There are 840 miles of coastline in California. And while there will be one stop on the 2018 WSL World Tour in California, it will not be happening along any of those 840 miles of coastline. It will be happening in Lemoore, CA.

The WSL just released a press release this morning announcing the 2018 World Tour schedule. And it’s maybe the first press release they’ve sent me thats ever caught my eye. Why? Well, because they removed Trestles from the tour and replaced it with a wave pool! They also swapped Fiji in for Keramas (sad goofyfoot face) and totally cancelled Portugal. But it’s obviously the trading of salt for chlorine that’s making me feel icky.

As you know, I’m not the biggest fan of this wave pool revolution that’s going on and the impending Country Club Surf Culture that it’s going to promote, but it kind of shocked me that Lowers would go away completely and be replaced by us watching the world’s best surf that same damn wave over and over instead of the world’s most rippable peak. I suppose as a surf fan I was hoping they’d go more of a specialty “Demo” concept with the pool because let me be the first to say, this wave pool thing may not be for me, but I’ll never discount the fact that it looks “fun” for any competent surfer. But now that the initial novelty of watching this thing has worn off, it’s just not that fun to watch over and over.

Also, instead of the surf world invading a great surf town like San Clemente, it’s now Lemoore, California playing host. Which sends chills down my spine. So as the WSL spins this as an evolution, I’m here to say I’m glad we got better things to do next year. —Travis 

2018 World Surf League Men’s Championship Tour:

Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, Australia – March 11 – 22, 2018

Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, Australia – March 28 – April 8, 2018

Margaret River Pro, Australia – April 11 – 22, 2018

Oi Rio Pro, Brazil – May 10 – 19, 2018

Bali Pro, Indonesia – May 27 – June 9, 2018

Corona Open J-Bay, South Africa – July 2 – 13, 2018

Tahiti Pro Teahupo’o, Tahiti – August 10 – 21, 2018

Surf Ranch Lemoore, California/USA. September 5 – 9, 2018

Quiksilver Pro France, France – October 3 – 14, 2018

MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal, Portugal – October 16 – 27, 2018

Billabong Pipe Masters, Hawaii/USA – December 8 – 20, 2018