The World Surf League Qualifying Series begins at Boardmasters this week, with all five Progression Squad surfers in action.
GB coach, Luke Dillon, breaks the series down and explains what we can expect over the next two months.
The European Qualifying Series features four events this year:
- BOARDMASTERS: QS 1,000
7 – 11 August: Fistral Beach, Newquay, UK
- CARAIBOS LACANAU PRO: QS 1,000
13 – 18 August Grand Plage, Girande, France
- ABANCA PANTIC CLASSIC GALICIA PRO: QS 3,000
27 August – 1 September Playa Pantin, Valdoviño, Galicia, Spain
- RIP CURL PRO ANGLET: QS 3,000
17 – 22 September Chambre d’Amour, Anglet, France
How to Qualify for the Challenger Series
Surfers are competing for a place on next season’s Challenger Series, with seven places available for the men and five in the Ladies. Although there will be additional events in 2025, the next eight weeks will go a long way to decide the Challenger Series places.
Winter Training
As for our GB surfers, I’m very happy with how the camps have gone during the winter months and am pleased with the preparation of all the squad. It has been great to work with World Class coaches in Mick Cain & Andy King over in Australia and we’ve also been able to offer two different drops of surfboards should the athletes want them.
Expectations
I’m looking for improvement from last year. I would like to see an upward trend, better heat strategies, better scoring, better performance under pressure. Of course, everyone wants to win but this is a development programme so there is time to learn and continue working. This is just the start.
How to follow
All World Surf League events will be broadcast on their website, some will have live video streaming, and some will have live scores.
We will also be providing regular updates on our Instagram account, so make sure to give us a follow if you aren’t already.
Boardmasters
I can’t speak for everyone but for me, Boardmasters is my favourite event. Although only a QS1000, it’s got a lot of history, and a British surfer hasn’t won the WQS event for many years.
I’ve had some good, and bad, performances at Boardmasters over the years but I’m now looking forward seeing to the Progression Squad do well, and hopefully we can have two Winners on that top step.