After Kelly Slater famously tweeted that he’d rather surf macking Cloudbreak than meager Billabong Pro J-Bay surf and Bobby Martinez failed to show up, the ASP is reportedly working toward significantly increasing the fines for tour surfers who bail on events, according to a Joli story on ESPN/Action.
From the next event, which is the Billabong Pro in Tahiti, sources close to the ASP have indicated increasing the fine to US $25,000 if the surfer has been in touch with ASP officials but is still a no show (e.g. Slater at J-Bay) or possible US $50,000 for a surfer who has not been in touch with officials (e.g. Martinez) and fails to turn up. Prodan could not verify these numbers.
Increased fines do show that the ASP is serious, but will they actually help hold things together? Or just piss more surfers off? Guess we’ll find out soon enough.
[Link: ESPN/Action]
