This morning at 8am West Oz time WSL shot callers and the surfers met to discuss the fate of the Margaret River Pro. Surfers were encouraged to make their feelings known regarding the continuation of the contest in waters that have been more than a little active with menacing sealife, culminating in two shark attacks in one day.
Considering the decision, we’re to believe that the majority of Athletes admitted that surfing Margaret River Mainbreak just wasn’t worth the risk of losing life or limb for.
Here are some choice cuts from Sophie Goldschmidt’s press release:
Today, the WSL has made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the Margaret River Pro, as a result of exceptional circumstances surrounding this season's event regarding sharks and the safety of our surfers. This decision has been reached after many hours of consultation with a variety of stakeholders and experts.
The WSL puts the highest premium on safety. This cannot be just talk, and it cannot be compromised. Surfing is a sport that carries various forms of risk, and is unique in that wild animals inhabit our performance environment. Sharks are an occasional reality of WSL competitions, and of surfing in general. Everyone associated with our sport knows that. There have been incidents in the past — and it's possible that there will be incidents in the future — which did not (and will not) result in the cancellation of an event. However, current circumstances are very unusual and troubling, and we have decided that the elevated risk during this season's Margaret River Pro has crossed the threshold for what is acceptable.
We are committed to being as prepared as possible for what nature throws at us. The WSL maintains strong and constantly-improving safety, monitoring and support infrastructure and protocols, and we would normally have a high degree of confidence in our ability to protect our athletes. However, the threshold has been crossed for the organization and if we decided to continue the event under the current circumstances, and something terrible were to take place, we would never forgive ourselves.
We are painfully aware that this decision will have commercial ramifications for the local community, and will disappoint some of our partners, fans and athletes. We sincerely regret that.
Our competitive structure allows for points distribution in the event of a cancellation. However, we are not giving up yet on somehow completing both men's and women's competition this year, and will communicate our thoughts on that when we know more.
Now, that last part is interesting. The event is cancelled, yet they’re not giving up on completing competition entirely this year. Does this mean revisiting West Oz later in the year when the Salmon, and hopefully most of the sharks, have moved on? We will have to wait and see.
