Surely, Unequivocally, The Worst Waves In The History Of Professional Surfing

Fair or unfair, the WSL’s Qualifying Series often bears the brunt of jokes for running events in conditions most surfers would hit snooze on. 

But what happened today at the WRV Outer Banks Pro reached another level of absurdity. For nearly three hours in what looks like peak high tide and an ocean flatter than a Simon Jones board, surfers scraped the bottom of the barrel in crumbling shorebreak next to Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, North Carolina. 

Eight heats ran on the first day of the WRV Outer Banks Pro about 10 feet from the sand. One-turn whips were literally the only thing on the menu. We’ve seen lakes look better than this QS 1,000. Hell, we’ve seen bathtub farts with more swell fetch. Kudos to commentators Mark Yonkers and Mike Beech for keeping it together in the booth. 

Admittedly, It’s low-hanging fruit to snicker at this spectacle. From another perspective, it’s entertaining, even remarkable, to see how the hell surfers manufactured scores with their fins hitting the sand on the bottom turn. Given what they had to work with, who among us could do any better? You gotta credit pros like Tomas King (13.44), Malakai Martinez (13.07) and Logan Radd (10.57) for winning heats with double-digit scores. They are the real QS warriors. 

But the whole thing gave off Dave Parmenter 1988 OP Pro vibes. If you didn’t know, the man ditched his shortboard and opted to ride his log during the heat at Huntington Beach. He lost, but it was a clear gesture to how absurd it was to put a square peg in a round hole. These waves today were definitely worse.

So, have you seen worse wavs in a professional surf contest? Tell us a tale, and send pix for proof.