National Surf League | The Game

Santa Cruz Sentinel

By Gwen Mickelson

Have you ever been to a surf contest?

If so, chances are you got bored pretty fast, or you just drifted in for a couple hours and split after catching a few heats. Contests typically go on all day, you have no idea who’s out in the water at a given time unless you’re pretty talented at reading cryptic (and often way off-schedule) heat sheets, scoring is mystifying and frequently unannounced, and usually there’s no comfortable place to sit and watch.

As exciting and cool as surfing is, surf contests tend to be generally uninteresting, difficult to follow and fan-unfriendly.

That could all be about to change. With the introduction of a new surf contest structure that pits regional teams against each other in a format known as "The Game," surf contests could become a lot more like basketball or football games, complete with regional rivalries, referees, coaches, compensation for athletes, team strategies, bleachers, player statistics and even timeouts.

The format is part of a new surf league that is the brainchild of Southern California surf pro Brad Gerlach, with some help from his father, an athlete and diver. In Gerlach’s National Surf League (NSL), surf competitions ("Games") will have a condensed time frame, lasting only about three hours.

Games will be divided into four quarters, with a 20-minute halftime, and teams of eight surfers from four different regions of California will take to the water in four-man squads.

Alistair Craft, the general manager for the Santa Cruz team, said the point is not to slam other kinds of competitions. "What Brad was trying to do was come up with ways that he thought would be more entertaining for a spectator as well as motivational for the surfers themselves," he said.

Gerlach, who surfed on the ASP World Tour in the 1980s and ’90s, said he became dissatisfied with the way surf competitions were run. The senior Gerlach came up with the seed of an idea for team surfing, and Gerlach eventually took the idea and developed it into the NSL.

"We had some of the best guys in the world try it out and give us their feedback, and they all liked it, so we went forward," said Gerlach.

Last summer, the X Games used the Game format for its surf event in Huntington Beach.

In the Game, each team surfs its heats by itself — a huge departure from traditional surf contests, where surfers compete individually against other surfers who are in the water at the same time. The individual model encourages surfers to constantly try to out-position and out-maneuver their competitors, whereas the team format makes coaching expertise, game strategy, team motivation and cooperative surfing absolutely necessary.

Players try to catch as many waves as possible, and each player is judged on his top two waves. Players’ best scores are added together for a total team score per quarter. Each team is allowed three timeouts per half to use strategically during lulls and long paddles.

The individualism that has always characterized surfing will not go away, they say; each team will be made up of 15 first- and second-string players who shine in different conditions and specialize in different areas, and the team will have to strategize on who to send out on a particular day or on a particular wave to reap the most potential points.

There are now four teams in the league — San Diego, Orange County, Ventura and Santa Cruz. In May, the teams will compete for the California Cup. Each weekend, one team will host the others at its home break, rotating hosts each weekend. The home team goes up against each of the visiting teams on three separate days, but the visiting teams don’t surf against each other.

At the end of the four weeks of competition, the two teams with the best records will compete against each other for the California Cup.

Santa Cruz will host the Games the third weekend in May (May 14, 15 and 16) at Steamer Lane.

Santa Cruz pro surfer Adam Replogle, who is acting as one of the coaches for the Santa Cruz team, said he’s excited about the new format.

"It’s allowing everyone to go out and really show their stuff free surfing," he said. "Everybody has to carry their weight, and you’re able to acquire a lot of statistics on surfing, which will allow us to look at the team like, say, a basketball team, where we need certain guys for certain situations and certain surfers for certain style waves."

He added that the new structure will make things easier for both the players and the people who want to come out and cheer on the home team.

"We’ll be able to block out the three hours really easily in a day, where we’ll get the best tides, the best conditions, and you’ll know exactly when everyone from your area surfs," he said.

Santa Cruz surfers who have shown up for tryouts include Peter Mel, Jason "Ratboy" Collins, Josh Loya, Tyler Fox, Tyler Smith and Randy Bonds. Team members have not been chosen yet, but out of necessity, the coaches must aim for a balanced mix of goofy and regular footers, beach-break surfers and point surfers, big-wave specialists and small-wave experts.

Craft, the Santa Cruz team GM, said the judges will likely be WQS tour judges, and the judging will be similar to that used on the QS in terms of progressive surfing — not just counting turns but maximizing the wave and judging extra for high-risk and critical maneuvers.

The NSL has some major sponsors lined up: The Santa Cruz event will be hosted by Billabong, Quiksilver will sponsor the Ventura weekend, Hurley will sponsor Orange County and O’Neill will sponsor San Diego.

"I think one of the most interesting things about the Game is that these eight guys, plus the coaching staff, are all going to collectively use their brains and experience to put the most talented guys on the best waves," said Gerlach. "It’s a collective effort — it’s really fun. There’s a lot of strategy, and you have to have decades of experience to be a coach, and also commitment to the sport, which is why it’s so authentic.

"I think people are going to be very emotionally attached to their team," he added. "I think in Santa Cruz in general they’re a real supportive crew. It’s going to be so loud. It’s going to be awesome."