Even more scenarios!

The Vans World Cup of Surfing just finished – this you know. Adam Melling won, and Seabass made another final (he won the Reef Hawaiian Pro!). Despite being the final qualifying event of the year, next year’s 34 is yet to be locked in. And that’s because of the Pipe Masters, the waiting period of which begins in three days.

ASP have just released a snapshot of next year’s potential lineup by numbers. Now, before we dive in here, there’s something to keep in mind. There are two tours. There’s the ASP World Championship Tour, which have the WCT rankings. Then there’s the ASP World Qualifying Series, which has the ASP World Rankings. So…

Next year’s top 34 will consist of the top 22 WCT surfers after Pipe. And, the top 10 surfers on the world rankings (not including those in the WCT top 22). There’ll also be two ASP wildcards. WCT rankings are based on the best eight outta 10 results from WCT events. According to ASP, the current cutoff point on the WCT rankings is 15,250 points, held right now by jester/backhand amazer, Matty Wilko.

For top 34 surfers, their ASP World Ranking is based on their top three WCT results and best five Prime/Star results. For non-34 surfers, their ASP World Ranking is based on their top eight results from the year’s Prime and Star events.

Current cutoff on the ASP World Rankings is 15,820 points, held by Tiago Pires. But, Patty Gudang, Heitor Alves, Raoni Monteiro and Willian Cardoso only need ninths or better at Pipe to overtake this spot. ASP also wanna make clear that, “depending on how the ASP WCT rankings finish up, the qualification scenarios for the ASP World Rankings could vary significantly. The current ASP WCT ranking possibilities for the Billabong Pipeline Masters can be accessed here.”

Also worth remembering? With 10k points dropped into the Pipe Master’s account, everyone in the current top 34 is capable of qualifying for next year’s dream tour.