following the post below, I just found out about the newly announced, Big Wave World Tour. You can read the full press release on the Big Wave World Tour website, here.

The BWWT is going to be run by the ASP and according to ASP CEO Paul Speaker,

The competitors on the BWWT are some of the fiercest and most-respected watermen on the planet and we are eager about the opportunity to take their tour to the next level. This arrangement also allows the world’s best surfers on the ASP World Championship Tour to compete in big-wave events moving forward.

Kieren Perrow said that,

It adds another dimension to the sport and will make it significantly easier for ASP Top 34 surfers to compete in big-wave events.

So, I'm not clear (nor really interested) on the details but the way the tour will be run highlights renowned big wave surfers like Greg Long and Shane Dorian, while creating space for World Championship Tour surfers to compete;

The new-found arrangement between the ASP and the BWWT will allow for top ASP surfers such as 11-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA), 41, reigning ASP World Champion Joel Parkinson (AUS), 32, Hawaiian phenom John John Florence (HAW), 20, amongst others to join respected BWWT surfers like Greg Long (USA), 28, Grant Baker (ZAF), 40, and Carlos Burle (BRA), 45, in competition with waves in the 25-foot-and-above range.

Following my point from the previous post, while this format creates more opportunities for popular and excellent surfers like Kelly Slater, Joel Parkinson and John John Florence to further show their skills and daring in different conditions, and to earn more money and prestige while doing so, there are no women involved. I'm sure there are some really convincing arguments for this as well; for example that women are not as strong etc etc. And that is actually fair enough. But I'm pretty certain that most of the names on that list aren't going to get high results each of the six competitions. I mean, some of those guys are going to consistently rank pretty low, right? Isn't that how it works? Which means that not all the guys in this competition are going to be crowned the champ every time. I'm pretty sure that they could include women who were interested, experienced and willing to take part. Even if they didn't win, even if they didn't come in the top 5 or 10 or 15, their presence on the BWWT might still see them get some good results that are competitive in the existing field of men. I mean, surfers don't have to win events to be successful on the Tour - most surfers aren't going to win anyway. 

Including qualified women in the BWWT would be interesting and wonderful and good for competitive surfing. I might not hold my breath for it to happen though.