World Surf League Finals Up Close: Champions Decided on Equal Stage
Carissa Moore’s power and grace on the wave place her in a league of her own. Photo: Sea Maven Magazine
The temporary village constructed over the cobblestones makes Lower Trestles almost unrecognizable. Trailers, satellite dishes the size of cars, vendors, giant WiFi-enabled tents guarded by security staff, and standing-room-only crowds conceal the familiar shape of the point. But as A-frame waves build out at sea, summoning all the ocean’s energy, the wave is unmistakable. She’s putting on a show for today’s event: huge, turquoise, glassy, glorious, sun-kissed.
Carissa Moore and Tatiana Weston-Webb are in the water for round two in a best-two-of-three title match. Two Hawaiian-bred surfers, a goofy footer and a regular; Weston-Webb going for her first world title and Moore looking for a fifth to back up her recent Olympic gold medal win. Moore has lost the first heat and needs to win now to push the match into a third and final round.
In the media room, staff are typing teleprompter lines, reviewing speaker notecards, workshopping articles for local media, editing videos. This is the room where the story is being shaped and history is being written.
The 2021 World Surf League (WSL) Finals is a first-of-its-kind event in professional surfing. In a move that will hopefully be continued at sporting events around the world, today includes acknowledgement of the Acjachemen people, the original stewards of this land and sea (known as Panhe or “place by the water”). The nonprofit group Native Like Water is present to lead ceremonies. They paid special tribute to Moore’s indigenous Hawaiian heritage in an Instagram post: “The greatest victory over colonialism is the laughter and play of our children.”
It’s also the first time that world titles are being decided in a single-day showdown with all athletes competing on an equal stage: men and women alternating heats, sharing the prime conditions, competing for equal prize money, and performing for the same viewers here on the beach and around the globe. In 2022, the World Surf League will take this to the next level by effectively creating one tour: placing the women and men in the same venues during the same windows to compete for equal prize money in an equal number events. This puts a definitive end to a decades-long system of a second-tier women’s tour.
On the world stage, Moore has found her flow in this second heat. She hooks into the wave with an unfathomable measure of power, throws huge buckets of spray, and shows everyone what surfing is all about: a divine exchange with nature. It’s something special to witness. Weston-Webb still has one more chance to chase her first world title in the third round.
On the men’s side, support for Lowers legend Filipe Toledo is strong. The cheers are loud. Everyone loves to see an underdog win–plus, he’s earned a reputation as a kind person with a warm and open demeanor. A people’s hero. Toledo is strong out of the gates with an artfully-executed setwave just off the buzzer. It’s a great show. But frontrunner Gabriel Medina is a formidable opponent.
Suddenly, horns sound and confusion sets in on the beach. “Suspicious wildlife” has been spotted in the lineup! All WSL personnel and athletes in the water are collected on jetskis. The freesurfers at Middles are urged to come in. They don’t; in fact, they start scratching towards the Lowers lineup as a lifeguard boat tracks the shark north, away from the contest area.
Once the water support team has cleared the lineup of “suspicious wildlife” and overly-eager freesurfers, the men’s title match is back on. Medina throws an air so big that he touches the sky and follows it up with a truly progressive backflip maneuver. Per the announcers, once again, “history is in the making.”
Medina’s air show. Photo: Sea Maven Magazine
Toledo puts on a magnificent performance, placing everything on the line and refusing to play it safe. It’s not enough this time. The women will have the closing act today before what’s said to be the biggest spectator crowd ever gathered at Lowers and the highest broadcast ratings ever commanded by a WSL event.
Moore prevails in the final heat, after another “suspicious wildlife” interruption. “I’m thankful that they’re keeping us safe, but it was fifteen more minutes of anticipation and stress,” she says of the shark incident. Always the open and honest athlete, she says she was fighting doubts and insecurities after losing the first heat to Weston-Webb, “walking a fine line of falling into a negative, downward spiral.” But her team and her family brought her to peace, and by the time she paddled back out she was unstoppable.
Moore is so consistent, so in tune with the wave, so strong, that no one was going to touch her in this event. Today, with a fifth world title, she’s taken her rightful place among the greatest surfers of all time.
The energy at the awards ceremony is electric: the Brazilian crowd shouting and singing, lighting Medina up; Moore beaming a huge smile, tearing up, showing her characteristic humility and grace. Adelia Sandoval of the Acjachemen Tribe and original people of Orange County gives a beautiful and impassioned speech: “Our ancestors are here today. Their memory is with us today because they’re aware of your love for the ocean.” She urges the crowd to turn west and express gratitude for Grandmother Ocean.
World Champions Carissa Moore and Gabriel Medina with Adelia Sandoval of the Acjachemen Tribe. Photo: Sea Maven Magazine
Between greeting fans and capturing all the required sponsor photos, Moore shares with me how it felt to compete on an equal stage today. “It was awesome. The waves were absolutely pumping, and to be able to go back and forth with the men and finish the whole season on one day in one place was really special.”
Beyond spreading stoke and inspiring freesurfers, professional surfing events have greater ripple effects. They have the power to educate, to uplift, to cultivate respect for our precious natural resources and the people who inhabited these sacred spaces first. They have the power to set a global precedent for equity and inclusion by forcefully asserting, in front of the world, that all champions are equal. That’s what the 2021 WSL Finals did. No matter who won or lost the contest today, a sense of love and gratitude permeated the ocean air. One surf community existing for good.
