Move over Kim and Kanye...the Coffeys are here!
Two years ago-ish I traveled to Hossegor,
France to call the Swatch Pro alongside Paul Evans, Brodie Carr and
a host of wonderful friends. The surf was zero but the talent was
impressive. I got drunk in the booth and maybe banned from calling
future WSL events.
Two of the five Coffey sisters were there and both surfed well.
Holly-Sue and Ellie-Jean. Their dad was also there half coaching
half managing impressive social media accounts. I saw him
telling one of them, hopefully the older of the two, to get more
sexy for the cam, like to fluff up her cans or something, which was
strange but also sensible.
He had longer hair and wore leather. Paul and I made many jokes
but I can’t remember any of them now. Paul do you remember any? Did
we call him Billy Ray? Something like that but funnier. I spoke
with him, anyhow, and he seemed alright. There had been some
tragedy and he had packed his entire family up and traveled
Australia in a van just surfing and Instagramming. It seemed
strange but also sensible.
And now it appears all his dreams have come true. The Daily
Telegraph just bestowed the highly sought after name “Kardashians
of Australian Surfing” upon the family! Lets read:
They’ve been dubbed the
Kardashians of Australian surfing.
And now the Coffey siblings –
Jackson, Holly-Sue, Ellie-Jean, Bonnie-Lou and Ruby-Lee – are
riding the wave of success thanks to social media and their
followers who want to see them live their sponsor-paid
lifestyle.
The bronzed family’s success has
been driven by pro-surf sisters, 21-year-old Ellie-Jean and
Holly-Sue, 18, who are paid share bikini-clad photos to
Instagram.
Although there are some differences between the Sydney
siblings and the Los Angeles icons, their father Jason said they
embrace the comparisons to the first family of reality
television.
‘Say what you like about the Kardashians, they may not be
very talented but at the end of the day they’re a big strong family
unit,’ Jason told The Daily
Telegraph.
‘We’re more like the Kardashians
in that sense than anything else.’
Combined, the five siblings from
Sydney’s Northern Beaches have more than 900,000 followers on
Instagram.
‘Free surfer’ Jackson, 21, has reached 100,000
followers on the social media while younger sisters Ruby-Lee, 16, and Bonnie-Lou, 13, boast 160,000
followers between them.
With Ellie-Jean and Holly-Sue competing on the
second-tier Women’s Qualifying Series, they still acknowledge what
a place on the pro-circuit would do for their
profiles.
‘If both of us were to make the
tour it would be amazing for social media,’ Holly-Sue
said.
And ok ok ok. Real quick, there are two things I absolutely love
about this bit.
- Jason admitting that the Kardashians are not very talented but,
apparently, have a strong family bond. I am not being ironic here.
Talent is great but look at the mighty empire Derek Rielly, Rory
Parker and I have built without any at all. Talent is
overrated!
- Holly-Sue admitting that the world tour would be amazing for
social media. That social media is valuable and the world tour is
not. Very funny!
I wish the Coffey family nothing but wild success moving
forward.
Correction: After perusing the Daily Telegraph piece I
realize there are four sisters and one brother.
Correction: Coming on the heels of the sexless ESPN nude this
story smacks of severe sexism. Just pretend it doesn’t when you are
reading though, ok?
