…and the world's best big-wave surfers are putting
their necks on the line in Chile's biggest tubes…
Or so the WSL would have us believe. No
webcast means no footage means no proof. To call this a fuck-up on
the part of surfing’s competitive overlords would be an
understatement.
Or maybe not.
Maybe people are willing to wait for the stills to hit print
mags in three months. Maybe the modern surfer doesn’t want instant
web gratification. Maybe, after last year’s two event tour, the WSL
is withholding footage in order to whip us into a fervor. Because
there’s nothing, literally nothing, more exciting than watching
people surf gigantic long period swells.
Waiting and paddling and waiting some more.
Maybe Chile doesn’t actually exist and this is a hoax on par
with the moon landing. I mean, it could be, I’ve never been to
Chile. I’ve, supposedly, seen it from across the border in
Argentina, but I can’t prove that Chile exists. Some Argentine guy
told me it does, in the context of “Fuck Chile, Argentina rules!”
but I don’t know how much credence I give to anything relayed to me
by a country full of Nazi collaborators with super model looks.
Word has it that a Chilean XTREME!!! sports show, Via de
Escape was doing their own broadcast, but has been shut
down by WSL running dogs.
From their Facebook page: “Estimados amigos
lamentamos comunicarles que por decisión de la WSL, nos prohibieron
seguir con nuestra transmision desde el ceremonial , hicimos un
esfuerzo tremendo para poder llevarles a uds. este tremendo evento
sin embargo por decisión de la organización debemos para de
transmitir.
“Haremos lo posible por revertir esta situación
pero lo vemos muy difícil … Esperando su comprensión los invitamos
a que sigan atentos a nuestras noticias.”
(Using Google translate because, despite six years of Spanish
classes, I’ve lived in Hawaii for long enough to forget most of the
language):
“Dear friends, we regret to inform you that the decision of the
WSL, we continue our transmission banned from the ceremony, we made
a tremendous effort to bring me to you. However this tremendous
event by decision of the organization must transmit to. We
will attempt to reverse this situation but we see it very difficult
… Expecting your understand we invite you to stay tuned to our
news”
Whether the WSL used actual legal means to shut down outside
broadcasts, or whether they just leaned on local content producers
hard enough to intimidate them has yet to be seen.
I reached out to Via de Escape for comment but didn’t receive an
immediate reply. However, Ed Temperley at Magic Seaweed is reporting that
“10 minutes before noon, right before the event was to either start
or potentially get cancelled [sic], WSL representatives called in
the local police and bullied viadeescape.com into turning off their
cameras.”
When all is said and done it’s a confusing situation.
What does the WSL expect us to make of the fact that they care
enough to hype the hell out of the BWWT but don’t care enough to
build an infrastructure that allows for live streaming?
Do they recognize that big wave surfing makes for great photos
and killer clips, but is a tedious affair when you’re watching
people dodge bombs and jockey around a huge shifting lineup?
Can they possibly believe that they’ll get a decent ROI by
canning clips and releasing them after the fact?
Does no one recognize the lunacy of attempting to privatize
images stemming from the ocean, a shared resource if there ever was
one?
