First, if you haven't already, head to the WSL Fantasy Surfing page and create an account. Then, get to know the basics...
Fantasy surfing puts you in charge. You're the commissioner - select athletes you think will perform best for each men's and women's event. Their real heat scores count as points for your fantasy team; win by earning the most points.
Fantasy picks for Gold Coast are open now, and throughout the season will open 48 hours prior to an event start.
Goofy or regular? At certain stops it's in your best interest to pick one of each. - WSL / Kelly Cestari
Scoring:
If a surfer on your team scores 15.05 in a heat, you'll get 15.05 fantasy points. Your total is the combined score of all athletes on your team.
That's it in a nutshell, but there are limits on who you can pick. Surfers are categorized into "Tiers" based on their current rank.
Men's
Tier A: Pick 2 surfers from ranks 1-8
Tier B: Pick 4 surfers from ranks 9-24
Tier C: Pick 2 surfers from ranks 25-34
Women's
Tier A: Pick 1 surfer from ranks 1-3
Tier B: Pick 2 surfers from ranks 4-12
Tier C: Pick 1 surfer from ranks 13-17
If that sounds confusing, just play. Tiers are set automatically so you have nothing to worry about. Remember, you'll need to pick a new team for each event as rankings will adjust athlete tiers.
Conlogue was injured for half of the 2018 season and is looking to make a strong comeback. - WSL / Kelly Cestari
Bye Rounds and Injuries:
Round 1 is a non-elimination round. If a surfer places 1st or 2nd in their Round 1 heat, they advance directly to Round 3. They won't get 0.00 fantasy points for Round 2, but rather the top score earned by another surfer. If the best heat score from Round 2 is a 10.56, all athletes who placed 1st or 2nd in Round 1 will also receive 10.56.
If a surfer is injured in a heat, they will still receive any points they earned as a heat score. If a surfer is injured outside of competition, they will receive 0.00 points for the next heat they were supposed to surf and their opponent will be awarded 10.00 points.
Strategy:
Once you've got the format down, it's time to start thinking about strategy. The surfers you draft will need to collectively outscore your opponents, so you want to make sure your team can:
- Score the most points (earn the highest heat scores)
- Advance further in the competition (surfing more heats will offer more scoring opportunity)
Who will be the optimal surfers for each event? That's up to you to decide but this year we're offering more stats and analysis to help out. The favorites don't always win - if you can predict the upsets, you'll be on your way to fantasy victory.
The wildcard isn't slowing down, earning an 8.27 and eliminating Jesse Mendes in Round 2 of the Corona Open J-Bay.
Heats Remaining:
Heats Remaining is a new addition to fantasy that shows your team's potential during each event. Whenever an athlete on your team surfs a heat, it is deducted from your total Heats Remaining. If an athlete is eliminated from a contest, their future potential heats are deducted as well. For example, if an athlete is eliminated in the Quarterfinals, your team will have an additional 2 Heats Remaining deducted because the athlete can no longer surf in the next two rounds.
Heats Remaining will also deduct appropriately for Friendly Fire, a situation in which two athletes on the same team compete head-to-head in an elimination round (and one is guaranteed to be eliminated).
Men's teams start each contest with 54 Heats Remaining, while women's start with 26. These are the maximum number of heats your team can surf in an event (all 8 men's athletes reach the Quarterfinals or all 4 women's athletes reach the Semifinals).
Private Leagues:
Your men's and women's teams are automatically entered in the overall leaderboard for each event, but private leagues are a great way to play against friends only. You can invite anyone via email, private link or social media by clicking Create a League.
Italo Ferreira, World No.4, after winning the 2018 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. - WSL / Ed Sloane
That's all there is to it. If you have any questions, shoot them over to support@worldsurfleague.com.
Good luck and happy drafting!
Watch the first event of the 2019 CT season at the Quiksilver Pro and Boost Mobile Pro Gold Coast April 3-13 live on Worldsurfleague.com, App and Facebook.
WSL Fantasy Surfing Explained
WSL
First, if you haven't already, head to the WSL Fantasy Surfing page and create an account. Then, get to know the basics...
Fantasy surfing puts you in charge. You're the commissioner - select athletes you think will perform best for each men's and women's event. Their real heat scores count as points for your fantasy team; win by earning the most points.
Fantasy picks for Gold Coast are open now, and throughout the season will open 48 hours prior to an event start.
Scoring:
If a surfer on your team scores 15.05 in a heat, you'll get 15.05 fantasy points. Your total is the combined score of all athletes on your team.
That's it in a nutshell, but there are limits on who you can pick. Surfers are categorized into "Tiers" based on their current rank.
Men's
Tier A: Pick 2 surfers from ranks 1-8
Tier B: Pick 4 surfers from ranks 9-24
Tier C: Pick 2 surfers from ranks 25-34
Women's
Tier A: Pick 1 surfer from ranks 1-3
Tier B: Pick 2 surfers from ranks 4-12
Tier C: Pick 1 surfer from ranks 13-17
If that sounds confusing, just play. Tiers are set automatically so you have nothing to worry about. Remember, you'll need to pick a new team for each event as rankings will adjust athlete tiers.
Bye Rounds and Injuries:
Round 1 is a non-elimination round. If a surfer places 1st or 2nd in their Round 1 heat, they advance directly to Round 3. They won't get 0.00 fantasy points for Round 2, but rather the top score earned by another surfer. If the best heat score from Round 2 is a 10.56, all athletes who placed 1st or 2nd in Round 1 will also receive 10.56.
If a surfer is injured in a heat, they will still receive any points they earned as a heat score. If a surfer is injured outside of competition, they will receive 0.00 points for the next heat they were supposed to surf and their opponent will be awarded 10.00 points.
Strategy:
Once you've got the format down, it's time to start thinking about strategy. The surfers you draft will need to collectively outscore your opponents, so you want to make sure your team can:
Who will be the optimal surfers for each event? That's up to you to decide but this year we're offering more stats and analysis to help out. The favorites don't always win - if you can predict the upsets, you'll be on your way to fantasy victory.
Heats Remaining:
Heats Remaining is a new addition to fantasy that shows your team's potential during each event. Whenever an athlete on your team surfs a heat, it is deducted from your total Heats Remaining. If an athlete is eliminated from a contest, their future potential heats are deducted as well. For example, if an athlete is eliminated in the Quarterfinals, your team will have an additional 2 Heats Remaining deducted because the athlete can no longer surf in the next two rounds.
Heats Remaining will also deduct appropriately for Friendly Fire, a situation in which two athletes on the same team compete head-to-head in an elimination round (and one is guaranteed to be eliminated).
Men's teams start each contest with 54 Heats Remaining, while women's start with 26. These are the maximum number of heats your team can surf in an event (all 8 men's athletes reach the Quarterfinals or all 4 women's athletes reach the Semifinals).
Private Leagues:
Your men's and women's teams are automatically entered in the overall leaderboard for each event, but private leagues are a great way to play against friends only. You can invite anyone via email, private link or social media by clicking Create a League.
That's all there is to it. If you have any questions, shoot them over to support@worldsurfleague.com.
Good luck and happy drafting!
Watch the first event of the 2019 CT season at the Quiksilver Pro and Boost Mobile Pro Gold Coast April 3-13 live on Worldsurfleague.com, App and Facebook.
Boost Mobile Pro Gold Coast
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The 18-year-old phenomenon has graduated high school and will probably celebrate by dominating competition once it resumes.
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Aerial phenom Italo Ferrera lands a buzzer beater victory over Kolohe Andino in final seconds of the Quiksilver Pro.
Gold Coast, Act 4
Caroline Marks takes the spotlight after bringing down hometown hero and 7x World Champion, Stephanie Gilmore.
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