The World Surf League will not hold this season's Mavericks event, will turn the Nazaré event into a tow-in tournament and will crown the world big wave champion based on a single tournament to be held at Jaws, the organization announced in a recently released statement.

As NBC reported yesterday, the Mavericks tournament is too expensive and securing sponsors has been too big a challenge for the WSL, O'Connell said.

On the other hand, he pointed out that the events in Nazaré are challenging because the conditions can get too big and they believe that they can achieve a Guinness record in the middle of the championship. For this reason, they will do a tow-in event, selecting the couples based on past performances on the wave.

This leaves just one tournament at Jaws to crown the world big wave champion, with the 24 being chosen in the traditional manner of the top 10 rankings, the best on the wave, the wild cards, etc.

O'Connell said the Jaws event will feature the largest prize pool in history for big wave surfers.

Upon hearing the news, three-time world big wave champion Twiggy Baker said he was in shock, but after watching it he said he found several “positive” points. “It puts the world tour in the hands of the surfers and we can go back to having events that the WSL put away (like Puerto) and add some that were not interested (like Nias).”

Baker said he couldn't understand why the WSL didn't see that what people want to see is surfers pushing the boundaries. "We do see that and we have a plan to make it an amazing tour," said the South African.

“There is no way they can crown a world champion with one event. We will not allow that. We will take the tour to new heights and crown our champions appropriately on the biggest and best barrel waves on the planet, a true champion from 15-foot barrels in Fiji to 25-foot slabs at Mavericks.”

Twiggy Baker's speech only makes it clear that in the months and years ahead, the WSL and surfers will be at odds.

However, in a press release sent by the WSL, positive opinions regarding the new format appear from Keala Kennelly and Maia Gabeira.

Finally, O'Connell announced that they will be making a new product called “Strike Missions” which will consist of following a group of surfers throughout the year going to surf big waves in different corners of the world.

“Basically there will be more big waves with or without lycra. We want to create profiles of these surfers outside of the two annual events that may or may not take place,” O'Connell explained.

The waiting period for the Jaws and Tow in events begins on November 1st and runs through March 31st.