Surfing remains one of the few professional sports where athletes often perform better outside the competition arena than during judged events. This paradox raises a critical question for the World Surf League (WSL) and the broader surfing community: should judging on the Championship Tour better incorporate the spontaneity and creativity seen in freesurfing?
Prominent surfers such as Kelly Slater and Gabriel Medina illustrate this contrast vividly. Slater, granted a wildcard entry at the recent Lowers event, demonstrated exceptional skill and innovation in recent freesurf clips from Snapper Rocks and Lower Trestles. Yet, his contest performance fell short, with a highest heat score barely scraping the “good” range by WSL standards. Similarly, Rio Waida, ranked 18th on the Championship Tour, posted a stunning video from his home break in Bali, showcasing a level of flair and precision that belied his mid-tier ranking.
Even rising stars like Caity Simmer have exhibited a clear disparity between their freesurfing style and contest results. Despite electrifying audiences with her YouTube sessions, her semi-final performance at Lowers felt tentative and restrained.
While contest surfing is naturally constrained by judging criteria and time limits, the gulf between freesurfing and competition performances suggests a deeper issue. Current judging often lacks the imaginative framework to reward the fluidity and creativity that define surfing’s essence. Unlike most sports, surfing takes place on a constantly shifting medium, where rigid and mechanical scoring criteria may fail to capture the dynamic nature of the sport.
Philosopher Henri Bergson’s early 20th-century critique of mechanistic views on movement is particularly relevant. Bergson emphasized that fluidity and spontaneity are vital to human motion, qualities that many contemporary competitive surfers seem constrained from expressing fully under existing judging standards.
To better reflect surfing’s unique, ever-changing environment, judges might consider incorporating continuous flow, imagination, and spontaneity into their scoring criteria. Such a shift could encourage surfers to perform with the creativity seen in their freesurf sessions, potentially drawing greater audience engagement and advancing the sport’s evolution.
Ultimately, blending the art of freesurfing with the structure of contest surfing in judging could elevate both the competition and its appeal — allowing the world’s best surfers to showcase their full range of talent, just as if no one were watching.
