Is it racist to suggest that we need more spice,
more imagination?
I poked fun, very gently, of Gabriel Medina’s
post-full rote 10 celebration on social media recently, comparing
his pose to Justin Bieber, and a person got angry. He said, “If it
was an Australian or Hawaiian would not do this ridiculous
comparison!!!” Which made me think about our delicate surf
epoch.
The claim, as it were, has become synonymous with Brazilian
surfers, fairly or not. To criticize claims is to, then, criticize
Brazil, or worse, to be racist. It has become akin to saying, “I
have lots of black friends but…” before making some prejudicial
statement.
Now, I do not fall into the “surfers should be good and subdued
sportsmen” camp. I love a good claim but that is trouble. Most
claims being tossed out today, and Gab’s very much in this
category, are unimaginative and bad. The arms in the air to
standard vanilla pop “I’m the man” is so dull! So tired! And there
is so much material to chose from. Brazil’s soccer stars regularly
put on glorious theatrical shows after scoring goals. I would have
loved to see Gab yank his singlet over his head and run around the
beach before paddling back out. So fun!
Andy Irons once pulled out a shotgun and blew Dingo Morrison to
bits. That was good. Gabriel could have done that. Or he could have
moonwalked off his board or he could have whip and nae nae’d. He
could have done almost anything and I would have applauded.
What he did do, though, was uninspired. And it pulled focus from
an inspired air.
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Just in: Vultures Circle Quiksilver!
By Derek Rielly
Two hedge funds fight over debt-ridden, bankrupt
surf icon…
One month ago, Quiksilver Inc filed for
bankruptcy. Took you by surprise? Yeah, me too. Who
follows balance sheets?
At the time, it was revealed by Bloomberg Biz that “Quiksilver
Inc. is preparing to file for bankruptcy as soon as Tuesday evening
in a deal that would hand control of the beleaguered surfwear
chain to investment firm Oaktree Capital Management, according
to people with knowledge of the deliberations.”
Today it was reported (source: Dow Jones newswire) that
Oaktree is going to have to slug it out with Brigade Capital
Management for the right to, what, strip the guts out of the
company, and sell it at a profit down the track? Yeah.
Here’s the deal according to Dow: In a filing in US Bankruptcy
Court in Wilmington, Delaware, lawyers for Quiksilver’s creditors
revealed that Brigade Capital had made a “superior” offer to
finance the company’s restructuring under chapter 11.
Brigade is offering Quiksilver a $US115 million ($A156m)
bankruptcy loan that is “cheaper, longer in duration and provides
the debtors with greater flexibility,” the creditors said, a part
of a transaction that is better than Oaktree’s “with respect to
virtually every substantive economic and non-economic term.”
Quiksilver filed for bankruptcy last month in a $US279m
debt-for-equity swap with Howard Marks’s Oaktree Capital. The deal
includes $US175m — but only $US115m of new money — in bankruptcy
financing provided by Oaktree and Bank of America that has allowed
the company to keep its doors open during its chapter 11
restructuring.
The deal also includes a hefty $US20m breakup fee owed to
Oaktree if Quiksilver, which owns more than $US200m in Quiksilver
debt, fails to execute the swap in bankruptcy.
The Oaktree-backed plan “does not represent a new offer from an
outside investor who could just as easily walk away if the terms
prove unsatisfactory, but a strategic manoeuvre by Oaktree to
protect its substantial investment while simultaneously sweeping up
significant value from unsecured creditors,” the creditors said in
court papers.
Representatives of Quiksilver and Oaktree couldn’t be reached
for comment.
Los Angeles-based Oaktree is a big player among so-called
distressed-debt firms that look to acquire troubled companies at
discount. It owns 73 per cent of Quiksilver’s debt and has pledged
its support for the restructuring, which requires court approval.
Oaktree also owns a stake in Australian surfwear company Billabong
after participating in a 2013 restructuring.
A hearing on the Oaktree-backed deal is scheduled for
Wednesday.
Quiksilver is one of the best-known and longest-operating surf
and snowboard clothing brands, designing and distributing its
products under the Quiksilver, Roxy and DC brands.
The company, which traces its roots to Victoria, began making
boardshorts for surfers in the US in the 1970s and is now based in
Huntington Beach, California. Its products are also sold
internationally; the European and Asia-Pacific businesses aren’t
part of this bankruptcy filing.
The cash-strapped company has in recent years been plagued by
business issues that slowed the delivery of Quiksilver products to
stores in North America. It has been working to turn around the
business since 2013, executing the sale of assets including Mervin
Manufacturing, a snowboard maker, and Hawk Designs, named for
skateboarder Tony Hawk, and a stake in an online retailer called
Surfdome Shop.
Although those deals raised funds, operational troubles and
continued weak results were exacerbated earlier this year by the
labour strife at the Port of Los Angeles.
Quiksilver’s revenue in its most recent quarter decreased to
$US333m with margins at 47.1 per cent, resulting in a net loss of
$US38m. During the same quarter in 2014, the company reported a
loss of $US38m on revenue of $US397m and margins at 48.9 per cent.
The company listed assets of $US337m and debts of $US826m when it
filed for bankruptcy protection.
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"Christian…I think he’s doing quite well," says his
mama Dibi. "I saw a picture of the x-ray and it looked good. He
might not even have to have surgery…just rest. Nathan told me once,
‘You don’t know what life’s about until you’ve broken your femur.’
"
Christian Fletcher Breaks Leg at the
Wedge!
By Chas Smith
"Go out and give it your best because whatever's
coming is coming," says his mama, Dibi
Dibi Fletcher may well be the most interesting
person in all of surf. She is definitely the most fabulous.
Daughter of an icon, wife of an icon, mother of two icons,
grandmother to two potential icons (have you seen Greyson skate?
And Lazer will certainly break some mold) she works at Astrodeck in
San Clemente. A ball of energy. A haute blur.
I heard, recently, that Christian broke his femur surfing the
Wedge on this glorious run of California swell and so I called
because both Nathan and Herbie had broken their femurs before and
that, in and of itself, is a story.
She answers and I ask her about broken femurs and how to handle
and her voice is the sweetest bolt of lightening.
“Ahhhh Herbie has been hurt so many times it’s just…you
know…I’m really shit with the little stuff but good with the big
stuff. When things go really wrong you don’t have the luxury to
lose your mind. You have to be calm. After a while you can feel
what you want but not in the moment. Kids take their cues from you
and so you have to be calm and in control for them.
Christian used to jump off picnic tables onto his head when
he was young. To react would have been silly so I would just say,
‘No big deal…’ dust him off and send him back out. If you let them
push the envelope then they learn to push the envelope for
themselves.
(My) dad was an extreme sports guy. All his friends were.
Herbie is. I guess I don’t know any other life and, back to
Christian…I think he’s doing quite well. I saw a picture of the
x-ray and it looked good. He might not even have to have
surgery…just rest.
Nathan told me once, ‘You don’t know what life’s about until
you’ve broken your femur.’ And I think there is some real truth to
that. You have to lay there. You have to think about your life.
These boys are active. They’re used to going out and doing stuff
but when you are laid up, you have so sit and think. Those are the
lessons that make you stronger. You are allowed to analyze what is
really important and what you want to do.
And as far as getting injured? Herbie got hit by a car once
in Hawaii. Guy crossed the yellow line and just hit him so I always
so, ‘Go out and give it your best because whatever’s coming is
coming.'”
Amen.
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Opinion: Gimme substance!
By Myke Bartholomew
Gimme a surf film I can sink my teeth into!
I am in dire need of a new surf film. And by
“new,” I’m not referring to the release date. The past couple
evenings have seen me coddled on the couch by a thin blanket,
fighting a looming cold. Over the course of those nights, my
DVD player has been on more than usual. Steering clear of typical
grandiose, Hollywood sponsored, cinematic adventures, I chose to
spend time watching smaller budget surf films that focus on my love
of wave sliding. I visited several movies that all sounded
promising. Films
like Sight Sound, ModernCollective, Missing, Gathering,
and Slow Dance just to name a few.
Each included surfers who’s style and persona interest me, so I
went into them with high hopes. But at the end of each, I was left
with a repetitive feeling of emptiness and a strong sense of
dissatisfaction. In processing my emotional response, I have come
to one simple conclusion: they’re boring.
I mean no disrespect to the respective directors. The movies are
their artistic expressions and I dig that. As a fan of the creative
mind, it’s hard for me to see anything but good in those willing to
put together something imagination-based for all to see. My
disillusion comes from wanting more. Since their inception, surf
videos have followed the same general archetype. Waves, music,
limited dialogue scattered through a brief interlude, waves, music,
music, and waves. What I have found when studying this method, is
that I don’t want more waves and music. I want more substance.
Firstly, at the time in which we are living, professional
surfers have surpassed the minor celebrity and meager paychecks of
their predecessors. We have seen the surfing world move beyond the
realm of a beer slugging counterculture to a bonafide and
legitimate billion dollar industry. With that came higher profile
and higher paid athletes. Athletes. People with alarm
clocks and trainers and nutritionists and coaches and corporate
sponsors and a higher regard for their profession. They have become
more evolved and subsequently more interesting. So why not let us
see more of the people they are? Not more of them
doing the same barrel stance or backside alley-oop or
vanilla-flavored post-heat interview. But more of them navigating
the other 99% of their existence that expands beyond the ocean.
We’ve seen it before in Jack McCoy’s Blue Horizon,
where he contrasted the likes of the late, great competitively
charged Andy Irons to the tranquil, bare-footed, ocean activist
Dave Rastovich. McCoy took viewers inside their worlds. We got to
follow Andy and see what he was really thinking during one of the
most intense periods of his competitive career. We also got to see
the stark juxtaposition of Rasta’s free-spirited, wandering
lifestyle on the coasts of New Zealand. We saw interviews with
their families and gathered firsthand input of who they are as
people. We got to know them on a deeper level.
We saw this even before with one of the most soft-spoken, but
performance-loud individuals in our world, Mr. Timmy Curran. In the
1995 family-made biography Here and Now, we got to
see Tim surfing his home breaks. We got to see Tim with his
friends. We got to see what Tim did when the surf was flat. We got
see how Tim ordered his boards. We got to see Tim. We
got to satiate our curious desires of learning who the quiet and
humble kid from Ventura was by going into the world we couldn’t see
in standard surf videos. And how many of us wore that movie
out as a result?
What I am trying to say is that I’m nosey. I want to know what
time Kolohe wakes up in the morning. I want to know what Jordy eats
for breakfast. I want to know how many times a week Julian trains
and what kind of exercises he’s doing. I want to know what they do
when I’m sitting at work wondering what they’re doing in between
contests. I want to see their normal lives. Think Fuel
TV’s Firsthand but like three times as long. If
corporate companies want me to buy boardshorts and button-downs
based off the gents who endorse them, I need to know more about
those gents to really understand who I’m supporting. I need to know
if their character is really worth my admiration, and not just
because their sponsors make that decision for me.
Secondly, I want to see more culture. How many of these
directors film in remote places that a vast majority of us have yet
to visit? Places in the far corners of the globe that require three
planes, a boat, two car rides, and a never ending walk to get to.
Places with no internet. Places with a welcoming and loving group
of natives who live a lifestyle far removed from the chaotic
existence which engulfs most of the world. I want to see more
of that. I don’t want to just see the waves that
break in those places, I want to see the people who live there and
pass by those waves every day. I want to see how life is lived
beyond the limited perspective of work, work, work and the commuter
infested 405. Sure, I can travel there. I can visit them with my
own earthly body, but I have to save the vacation time first! In
the meantime, I want to live vicariously through the surf media
that is readily available on the short weeknights that follow the
long workdays. I want to zone out and have a pseudo-vacation
to those places while I’m saving for my next plane ticket to
actually get there.
A couple of recent films I really feel got this right were
Taylor Steele’s This Time Tomorrow and Jason
Baffa’s Bella Vita. Steele’s This Time
Tomorrow had some of the most amorous and persuasive
cinematography I had yet to experience. The way he romanticized
each of the four stops on their escapade really sucked me in. Think
of how he captured the essence of the kind people of Tahiti. How he
layered some indigenous music over the footage of streets in
Mexico. The way he focused on ships, trains, and the
environmentally hardened Alaska. I mean c’mon. He actively chose to
break away from surfing in order to shoot footage that solely
included the environment and inhabitants of the places they
visited. And that really did those locations a beautiful justice.
He showed us more than just Rasta and Ando painting on their
aquatic canvases. He introduced us to their overall experience. By
the end, it felt like I had taken that trip with them and when the
credits showed, I was severely disappointed our journey was
over.
This effect is mirrored in Baffa’s Bella Vita.
Focused not just on Chris Del Moro or the act of surfing, Baffa
expanded the moral of his film to revolve around the Italian
culture. He showed us the way Italians live. How they focus
on community. How surfing is a small pastime that further
strengthens the collective bond that already unites them. We got to
learn the history of surfing’s pervasive influence throughout the
country. We met shapers, chefs, coffee growers, and wine makers. It
was an adventure that introduced us to the myriad aspects of Italy
that go way beyond just the sole perspective of waves. I can’t say
definitively that my interest in traveling to Italy was as strong
before seeing Bella Vita as it is now, but
regardless, the film absolutely 150% influenced me to add it to my
bucket list.
In the end, I just want more from our surf filmmakers. I want to
see them take courageous steps beyond the safety nets of waves,
music, waves, music, waves, credits. I want to see them
utilize a broader perspective to provide us visibility of worlds
that strongly interest us as surfers and movie watchers. Most
use surf videos as a means to experience what surfing has to offer
when we can’t physically surf. Therefore I feel our filmmakers have
a responsibility to entertain us with more than just the same old
buffet. And by all means, if there are any other current films that
scratch the itch of exactly what I am discussing, please enlighten
me. I am definitely open to suggestions.
Here's ironic. Never-realeased documentary on
surfers/drug running has been stolen, pirated…
Sea of Darkness, Michael Oblowitz’s documentary on the
70’s Indo surfer/smuggler scene, its release long delayed
due to difficulty securing distribution, has finally leaked
online.
Its appearance on public torrent trackers this past weekend came
as a surprise to those of us who occasionally remember to search
for it.
Rumor long held that various copies existed outside Oblowitz’s
control, yet in an age where everything is available online if you
only know where to look, its absence from the online piracy scene
led many to believe such speculation was unfounded.
A surprising response from the person who originally uploaded
the documentary confirmed the existence of said bootleg DVDs,
stating that the copy uploaded had been passed along to them during
a trip to Bali.
A surprising response from the person who originally uploaded
the documentary confirmed the existence of said bootleg DVDs,
stating that the copy uploaded had been passed along to them during
a trip to Bali.
In a far more salacious bit of online leakage, full-frontal
nudes of Justin Bieber have also found their way onto my hard
drive. It seems the little pink pucker nugget was snapped
cavorting with his trimmed and slightly tumescent mangina swinging
in the breeze during a recent trip to Bora Bora.
I won’t be linking to Sea of Darkness, that’d be a real prick
move, but if you’d like to see what the Biebs’s dong looks like,
you can check it out HERE
