SO IT GOES: BELLS LIVES, JUST NOT THIS EASTER
Long lines, weather shifts, the drama of the landscape: a big part of why Bells has been pro surfing’s rock. Photo: Sloane/WSL
When the news broke last week that the WSL was trying to land a tour event in Lennox Head, lost in the volcanic reaction were the proposed dates.
Easter: the same dates as Bells.
The news came out of a clear blue sky. Nobody in Torquay knew about the shift. Not Rip Curl, the sponsor. Not Surfing Victoria, who runs the event. Nobody knew when – or even if – Bells might be rescheduled. All they knew was that it wouldn’t run at Easter, as it has since 1962.
But while effigies were burning in Lennox at the prospect of gaining the event, the reaction in Torquay to losing it was a little less fiery. The most prestigious surf contest in the world had been canned, yet nobody in town seemed overly perturbed.
More on that later… but first, the mechanics of why this happened.
HEAD TO SURFLINE NOW FOR THE FULL FEATURE.
The way things are going, you may never see this guy in a jersey again at Bells. Slater taking it into the shorebreak in 2019. Photo: Dunbar/WSL
WHAT DID ANYONE EXPECT AT LENNOX HEAD?
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