Rumours abound that one of the Quik Pro event sponsors – read between the lines – was not happy about the prospect of the entirety of the event being run in NSW, while the event site at Snapper in QLD lay abandoned, forgotten.
On Saturday the extensive process of shifting the event back over the border to its traditional location began. The decision flying in the face of forecasted northerly winds that would turn the already decimated Snapper bank to unrideable shit. We feel that somehow the board of the pressuring sponsor aren’t versed in the nuances of surf forecasting, and even though we’re sure the WSL tried everything they could to persuade them it wasn’t a good idea, it seems they were set on the Sunday showdown taking place on QLD soil.
To be fair the WSL were taking a financial hit each day it was run at D-Bah. This included a $15,000 – $25,000 fine from Tourism QLD, the cost of moving the event and a rumoured $30,000 permit to run in NSW.
As forecasted the North winds arrived early on Sunday and the bank was still shit. The event was never going to be able to run.
That didn’t stop a healthy crowd of thousands of surf fans descending on Snapper, eager to spend their precious Sunday watching the World’s best duke it out. The WSL stringing them along all day with call after call, when they had to know it was never going to get the green light.
Eventually poor KP emerged to face the music that we highly doubt was of his own making. It was called off and finals day would run the next day – Monday – back at D-Bah.
Speaking of D-Bah, by all reports it was P-U-M-P-I-N-G yesterday, delivering clear blue wedges of the finest vintage. As evidenced by the posts below, angry surf fans weren’t backwards in letting the WSL know. They copped such heat on Instagram that posts were disappeared, along with hundreds of furious comments.
It was a huge missed opportunity. Building on the momentum of an exciting day two and three an epic finals day, on a Sunday, at the year’s first event, would’ve left a very pleasant taste in the mouth of surf fans. Instead they left the beach yesterday frustrated, sunburnt and seriously lacking in the stoke the WSL strives so hard to deliver.
As this was being written, finals day is now underway at D-bah in seasick and sub-par waves. World Champ Gabriel Medina has been eliminated after a wave starved heat and did his best not to unleash on the debacle in a post heat interview, stating between gritted teeth, “It’s hard to compete when there’s no opportunities.” And, “Yesterday was really fun at D-Bah, it was pumping, but they were trying to make it at Snapper … whatever.”
So who is to blame really? The strong-armed sponsor? Or the rubber-armed WSL? Whoever it was, the real bummer was for the fans who just want to watch epic surfing.
