Pictured: Two-time WSL Champion and World No. 1, Gabriel Medina (BRA) will surf on the best-of-three Title Match at the Rip Curl WSL Finals. Credit: © WSL / Diz
- Next Call Tomorrow, September 12 at 7:30am PDT
- Surfline Forecast: SSW Swell Expected, 10-Feet Waves Through September 15
- More Available at WorldSurfLeague.com
A third lay day was called for the first-ever Rip Curl WSL Finals, the final event of the 2021 World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT). With conditions improving and a SSW swell building up over the next few days, the WSL Tours and Competitions team decided to call it OFF and wait for the perfect conditions to run the competition and crown the undisputed 2021 World Champions. Next call will be tomorrow, September 12, at 7:30 a.m. PDT.
“There are a couple of fun small waves this morning and it’s a nice day for some free surfing, but we’re not going to be ON today,” said Jessi Miley-Dyer, SVP of Tours and Head of Competition. “It’s looking like it will start to pick up tomorrow for us. Monday and Tuesday still look really good, and the forecast looks fantastic. We’ll have great conditions for a potential Monday or Tuesday.”
For the first time in the history of the Championship Tour, a “yellow alert” system will be in place to give both World Title hopefuls and fans around the globe time to prepare. Once the event goes into yellow alert status, the final call of whether to run or not will be made at 7:00am the day of the proposed contest.
“The yellow alert will be 24 hours in advance of when we think we will be running,” explains Miley-Dyer. “Because it’s the ocean and nothing’s ever for sure, we’ll be making the final call first thing in the morning when we can put some eyes on it and really understand the conditions for that day.”
More information available at WorldSurfLeague.com.
Surfline Forecast for The Rip Curl WSL Finals
Waves will continue to build throughout the day, as well as tomorrow, September 12. Chest-head high surf expected today, becoming head high to overhead on Sunday. Clean conditions should continue in the mornings through the weekend with onshore wind coming up a bit more for the afternoons.
For next week, a long period SSW swell is expected to build on Monday into a Tuesday peak with surf holding on Wednesday, September 15 as reinforcing energy fills in. Waves will likely run in the overhead to a few feet overhead range Monday through Wednesday, with big sets up to 10’ faces. Consistency and the number of waves in the sets should be above average for a Southern Hemisphere swell as the storms took favorable tracks with good high pressure support on their west to northwest flank.
Watch LIVE
The event window for the one-day Rip Curl WSL Finals runs September 9 – September 17. The event will be broadcast LIVE on WorldSurfLeague.comand YouTube, as well as the free WSL app. Check local listings for coverage from the WSL’s broadcast partners.
COVID-19 Updates
The health and safety of athletes, staff, and the local community are of the utmost importance and the WSL has been working closely with local authorities to put a robust set of procedures in place. This includes testing and advance screening protocols, physical distancing and limited personnel on-site.
About the WSL
Established in 1976, the World Surf League (WSL) is the home of the world’s best surfing.
A global sports, media and entertainment company, the WSL oversees international tours and competitions, a studios division creating over 500+ hours of live and on-demand content, and via affiliate WaveCo, the home of the world’s largest high performance, human-made wave. Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, the WSL has regional offices in North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and EMEA.
The WSL annually crowns the men’s and women’s surfing World Champions. The global Tours and Competition division oversees and operates more than 180 global contests each year across the Championship Tour, the development tiers, including the Challenger, Qualifying and Junior Series, as well as longboard and big wave properties.
Launched in 2019, WSL Studios is an independent producer of unscripted television projects, including documentaries and series, which provide unprecedented access to athletes, events, and locations around the world. WSL events and content are distributed on linear television in over 743M+ homes worldwide and across digital and social media platforms around the world, including WorldSurfLeague.com.
WaveCo includes the Surf Ranch Lemoore facility and the utilizing and licensing of the Kelly Slater Wave System.
The WSL is dedicated to changing the world through the inspirational power of surfing by creating authentic events, experiences, and storytelling to inspire a growing, global community to live with purpose, originality, and stoke.
For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.
