A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Administrative organization for the world’s premier professional surf tour; renamed the World Surf League (WSL) in 2015, the group had been called the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) since 1982.

In October 2012, the ASP’s media rights and tour management were acquired—for literally nothing as the pro tour was in financial disarray—by a mysterious group known as ZoSea. Little was known about ZoSea at the time, other than the fact that a Florida billionaire with a strange name—Dirk Ziff—held the coin purse, and that a former NFL executive named Paul Speaker had been brought in to help pro surfing edge its way into mainstream cable TV coverage.

Small changes to contest webcast coverage followed a year later, mostly themed around establishing a consistent, more professional look and feel based on: a regular team of commentators; the same graphics for each event (previous seasons had seen webcasts that looked different for each contest); and a wood desk that was hauled around to each event location for the commentators to sit behind, adding a traditional sports-reporting vibe to the webcasts. Pro surf fans remained largely unimpressed with the changes, but save for cheap shots about the commentator desk in surf media comment sections, there was little grumbling.

That abruptly changed in September, 2014 when the ASP announced it was “rebranding” itself as the World Surf League. “We’re making this change,” Speaker said in the WSL presser, “because we believe the new name is easier to understand, and gets us on a better track to serve our fans, athletes and partners, and to grow the great sport of professional surfing worldwide.”

The rollout of the pro tour’s new name was a rocky one, with many surf fans—who had probably given little thought to the old ASP moniker—suddenly livid at the jockish-sounding term “league” stamped on anything having to do with surfing.

For the most part, surf media sources received the name change with a lukewarm reception. Australia’s favorite tongue-in-cheek surf mag, 

 said the WSL’s new name was “cool, in an 80s kinda way.” SURFER said: “Love pro surfing or hate it, the name of the organization putting on the show should probably be the furthest thing from your mind.” Though the secrecy surrounding the WSL’s brass rankled some surf journalists. “This is the first time I've been inside the belly of the beast,” said a reporter for one prominent surf news outlet. “And boy do they stink of Scientology up close...real bad.”

In addition to the name change, the WSL gradually rolled out a streamlined, well-designed website and began a robust social media campaign, all in an effort to attract greater interest from mainstream sponsors and media outlets, long the elusive holy grail for pro surfing marketers. To a degree, the rebranding worked; Samsung, the Korean electronics giant, had signed on as the chief sponsor of the tour just as ZoSea took control. Many WSL tour events also began re-airing on ABC, albeit weeks after the contests had taken place.

Regardless of how fans felt about the name, the WSL had mostly delivered on its promise of a tighter, better-presented pro surf tour.

No significant changes to the structure of the tour occurred after the ASP became the WSL. The men’s Championship Tour consists of the top-34 ranked surfers; the women’s draw has 17 surfers on tour. The men’s side of the tour consisted of 11 events in 2015, with 10 for the women. A sort of minor league tour called the World Qualifying Series, stocked with hundreds of starry-eyed hopefuls, feeds the Championship Tour. Speaker serves as the WSL’s CEO. Former pro surfer Kieren Perrow acts as commissioner.

In 2013, the ASP took the nascent Big Wave World Tour under its umbrella, and as of 2015, the WSL has continued running that tour as well.

World Surf League (WSL)

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