Championship surfing is seeing a fresh new Californian renaissance on the championship tour. Going into this year’s 5th event at Margaret River, Californians Caitlin Simmers and Griffin Colapinto are ahead of the pack.
Event number 4 at Bells Beach was taken out by Simmers for the women, bringing her to the top of the rankings. Colapinto took second place on the men’s side and is now sitting comfortably at first on the rankings.
Bells Beach Drama
This year’s Bells Beach event was full of upsets and plenty of drama. With consistent waves and rip-able walls and Winkipop, the world’s best put on a show.
Aside from the nail-biting finals, the most talked about events were the scores. First, Brazil’s Gabriel Medina was on the receiving end of a questionable score.
The three time world champ let a presumably low-scoring wave go to this year’s Bells Beach Pro champion Cole Houshmand. Houshmand had second priority and turned an average-looking wave into a high score, which booted Medina out of the event.
Surf fans and media outlets took to the internet, claiming the scores were unfair. Another scoring incident came when Indonesia’s Rio Waida snagged the wave of the day and tore it apart, only to receive a mediocre score for his efforts.
Aside from the controversies, Houshmand and Simmers took their first Bell in a hard-fought final.
The Last Age of Californian Dominance
Southern California has for decades been at the top of the sport with Australia, Hawaii, and oddly enough, Florida. However, the last decade has seen Brazil’s rise to dominance.
The last world champion from SoCal was Santa Barbara’s Tom Curren in 1990. Curren was one of surfing’s most dominant forces during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Lisa Andersen was the last Californian to win the championship back in 1997.
The last decade has seen seven world championships go to Brazil, one canceled due to Covid, and two to Hawaii’s John John Florence in 2016 and 2017.
For the women, Hawaii and Australia have dominated the last decade. That came to an end in 2023, when Florida’s Caroline Marks brought the trophy to the mainland.
Will this be the year that SoCal steps up again to take the championship? Australia, Brazil, South Africa, and Japan may have something to say about that.