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Brazil: Still Serving As The Buzz-Kill Event Of The ASP World Tour
If a rose by any other name is still a rose, an ASP World Tour stop in Brazil is still…
The Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro (the same event usually held each November as a precursor to the Pipeline Masters) already has it’s first two rounds in the books. To avoid a repeat of last year’s debacle, the ASP moved the Hang Loose Pro to June in order to ensure the attendance of the top talent on tour, the surfers that people actually care about seeing surf. After last year’s event saw 13 out of the ASP’s Top 44 surfers fail to show due to a remarkable array of injuries and illnesses, all that was left was another beach-break championship with 20 of the 48 competitors hailing from the host country. The thinking was that with a world title still very much up for grabs, anyone remotely in contention will do their best to avoid the unfortunate happenings that kept so many from making the trip to Florianopolis in ‘08. It worked, everyone showed up and the ‘Loose Pro has itself a full line-up of some of the world’s best surfers. There’s just one problem though- It’s still Brazil.
They call it the “Dream Tour”, yet I’m a bit curious to know whose dreams the ASP is modeling this thing after. After sitting through a few moments of the ‘Loose Pro webcast, it was time to click away and wait for J-Bay. Nothing more to see here.
Wanna start a World Tour??? Here’s your model-
Despite what some might say, there’s room in this world for a competitive surfing tour. Watching the surfers at the top of the game pushing themselves and each other live from the best waves throughout the world isn’t just entertaining, it also puts the ‘what’s possible’ element on display for all to see. There needs to be standards though, uncompromised standards. The answer for what’s ailing the ASP World Tour won’t be found in futuristic wave pools, it won’t be found in Brazil, it will be found in simplicity.
Fewer surfers, better waves, no Brazil.
Tags: ASP World Tour, WCT
Posted by Shaun on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 in Surfing.
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June 30th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
ASP Events need to be broadcast through a common channel / URL in order to create unity, and even standards.
The brands have too much ownership over the media rights, and have created a competition amongst each other for the best webcast. It’s not a competition, they should be working together for the good of the sport.
Untill this happens, everyone, especially Brazil, will be playing catch up.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:35 pm
INDO 2000 un*#@% believable, Thank you!
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:31 am
I will say that Brazil and floripa can be a little finicky on waves, but when it hits it goes off. I recently got back from a trip there in November and I saw consistent swell and 2-3 overhead. I think the tour just needs to chose a better date and better location. There are defiantly waves good enough for the top champs to travel for.
August 27th, 2009 at 9:40 am
I’m all for a rival tour which concentrates more on the surf and different spots rather than exposure…I think there’s enough more in the sport now to be able to support this.
They should put a comp stop off on the tour out here in Nicaragua!
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