Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Where are the Chicks?

The girls free surfing in Hawaii, 2011.

The women's contests in Hawaii have been an integral part of the WCT. Each year would see the top women in the world test their skills at breaks such as Sunset Beach and Haleiwa. 2010 even saw the women surf a heat (even if it was only one) at Pipeline during the Triple Crown, giving them a chance to prove themselves in some serious conditions.

However recently the entire Hawaiian leg of the Women's WCT has been canceled due to a "lack of sponsorship" support for the contests. At a time when the sport seemed to be gaining forward momentum, I find this strange. But for me the most surprising part of this whole situation is how quietly this all went down. No complaints, no media investigation, no protest from the female competitors themselves. Every time I try and inquire as to why, I get met with the same icy avoidance.

I was lucky enough to interview pro Aussie surfer Claire Bevilacqua earlier last year in my home town. She gave me some absolutely straight up answers which I look forward to sharing in full soon. Here is just a snippet of her take on the current female contests - and this was before the cancellation of the Hawaiian leg.


"There was no real good waves on tour last year for it to be the greatest surfing tour on earth. We really didn't get that good waves. I saw good waves, but we didn't get to surf them. There is no big barrels, there's no death defying reef breaks. The highest performance wave we had was Sunset and that wave was flat. I was a bit sick of how it was the same; surfing really really bad waves, the dregs of what the men wanted."

Surely it's time for the sponsors to step it up and give the girls a crack at something solid? Or are the female competitors happy sitting pretty in their current situation? 










3 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Eddie! I do try my best but sometimes a few spelling errors squeak through... now can I have a comment on your opinion of the professional female surfing scene? :)

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    2. It sickens me how much better they surf than me

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