The ASP tour returned to Jeffreys Bay this year in South Africa, and the event was easily the best of the year thus far (highlighted by a firing last day). Mick Fanning emerged victorious, but the waves were large, great conditions, and near perfect which made for easy viewing. As a terrible surfer (even though I love it), I stayed up to watch the event which was live-streamed on YouTube near midnight pst, and it was worth every second of losing sleep (even if Kelly Slater was eliminated early).
For those of you not familiar with the competitive side of surfing it is really simple.
– On the men’s side there are 11 events in which the top 20-40 surfers compete (it is similar on the women’s side).
– They surf in 30 minute heats against 1,2 or 3 other surfers at the same time
– Judges score each of the waves and it is tournament style elimination (early rounds are double elimination, later single)
– Just like NASCAR or Soccer the points are added up per event, based on how the surfers finished and at the end of the year a champion is crowned.
Even if you don’t surf, check out the above video and you can check out why the ASP is doing great things. You can check out some of the past events, more details on the tour’s rules, and the upcoming schedule over at the ASP’s official website.
