Have you ever met your hero? How did he or she react?
A man speaking his mind directly and clearly is a wonderful trait, no? The world is chock-full of mealy mouthed, unpleasant sorts and in this stew of hunched spine lizards the truth talker shines. He rocks, he rolls, he slides, he glides and no one and nothing can stand in his way.
Like Joel Tudor!
Just recently he stood up against the tyranny of Corona beer sponsoring the World Surf League’s J-Bay Open. Though it later surfaced that Corona competitor Pacifico beer sponsored Joel Tudor’s own contest, the Duct Tape Invitational two short years ago, we should all be allowed to change our opinions and continue to speak directly and clearly, no?
But do you very much love the Duct Tape Invitational? Its DIY approach to surfing and surf contests? Vans, the primary sponsor as opposed to Pacifico, the presenting sponsor, made a documentary on the event four years ago called the Ductumentary.
It features Joel (of course), along with soul stand-outs Al Knost, Ryan Burch, etc. You know Ryan Burch best of all maybe for his progressive designs and gorgeous surfing.
A dear BeachGrit reader, anyhow, watched recently and pointed out Ryan Burch’s first interaction with the great Joel Tudor that is buried deep in the folds of the Ductumentary (around the 33 minute mark). And let’s allow Mr. Burch to describe it in his own words.
The first time I met Joel… well it’s not the first time but… the first time he ever acknowledged me was this day I was at Cardiff and he paddled by me and I kind of got a little bit nervous, I’m a little bit starstruck by him, and he paddled up to me and he said, “Man, if you weren’t a good surfer I’d kick you in the fucking knees right now.” Or something like that. It was pretty radical and I was like oooooh but I was kind of stoked on the compliment. Like, oh fuck, he said I was a good surfer. That’s cool.
And wonderful! Direct!
But real quick, is kicking in the fucking knees a jiu jitsu move? I would imagine it is very effective. What do you think Mr. Burch did to elicit such a compliment from Mr. Tudor? Also, have you ever bumped in to your hero? How did he or she react?
Watch the whole Ductumentary here!
