Jordy Smith, poet.
Jordy Smith, poet.

Jordy Smith: “The best of both worlds!”

Does Surf Snowdonia offer something Kelly's Wave Ranch does not?

As dutifully reported here last night, current Jeep Yellow Jersey Leaderboard Leader Jordy Smith surfed in Snowdonia and, from the looks of it, did not have fun. But looks can be deceiving. One man’s mash is another man’s banger as they say so let’s go straight to the Big South African for his unsullied accounting:

The surf has been quite small in California so it was good to ride several waves in a short period of time. The wave is very different to waves in the ocean but it does offer a few fun sections to do some turns.

It’s a pretty crazy place to be honest. I look around and it’s just surrounded by mountains and lots of greenery which is beautiful.

I’m excited to be part of a time when artificial wave lagoons are launching across the world.

The technology is continually improving and this is just the beginning. The wave has been really fun.

They’ve been running it at 90 second intervals, so you can really get a lot of reps which is something rare which you don’t get in the ocean.

You don’t usually get the opportunity to ride that many waves on such a consistent basis, and so yes obviously with the wind swirling around we’ve had some onshore conditions, some offshore conditions. So yeah, the best of both worlds.

A ringing endorsement! And, as teased in the subhead, yes Surf Snowdonia does appear to have something that Kelly’s lagoon does not. Beautiful surroundings. A pastoral dream so complete that I would imagine Lord Byron himself would prefer the Wave Garden over the Wave Ranch.

Poets, by all rights, should turn their noses up at the stink coming from Central California and instead craft their sonnets underneath fair Wales’ stony sky.


In your face Kelly Slater!
In your face Kelly Slater!

Watch: Jordy Smith make sad little turns!

It's bangers and mash at Surf Snowdonia!

In the wave pool arms’ race Kelly Slater’s is like provocatively nuclear powered Donald J. Trump and Surf Snowdonia in Wales is like the nostalgic Winston Churchill. Do you even remember? The brave little pool came online maybe five years ago and wowed us with its potential.

Little did we know that all the technology would turn completely oppressive.

Well, Surf Snowdonia would like everyone to know that while it may not barrel and it may not get Shaun Tomson openly weeping that it is still around and has World Number 1 Jordy Smith doing… doing… turns!

Let’s watch objectively. Does Jordy look sad?

He seems to look sad.

And the wave?

Well, if I’m going to be totally honest the wave doesn’t look very good but the picturesque homes in the background along with the countryside makes me hungry for bangers and mash.

Jordy didn’t really banger or mash the wave though.

But I would personally take Surf Snowdonia over my ex-wife. That I can tell you honestly.


John John Florence
John John Florence's campy turn as the pool trickster.

Watch: John John’s Wave Pool Rodeo!

A striking contribution to a fantastic new world!

One hour ago, the Kelly Slater Wave Co and the WSL published a compelling short made around his recent wave pool event. With high-contrast cinematography, hearty first-person observations and relentlessly perky direction, we become privy to a fantastic new world where the ocean becomes unnecessary, where surfing contests can now be given a palatable flavour and sold.

Matt Wilkinson says that he is “baffled” the pool has happened in his lifetime.

The four-time world  champion Mark Richards says, “There are things you’d love to see in your lifetime: I never got to see the Beatles play, I never got to see Led Zeppelin play but I got to see Kelly’s wave pool and I’m totally stoked.”

One thing did make me fret.

How did all those cameras not snatch, cleanly, John John Florence’s rodeo (see at 2:38), a striking contribution to the day’s play.


The World Surf League will mock you no longer!
The World Surf League will mock you no longer!

Strike: Surf media to boycott WSL!

A union is formed to break the stranglehold of World Surf League oppression!

Oooooh you know how angry Surf Ranch makes me. I boil for you, the people, who were uninvited to the maiden event, left beyond the wall, treated like the cows roaming the fields. And your servants in the surf media, dedicated to every story that happens in our surfing world, we were left out too. We dutifully cover the littlest stories, like Adriano de Sousa and Adriana Lima, asking for nothing in return. And for this we get treated like Pakistani dogs.

Oooooh the World Surf League, hereafter known as Upper Management, believes it owns the keys but it is WE the surfing people who are the means of production. For too long we have been force fed a diet of bland gruel. For too long we have been meekly thankful for Rosie Hodge post-heat interviews.

No longer.

The maiden Surf Ranch event was billed as a very small, totally private kicking of the tires. But then everyone had gorgeous jerseys that read Future Classic and many extremely wealthy people toasted Michelob Ultras and the New York Times reported that this event had the “perfect conditions for pro surfing.”

“The perfect conditions for pro surfing.” The people locked entirely out. The people forgotten. The people lapping gruel or maybe warm Grey Goose and soda.

And so surf media has no choice but to unionize and carry out a one day strike on behalf of the people. The Quiksilver France Pro will be commencing in less than a week and the storylines are legion. Title race closer than peas in a pod. Keanu Asing, last year’s champion, sidelined. It is anyone’s game but the finals will not be covered in any surf media.

The day will be dark (other than the bright light emanating from our joint singing of Internationale).

But the day after will be a glorious one. It will be like International Workers Day and Bastille Day combined. Upper Management brought to its knees. The people behind the wall toasting Michelob Ultras in the carved out skulls of investment bankers.

Viva the people!


You would think we would all be used to this by now. Desensitized. Numb. But when the news trickles in it always feels like the same motherfucking punch.

Vegas: Chas Smith reports from strip

What are we supposed to do with all this tragedy as surfers?

Tragedies are like hideous snowflakes, each one unique, special, different but they all share similar gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, traits. You would think we would all be used to this by now. Desensitized. Numb. But when the news trickles in it always feels like the same motherfucking punch.

I was in Las Vegas last night and was supposed to be at the Mandalay Bay with my wife and four-year-old daughter at 9:00 PM for a show that would have dumped us out at 11:30. Just after the hail of gunfire began.

I chose to buy tickets for another and so was just slightly north and oblivious.

This town means something to me and I get a bigger and bigger thrill each time I come, not gambling or shopping or… watching French Canadians perform physical magic but… I don’t exactly know. Las Vegas is untethered and I love the untethered. I love the surreal.

Las Vegas.

I’ve fallen slowly in love with this town over the years.

The first time I ever came I hated it thoroughly. I thought it was a human cesspool. A midwestern genetic backwater. But now I love it beyond almost any other. I was married here in a strange swinger hotel on the windiest night in recorded history. Derek Rielly flew all the way from Australia, last minute, to stand on that stage. Dion Agius danced under the pale moonlight.

This town means something to me and I get a bigger and bigger thrill each time I come, not gambling or shopping or… watching French Canadians perform physical magic but… I don’t exactly know. Las Vegas is untethered and I love the untethered. I love the surreal.

Last night Sin City became all too human.

And what are we supposed to do with all this tragedy as surfers? As notoriously shallow, barely connected surfers?

I have no idea but when I woke up today I took a cab. The driver told me that his brother was there, at the scene, and ferried a woman to the hospital. She died enroute and he was detained until six in the morning. When he was discharged he went to give blood.

I took another cab and the driver was at a dance club right next door. He was dancing with friends until the bar manager turned on the lights and told them it was all over. Some nightmare was happening outside. He went home, filled his car with snacks and water and started giving people free rides.

We both chatted, joked, laughed then left on our separate ways.

I am now chatting, joking, laughing with people who were at the concert, who hid behind dumpsters as bullets rained down and I guess this is just it. Human beings are a disastrous bunch. We are fickle, selfish, mean. But we are wildly surreal.

And I love you you all.