Tudor Got His Wish

After a viral round of pre-season politicking, Joel Tudor has succeeded in at least one of his stated missions: to secure a multi-event Longboard Tour from the WSL in 2022.

Despite rumors of a one-event, world-title-deciding log-off, the WSL has released its official schedule for the 2022 Longboard Tour, which includes three stops: Sydney (May 16-24), Huntington Beach (August 3-7), and Malibu (October 3-13).

The competitions will host 20 surfers in the men’s division and 20 surfers in the women’s division. Each field will be made up of the Top 10 from the 2021 rankings, seven surfers selected from the regions, one WSL wildcard, and two event wildcards.

The Sydney and Huntington events are worth 5,000 points apiece and coincide with WSL Challenger Series events — the Sydney Surf Pro and US Open respectively. The Malibu event, which is worth 10,000 points and will decide the 2022 Longboarding World Champions, is exclusively for loggers.

After everything that’s happened, you’re probably wondering if the 2021 Longboarding World Champion, Joel Tudor, who was recently banned from WSL events due to comments he made about League executives and surfers, will get to compete in 2022.

According to the WSL, Tudor’s suspension remains in place indefinitely, although the suspension itself is currently under review. A League representative could not say whether Tudor’s suspension would be lifted prior to the May 16th event in Sydney, or at all for the 2022 season.

It’s also worth noting that within their new schedule, the WSL has absorbed the Vans Duct Tape Invitational in Huntington Beach — an event that Joel played a crucial role in developing over the years — as part of their 2022 Longboard Tour.

This Duct Tape x WSL deal was in place long before Joel nailed his 9’5″ Theses to the door of their Santa Monica HQ, but the current rift between Tudor and the League makes this situation all the more interesting.

Suspended or not, Joel now has some level of influence over the WSL Longboard Tour.

He posted the following on his Instagram following the announcement:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Joel Tudor (@joeljitsu)

Joel may have lost the battle, but he’s currently winning the war.

The fact that Stab is even reporting on a Longboard Tour schedule release goes to show how effective the World Champ’s marketing tactics were — whether intentionally or not.

Next step: getting longboarders paid a living wage*.

*Current prize purses are $50k for Sydney and HB, $100k for Malibu, to be split between 20 surfers.