Can you imagine hoisting Rob Machado on your shoulders while Tim Curran sings sad songs on his little guitar, Damien Hobgood makes wisecracks from the edge of the infinity pool dressed in his extra long trunks, and noted photographer Tom Servais records it all for future generations to marvel at? | Photo: The Cape/Thompson Hotels
A Cabo vay-cay with Damo Hobgood, Rob Machado and Tim Curran!
Did you know that Rob Machado and Tim Curran have their own travel company called Mansa Vida?
Tim Curran, the pioneer of the alley-oop twenty years ago, as well as being a noted minstrel, describes it as “a travel adventure production company offering Day In The Life inspired events and trips around the world with us and some of our friends. We wanted to be able to share our experiences and stories of our travels, and also include music, art, photography and film.”
The first event is a one-thousand-dollar-a-day, three-or-five-day vay-cay with Rob and Tim as well as Damien Hobgood and the noted photographer Tom Servais at the dazzling Javier Sánchez-designed hotel, The Cape, in Cabo San Lucas.
Shall we examine the details?
Three Nights at The Cape, a Thompson Hotel – room options vary; can include but not limited to:
The Surfer Villa – a three-bedroom, two-story luxury villa with a fully-equipped, state-of-the-art kitchen; gaming room with pool table; expansive, private outdoor patio with a plunge pool and barbecue; and sauna
Deluxe King Suite – featuring a private balcony with hanging daybed; bespoke mid-century, Latin American-inspired furnishings; free-standing, copper-leafed tub and rain shower
Surfing Workshop with Curran and Hobgood – guests will hit the waves side-by-side with Curran and Hobgood, where they can test out the pros’ surfboards and experience hands-on coaching; pending surf conditions and open to surfers of all levels
Film Screenings on The Rooftop – cult surf films will be screened at the sixth-story rooftop lounge overlooking the Sea of Cortez and downtown Cabos San Lucas; followed by Q&A session with the pros discussing the art and craftsmanship of this niche genre
Photography Exhibit with Tom Servais – led by the renowned surf photographer, guests will view a collection of iconic surf images taken by Servais over the last few decades; followed by a Q&A session with Servais on capturing the culture and action of the sport
Live Acoustic Concert on The Rooftop – led by singer/songwriter Curran, guests will enjoy a live acoustic show at the hotel’s rooftop lounge
Daily Morning Yoga – often a fundamental part of surf culture, each day will begin with beachside yoga classes led by a resident teacher
Daily Breakfast – hosted breakfast at the resort’s casual beach-house inspired restaurant Ledge, complete with ocean views and fresh local produce
Surf SWAG – guests will receive assorted sporting gear from the pros’ sponsors
Roundtrip Airport Transfer – from San Jose del Cabo airport
According to Travel Weekly, packages “start at $3,981 for three nights in a double occupancy room… An optional five-night package in a double occupancy room is available for $5,920. Rates do not include tax and resort fees.”
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"Contests bring out the best surfing out of some people," says Albee, "and kinda suffocate others true potential (JJF)." | Photo: WSL
"Why does everyone have a hard-on for people surfing at 70%?"
Do you like opinion? Of course you do. Who doesn’t? But the avoidance of anything resembling opinion has become a fetish in the surf world.
If you were to scroll through as many BeachGrit posts as you could stomach, you would find it all pretty tame, a squabble here and there, a few high words, some cheap jokes, not much else. But the angry scenes! The recriminations!
A “veteran” or anyone barely throwing tail is not progression it’s the opposite it’s moving backwards.
Isn’t humour and satire and real talk compensation for the drizzly dreariness of our lives?
Let’s ask Albee Layer, the noted Maui surfer, for his opinion on the Quiksilver Pro, 2016.
Why the f**k does everyone have a hard-on for people surfing at 70% surfing won’t progress any where like that.
80% of people on and running CT don’t understand the difference between different airs. A full rotation, an air reverse, a single grab a double grab are all vastly different and are not on the same level of difficulty. Also landings should matter
A “veteran” or anyone barely throwing tail is not progression it’s the opposite it’s moving backwards.
Contests bring out the best out of some people and kind of suffocate others true potential (JJF).”
What are Albee’s credentials for such criticisms? See below.
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Two guys look like Finalists. One is the defending champion and one is a part-timer from Lennox who racked up a hell of a credit card debt chasing the QS after Rip Curl dumped him in his prime. Is he aggressive in the surf, does he take his and yours as well, ala Fanning at the Superbank? Not at all. He's the most mellow cat out there. No interview today but tomorrow we'll get down with the Stu and see where the declarations of war come from. Throw a question in the comments and I'll get it to him.
| Photo: WSL
Prediction: defending champ vs lawnmower man from Lennox Head…
Human all too Human.
The dream continues. Great day for the race. Putin pulls out of Syria, Ohio and Florida primaries tomorrow, Stu Kennedy continues his run in the biggest pro surfing cinderella story since…since… the last time a highly fancied sponnoed surfer was parachuted into a comp as wildcard and failed miserably. So, ever.
Not a single military analyst saw Putin’s exit from Syria, same with Kennedy’s wrecking ball run through the draw. Not one commenter picked it, least of all me, and he lives around the corner. Couple of weeks ago I saw him out the front mowing the lawn, thought the dream was over and he was a phone call away from picking up a Jim’s Mowing franchise.
Just by way of preamble, I parked down in the Cooly-gatta by the old ASP headquarters. To get a panorama of the Superbank. If you’re reading in America, or England, or Hawaii, or Israel or South Africa and you haven’t seen this thing, you’re really missing something. It’s phenomenal. A mile of ruler-edged sand, waves of amazing perfection whipcracking at maximum surfboard speed. Not dirty green or brown like Sandspit. They slither like phantasmic eels in electric blue, Tahitian Pacific warm blue. You’ve got to see it, surf it. You only need one. Just one.
From the vantage of the rocks at Little Marley, Stu K out surfed JJF in the morning round four heat in the best looking surf of the event. Rielly asked me to get technical today in the wrap. By that analysis Stu beat with him superior repertoire, turn speed, drive off the bottom and rotational arc.
He failed the first critical finishing move to avoid running over a freesurfer. He fell on the second to open the door for Florence. Those flat spin air reverses from Florence where he hucks off the lip and lands in the flats aren’t pretty and scream busted ankle. But it was enough to get the job done. Kanoa was not in the hunt. He’s had a dream run with low-scoring heats but if real talk rules he would have not made a womens heat today.
Two guys look like Finalists. One is the defending champion and one is a part-timer from Lennox who racked up a hell of a credit card debt chasing the QS after Rip Curl dumped him in his prime. Is he aggressive in the surf, does he take his and yours as well, ala Fanning at the Superbank? Not at all. He’s the most mellow cat out there. No interview today but tomorrow we’ll get down with the Stu and see where the declarations of war come from
By forecasting a Brother revival in 2016 and a QF finish at least I was ridiculed: Brother drops off Tour, Brother has a busted hoof etc etc. To double down on the call, I predict Kolohe Andino to take out the Aussie Leg and vy for the Republican nomination in 2020 as a dual world champion with Snips as VP and Speaker verballing the empty chair.
Two guys look like finalists. One is the defending champion and one is a part-timer from Lennox who racked up a hell of a credit card debt chasing the QS after Rip Curl dumped him in his prime. Is he aggressive in the surf, does he take his and yours as well, ala Fanning at the Superbank? Not at all. He’s the most mellow cat out there. No interview today but tomorrow we’ll get down with the Stu and see where the declarations of war come from. Throw a question in the comments and I’ll get it to him.
Without a media pass I had to hustle with the rest of the cattle and all the dewey eyed groupies looking for a piece of Florence. I wanted to know if had a strategy to rein in Toledo.
“Looks pretty obvious to me,” I said, “that Filipe is surfing at a level well above everyone else. What are you going to do to beat him?”
“Ummm, I don’t know, he’s human too, he’ll make his mistakes. I’m just going to surf my best and not worry about him”.
Right.
As a strategy, the human, all-too-human strategy, has worked out badly for JJF in the past. Remember the Final at Margies with De Souza? Waiting for De Souza to make a mistake worked out, how? He just calmly slotted two eights and put Florence to sleep.
Can anyone see Filipe crumbling? Seeing as how every Final he’s been in he’s absolutely crushed his opponent. You’ll have to throw him off the balcony of the fifth floor to cripple him first or give him the pre-heat drug of choice of Wilson and Freestone. He’s going to have to be outsurfed. Or out muscled and harassed by a no name lawn-mower from the Ox.
Can anyone see Filipe crumbling? Seeing as how every Final he’s been in he’s absolutely crushed his opponent. Put the fish and the chicken on the combo plate as Ross Williams would say. Nup. You’ll have to throw him off the balcony of the fifth floor to cripple him first or give him the pre-heat drug of choice of Wilson and Freestone. He’s going to have to be outsurfed. Or out muscled and harassed by a no name lawn-mower from the Ox.
Didn’t the afternoon get weird. The vibe on the beach was low key, kind of non-existent really, the surf faded out so I went looking for expert commentary to watch the final heats unfold. I found it in the form of BeachGrit commenter DeathStar who was manning one of the core surfboard shops on the outskirts of Byron Bay. Deathstar speaks from the perspective of thirty years in the surfboard biz. I asked Deathstar to walk us through the mechanics of the Parkinson/Ibelli restart.
Longtom: What the fuck just happened then Deathstar?
Deathstar: They’ve had a talk and Parko’s said to the young guy “We’re going in” and the young guy’s gone “Yes Mr Parkinson, lets do that”. And an official has told them to get back out there because this is surfing time.
Longtom: So Parko’s verballed him?
Deathstar: I think so. They didn’t stop the clock. The surfers don’t have a right. It’s a professional event and it’s on.
Longtom: Any other sport in the world where that could happen. Where they’d just stop and say “nah we’re done”.
Deathstar: “Maybe golf? If there was an electrical storm. But no, can’t think of another sport where they could just go nah, we’re not doing it. I just think that was massive mind games from Joel Parkinson, the master. I’m flabbergasted by that, we just saw a bit of history.
Longtom: What’s your overall assessment of this event?
Deathstar: It’s been fascinating, I reckon. For a lot of reasons. Definite generational change, it’s actually really coming into effect now. Dunno, I just think it’s a cleaner, better produced product.
Longtom: But is anyone watching, does anyone care?
Deathstar: I think a lot of people are watching but beyond the people who are watching no one gives a shit. Unless something major happens like an 11-time world champ getting taken down by an unknown from Lennox Head.
Longtom: Or a shark attack.
Deathstar: Or a shark attack.
I’m not a betting man, but you’d put Toledo in an unbackable favourite. But if the most famous Kennedy from Lennox Head does get up it’ll be the best time to surf the Point uncrowded: the party will last for weeks and every surfer in the district will be keeping European hours.
We have just started the second day of a three day sentence for posting World Surf League videos on our BeachGrit Facebook (follow here!) and what a big bummer. What a sad punishment. We can’t touch our social media, per Facebook police rules. They lock it tight as a drum, meaning all of our wonderful stories go unshared for three whole days. Oh they ding you good for “copyright infringement.”
The unfortunate part is, we were following the very unclear WSL rules as they related to posting content but they changed them, quietly in the middle of the night, and sent Herr Zuckerberg’s henchmen to our doorstep without warning and hauled us into the concentration camp for three whole days.
I am bouncing a pebble off the wall right now and Derek is doing push-ups.
And this ain’t the way we handle our business in the surfs, is it? What happened to a good curse-filled yell? A punch to the teeth? I get that WSL CEO Paul Speaker has never surfed a day in his life but come now. Can’t we at least pretend to understand each other?
My pebble has rolled underneath Derek’s metal cot and I am playing Jailhouse Rock on a homemade harmonica. Derek has stopped doing push-ups and is fashioning a shiv out of a toilet paper roll.
I find litigiousness ugly in almost every circumstance. I find tattling uglier. My first job after university was an ill-begotten turn teaching 5th grade. I was a bad teacher but one thing I am proud of was instilling the ideal “snitches get stitches” into each and every young heart. If a child tattled about anything, the tattler got the punishment. By the end of the year nobody tattled. I either caught the kids being naughty myself or they found solutions that didn’t involve the damned authorities.
Herr Zuckerberg’s henchmen are telling me that Jailhouse Rock is copyrighted and have taken my harmonica away. Derek is doing push-ups again.
It’s not like there are thousands or even hundreds or even tens of surf websites. There are, like, seven so the pansy WSL image folk could have very easily sent out an email saying, “Take the shit down you fuckers…” and we would have complied. They also could have waited for me to wander by and knocked my teeth in. Either would have been preferable to their whiny crybaby tattle.
I have picked up Derek’s shiv and making small improvements. Derek is whistling Happy Birthday because he says the courts just turned over copyright protection on it and it now belongs to the public.
Next time I see the WSL I am going give it stitches.
Boycott I say! Show the World Surf League who's boss (besides CEO Paul Speaker)!
It has been splashed across this website for almost two years and other websites too. And probably magazines. Etc. The losers’ Round 5 is for total losers and I don’t mean the surfers in Round 5. I mean, I do. They lost in Round 4. But I really mean the people who watch it.
Round 5 stretches World Surf League Championship Tour events a whole 2 hrs. 2 hrs of maybe pristine swell. 2 hrs of life to watch men who should have skunked off to drink in a lonely corner. What pressure is there in Round 4? I’ll answer for you. None. Which, in turn, makes Round 4 lame too because a “no losers round” is the ultimate losers round!
And it is time to be done with it, with Round 5, or whichever round is gumming up the works. This has been splashed across this website for almost two years and other websites too. But the World Surf League is not listening. CEO Paul Speaker has ABBA playing full volume in his Walkman while he rollerblades around Santa Monica in preparation for rollerblading around the Washington Redskinsnew stadium.
So let us show them with our numbers! Forward this to all your friends and tell them not to show up for Round 5. No logging in, no favoriting WSL Tweets, no nothing. Being anti-stuff is working for both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. It can work for us too!
Boycott Round 5!
P.S. Do you think CEO Paul Speaker subscribes to Google Alerts and has to read every one of these stories because they are the only ones that pop up featuring his name?
