When Caio Ibelli and Joel Parkinson paddled out for their heat this week, Snapper was deserted. Not a single other paddler out, but that's normal for the Quicksilver Pro. What's not normal, was that they sat there…

And they sat there…

And finally, they called it quits and paddled in. There were no waves, not one rolled through the lineup that was worth paddling into, so rather than let luck decide who won the heat, both surfers agreed to head in and wait it out. But, the WSL had other ideas, telling them to turn around and get back out there! There was a bit of a ruckus, and then the boys paddled back out to wait some more.

Now when we tell you there were no waves, we're not saying that the waves were mediocre, not worthy of the surfing gods that graced the ocean that day. They just weren't there at all. It was flat. So while everyone watched on in disbelief at a Snapper Rocks which had been firing until 20 minutes ago, WSL commissioner Kieren Perrow got on the live stream saying that competitors did not have the right to decide whether a heat should continue or not. "Not at all! We were confident that things were going to turn around. We want to get all those four heats done today and not have to break that round up. That was just a really strange dip in the ocean and weird lulling situation."

As it were, the waves did pick back up and Parko won his heat with a few good waves. But the goings on did raise an interesting question about professional surfing.

If nobody paddles into a wave, then who wins? Do you think surfers have the final say, or the WSL? The discussion is open in the surfing forums…

#News #Surfing #Paddling