4 Grown Men Compete to Surf A Kilometer-Long Wave | S.U.R.F. Episode 1

‘Length of ride’ was phased out of competitive surfing scoring criteria in the late ’80s. It is rumored that a guerilla group of river surfers from Munich were the drafters of this policy change, who were given short shrift by ASP judges for standing on waves for minutes at a time but covering no distance.

Length of ride is a strange dimension to judge surfing on, but if it is the only dimension then it is incredible. 

The Space challenge takes place at The Pass in Byron Bay, on the long, languid walls that stretch down the 1023.5 metre sand-bottomed point. The goal of this challenge is to cover as much distance as humanly possible, making board and wave selection critically important. Distance will be assessed by Rip Curl’s GPS watches to track our surfers as they cavort, slide, and sabotage each other for the chance of taking an early lead on the S.U.R.F. leaderboard. 

This forms the first of four challenges that will be covered across four separate episodes delivered weekly. The surfer with the highest total after the four challenges will be awarded with the glory of taking out the inaugural S.U.R.F. series, as well as 1,000,000 cents.

Episode 2 – Aug 24

Episode 3 – Sep 2

Episode 4 – Sep 10