2014 Hurley Pro Video Trials Announced

Today, like a few minutes ago, news dropped about the Hurley Pro Global Video Trials – a digital battle for your (yes you!) wildcard slot in the Lower Trestles ASP event.

The defining word in the above sentence is Global, meaning that this year’s “social media war” (as Dane Reynolds called it last year), will be open to gents from not just the US, but also Australia, Brazil, Costa Rica, England, France, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Tahiti. Phew!

Imagine how many famous feet have stomped across these things.

In case you were wondering, the concept of video trials is exactly as it sounds: surfers enter a clip of unseen footage, the top 16 are chosen by Hurley and presented to the public for rounds of voting.

There’s a few basic requirements – DON’T be sponsored by Hurley, DO be over 13 years old, and certainly DO submit your entry between May 15 and July 15. You need eight super fly, unseen waves, with two clips per round. It’s a true people’s choice, only via the dark arts (see also: popularity contest) of social media.

Last year’s contest attracted huge attention when eventual winner, Dane Reynolds, broke his Instagram resistance to ramp up his online campaign and beat Cam Richards in the semis. Of course, he won, but only by the finest of margins.

Cam, somehow, had gents like Jamie Fox and Jaden Smith pushing traffic to his vote button. But in the end it was no match for Dane’s circle of friends (shout out to Tom DeLonge, Kelly Slater, Tony Hawk and Brody Jenner!) and universally loved existence.

We were fond of Dane’s honesty via @sealtooth when he broke silence:

“(sic) I couldn’t not be apart of the conversation any longer! cam richards vs me in the hurley pro trials. honestly this format was always going to have some controversy. surfing is relative to the quality of wave, and when two people aren’t surfing the same quality or style of wave how do you judge them against each other? in this instance, it’s became a social media war.”

The sixteen top contenders will be chosen by a judging panel, featuring Bob Hurley, Pat O’Connell, Rob Machado, and Contest Director Mike Parsons.

Dates:
– May 15 – July 15: Video submission
– July 22 – Top 16 entries announced
– August 4 – Round 1 (16 surfers)
– August 5 – Round 2 (8 surfers)
– August 6 – Semis (4 surfers)
– August 7 – Finals (2 surfers)
– August 8 – Winner announced

For a full list of participating countries, offish rules and data on how to enter, go here.

And here we have a glimpse of the native Coastal Sage Scrub, and a serving of the glorious Lowers skatepark.