19 Responses

WP_Blue_Mist
  • ceej Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 3:38 am

    Take what you want from this…. Drew and Aritz are the only two guys that qualified last year for the WCT that are in the top 50 of the WQS.

    let the conversations begin….!!…??

  • RydrHi Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 5:36 am

    People are lazy and don’t care to be on the bottom this year? Figure they can hold on to their sponsers after just a year or two on CT? They are just stupid? Overconfident?

  • Jason Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 5:59 am

    When does the one rankings system kick in? Will it start using the 2009 WCT/WQS ratings, or will it start using the WCT/QS ratings at mid year in 2010?

  • trav Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 8:17 am

    but its not exactly 15 new guys cuz daniel ross is qualified and he was on tour before. also logie and rodrigo are in the top 15 and they have been on the ct before too

  • ceej Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 9:02 am

    I was thinking you can’t possibly do both tours,to many 6stars that go on when ct’s are on,hoping the new changes will move this back in the right direction.

  • whocares? Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 9:39 am

    well, to my understanding, the top 45 will duke it out until mid year when the top 32 will remain on the main tour and the remaining will try to requalify with the rest of the world surfers for next years top 32. am i right? years after that we only have top 32 on the dream tour from beginning to finish. I have no clue as to how that would work with points rating when it’s possible for the top 32 to all have less points at the end of the year than the rest of the world surfers who may have won 6stars. weird… my brain’s pussing white fluid

  • whocares? Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 9:41 am

    what about media coverage ceej? did they address that?? it’d be cool for surfing to go mainstream in us tv just like australia. ESPN OCHO???

  • Ummmm Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    Is the rebel tour actually really dead? Have they actually acknowledged this? I remember Fred Pawle announced it was dead 2 months ago and he was pretty wrong then… it makes sense the whole of the CT voted against it. I mean, of course they did… they’re taking less than half the guys. How does that change anything? Maybe this means a clean transition after all.

  • Kevin M Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    I was wondering the same thing….what ever happened to that new tour????

  • Andy NZ Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 12:08 am

    bring on the new tour i say see if they can do a better job

  • ceej Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 2:22 am

    alot of the details are getting sorted but once it goes down to 32 peeps,the back end will be shuffled in and out every couple events,thats the word at the moment.

    the new tour is not dead however surfing as a business model was not ready for mainstream,so the idea is to make a better package so we can stream line into something bigger,then streamline out when the mainstream is done with us.i mean you’ve seen what the mainstream does when its done with something,straight into the trash.

    i always remind myself that surfing is such a great lifestyle,not even all of us darryls could mess it up.

    peace

    c

  • Ummmm Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 8:47 am

    I hope I’m not out of line for asking, but who says surfing isn’t ready for the mainstream? Poker (poker!) has been on ESPN for years and years. I admit you probably know more about this than me, but it seems to me like it’d be kind of hard to judge this sort of based on how surfing has so far been handled. I mean, how can you expect the sport to grow off poor quality webcasts that sometimes don’t even work at all? If sponsors have veto power over getting other sponsors?

    I think surfing can do it… I think it’s good enough not to just be thrown in the trash.

    Love to watch ya surf CJ (Damien too!). Good luck this week guys.

  • sage Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 9:11 am

    First and foremost , the 1 tier ranking system should make things allot easier for everyone, but I’m on the fence regarding the espn deal. Of course the sport needs to move forward and the guys on tours need to look after themselves/family and prepare for a life after the tour as any pro athlete should (i.e. more money and exposure((espn)), but I’m just not convince that TV is the best medium for the sport. Also, lets not forget that Television as a provider of content is very limited at the moment in comparison to the on-demand world. However, with the advent of HD televisions we will see a merger of the 2 technologies in the not too distant future. As it is now, I watch every heat on my HDTV from the comfort of my futon couch and replay anything I want. Ultimately, traditional tv programming as we have know it will go the way of the dodo.
    Not to mention, as a sponsor or co-sponsor you stand to make allot more $ off of web based events. Example; a guy watching the mudaka pro decides he wants an event t-shirt, he pauses the heat & immediately goes to the link at the corner of his screen and orders one ,,along with a copy of Ghost in the Machine, a Flesh light and a Sunggie blaket, then goes back to watching the event. None of which would have been possible with today’s TV. IMO the future is in better, more consistent web casting. Rather than relying on the expertise of each individual sponsor’s IT guys (in order to avoid a repeat of the brazil ), the asp should provide a web casting in a constant organized way, on 1 server, year by year, every event every heat. By presenting the sport ( or anything for that matter) in a way that is easily understood by all viewers ,a broader fan base will be gained,,,,,,thus making the line up at seaside even more crowded ;) Just my 2cents

  • Tom Veiga - Surfart Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 1:28 pm

    It would be interesting, but would have many inexperienced surfers on the tour …

  • Andy NZ Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 5:02 pm

    @ Sage i agree with the last part of your post that the tour needs more constant webcast some of the web casts to date have been very poor Jay bay was good easy to watch and fun. as you mentioned Brazil was kind of the bench mark for bad webcasts. Mundaka how ever wasn’t far off.
    i think that constant webcast needs to be one of the Asp’s priorities. ASL mag in their Oct issue had a article “So you think you can webcast” in which they wrote “Am i the only one that watch’s the webacsts with the sound off?” or something to that effect.
    time will tell and we will have to wait and see any changes have to be a positive thing

  • ceej Says:
    October 16th, 2009 at 1:57 am

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY

    CAN EVERYONE WATCH THIS AT THE 2:30 MIN MARK,

    I THINK PEOPLES VIEW ON MAINSTREAM IS DIFFERENT?

    YES YOU GUYS ARE CORRECT ABOUT THE WEBCAST AND THAT WAS A HUGE PART ABOUT THE MEETINGS AND PEOPLE ARE WORKING TOWARDS DELIVERING A BETTER PRODUCT.THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE

    CHEERS

    C

  • sage Says:
    October 16th, 2009 at 7:56 am

    Andy: I also watch them with the sound off. It’s like any other business, quality control is essential , especially when it has to do with your customer. By taking command of the webcasts the asp will be on track to do this and will surly expand the fan base. I applaud their efforts and am proud that they will be leading the way with online sports. It’s a great step for the sport. I wonder if they plan on applying the same concept to the WQS events?

    ceej: Interesting video, I had to pause it a few times to absorb it all. Amazing how access to technology has grown expediential in only the last 15 years. A blink of the eye in the grand scheme of things yet a profound historical shift in the way humans communicate. Great time to be alive if you ask me.

  • Fabio Luiz Says:
    October 19th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

    Surf Florianópolis SC.

  • Westcoast Says:
    October 20th, 2009 at 10:13 am

    I have the utmost respect for what top pros go through. They are by far more deserving than most “pro athletes” we see on TV. But surfing is never going to be mainstream, at least not very long.

    Watching surfing is mostly a participant-only thing; unless it’s macking/going off. Try getting your non-surfing friends to watch anything other than macking Sunset or heaving Pipe heats for more than 15 minutes. Then think about how difficult/expensive it is to set up production so you can get the best in the world on the best waves.

    >> Poker (poker!) has been on ESPN for years and years

    Poker is played by far more people around the world than surfing = more $ coming in. Not even comparable. Same goes for pingpong, billiards, figure skating, bobsleddding, etc.

    With that said, I do think changes need to be made. But only withinthe current system. New tour will never work.

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