SLSA NEW COMPETITION FORMAT

This Saturday the SLSA will roll out their new competition format with the Playa Santa Teresa event at Pacifico Norte taking place as a Round One "surf in" or "qualification" or "preliminary" competitition. The top 10 surfers move on to compete for 10 open spots in the Saturday, March 21, competition also at Playa Santa Teresa. Surfers in the top 20 SLSA ranking are already guaranteed a spot in the March 21 event and are not required to surf this Saturday.

56 surfers signed up during the registration window for this SLSA competition. The top 20 will not compete in Round One, so this Saturday will have 36 surfers competing to fill those 10 open slots for the following Saturday, competing against the SLSA ranked top 20. There will be no semi final or final heats - just the initial qualification heats of 3 waves each. This format serves to allow more surfers to compete and cut the competition time to a reasonable level.

In addition, this format enables the top 20 ranked surfers to participate in officiating an event at the Surf In, and surfers who did not qualify to participate the following Saturday, spreading the tasks of judging, marshalling, security and MC amongst the surfing population. Trainees will be shadowing officials at this preliminary competition to learn the behind-the-scenes of how to perform these vital functions.

For more details on the new competition format, refer to the SLSA website.

Share: