Stab Magazine | WSL Reveals Founders' Cup Competition Format

Season finale of How Surfers Get Paid drops Thursday, 5pm PT

362 Views

WSL Reveals Founders’ Cup Competition Format

It is… intricate!

news // May 5, 2018
Words by stab
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Two months ago the WSL announced that its Founders’ Cup event would feature a never-before-seen team format, but because they failed to reveal any of the juicy details our minds were left to to wander around this topic. 

Would it be tandem, synchronized, or dodgeball style, wherein opponents would attempt to knock one another off their boards with red rubber balls from the sidelines?

The options overwhelmed.

Finally yesterday afternoon, a mere 36 hours before the event was set to begin, the WSL has released its revolutionary contest format and it is …intricate.

For your convenience we’ve copy-pasted it below: 

Qualifying Leaderboard

  • Five teams of five athletes. Three men, two women per team.
  • Each athlete surfs two waves per run (left and right) – each wave scored out of 10.
  • Each athlete will surf six waves across three runs during the Qualifying Round – three rights, three lefts.
  • Each athlete’s top-scoring left and top-scoring right will contribute to the Team Total.
  • Ten waves (each of the five team members’ contributing top-scoring left and right) are added up to a maximum team total of 100.
  • Top three scoring teams out of the five qualify for the Final.

Run 1

Team A
Team B
Team C
Team D
Team E

Run 2

Team A
Team B
Team C
Team D
Team E

Run 3

Team A
Team B
Team C
Team D
Team E

bracket.png

Top 3 teams advance to Final.

arrow.png

Final

  • Three remaining teams of five athletes. Three men, two women per team.
  • Each athlete surfs two waves per heat (left and right) – each wave scored out of 10. 
  • The athlete’s best scoring single wave (out of either the left or right) will make up his or her heat total (out of a possible 10).
  • There will be five three-surfer heats in the Final.
  • Differing from the Qualifying Round, the Final will assign points for each heat placing toward the Team Total.
  • For Heats 1 – 3: 1st: 2 points, 2nd: 1 point, 3rd: 0 points
  • For Heats 4 – 5: 1st: 4 points, 2nd: 1 point, 3rd: 0 points
  • Heat 4 will be contested by women, heat 5 by men. 
  • Heats 4 and 5 will matter! Let’s see who the Captains assign to these heats!

Heat 1

Team A / Athlete A
Team B / Athlete A
Team C / Athlete A

Heat 2

Team A / Athlete B
Team B / Athlete B
Team C / Athlete B

Heat 3

Team A / Athlete C
Team B / Athlete C
Team C / Athlete C

Heat 4

Team A / Athlete D
Team B / Athlete D
Team C / Athlete D

Heat 5

Team A / Athlete E
Team B / Athlete E
Team C / Athlete E

TIE:

In the event of a Tie, there will be a Surf Off to decide the winner.

  • Surf Off will be one male, one female per team.
  • Each surfer rides one wave each.
  • Both waves count towards the heat total (maximum of 20 points per team) to determine the winner.
bracketarrow.png

Team with the highest Point Total wins!

 

medina g2101futureopen17rowland mm

Gabby will be here to defend his Future Classic title. Photo: WSL/Rowland

Don’t worry, we too had to read this a few times to get a handle on it, but after coming to a thorough understanding of this format we’ve given it our seal of approval, which I’d imagine the WSL has been waiting for with bated breath. 

The only question that remains (the WSL has not yet responded to our queries) is whether men and women will be scored on a different scale (as per usual) or if they will surf on a truly even playing field, wave-and-score-wise. 

And before you say, “It doesn’t matter, the results will be the same in the end,” you’re wrong. 

In Heats 1-3 of the final, the WSL does not specify whether men or women have to be in any of the specific heats. So say America, Australia, and Europe crack the final, and the captains lay out the first three heats as such:

Heat 1

USA / Carissa Moore
AUS / Mick Fanning
EUR / Leo Fioravanti

Heat 2

USA / Kolohe Andino
AUS / Steph Gilmore
EUR / Johanne Defay

Heat 3

USA / Kelly Slater
AUS / Joel Parkinson
EUR / Frederico Morais

gilmore s1093kswc17morris mm

How will Steph stack up? Photo: WSL/Morris

In this scenario, due to the points-for-placing format (see above) the WSL has concocted, it’s immediately important whether women will be scored on a gender basis or “straight up” against the men.

Consider this: In a pool, it will be theoretically simple to pick apart which of three waves is better than the others, but what happens when you throw a gender handicap into the mix? Scoring Kolohe’s two airs to Steph’s five snaps will be incredibly difficult.

And speaking of a gender handicap, how many extra points is being a female worth? Two, three? This question is typically arbitrary in nature, seeing as how men and women never compete head-to-head, but due to the format of this event, a fact such as this really does need to be addressed (and hopefully disclosed) by the WSL judges in order to promote a fair competition.  

Gender fluidity aside, this format seems inherently interesting (it ain’t over til it’s over) and we’re excited to see how it plays out over the weekend. 

More insights from the Friday “practice day” and captains’ press conference coming soon. 

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

Take Stab’s 2023 Audience Survey, Win A 3-Board Quiver

Stab towels and Premium subscriptions also up or grabs.

Mar 21, 2023

Jessi Miley Dyer On The New Challenger Series Schedule And More

Did you know that you could miss the mid-year cut and still theoretically win the…

Mar 20, 2023

5:05

Don’t Miss The Last Wave Of The First 2023 SEOTY Entry

Jacob Willcox's ‘Into Dust’ demands your pupils.

Mar 20, 2023

Warren Smith on New Welcome Rivers Range and Buying Jaguars on Facebook Marketplace  

Now available in the Antipodes...

Mar 20, 2023

5:13

Wavegarden Spills How The Sausage Is Made

BTS of their global air wave rollout ft. Yago Dora, Dion Agius, Reef Heazlewood and…

Mar 18, 2023

Minds, Machines, And The Magic Of Hands

How modern shapers split their time between designing files and hand-finishing boards.

Mar 18, 2023

3:31

Are Hectic Lefts The Final Finless Frontier?

William Aliotti is on the right-foot-forward fringes.

Mar 17, 2023

Watch: Luke + Eddie

A mostly unknown, on-duty lifeguard won the most prestigious big-wave event in history. How Luke…

Mar 17, 2023

7:10

A Pipe Master, Ryan Burch, And Some Pickle Forks On The Eastern Seaboard

This one ticks a lot of boxes

Mar 16, 2023

Brazil Has A Talent Problem

And three other things we learned from the Rip Curl Pro Portugal.

Mar 16, 2023

2:05

Mick Fanning On A Unicorn, Bags Of Dicks, And A Shocking Script Read By Surfing’s Biggest Stars

Vaughan Blakey and Nick Pollet on their outrageous film, 'The Greatest Surf Movie In The…

Mar 15, 2023

Italo Ferreira Caught 63 Waves In An Hour

And other stats from our Stab in the Dark production.

Mar 15, 2023

3:41

Can A Freesurfer Go The Other Way? A Dakoda Walters Case Study

The 57-kilo Aussie has taken a Stab High approach to trad contest surfing.

Mar 15, 2023

Caity Simmers And João Chianca Fulfill Respective Prophecies Under Gaze Of Portuguese President

A very good day of competitive surfing.

Mar 14, 2023

Kelly And Steph Are In Trouble

What's a GOAT gotta do to make the cut around here?

Mar 14, 2023

15:28

“I Used To Only Surf Here With One Guy…His Name’s Henry, And He’s A Seal”

A contemplation on the frigid desolation of Iceland.

Mar 14, 2023

World #1 Carissa Moore Vanquished By Front Pad Toting Wildcard, Lucky Few Get Supertubed

‘Go hard or go home, innit’ 

Mar 13, 2023

Hungover Hold-Downs, Patent Feuds, And One-In-A-Million Malfunctions Involving 11x World Champs: The Story Of Surfing’s Inflatable Vests

These things changed the game.

Mar 13, 2023
Advertisement