Watch: Nolan Rapoza Leapfrogs 56 Spots on Challenger Series at Ballito Pro

The Challenger Series is a numbers game, and the odds are tough. Each event has 80 surfers in the men's draw and 48 in the women’s. After six events, a surfer eyeing the CT must be in the top 12.5% of the entire field to finish in the top 10. For the women, it’s even harder. Only five make it from the CS to the CT, as just 8.3% from the pointy end of the rankings move on.

Episode 3 of Wet Shoulder League, brought to you by surf coach Matt Myers and filmer Brady Lawrence, follows the American quartet of Nat Young, Nolan Rapoza, Levi Slawson and Alyssa Spencer as they hit the South Africa leg of their Changas circuit.

Related: Beachbreaks Are The Hard Yards to CT Qualification

For the Myers camp, the 2024 Ballito Pro was the Nolan Show. The 26-year-old from Long Beach channeled Gabriel Medina with a massive backside clubbing for an 8.17 in the Round of 16. Though he lost in the final against Ian Gouveia, the result bumped Nolan 56 spots (!) up the rankings to eighth place, two spots inside the qualification line. He’s the only American in line for qualification (so far).

“I hit that as hard as I could,” Nolan said.

“Biggest section on the biggest wave of the event with the best turn,” Levi claimed.

Here’s the ratings update for the rest of the crew: Levi is 20th, Nat is 38th and Alyssa is 9th. That trio started out hot, but ultimately all lost in the Round of 32 (equal 25th), the last round of four-person heats.

“In my personal opinion, it’s the hardest round of the entire event,” Matt said. “Once it gets into the man-on-man, it’s a completely new thing. You can control so much more and the chess match begins.”

Adding another wrench in the works to global surf stardom: Sometimes the airlines will just screw you over. Nat Young’s boards didn’t make it to Johannesburg, after five days of calling the airlines he and Jett Schilling (also sans boards) flew from Durban back to J-Burg to receive their bags.

Wet Shoulder League will return with the US Open of Surfing at Huntington Beach in early August.

Related: The Best and Worst Airports for Traveling Surfers

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