What to know about the WSL’s most unique contest, The Surf Ranch

The World Surf League is heading to the Surf Ranch, a man-made wave straight from the brain of Kelly Slater, here is everything you need to know about this unique location.

The 2023 World Surf League Championship Tour season is in full swing. So far the men and women of the CT have visited five beautiful locations around the world. From Hawaii to Australia, to Portugal, these athletes have been privy to some of the best waves and most gorgeous beaches in the world. For the next stop, the surfers will be headed to California. Many people who think of surfing in California may have flashbacks of The OC or some other cheesy California teen show where actors would fall in love while watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. That is not what to expect from this next stop on tour.

The next contest location is the Surf Ranch, located in the landlocked town of Lemoore, California. The Surf Ranch is like no other stop on the tour as it is a man-made wave pool straight from the mind of Legendary surfer Kelly Slater.

What is The Surf Ranch?

The Surf Ranch was built off of an idea Slater had in his mind and had drawn out on a napkin. In 2015 a full-scale operational wave pool was built in the middle of farm country in California, 100 miles from the ocean. The first sanctioned WSL event to be held in these engineered waves was in 2017 and now it is a permanent stop on the tour.

The Surf Ranch boasts “The longest open barrel high-performance human-made wave in the world” and after watching some of the best surfers in the world take turns on this amazing wave it is easy to see why The Surf Ranch is the most interesting spot in the tour.

The technology used at “The Ranch” is called Kelly Slater Wave Systems. Picture a pool over 700 meters long with an almost train-looking apparatus next to it. As the train (hydrofoil) begins to move it pulls the water up into a perfectly shaped 6-8 foot wave. The beauty behind this is that each wave is perfectly in unison and on demand.

How is The Surf Ranch Pro event run?

This year surfers in the Championship Tour will be heading to The Ranch on May 27 and 28. Unlike most tour stops there is no waiting period because the waves are always good at “Kelly’s Place.” Some of the biggest names in surfing will battle it out in a series of heats. Each surfer will be head to head with their competition within their heat and will be scored on a scale of 1-10 based on several different criteria.

24 men and 12 women will be on hand to take on his ideal wave while trying to continue their run to the WSL Finals. This year the event will run a bit differently. The first day will consist of the qualifying rounds where four surfers per heat will compete to move on. Also for the first time at The Ranch, the athletes will have the opportunity to surf at night. The surfers who fare the best on day one will move on to “finals day” on Sunday.

On Sunday surfers will go through single elimination to see who will be crowned the winner and rack up those super important points heading into the back stretch of the season.

Who will be competing at The Surf Ranch?

Since Kelly Slater was the man to think up and create this wave you would expect him to be the man to beat here in this event. Slater, although he was mathematically cut from the tour after the last event, was granted a wildcard spot and will be in the water in his own backyard. Joining him are several young up-and-comers looking to make this 2023 season their very first winning season. Last year’s champion Filipe Toledo will be on hand along with big names such as Jack Robinson, Griffin Colapinto, and Gabriel Medina.

On the women’s side, last year’s champion Stephanie Gilmore will be up against tough competitors such as Tyler Wright, Carrissa Moore, and Caroline Marks.

Fans can watch all the action in the water on the WSL YouTube channel and on Worldsurfleague.com.