Part deux! This time, ready your surf history books and....fire!
A few months ago, the longboarder-turned-jiujitsu-black-belt Joel Tudor became enraged by a picture of Kelly Slater wearing a blue belt in an Instagram photo. “Crock of shit – the guy has been wearing a blue belt for years in pics and always made excuses when I would call him on it!” he wrote in the comments pane. “If he wants his belt , tell him to go sign up and put in the work like everybody else who starts at white and goes through hell to graduate to blue – anybody on here talking shit to me more than likely doesn’t train and has zero clue about Jiu Jitsu.” Read all about it here!
Things went quiet, as far as I can tell, but yesterday Joel lobbed another missile toward the Slater camp, this time challenging Kelly’s appreciation of surf history.
On his Instagram account, @joeljitsu, he posted a picture of the lovely Phil Edwards and wrote alongside, “World’s first surf star/Phil Edwards – sadly, if I were to go to haleiwa today and show this pic to the top 44 ….. None of them would have a clue who he is!”
@jasonronis quickly chimed in, @kellyslater would
@joeljitsu responded with a dagger. @jasonronis nope
Ouch! Is true? I can’t believe so. I can’t believe that Kelly Slater would not know Phil Edwards if he saw his picture. Kelly prides himself, partially, on his astute memory. I have heard him recount waves, turn by turn, that he rode decades ago. The exact score he got etc. And it is feasible that his photographic recollection applies solely to hisself but….no Kelly would know for sure. Yeah?
Let’s ask Matt Warshaw as soon as he wakes up!
Update: Matt Warshaw was not sleeping! He was enjoying a wonderful, crisp fall morning walk with his son while sipping hot coffee. Is there anything better?
I ask him, would Kelly know a pic of Edwards, if it was pressed under his nose? And also, who amongst the current crop have the firmest grasp on surf history. He answers:
“Of course surf history knowledge is woeful among young surfers. They are top-level athletes. They are surf gods. They wake up in the morning, have a cup of coffee, get out there and put their tanned shoulder to the wheel of surfing progression. That’s it. That’s enough.
Some will eventually want to know about surfing’s past, and good for them. And good luck to them, because the writers and filmmakers and the rest of us have access to that knowledge have mostly made our sport’s past as flat and boring possible.
As to who among the pros has the any surf history knowledge, I have no idea. Slater, actually, just because he’s been around longer, and has had more contact with more of the older legend-y surfers among us.”
What would we be without Matt Warshaw? Genuinely flat and boring is what.
Joel posted a photo, that he had in his possession, knowing it was Phil Edwards. Then accuses the top 44 of not knowing who was in the photo at first glance? That’s like me showing Joel this picture asking him to tell me which president this is. Could he get it? nope.
I would imagine once the feud gets too much, dad will go beat him up. This story from 1994 is still for me the best indicator of Tudor’s character: http://tinyurl.com/ph6gpfh
How many young NBA stars would recognize a photo of Elgin Baylor? What does that prove? The fact that I know more about Phil Edwards than I do about Felipe Toledo just means I am old, which I am.
Slater should learn how to ride the wrong boards a pipe and barrel dodge the tube like Joel.
I wonder how many of Joel’s select group of hipster “right board, right conditions duct tape invities” would even know who PE is. Wait, that very well could be the final test to get into that so called contest.
Bitter aging hipster doofus.
What’s with Tudor’s ego? Slater could probably tell us. But why would he bother?
The right peeps like Warshaw would definitely know who PE is… and so would Tudor, who was raised on a steady diet of Dora, Takayama, Nuuhiwa etc… Slater is smarter-than-your-average-surfer and in this wiki world would also be able to recognize surfing’s first genuine star.
Why Tudor and Slater are no bloody bueno probably has more to do with the skewed perceptions of Corp vs. Soul. Views skewed by both surfers corporately sponsored – excessively long – careers.
so let me get this straight, Phil Edwards is in Haleiwa, like a wildcard thing?
Where is Phil Edwards these days?
Who cares. Certainly not Edwards. Joel continues to find new ways to choke out his chicken on social media.
its too bad joel is such a whiny little bitch, he surfs so smooth
Joel Tudor, who surfs in a 1960s style, boasts that he knows more about 1960s surfing than surfers who don’t surf in a 1960s style. I’d call that feasible, almost unavoidable.
Slater and Tutor are from the same generation, so Joel is talking plain smack. Maybe to get back into the conversation. No matter who you are, someone surfed that break before you. So what Phil Edwards surfed Pipe first? Which was likely not the “first” anyway.
The question Joel has to ask himself: how much did Phil Edwards, in his prime, 50-odd years ago, know about the great surfers from 50-odd years before that? Zip would be the correct answer.
slightly different times – and I think it’s a fair criticism of Kelly since he seems to present himself as a master of all things surf.
There is no way that is a fair criticism of Kelly if its not true – which I bet it isn’t. And let us be fair here, Joel is from San Diego, which probably has more living legends from the 60s than Florida, so of course he is at an advantage.
Notice Kelly didn’t chime in…
Why is Joel so angry? Isn’t jiujitsu meant to teach you patience?
Perhaps it’s time the truth came out: about how Kelly, at the age of 10, spent three months in the little known – nay, incredibly secretive – Phil Edwards Surf Hero Dojo, where the pre-pubescent Floridian was trained by the great man himself in the sacred arts of American surf stardom. “Get a good agent!” urged Edwards, while the not-quite-teenage Cocoa Beach kiddie gazed up at him, equal parts awe and skepticism, with a tiny bit of conspiracy theory mixed in. “Make sure you coin an epic surfing saying, similar to but probably not quite as good as ‘You should have been here an hour ago’. And whatever happens, more rocker. Especially tail rocker.”
I think it’s fun that Joel takes the piss out of Kelly. Kelly’s merely a man, and a flawed one at that. The idea that he’s somehow above reproach is ponderous.
So what does Joel Tudor spend more time doing: gazing at black and white photos of old white men, dealing with his inferiority complex to people that ride shorter boards than him, or just generally being insufferable?
Literally impossible to be sure.
Some true martial arts don’t train for belts or to extend fighting for competition, but for a lifestyle and self defense. Self defense meaning get if over with as quick as possible. Most belt driven martial arts are business models. Who cares if someone else wears a belt?
JoelJitsu cares