August represents the Thoughest Slog

The month of August represents the toughest slog imaginable for the battlers on the World Qualifying Series. Okay, it's not Iraq or Afghanistan, but it's the surfing equivalent of trench warfare for the hundreds of professional surfers aspiring for berths on the 2006 Foster's ASP Men's World Tour. These dog days of summer pit the guys on a hot and sandy trail over two continents, two island nations, five countries and seven big point events in a period stretching July 25 to September 4.

It's a rigorous test of mind, body and spirit as there is so much at stake as the reward for making the cut in the ruthless mire of the WQS is a berth on the "dream tour" – a smorgasbord of 12 World Championship Tour events, fully laden with waiting periods, at the worlds best surf breaks.

For the thirsty troops in the August desert, this tour must appear as a mirage, an oasis, a paradise that never gets closer then arms length as in many ways one couldn't find a bigger contrast between the day-in day-out routine of slugging through round after round of four-man heats and life amongst the top 45.

There are many elements making up the WQS, but one of the most restrictive of these is the fact that the northern winter is long. And why is that of relevance? Because the first half of the year is pretty much all southern hemisphere events – the first 5-star or better event staged in the northern hemisphere comes at the end of the seventh month of the year.

This is not by design of ASP. There are many open dates in the first half of the year but basically from November to May the northern hemisphere is under the grip of the elements, which in turn make it very difficult to market surf contests. And unfortunately this fact binds the professional surfing calendar.

While Europe, the USA and Japan are either still hunkered down by winter, or thawing the limbs in anticipation of the rising sun, the head of marketing of whatever the company won't be prepared to gently place his proverbial on the block by staging something where bums on beaches are displaced by tumbleweed, or where sets are replaced by blizzards, blue by grey, floaters by drifts, colour by bleakness and bikinis by rubber. These events are not provided as charity to keep the wheels turning at ASP nor to keep the mortgage payments up for traveling pros. They are a promotion directly linked to point of sale.

If we could pull it off, the concept of balancing the calendar would have been implemented as policy yesterday. The first half of the year is wide open yet there are precious few expressions of interest for events in the northern hemi.

Meanwhile, south of the equator, there is a vibrant series of legs, the only thing is that most of the southern hemi is ocean, and with events in Oz, Maldives and South Africa, combined with Indo and the Phillipines being off-limits in recent years, there is not much room for expansion below the equator.

So here we find ourselves in this bottleneck, a compressed leg, stacked between a pair of WCT legs. It's bloody hard yakka and the the workload is compounded dramatically for those bottom end WCT guys hedging their bets on both tours. For them the first half of the year is reasonable, the second a non-stop merry go round of events, planes, trains and neurosurgery.

What's made it even more radical is the combined effects of the new formats. With the disappearance of the round-64 seeding rights, it really is a new world. The round-96, the highest seeded round in any major event, is only two rounds removed from the lowest seeded round, creating a very competitive environment. The impact for the WCT guys is that they surf way earlier in the draw and have to advance through several layers of challenge before securing meaningful qualifying points.

For the surfers aspiring for WCT berths or trying to work their way up the totem pole, come June they have to roll up their sleeves, kiss their loved ones goodbye, kiss their shaper goodbye, and hit the road.

Surfing their way through summer is not a box of chocolates, it's a grind, going from event to event, praying for surf, facing each round of competition like some kind of delirious groundhog day. It really is that hard on the WQS. Plus summer is not renowned for classic surf. It is hit and miss every week and sometimes the guys are faced with back to back one to two foot beachies with the only saving grace being the restricted fields and the ability of contest directors to take time off, sometimes entire days, to allow for really poor conditions, the notoriously high tides of Europe, or the dreaded flat spell.

This is a harsh reality but then again there is no such thing as an easy qualifying school. A good example is golf. At the top of the pyramid, Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson are taking home US$1.3million cheques for winning run-of-the-mill PGA Tour events. One doesn't have to go far down the list to find a dramatically different scenario. Even in golf's equivalent of the WCT, failing to make the halfway cut draws a blank prize-money cheque, but for the thousands upon thousands of aspiring pros in lower tier qualifying career path tours, the going is very tough. It often involves zero sponsorship, sleeping in cars waiting for Monday morning qualifiers, bombing out and moving on to the next course, often on the other side of the state or country, and registering for more Monday morning qualifiers, all with no visible income.

So yes, qualifying for the Foster's ASP Men's World Tour is fraught with obstacles and is a true grind, but our surfers are not the lone rangers of sport. With pro sporting careers at a premium and with the kind of riches being enjoyed by Kelly Slater, Andy Iron, Joel Parko, Taj Burrow, Mick Fanning and co, it is little wonder the volume of aspiring pros is becoming legion. But if the WQS is like threading the eye of the needle, golf and tennis is times 20, maybe more. Life in the qualifying trenches is tough. It is a friggin hard slog, but I reckon the cream makes it to the top and the rewards make it all worthwhile

Making it requires a state of mind, a delicate blend of desire, application, planning and ability. There are many classic examples of this. Two of the best are Bruce Irons and Chris Ward. Individually they took separate paths, both seemingly long and arduous, and after years of raging against the machine they knuckled down and did the business. When Bruce was one heat from qualifying at Pipe last December, a reporter approached him and kind of intimated that hey, you're Bruce Irons, do you need the WCT? To which Brucey turned around and said, "Well, if I don't get through this heat I'll be back on the WQS so quick so I can get back to the WCT as soon as possible". It was a similar story for Chris Ward. The "Where's Wardo" hymn book rang out for years, when Wardo finally got angry enough, he put his head down and qualified.

Why? Because it is the only way in…

Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew
ASP International President