Opinions on what should and shouldn’t be reported
splits BeachGrit!
Earlier today, BeachGrit reported on the grittier
details of Mick Fanning’s brother Peter’s death.
News outlets in Australia and in the UK had quoted a senior
police officer confirming the likely cause of death, and
BeachGrit principal Chas Smith, who has a commitment to
candour, reprinted the uncomfortable news.
I woke to the story all over my Facebook, all over
BeachGrit, and it belted me.
In my opinion, it ain’t in BeachGrit’s anti-depressive
style to talk about anything that, while titillating and
superficially popular, might cause anyone unnecessary grief or
suffering.
A man loses his brother? How about we peel back a notch.
In a different context, but one that can be applied with vigour
here, the writer Sebastian Junger said: “There are no journalistic
ethics that transcend the value of human life. There are none. In a
situation where you can save a human life, you must. There isn’t
any conflict in my mind.”
Substitute “dignity” for “life” and it fits.
So, Chas and me had a back and forth all morning.
“It became a story because everyone did stories on it but no one
looked it in the eye,” Chas texted me. “That’s my opinion. That’s
why it ran. ”
As gatekeepers and curators of a thousand potential stories
every week, the editor runs a fine line.
Four years ago, I commissioned a story on the
photographer Paul Sargeant despite being told he was
suicidal and that the story of his sexual assault on a surf
journalist would be like pulling the trigger on a gun pointed at
his head.
I thought about it for the two years it took Fred Pawle to
write one of the better stories ever printed in a surfing magazine.
In the end, I felt it was a story the public should know and that
any further suppression of it would just prove how shifty and weak
surf mags were, are.
Sometimes opening the gate can be a positive experience. Like a
story I commissioned, again by Fred Pawle, on surfing’s first openly gay
surfer.
As for today’s story, Chas added “I thought lots and lots about
it but I could easily be wrong.”
Yeah, we got it wrong. So wrong. Would we write anything
for a few hits?
I’m not one for pulling stories (unless I’m going to get my ass
sued. Hello WSL.) but this didn’t fit our game.
And so we evaporated it.
Getting it wrong, and sometimes crossing lines, is the messy,
noisy, price of candour.
“It’s a demon’s game,” says Chas. “That’s what I thought and
thought and thought about. The surf industry sweeps everything
under the carpet. It’s what it does and that is fine because
feathers don’t get ruffled but what if we all just committed to the
truth for once? I get the insensitivity and it made my stomach turn
too but son of a bitch. What if someone has a drug problem brother
right now who read the piece and maybe thought to go talk to him?
Being sensitive is wonderful. But being truthful can also be.”
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A beautiful moment tween Mason Ho (third!) and Pipe
Master/world champ Adriano De Souza. Even in waves so terrible it
must now force the WSL's hand to shorten events, the game's stars
sure did shine… | Photo: WSL
Adriano is Pipe Master and World
Champ!
By Rory Parker
After years of shit-talking from every direction,
Adriano De Souza takes sweet revenge…
Dragged my ass out of bed this morning at the crack of
7:30. Tired, stayed up too late reading the second half of
the Succession duology. Great stuff, if
you’re a fan of science fiction, which I most definitely am.
Fantasy too! Robots and wizards and spaceships and magic!
Pipe’s definitely finishing up today, albeit in a dying swell.
Early morning will probably drop a few gems, then smaller and
smaller and smaller.
Big Pipe is truly terrifying. I spent a decent amount of time
swimming around the lineup back when I lived on Oahu. Not enough to
earn a spot, but long enough to earn a nod from my fellow
bodysurfers every once in a while.
Small-ish Pipe, like today, is scary too. Much shallower, still
has plenty of power. Easily capable of ripping your head off, or,
in my case, drilling you shoulder first into the bottom and putting
you on the injured list for a very long time.
Still, it’s not what we’re here to see, and that’s a bummer.
Title on the line, watching the finals day degenerate into what’s
sure to become a grovel-fest. Anti-climactic, that’s what it
is.
Flores/Kerr went okay. Nothing mind blowing. Flores looked kind
of over it. Didn’t rend his clothes over the loss. Means De Souza
meets Kerr in the quarters, an easier draw than Slater, for sure.
In big Pipe I’d be tempted to give it to Josh, but in these
conditions the ability to conform to judging criteria puts De Souza
in front.
Medina threaded some little tubes, put a doppelgänger’s career
to rest. Webcast shows Hobgood got an inconsequential interference.
I missed it while brewing more coffee.
A three-way title battle is pretty neat. Too bad the
Slater/Fanning heat is lackluster. No shine but that bouncing off
Kelly’s dome. Very low scores, Kelly ain’t lying down, Mick looks
kind of distracted. But this one’s a wave catching contest, might
as well flip a coin.
I’m really looking forward to the next heat. This type of small,
lumpy, shallow hell seems to bring the magic out of Ho. Judging by
his clips, at least. Will he paddle out with a plan, try and play
serious, or let it all loose and get nasty? I hope for the
latter.
A foamy drop to quick in and out at Backdoor for Fanning. He’s
fist pump claiming it. Making the drop should earn the score he
needs with only two mintues left. But who the hell ever knows what
the judges are thinking.
Six-point something, more than enough. Thirty seconds for Slater
to pull a rabbit out of his hat. He’s done it before… but not
today.
You know who he reminds me of? Nineties vert ramp pro,
Andy MacDonald. Both take a blue-collar approach to comps, neither
gets any love from mainstream companies within their sport. I’d
love to see Adriano win it, then take MacDonald’s path. Say, “Fuck
it,” in Portuguese, ride for Walmart or Burger King or whatever
large non-surfing companies exist in Brazil that see the value in
brand exposure.
That puts Medina out of the title race, but he still has a shot
at killing Fanning’s dream in the semis.
If Adriano beats Kerr he’ll face either Melling or Ho in the
semis. Should be a walk in the park, tactical hassling, manufacture
his way to the finals. I don’t think either can stand against a
determined De Souza. Still needs to get through Kerr.
I’m gonna call it early. Based on the draw, Adriano’s got this
one wrapped up.
You know who he reminds me of? Nineties vert ramp pro, Andy
MacDonald. Both take a blue-collar approach to comps, neither gets
any love from mainstream companies within their sport. I’d love to
see Adriano win it, then take MacDonald’s path. Say, “Fuck it,” in
Portuguese, ride for Walmart or Burger King or whatever large
non-surfing companies exist in Brazil that see the value in brand
exposure.
Found a relevant quote from Andy Mac in an old Transworld
Skateboarding article.
“When I first turned pro, I didn’t have enough money to pay
rent. I was going to contests, and the sponsor wasn’t paying for me
to get to the contests. I’d skate hard enough to make the cut,
maybe not go for it as hard as I should’ve – I’d skate
conservatively, just enough so that I was in the money and had
enough to pay for my trip home and the rent.”
Jeez, this is boring. Gonna see a whole lot of single digit heat
scores today.
Sick little wave for Ho. Long little tube, steezy roundhouse,
bonk at the end. That’s a heat winner, today. Looks like he’s
playing it straight. Breaks my heart.
Is there another family that comes close to the Ho’s for total
competitive domination? That’s a serious question, I’m trying to
think of one and I’m drawing a blank. Between Derek and Carissa and
Mason and Mike they have a hell of a lot of wins.
Kerr is one of those guys who’s been around so long I forget
he’s younger than me. So weird, turning from a freesurf pro into a
competitive animal. Williams is saying he’s here based on pure
talent, but I don’t buy that line. You don’t reach the top tier of
competition without caring about winning.
Kerr is one of those guys who’s been around so long I forget
he’s younger than me. So weird, turning from a freesurf pro into a
competitive animal. Williams is saying he’s here based on pure
talent, but I don’t buy that line. You don’t reach the top tier of
competition without caring about winning.
Oh boy, a Mason interview! Comes off like a toddler surrounded
by puppies and candy, pure innocent excitement.
According to someone on reddit, this win means Ho’s on the ‘CT
next year. Is that right? Asked Derek, he asked Prodan. Not true,
“…still falls well short.”
I doubt that’s a height joke.
After a ton of spent floating around like turds in the punch
bowl Kerr grabs a quick cover up and snags the lead. ADS out the
back with priority and fifteen minutes.
With ten minutes left ADS is prowling the inside like an animal.
Paddle in, flick out. Paddle in, flick out. Keeping his shit
together, putting in work. Only needs a 2.01, down to six and
change left, can’t write him off yet. But Kerr’s playing it cool,
holding on to priority and chipping away at the clock. Had a chance
to put it to sleep, but got clipped on his way out and fell.
Bettered his worst, but only barely. Ran back into the lineup, hung
on to priority. Important in the dying minutes.
De Souza needs a 2.44 now. Three minutes left.
De Souza Slaters into one at Backdoor, squeaks out, claims it.
Scores haven’t dropped but it should put him in the lead with two
minutes left.
Now less than a minute, Kerr needs a 2.51. Forty seconds, thirty
seconds, Kerr paddles in… and gets eaten! Title battle still alive
heading into the semis!
The surf may not be the best, but who doesn’t love when the top
spot comes down to the final moments? I sure do.
His groove must be flowing, Fanning’s first wave was a gem. Damn
far behind that section, hammered through the foam ball, dodged a
section then little bonus roof. That’ll be hard to match, unless
we’re looking at a last minute pulse and it turns on for the next
half hour.
7.33, Medina’s basically combo-ed.
Fanning backs it up with another at Backdoor into a reverse
attempt in six inches of water. Digs the hole a tad deeper. Gabe
needs a 6.27.
Since there’s not much action I’m clicking around the ‘net while
the comp plays in the background. Did you see that they
arrested Martin Shkreli?
Too funny, or maybe not, how financial success is almost always
based on theft. People play like they’re some sort of genius, but
it’s all just stealing. Not about being bright, just about lacking
scruples.
There’s an interesting article in The New
Yorkerabout the history of organized crime in the
United States. It talks about the use of “innovation”
in upward mobility, how often successful clans can be traced back
to criminality. That our nation’s, my nation’s, obsession with
“success” leads to those without access to traditional, legitimate,
means resorting to crime in their quest for splendor.
According to Wikipedia, Shkreli was raised by immigrant parents,
so it kind of applies to him.
With nine minutes left Medina grabs a right. No where near
Mick’s 7.33, but is it a 6.27? Maybe. If not it still closes the
gap. Fanning’s gotta be feeling the wolves at the door.
Only a 4.83, seems low. Medina still needs 5.54 with five
minutes left. Fanning has priority. Should he shadow Medina, keep
him from a shot at a hail mary inside air, or sit out the back and
keep his grip on the sets?
He chose poorly. As I typed the last sentence Medina took off on
a plopper and flung himself into a big frontside three. Yeah, it’s
a tube riding contest, I know that Turpel, but there ain’t no
barrels and the JUDGES GIVE IT TO MEDINA!!!!
Laid back the landing pretty hard. Thought we weren’t counting
those anymore.
One minute forty five and Mick needs a 4.0. Which he doesn’t
get. And now it’s up to ADS to drop the ball.
Poor Mick.
What do I want to see more? Mason Ho make the finals at Pipe, or
De Souza win the title?
Tough call, they’ve both got my heart. I have to side with De
Souza, Mason’s got plenty of years left and he’s only getting
better at the game.
Medina won the Triple Crown. Wasn’t even on my radar. Feel like
that title isn’t relevant anymore, though I couldn’t tell you why.
Maybe because, by modern surfing standards, Sunset and Haleiwa
aren’t super relevant either.
Oh boy, Mason wants it bad, kicking scratching power paddle back
out. Gets his hands on priority. First exchange is done, .57 for De
Souza, .37 for my little snuggle bunny.
Sucks to say, but that .2 could be important.
Mason’s board done broke, Adriano’s alone out the back. But
there’s plenty of time left, and it’ll be an easy paddle. Or maybe
not, Mason’s kinda getting thrashed on the inside. Oahu: where a
two foot day will beat the ever loving shit out of you.
Vicious paddle battle that De Souza wins after an exchange at
Backdoor. Pretty similar waves, Adriano’s a bit cleaner. I’m giving
it to ADS, but you never know what the judges are thinking.
De Souza sacrifices priority for a close out. De Souza gets the
edge on the previous exchange. Now Mason needs a 1.38, tries to
commit suicide on a right, sneaks back out and regains
priority.
With seven minutes left they’re sitting pretty far apart. De
Souza ain’t gonna do a last minute huck, but he’s definitely gonna
try and three-to-the-beach it to better his low score. Hopefully
the judges won’t reward that.
They kinda do. Five minutes, Mason needs a 3.01. Makes an
unlucky choice, strokes into a Backdoor right that looks wide open,
then pinches and turns weird. Ho bobbles and catches his rail off
the bottom. That’s nerves, right there.
De Souza had a chance to hammer that last nail in the coffin,
but gets clipped on his way out.
Two minutes before Adriano is champ. Mason should be headed
inside and aiming for a flip. It’s not gonna happen. One minute
left. It’s gone flat, De Souza just took it.
Good for him. Two Brazilian champs in a row, time for De Souza
to renegotiate some contracts.
It’s a Medina/ De Souza final. But who the hell cares?
I want to slap the fuck out of that guy from ESPN standing in
the background, holding his phone in front of De Souza’s
face. Look at him, mug just screams “punch me in my stupid
haole head.”
Maybe Chas knows. Do the guys get a pay bump for drinking Red
Bull on camera, or is it in their contract that they have to?
I want to slap the fuck out of that guy from ESPN standing in
the background, holding his phone in front of De Souza’s
face. Look at him, mug just screams “punch me in my stupid
haole head.”
Congratulations to Mason, a semifinal Pipe finish ain’t nothing
to sneeze at. Go pound some beers and use those bedroom eyes to
lure a few ladies into your bed.
And a HUGE pile of congrats out to Adriano. A decade of trying,
constant shit talking from every direction. Head down, made it
happen, never let the naysayers get him down. And that’s something.
I catch a tiny amount of shit online compared to the guy, and you
develop a thick skin, but sometimes shit makes it through. Easy to
let the public ruin your brain, the fact that he didn’t is
impressive in itself.
His win has some implications for the judging criteria. More on
that sometime in the very near future. Probably tomorrow.
Straight out for the final, was expecting the usual hour long
lead up. Crown De Souza, hype the heat, build some tension.
But the swell is near dead, so it’s a good call. Not that the
final matters. Actually, the difference between first and second
place is a substantial sum of money. That matters.
De Souza’s on fire. Two solid tubes in a row.
Have you seen this web
short starring Macaulay Culkin? I’m in no way invested
in the result of this heat, so I just watched it, and it’s very
funny.
Wow, De Souza pounds home a third good wave. None of the
showboating Medina pulled last year, running around the beach,
basking in the glory, paddling out when the heat’s half done. De
Souza’s true blue collar, through and through. The job still ain’t
done, back to work.
And that’s it, the end. Adriano De Souza takes home the title
and a Pipe Masters trophy. First Brazzo ever. That’s
pretty neat, since Medina already snagged their title.
Speaking of which, where’s the Brazilian love? When Medina
won it was a near riot.
2015 was, all things considered, a pretty shit year for
professional surfing. Hopefully 2016 brings better. Or maybe it
needs worse. Maybe the best thing would be the WSL ruining the
tour, killing the money, and allowing for a fresh rebuild. We’ll
just have to wait and see.
In the mean time, I need to find something else to bitch about
for the next few months.
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Deliriously happy!
Ótimo: Your 2015 world champ!
By Chas Smith
Adriano de Souza takes home the cup!
The surf wasn’t pretty but who needs pretty
when you’ve got Adriano de Souza! The working man’s hero scrapped
through emotion, through bad winds, through Mason Ho and, minutes
ago, was crowned your World Surf League champion du monde!
Just last week I wrote:
There are many scenarios, still, but if I am really going to
look in the mirror and be honest with myself, I must say, “I’m an
Adriano de Souza man!” The little bee slaves away in all waves
while people at home say he has a “poo stance™.” But he closes his
ears to their caws, shows up to work and does work. He is the
professional surfer construction workers from New Jersey can
get behind (plus he wears a delightful gold chain over his hairy
chest in WSL profile pic). He is a people’s champ.
And also that his title would usher in a new era of world
peace.
We’ll have to wait for that to unfold but, for now, the North
Shore is awash in a sea of green and gold. If not peace then we
will at least have progress and order.
Now raise your caipirihna to ADS!
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More aloha than you can handle!
By Chas Smith
Do you want to taste the sting of the North
Shore?
You are, most certainly, tuned into the
Billabong Pipeline Masters right now. How could you not be? This
has been one of the wildest of all surf contests. So many
contenders! So much barrel! You’ve seen the stunning performances.
You’ve heard the wonderful commentary team talk about how the
waves, when big, shake up your toes and all the way to your heart.
Well guess what? You can feel it yourself!
Billabong is running a contest and you can enter it
HERE.
What do you win?
And how does that slap you? More aloha than you can handle! If
you have never been to the North Shore during this time of year you
should certainly enter.
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Pipe: Feathers in the wings of time!
By Rory Parker
Second half of the day recap...because BeachGrit is
the best surf website on earth!
I was out the door when I realized, “Jesus,
Rory, it’s the twenty first century, you can listen to the webcast
on your iPad.”
Duh, yeah, that’s right.
And so I learned three things:
The WSL won’t let you watch via browser on mobile anymore. You
need the app! I hate that bullshit, the internet works fine, why
does everyone need to make a worthless stand alone program and then
force you to use it?
Turns out I’d already installed it, I don’t remember
when. So I ran it and realized
The WSL has ads. Of course they do, but since I have adblock
running on my ‘puter I’ve never been forced to watch any. (Note:
Remember to allow ads from your beloved BeachGrit. I’m an
unapologetic hypocrite and I want money!
Without the visual element the commentators are, literally,
worthless. Slater/Mick/JJF ran while I drove to the hospital,
hoping to hell the cop tailgating me didn’t realize that I was
illegally using a hand held device while behind the wheel of a car
that is lacking a safety check sticker. Which it has been for the
past few months, because I can’t wrap my head around spending the
fifteen minutes and twenty bucks necessary to get my ride
legal.
I had no idea what was going on. Almost no discussion of scores.
Vague, pointless, description of rides. Sign these guys up for a
radio broadcasting course already! Seriously, it’s amazing what a
little bit of professional training can do, use the break to take a
class at the local community college. I feel like I’ve typed the
last two sentences a hundred times over the last year.
Mick gets to skip the losers’ round, can’t deny the guy’s a
world class sportsman. Dealing with some heavy shit, but the show
must go on. Mixed that metaphor a tad, huh?
His post heat interview hurt. Was sitting in the waiting room,
got to see it go down. Mel trying to tap dance around a brutal
subject, instead stomped all over it.
Caught the beginning of the next heat. Ho’s ten, my god, kid’s a
better surfer than dad or uncle ever were. Coming out after the
spit is pretty standard these days, crazy how far barrel riding has
come. But coming out after the foam ball? I wish the WSL would tell
us what each judge scored, whoever dropped him the 9.8 deserves a
strongly worded internet chastising.
The next wave he took off switch, cheeky little bastard. I love
him so much.
ADS gets ever closer to being the least loved world champ of all
time. You’ve gotta wonder, who do you think he thinks god loves
more? The scrappy Brazzo workhorse who, after all these years, is
almost there, or the guy whose brother just died?
If history is any guide, Jesus loves white people the most.
Talking heads called it an upset, but ain’t no one better than
CJ in heavy lefts. Not even John John Florence, the best surfer in
the world. He’s facing Medina in the quarters, that’ll be one to
watch. Follow-up world title chance versus a strong note retirement
departure. I’m sure CJ would love a polished up Pipe Masters trophy
on the mantle, but it’s do or die for Gabe, and he’s strong under
pressure.
Slater knocked out Asing, no big surprise there. Good on the
rookie Hawaiian for surviving his first year on tour. That fucker’s
brutal, and Asing didn’t get nearly enough love. Humble Ewa kid,
got some online shit slung his way when he qualified, kept his head
down and made it through. Should be proud of himself. Really hope
he is.
I didn’t know he was dating an MMA fighter. Kailin Curran,
gorgeous girl. Kind of interesting how women’s MMA mirrors surfing,
in that the top tier competitors keep getting more talented as they
get more attractive. You’d expect both sports to be packed to the
rafters with trolls.
This means Slater/Fanning in the quarters. Think Slater will
play games? Pretty easy to put a mind fuck on Mick right now. Is
Kelly’s heart that cold?
Go Melling! My dark horse pick for Fantasy Surfer, one of the
guys who struggles at the tail end of the rankings but kills it
when things get serious. If he knocks out Parko it’ll add a few
much needed points to what’s been, for me, a season of terrible
choices.
Turpel just made an amusing comment. Shutting up shop for the
day after this heat because “We always stick to the rules in the
permits when we’re here in Hawaii.”
I’ve harped on it endlessly, but the Pipe Master’s permit is a
joke. So much special treatment, “No heats shall be structured with
less than four surfers, and man-on-man or one-on-one heats shall
not be allowed (includes trials).” HERE
Isn’t it great to see a local community band together to pass
rules that make their lives better, only to have that effort
trampled in the pursuit of money?
There’s some disagreement whether the Hawaii Film Office has the
legal authority to enforce their rules, rules they are permitted to
make without any public input or oversight. But if the WSL were to
say, “Fuck off, you’ve no authority,” and fly the things anyway,
they’d be effectively invalidating the permit that gives them the
right to be sole broadcaster during events. And that’d be a
dangerous gambit, the sands no doubt flooded with every human who
knows how to set up a webcast. No option then but to hire some
local muscle to crack heads, turn to less than legal means.
Melling sneaks his way through in the dying moments. A lucky
turn of events, keeps him on tour. The ‘QS grind can’t look too
tempting at thirty.
Flores and Kerr get a good night’s sleep before putting round
five to rest. Maybe a good thing, it’s been a long day. Maybe bad,
means they’ve gotta surf one more heat than everyone else come
finals day.
And what a day it’ll be! It’s a lineup of killers, no luck of
the draw losers slipped through.
Medina vs Hobgood– Title dreams against
retirement motivation.
Fanning vs Slater– Either a back and forth
battle, or one of those heats that goes inexplicably flat.
Ho vs Melling– My heart gives it to Ho, but
Melling brings the experience and desperately needs the win to stay
on tour.
De Souza vs either Flores or Kerr– Adriano’s
gotta be feeling some butterflies, either of those guys can murder
him at Pipe. But he’s got the game wired, if he plays it like usual
and they don’t get lucky I think we’ll see him in the semis.
With a slowly dying swell, and the rest of the waiting period
looking tiny, tomorrow’s go seems like a sure thing. See you then,
unless either Chas or Derek makes like Bede’s pelvis and decides to
give me a break.
(Fuck me, that was terrible. Whatever, I’m leaving it in.)
