ASP World Tour 2012 Schedule

The 2011 ASP world tour has polarised the shit out of online commenters. Snapper did what it needed to. Bells fired for brief moments. Rio flopped but at least provided a colourful backdrop and one of the best controversies of the year (floater!). J-Bay had a few shining moments. Chopes was the best it’s been in 10 years. New York on finals day was unrivalled as far as fun beachies. Trestles was small but a skatepark. France, varied, and the arrival of Brazil’s new threat. Portugal was, as Kelly Slater said, some of the best waves he’s surfed in a contest. Coming from a man as seasoned as he? Wow! San Francisco had no jetski assist but didn’t need it in the end and, though Kelly was crowned twice, no competitors complained about the event overall. And Pipe is on the way. So, that’s ’11 in the nuttiest of shells. But, what of the next 12 months? – Fiji’s back, sugar. The ASP appealed, Volcom threw down the cash, and now we’re returning to Tavarua. Cloudbreak, Restaurants, whatever’s best. Both are sure to please. – You know the O’Neill Cold Water Classic series? It’s been a staple on the primes for some time now. Well, it’s gonna be just one event now. A world tour event, held at Santa Cruz. Steamer Lane, to be exact. – The rest’s the same. Except, the Rip Curl Search event is yet to announce a location for it’s 2012 stop (or appear on the ASP calendar). We’re waiting to hear back from the Curl as to whether we should say goodbye to the spinning globe. Oh, also, Rio’s prize purse has dropped from $500k to $425k, and Trestles has dropped from $455k to $425k. Which means that every single event now offers a prize purse of $425k, except of course NY, which is still a smooth mil.