» What is the ASP?
» What is the ASP World Tour?
» What's in a name? What happened to the WCT?
» How do you qualify for the ASP World Tour?
» How many people are on the ASP World Tour?
» Who qualifies for the ASP World Tour from the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS)?
» How are the ASP World Tour Wildcards awarded?
» What is the WPS?
» What are the ASP World Tour Event Trials?
» What is the Foster's ASP Surf Showdown?
» What is the ASP WQS?
» How many people are on the ASP WQS?
» What is the ASP WQS Super Series?
» How do ratings work?
» What is priority?
» What is a waiting period?
» What does it mean when an event is mobile?
» Are all events mobile?
» What is an event wildcard?
» How long does it take to run a contest?
» What are the judging criteria?
» How are waves scored?
» How many waves are scored?
» Does wave scoring differ between the ASP World Tour and the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS)?


» What is the ASP?
The ASP is the Association of Surfing Professionals. It is the foremost governing body in professional surfing. It boasts the sanctioning of six professional surfing circuits including: the ASP World Tour, the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), the ASP World Longboard Tour (WLT), the ASP Pro Junior Series, the World Masters Championship, and Specialty Events. The organization is divided into seven different regions: Africa, Japan, Australasia, Europe, Hawaii, North America, and South America. The ASP has been dedicated to showcasing the world's best surfing talent in a variety of progressive formats and challenging locations since 1983, taking over for the International Professional Surfers (IPS) organization which ran things from 1976 to 1982.

The ASP World Tour

» What is the ASP World Tour?
The ASP World Tour is the embodiment of the top tier of the ASP's two-tier system. The World has both Men's and Women's Divisions. The Men's Division is comprised of the top 45 competitive surfers in the world, and the women's division is made up of the top 17. Surfers qualify for both the Men's and Women's ASP World Tours via the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS). Every season, World Tour surfers compete with one another for prize money and the highly coveted ASP World Title. ASP World Tour events are held in exotic locations around the world with the support of the event licensees. Enjoying ten events per season for the men and seven for the women, prime locales and attractive prize purses, the ASP World Tour is the most sought after professional circuit in competitive surfing.

» What's in a name? What happened to the WCT?
As of 2007, the ASP's top-tier tour will no longer be called the WCT. The current contracted names of these tours will be ASP World Tour for the men and ASP Women's World Tour for the women. These names will appear in all ASP news, and are the correct titles for both tours.

» How do you qualify for the ASP World Tour?
The only way to qualify for the ASP World Tour is through the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS). By accumulating point totals throughout the season, ASP WQS surfers are then rated giving them a chance at qualifying for the ASP World Tour. The point total is garnered from a competitor's best 7 results. The top 15 surfers from the men's ASP WQS are awarded seeds onto the Men's ASP World Tour*. The top 6 surfers from the women's ASP WQS are awarded seeds onto the Women's ASP World Tour.

*At least the top 15 male ASP WQS surfers are awarded ASP World Tour seeds. In situations of retirement of ASP World Tour surfers who have requalified through the ASP World Tour, the next highest rated World Tour surfers will take their places. If the retiring surfer has qualified via the ASP WQS, then the next highest rated ASP WQS surfer will take his qualifying spot on the ASP World Tour.

» How many people are on the ASP World Tour?
The ASP World Tour consists of the top 45 men and 17 women competitive surfers in the world. Each season's Men's ASP World Tour seed list is made up of the top 27 rated World Tour surfers from the previous year, the top 15 rated ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) surfers from the previous year, and potentially three ASP World Tour surfers who were awarded the ASP Wildcard by the World Professional Surfers (WPS) the previous year. Each season's Women's ASP World Tour seed list is made up of 17 surfers (the top 10 rated ASP World Tour surfers, the top 6 rated WQS surfers, and 1 ASP Wildcard).

» Who qualifies for the ASP World Tour from the World Qualifying Series (WQS)??
The top 15 rated Men's surfers and top 6 rated Women's surfers on the ASP World Qualifying Series are awarded seeds into the following year's ASP World Tour.

» How are the ASP World Tour Wildcards awarded?
The ASP World Tour Wildcards are awarded to ASP World Tour surfers who could not acquire enough points to requalify through competition during the season. A maximum of three wildcards can be awarded to ASP World Tour surfers by the World Professional Surfers (WPS) at the end of the season. If more than three appeals for the Wildcards are proposed, the WPS votes on the three most deserving cases. Often, injuries play a major role in the decision of wildcard awardings.

» What is the WPS?
The WPS is the World Professional Surfers. The organization provides a forum for professional surfers to air their comments and concerns in regards to professional surfing. In addition to being the voice of professional surfers, it also has the ability to award the three ASP World Tour Injury Wildcards per season.

» What are the ASP World Tour Event Trials?
The ASP World Tour Event Trials are pre-event contests where a small selection of invitees battles it out for seeds in the respective ASP World Tour event. The Trials typically occur one day before, or on the morning of, the ASP World Tour event. The general format of the Trials is three heats consisting of four surfers each, with the winner of each heat awarded entry to the respective ASP World Tour event.

» What is the Foster's ASP Surf Showdown?
The Foster's ASP Surf Showdown is a new exhibition in 2007 that will run with all ASP World Tour events. Inspired by the 2006 Boost Mobile Pro presented by Hurley's "Keys to the Continent" exhibition, the 2007 Foster's ASP Surf Showdown will group ASP World Tour surfers in national teams, and pit them against one another in competition. The teams will select two surfers to represent their respective team in competition. Adding another exciting dynamic to the exhibition, all ASP World Tour rookies will be grouped together on a Rookie Team and will be unable to compete for their respective nations. With bonus cash prizes, fierce competitive rivalries, the Foster's ASP Surf Showdown will be sure to add another exciting element to the ASP World Tour.

The WQS

» What is the ASP WQS?
The ASP WQS is the World Qualifying Series (also affectionately known as "The Grind"). It is the second (or open-entry) tier in the ASP's two-tier system. The WQS has both Men's and Women's Divisions, and the series of events determines which surfers qualify for the ASP World Tour. On average, there are approximately 45 WQS events per season. The events are rated on a star system with ratings from 1 to 6 stars. The star rating coincides with the prize money offered and also determines the amount of ratings points offered to surfers. More prize money will get you a higher star rating which will give the competitors more ratings points. ASP WQS surfers compete for both prize money and valuable ratings points in an attempt to qualify for the ASP World Tour.

» How many people are on the ASP WQS?
There are thousands of ASP WQS surfers the world over. Because the ASP WQS is an open-entry competitive circuit, anyone who pays the ASP membership fees (men's $200 and women's $130) and the competition fees ($175 for 1-4 Star Events and $200 for 5-6 Star Events) can compete in ASP WQS events. Although anyone can enter a WQS event, if there are too many entries, the higher-rated surfers will get preference in the make up of the seed list. ASP WQS five and six star rated events have restricted fields of 192 competitors with Super Series events only allotting the restricted field of 144. The remaining ASP WQS events are open entry with the highest rated surfers receiving preference.

» What is the ASP WQS Super Series?
The ASP WQS Super Series is part of the European leg that offers more money and ratings points (3000 points per win) than other ASP WQS event. The Super Series can only be staged in approved prime venues. It has a restricted field of 144 competitors (Approximately the top 100 ASP WQS competitors, ASP World Tour surfers, regional surfers and wildcards). Rip Curl staged the world's first Super Series event at Hossegor.

» How do ratings work?
Ratings differ between the ASP World Tour and ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS). On the ASP World Tour, all events offer the same number of points (e.g. for all Men's events, 1st is 1200, 2nd is 1032, 3rd is 876, etc.). An ASP World Tour surfer's year-end rating is determined by his/her combined scores for the season (after throwaways). ASP World Tour surfers are allowed throwaway events when tallying the cumulative scores. In a season of twelve events, the surfer is allowed three throwaways. In a season with nine to eleven events, a surfer is allowed two throwaways. In a season with less than nine events, a surfer is allowed one throwaway.

Because ASP WQS surfers are allowed to compete in as many events as they want to, the ratings work differently. For the men, the best seven of the total number of all Super Series and ASP WQS 1-6 Star events will be used to determine the competitor's year-end rating. A maximum of four events per country in the 5-6 Star and Super Series events can be used towards a surfer's total. Point allocations differ depending on how many stars a particular event is rated. The more money, the more stars, the more points. For the women, all ASP WQS 1-6 star rated events will be used to determine the year-end ratings for the women's WQS. However, in the arena of WQS 4-6 Star rated events, the number of events the season possesses has a bearing on how many will count. If there are one to four ASP WQS 4-6 Star events a season, then all will count. If there are five ASP WQS 4-6 Star events in a season, then a surfer's best four will count. If there are six to seven ASP WQS 4-6 Star events in a season, then a surfer's best six will count. If there are eight to nine ASP WQS 4-6 Star events in a season, then a surfer's best six will count. If there are 10 or more ASP WQS 4-6 Star events a season, then a surfer's best seven will count.

For a more in-depth look into event scoring and tour ratings, feel free to stop by your regional ASP office and grab a copy of the rule book. For those of you who find this all a bit overwhelming, we urge you to put your faith into our more-than-qualified professional statisticians and check the ratings at www.aspworldtour.com

Competition

» What is priority?
Prority is mandatory in all one-on-one heats. The surfer with priority has unconditional right of way for both directions on the wave selected. The surfer without priority cannot take off on the same wave as the priority surfer, regardless of direction of distance between them, unless the surfer without priority does not hinder the scoring potential of the surfer with priority, in which case the surfer without priority will score a zero. At the start of the heat once the first wave has been ridden, the remaining surfer in the lineup gets automatic priority. A surfer will lose priority once they catch a wave and their hands leave the rails as they attempt to stand up. In the event that both surfers catch waves to the inside, the first surfer to reach the lineup will be awarded priority. Priority is indicated by colored discs at the event site.

The priority rule serves several purposes. First and foremost, the prioirty rule attempts to eliminate hassling for waves. Without priority, surfers would have nothing to keep them from fighting for waves with their fellow competitors. The priority rule allows surfers to focus more on their surfing performance instead of hassling their opponents. Secondly, the priority rule makes judging easier by detering surfers from taking off on the same wave. With the encouragement of one surfer per wave, the judges can focus better on each individual ride. Finally, the priority rule allows for a tactical element to exist in competitive surfing. Surfers tend to become much more selective of their wave choice in order to retain priority for the optimal amount of scoring. The priority rule doesn't exist in Round 1 of the WCT competititions because Round 1 heats have three surfers. The priority rule was made for head-to-head surfing which doesn't take place until the second round. The priority rule was instituted in the mid 1980's and has been modifued over the years to keep abreast of competitive surfing.

» What is a waiting period?
The waiting period is the allotted time in which event organizers can run their event. Having a waiting period that is longer than the time needed to finish competition allows organizers to be selective when running their heats. This gives both the surfers and spectators the benefit of having the event ran in the best possible conditions.

» What does it mean when an event is mobile?
If an event is "mobile", it has the ability to run at a variety of locations in order give the surfers optimal conditions (ie. wave size and shape, tide, wind, etc.) for competing. A mobile event will actually go "mobile" when conditions at the intended site have been assessed by a joint committee of surfers and event organizers, and a decision is made to move the competition site.

» Are all events mobile?
No. Not all events have the capacity for going mobile. The non-mobile events are most often at prime or exotic locations and will offer the most desired surf in the area. As far as the men's WCT goes, the mobile events are: the Gold Coast (AUS), Bells Beach (AUS), Tavarua (FIJ), St. Leu (REU)*, Chiba (JAP), South West Coast (FRA), Mundaka (ESP), and Florianopolis (BRA). Leaving the non-mobile events as: Teahupoo (TAH), Trestles (USA), and Pipeline (HAW).
* The event at St. Leu is a Rip Curl Search Event. The event was at St. Leu for the 2005 season, but Rip Curl's plan is to change the event location every year to bring an exciting new dynamic to the WCT.

» What is an event wildcard?
An event wildcard is a non-ASP World Tour surfer allowed to compete in the ASP World Tour event. The wildcard is typically awarded by the event sponsor. Awarding of the wildcard can take place through a trials event or through automatic entry at the discretion of the event organizer. Typical candidates for the ASP World Tour Event Wildcard will typically come from the event sponsor's team, the local area, or both. Not only do these surfers complete the seed list and/or fill in for injured surfers, but they also bring exciting new faces and challenges to the ASP World Tour elite.

» How long does it take to run a contest?
Contest length varies depending on the amount of surfers entered into the contest. The amount of surfers in a competition will determine how many heats, which will determine how many rounds will be needed to crown a champion. The approximate amount of time needed to complete a men's ASP World Tour event is four full days of competition. The minimum waiting period for any men's ASP World Tour event is eight days, and the waiting period for any women's ASP World Tour event is five days. Depending on the star rating of the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) events, a minimum of three to seven days of running time must be allotted.

» What is the judging criteria?
The new ASP judging criteria was rolled out at all events in 2005. Read the complete Judging Criteria.

» How are waves scored?
Waves are scored on a 1 to 10 scale with 1 being the lowest and 10 being a perfect ride. With the changeover to the two-wave from the three-wave format, surfers are now typically requiring scores in the 8 plus range to advance through their heats making for some fantastic displays of surfing.

» How many waves are scored?
All surfers' scores are the total of their two highest-scored waves. This does not change regardless of which ASP tour they are competing on. By scoring surfers on only two waves (formerly it was three), the level of performance is pushed as surfers attempt for bigger scores. In all ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) heats and finals and ASP World Tour heats, the maximum number of waves scored is 15.

» Does wave scoring differ between the ASP World Tour and ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS)?
No. Wave scoring does not differ between the ASP World Tour and the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS).