Page 6 - MidWeek West - Feb 8, 2023

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FEBRUARY 8, 2023
Aloha surfers and beachgoers,
As I pen this piece, we await the kick off of the World Championship Tour 2023 at the Billabong Pro Pipeline. The holding pe- riod is Jan. 29-Feb 10 for this three- to four-day event. The best surfers in the world are frothing to fire up their new boards and test their training since the end of last year’s tour. It’s going to be a crazy exciting year. I can feel it.
can you imagine if the great- est female surfer ever, Steph- anie Gilmore, with eight world titles, makes it nine? She’d only be two off from Kelly Slater’s 11. Insane pos- sibility. Of course, the crazi- est dream come true would be for the GOAT to win 12 for retirement at the age of 51 (my head just exploded).
Bettylou Sakura-Johnson, Moana Jones-Wong and Ga- briela Bryan). Then, there’s one for Brazil, Kaua‘i’s Ta- tiana Weston-Webb; one for Portugal, Teresa Bonvalot; and one for Costa Rica, Brisa Hennessy.
Under also packs seven into the top tier. The USA has five surfers.
John John Florence is back in action looking for a third title and Carissa Moore is searching for her fifth. Plus,
Australians (Gilmore, Macy Callaghan, Isabella Nich- ols, Sally Fitzgibbons, Tyler Wright and newcomer Molly Picklum). The USA has five
with Caroline Marks, Alys- sa Spencer, Lakey Peterson, Caitlin Simmers and Court- ney Conlogue. Hawai‘i is next in line with four (Moore,
The Brazilian storm still rains on everyone’s parade with 10 of the top 36. Then, it’s Hawai‘i with seven surf- ers — not bad at all consider- ing the size of Hawai‘i to oth- er countries. The land Down
I’ll keep all the juicy de- tails ready for you on speed dial at surfnewsnetwork.com.
BY GARY KEWLEY
Surfers Await The Start Of World Championship Tour
What’s always fun is watching the newcomers mix things up for the established WCT veterans. The other fun — sometimes overlooked — fact is that countries also compete for bragging rights! The top 18 women have six
The North Shore’s winter waves are firing. PHOTO COURTESY MITCH MCEWEN/ HAWAIIAN ISLAND CREATIONS
Asfarasthetop36men go (too many to name), it’s a tight race with an “anything can happen” feel.
Then, from there it’s bits and pieces but they add up to about 10. There’s two for South Africa, two for France, and one for each of the following countries: Japan, Italy, Indonesia and for the first time Morocco, thanks to the talented Ramzi Boukhiam.
GQ, droppin’ in 4 U!
gary@surfnewsnetwork.com
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