With the worlds best battling it out at a wet and windy Bells beach this week, the WSL were on the internet. No, not because of Kelly Slater’s terrible April fools joke – the WSL quietly released a new web series called Priority, which follows three professionals behind the scenes.
Josh Kerr, Laura Enever and rookie Matt Banting are gearing up for the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro on the Gold Coast, and along for the ride is the WSL film crew. Taking you behind the scenes as they prepare, compete and wind down after the event, it’s a fantastic look at a professional surfing event from start to finish.
With Laura Enever being knocked out in her first round, she took off to go skydiving in later rounds of competition, but young rookie Matt Banting caused a major upset when surfing the first round of the Quiksilver Pro, knocking out his idol Mick Fanning. He reminisces after his heat, “you shut everything off, and instincts kick in as soon as you take off on that wave. It’s kinda just all a blur, as soon as you top off you ask, what did I actually do? Was that one better than the last one?”
The show follows both Matt and Josh as they compete in the small swell, with some candid interviews with Josh after ‘that’ tantrum where he was filmed punching the nose of his board. Matt also bowed out to Jordy Smith, leaving all three of the featured surfers on the sidelines. Not to worry, that means more time for interviews!
Check out episode one of ‘Priority’, the World Surfing Leagues new web series about the behind the scenes life of surfing’s elite.
