1994 was twenty-one years ago. It is old enough
to know better but still too young to care. But look at Tom Curren,
here, ripping a little 5’7 fish on some big waves! He surfs so
smooth and it looks so fun and rolly but then so barrelly. I wish I
was doing that right now.
But guess what? I can! I am going to paddle out right now on my
little 5’2 Vulcan and pretend that it is glassy and barreling even
though it is 2-3 with crap winds and diminishing swell and 17
SUPers.
That is why we watch surf videos. “Hey mom, guess what? Not only
am I a professional surfer…I’m Tom Curren!”
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Guess what mom? I’m a professional
surfer!
By Chas Smith
The "Sport of Kings" is so totally egalitarian!
I had a wonderful lunch, yesterday, with a good
friend who is also a professional surfer. He told me, while
munching a fish taco, that the WQS events are very expensive to do,
travel-wise, and that they are getting dropped one after the other
because no company wants to sponsor a 1 star. The last three in a
row, apparently, have been dropped and some 6 stars too and things
are not looking good for the young waterman wanting to scratch on
to the big tour.
“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm…” I thought and then asked, “What is the bar one
has to hop over in order to surf in a 1 star?”
His answer shocked me. Nothing! Nothing at all! There is no
minimum level of surf talent required in order to surf,
professionally, in a surf contest. The only thing one has to do is
pay $800 for a membership in some nefarious surf thing and then a
$200 registration fee and then, if a 1 star can be found, you or I
could slide into a singlet and be officially professional.
Does that not amaze you? Are you behind a desk right now? Are
you doing something you loathe? Find your boss right now and
scream, “I quit! I am going to do what God put me on this
earth to do! I am going to sign up for the Murasaki Shonan Open
and, if the WSL runs it, I am going to surf professionally!”
“Oh. And can I get a quick $800 advance on my last paycheck?
Thanks.”
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Just in: “SurferBOYZ” Mtv’s next reality
smash!
By Ashton Goggans
Starring the cutest surfers on earth!
BeachGrit’s Hollywood insider tells us several
of surfing’s most handsome twenty-somethings are courting (or being
courted) by MTV.
Balaram Stack, Luke Davis The Grey, Koa Smith, and Ian Crane—boy
toys the whole lot—are reportedly meeting today to discuss a
“possible reality TV show” with the world’s most insidiously
brilliant network.
The mind reels at the possibilities! What a strange smattering
of personalities! Will they bunk up somewhere tropical and let the
hijinks unfold? Will they snuggle up in the wintry north, with
Balaram as their ice-hardened guide? Please, let them be paraded
around exotic locales! Let them dance upon waves of whiskey and
dark, mysterious women!
The meeting comes at the heels of Mr Davis the Grey’s
international debut as SurfCore’s posterboy in this month’s issue
of Men’s Journal. You can see the silver fox San Clementian donning
Reef’s remarkable line made in collaboration with genius Japanese
designer Masafumi Watanabe, looking snap-fresh and more
camera-ready than most any surfer in recent memory. Perhaps
surfing’s sudden high dive back into international mainstream
fashion has something to do with it.
Or maybe MTV has simply forgotten about all their numerous other
surfing-related abortions.
Let us remember them in all their blinding brilliance!
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Surfer on surfer violence!
By Rory Parker
GoPro has opened up a whole new world of hurt!
I ran a guy down while surfing Chun’s Reef a
few years ago. It was a fun chest to head high day, slightly gooey,
very crowded, but the sun was shining, and all the girls from BYU
were out knee paddling around in their itsy bitsy bikini bottoms. I
think even Brigham Young himself would agree there’s little more
wonderful than a taut and tan teenage rear pointed proudly
skyward.
I snagged a fun set wave from behind the peak, as I bottomed
turned around the section some kid on a new Merrick dropped right
in without looking, doing a weak little fade right into my
path.
I didn’t see him until the last second. Unable to turn around
him I tried to stomp on the tail and apply the brakes, but only
succeeded in lifting the nose out of the water enough to spear him
in the ass at full speed.
I hit him hard, hard enough to be worried that I may have hurt
him fairly badly.
Chun’s is one of those waves where you can’t expect to have any
fun at all unless you accept the fact that you’re gonna get stuffed
a hundred times by a mix of surf schools students, SoCal
blow-throughs, and deluded Town clowns. It’s no big deal, if you
want to play serious surfer all you need to do is man up and surf
one of the million spots that are shallow and lack a nice deep and
easy channel.
After I speared the poor fucker the first thing I did was check
the nose of my board. Because priorities, I honestly thought I may
have buckled it. Seeing my log was fine I hopped on and sprint
paddled over to the moaning barney on the inside to check if he was
okay.
The look on his face when he saw me coming was pure comedy. Eyes
wide, face white, through his head was running every Hawaii
localism lie he’d ever heard. Never mind my haole transplant
status, to him I was some red faced, shaved head lunatic who’d just
kicked his board at him out of nowhere, come to exact my
revenge.
I pulled up short when I realized I’d scared him, asked, “You
okay?” He stammered something, apologized. I told him it was no big
deal, but be careful. No one wants to get hurt.
This video made the rounds a while back, but it’s worth a
rewatch. Attractive lady getting bashed in the gourd by some dude
on a rental, all of it captured in stunning wide angle GoPro
footage.
The funny thing about filming yourself surfing, the only people
really interested in it are those who truly rip, and those who can
barely stand. I don’t understand the purpose behind filming your
first few years in the water, but thankfully other people must,
because otherwise we wouldn’t be able to enjoy footage like
this.
Children are the worst. Watch this little brat totally ruin what
would have been the wave of a lifetime.
Seriously, the GoPro kook angle is the worst. Perched on the
nose looking back the camera will make even the best surfer look
like an arm flailing kook machine. But it can also capture carnage
like this, so it’s not all downside.
I’d almost definitely lose my temper over this one.
Until next time, here’s a little boy exercising poor judgment in
a public toilet.
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Biggest great white ever captured on
film!
By Chas Smith
Her name is Deep Blue and she lives a short swim
from San Diego!
Last year, off Guadalupe Island, Mexico, a
local researcher named Mauricio Hoyos Padilla tagged the biggest
shark ever filmed. She measures over 20 feet and is as fat as two
cows. He just released his footage and what a beauty! The best
part? She lives a short swim from San Diego!
Fun, no? Let’s surf! It’s 2-3 with light onshores!