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SLO CAL Bound: 2024 SLO CAL Open Pismo Beach presented by Surfing For Hope
WSL
California's Central Coast has quickly become a staple on the North America Qualifying Series (QS) schedule with SLO County providing opportunities since 2017. Now the sixth edition of the SLO CAL Open Pismo Beach presented by Surfing For Hope awaits the region's premier contenders vying for 3,000 points toward 2024 Challenger Series qualification and the start of the 2024 Pro Junior season. With Pismo Beach's pristine backdrop playing host, a full week of action and entertainment is in store for the event beginning January 22 - 28.
SLO Pace, The Playing Field and Pull to Pismo Beach
Winter time in Pismo Beach brings out many of the area's features from rolling hills to provide beautiful views, brisk mornings and evenings that showcase Pismo Beach's stunning sunrises and sunsets, plus an opportunity to venture through town and enjoy the many lodgings on offer that take you back to classic California.
Take your pick from top notch lodgings throughout Pismo Beach, capturing California's classic style from the 80's and forward is on full display where you choose to stay. And, with winter upon one of Central Coast's tucked away gems, deals are for the taking.
Monarchs are in full migration to provide a spectacle in the local, Pismo Beach grove and the surf culture holds true through the winter months with Esteem, Pancho's, and Moondoggies helping the cause.
Break Breakdown and Swell on the Horizon
The Pismo Beach Pier has provided moments of sheer magic over this event's history from some of the region's best to competitors who now compete among the world's best. From the likes of inaugural, 2017 runner-up Ian Gentil making his return to competitive surfing, to Sawyer Lindblad's dominance in her first-ever QS and taking down 2023 en route to joining the 2024 Championship Tour (CT), it is a wave not easily tamed.
Courtesy of Surfline, the forecast for competition could provide more magic with a consistent, longer period W, WNW swell midweek after a solid shorter period starts the competition. With the ideal direction being in the shorter period W or longer period NW, competitors will have an opportunity to put on a showcase when the tide is right.
What's On the Line
For competitors on the QS, this event is a defining one with 3,000 points up for grabs and a chance to catapult through the ranks to have 2024 Challenger Series qualification within grasp. The Top 4 men have crept away slightly from the pack with current North America No. 1 Levi Slawson holding a firm 1,000 point lead ahead of the No. 5 spot and beyond. But, a hungry field of contenders with plenty of Pismo Beach experience are waiting to strike and move into the Top 7.
For the women, a tight race continues with their third QS 3,000 of the season set to get underway with a narrow margin separating the Top 4 Challenger Series qualifiers from the pack. Current No. 1 Zoe Benedetto and No. 2 Kirra Pinkerton will look to extend a healthy lead while Ella McCaffrayhopes to keep the contenders at bay from overtaking her No. 4 spot.
Pro Juniors will start their season afresh in Pismo Beach after Southern California's own Jett Schilling brought the World Junior Championships title back since the first time in 2018 - courtesy of Pinkerton. Talia Swindal and Reed Platenius return to defend their North America Regional Pro Junior titles, but a talented field have goals of their own as Swindal still has multiple years to stay atop the rankings and Platenius enters his final season as a Pro Junior.
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