Haven’t you ever asked yourself how surfing is scored? Why do some surfers pass to the next round and why others don’t when it seems they’ve done the same tricks? Is a 10/10 always the same as another 10/10 ? The truth is that surfing isn’t like many other sports like football or tennis, it might be more like boxing in the sense that there are judges, professional men and women who do know what they are watching and give scores depending on several things, let’s take a look at them:

According to the World Surf League:

1. 5 judges dissect surfers’ performances;
2. Heat times may vary between 20 and 35 minutes
3. A wave is scored on a scale of 1/10, with two decimal places;
4. Surfers lock in their two highest-scoring waves;
5. For each ride, the highest and lowest scores (of the five judges) are discounted, and the surfer is awarded the average of the remaining three scores.
6. There are no limits to the number of waves that can be ridden;
7. A perfect heat is when a surfer gets a total score of 20 points.

But then judges take into consideration 5 other reasons:

1. Commitment and degree of difficulty
2. Innovative and progressive maneuvers
3. Combination of major maneuvers
4. Variety of maneuvers
5. Speed, power, and flow

I’m sure that after reading this you will know much more and understand much better how surfing judges decide their scores. If you want to learn how to surf in Tenerife with us, give us a call.