The World Surf League said Friday it will “explore all possible options” when deciding its future schedule in response to Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s decision to deny the league’s request to help with a scheduling conflict.
“We have plans to continue to work with the Mayor’s Office on the status of our permits, but we must also explore all possible options for our schedule moving forward,” the league said in a statement posted on its website Friday afternoon that has since been removed. “We will share more information as soon as we’re able to.”
Earlier this week WSL Chief Executive Officer Sophie Goldschmidt threatened to pull all of the league’s Hawaii-based surf meets if the city would not accommodate its request to change its desired dates for two of its events on the 2018-2019 North Shore surfing calendar. The league is the governing organization for the world’s major surf meets involving male and female surfers.
On Tuesday, Caldwell sent a letter to the league repeating his position that he does not have the authority to grant variances in a competitive process. He noted that the permits for the 2018-19 season have not yet been issued and that it would be unfair to other applicants requesting dates. The league also missed a deadline to make changes to its applications, he said.
Specifically, WSL wants to hold the Billabong Pipeline Masters events on the dates in January that it initially had requested for the Volcom Pipe Pro event. Historically, the Volcom is held in January and the Billabong in December.
WSL has a permit to hold the Billabong in December but wants to scratch Volcom from its application for dates in January 2019 in favor of a second Billabong in consecutive months. Historically, the Billabong has closed out WSL’s annual tour schedule, and the proposal essentially would have the event begin its 2019 season.
“The WSL acknowledges the City of Honolulu’s decision, but we remain very disappointed by it,” the league said in its statement Friday.
The surfing community seems mixed on the issue.
Onetime world champion Sunny Garcia, a Hawaii native, was among those voicing support for the league and criticism of Caldwell. “A lot of the facts being thrown around by the mayor are very misleading, and it’s a huge injustice that the man elected to protect the surfers and surf community won’t help us,” Garcia said in a recent Instagram post.
But Mahina Chillingworth of Da Hui, which runs the annual Da Hui Backdoor Shootout surf event, supported Caldwell and took issue with WSL’s threat to remove Hawaii from its meet schedule. “They need Hawaii,” she told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “There’s no other place like Pipeline.”
