WSL Now Sponsored By Ladder

Those watching the Snapper and Manly CS events will have noticed a few new additions to the WSL broadcast.

There’s an uptick in production value. Fresh faces in the commentary booth. And the ladder.

Yes, a ladder. This one to be precise.

Australia’s Bailey Ladders has come on as a presenting sponsor for the first two events of the 2022 Challenger Series. More specifically, they’re the WSL’s leaderboard sponsor, which makes sense because leaderboards are often quite tall.

I know what you might be thinking: why does a ladder company want to sponsor the WSL? And what does the WSL stand to gain from a partnership with an artificial elevation brand, besides a few extra 00s in the bank account?

We’ll let Kaipo explain.

In short, Bailey Ladders is a metaphor for everything the WSL stands for — athletecism, wit, and climbing one’s way up a multi-tiered system.

As in life, there are no shortcuts on the WSL tour. You have to start on the ground floor (QS), climb your way up the rungs (CS), and only after establishing yourself as a reliable ascendant can you reach the top shelf of professional surfing (CT)*.

Let’s see if we can gather any more connections between the WSL and Bailey brands.

Kaipo’s rap captures the sobering reality of surfing while also explaining Bailey Ladders’ interest in the sport: surfers, by in large, are not very tall.

I’m short, you’re probably short, and Kelly Slater, the world’s greatest surfer, is either directly on or just under the average height of an American man, depending on who’s holding the measuring tape.

Surfing’s height aversion stands in stark contrast to many other sports, where physical size is a pre-requisite for greatness. Imagine Kelly playing basketball against Lebron James — even if they had exactly the same skillset, it wouldn’t be a competition.

This is the same reason that you won’t see Bailey Ladders sponsoring a basketball league anytime soon — that community has little need for their product and services.

Surfing, on the other hand, is low-hanging fruit.

Unrelated, Stab looks forward to presenting its new series: He Surfs So Good presented by The World Literacy Foundation.

*That is unless Erik Logan puts you on his shoulders and parades you around the party like the special boy or girl you are (wildcards).