For an ASP judge, the view from your office goes some way to mitigate the constant barrage of online vitriol. Photo: Timo

ASP JUDGE

Surf time:

Pretty damn good. Most judges travel with boards to most WT events, the waiting periods are ten days and the events take three… figure it out. A few years ago average joe fans could accuse the judges of being kooks but head judge Pritamo Ahrendt absolutely fucken rips, so that argument kida falls flat these days. OK so we’ve lost J-Bay but with WT highlights like Cloudbreak, Keramas, Teahupoo, Graviere and the North Shore, well we reckon you’d be getting one or tubes on company time. During the Hawaii season, the judges stay at a big place right on the beach at Sunset about a fifteen second walk from the paddle
out, which is pretty fucken cool.

Money:

If you do the Men’s and Women’s WT, and Primes, you can make about $US 50 000/ year. Just the Men’s WT alone will get you about $25 000 (for ten events). The ASP also has an agreement that hotels must be at least 3star. At the other end of the scale, for a small 1 or 2 star comp you’ll be on about $125/day, still not bad.

Qualifications:

It’s basically a case of working your way up from local regional one star events and getting your training done at each stage up the ladder to become a fully certified ASP judge able to do all events; WT, star, women’s, longboard, etc. Now why, exactly you would want to, is another matter.

Travel possibilities:

Fab. Just have a look on the ASP site at the schedule for the year, that’s where you’re going.

Downside:

Locked in a box when the waves are firing, Sunny wants to talk to you, Victor Ribas is throwing rocks at you, irritating beach announcers, being the subject of endless hysterical, paranoid conspiracy theories from the French … and getting accused of being corrupt, incompetent or just a kook by your heroes… enjoy!