WSL Stoke Ambassador: “I’m a loveable wanker!”

Is cynicism too easy a response to the WSL's six-week intern program?

Have you been following the WSL’s hunt for an ambassador of Stoke and Leisure? Oh, yes, it’s very easy to be cynical.

But how about we meet the six finalists and see what they’ve got before we throw ’em down the well? 

Today, we introduce Scott Kennedy, the WSL’s wannabe Ron Burgundy.

“Who wants to watch some stale old piece of bread who thinks they are too good for comedy win this competition”

“A lot of people on Instagram seem to be getting fired up that the contestants are ‘clowns’ and ‘kooks’. I’ll put my hand up right now, I’m guilty of being a lovable wanker… “

Scott also says we should we round up Trump, Putin and Kimmy Jong-un and “invite them over to sunny Hawaii for the Vans Triple Crown for a few cold ones and a spot of the best surfing this planet has to offer”.

It ain’t a bad idea.

Now let’s meet.

BeachGrit: Has surf media has lost its once-famous sense of humour? 

Scott: I wouldn’t say it’s lacking comedy exactly, it’s plenty entertaining and in the end it is an elite sport that should be taken seriously and respected, although there’s always room for a laugh. A lot of people on instagram seem to be getting fired up that the contestants are “clowns” and “kooks.” I’ll put my hand up right now. I like to have a laugh and I don’t take myself too seriously. I’m guilty of being the lovable wanker. But who wants to watch some stale old piece of bread who thinks they are too good for comedy to win this competition and be the ambassador for six weeks. Not this guy.

Who wants to watch some stale old piece of bread who thinks they are too good for comedy to win this competition and be the ambassador for six weeks.

BeachGrit: Are you surfing’s Ron Burgundy?

Scott: I’ll start by saying I’ve been told I look like Will Farrell a few more times then a care for this week, but what a guy! I do have my Anchorman quotes down to a fine art and I’ll definitely be looking to Ron’s outrageous take on journalism if the WSL let me tackle the Vans Triple Crown.

BeachGrit: Will you make Eddie Rothman happy with your comedy?

Scott: I’m going to make it my mission to not make any sudden movement around that man and hope he doesn’t sense my fear. Complete respect to him, what a legend! But yeah, he terrifies me.

BeachGrit: How good at surfing do you need to be, to be good at filming it?

Scott: Surfing is like sex. You don’t have to be good at it to love it, watch it or film it.

BeachGrit: The other day, the Stoke and Leisure contestants were accused of being “affluent enough to chase a dream unlikely to pay a living wage”. Putting aside the irony that he just described every surf-journalist ever, what’s your opinion? How do you support yourself while you travel?

Scott: I spent six years in the Navy as an Electronics Technician while saving for adventures. It’s no secret if I didn’t have to work another day in my life I wouldn’t unless that was work I was passionate about.

BeachGrit: Gimme a good travel story. 

Scott: I walked into a pool party in San Juan Del Sur during Sunday Funday in Nicaragua. At ten am on the Sunday I broke my collarbone while disregarding the signage and my mother’s warnings while growing up about running around slippery pools. I ignored medical advice and with the help of a few fellas shimmied up a sling made from one of the girls sarongs and kicked on for another three days. As fun as it was, I then found myself in the pickle of not been able to carry my backpack further then my dorm room’s front door. Luckily I met Dylan, an Aussie pilot that behaved in such a way that makes me now think twice every time I board a plane. In any case, he decided to carry my backpack for me for the next eight weeks while my bone healed on route to Colombia. What a guy! And it just goes to show the kind of awesome people you meet while you’re travelling.

BeachGrit: The philosopher Bertrand Russell once said the following in relation to the hypothetical scenario that we all just worked four hours a day:

Above all, there will be happiness and joy of life, instead of frayed nerves, weariness, and dyspepsia. The work exacted will be enough to make leisure delightful, but not enough to produce exhaustion…. Ordinary men and women, having the opportunity of a happy life, will become more kindly and less persecuting and less inclined to view others with suspicion. The taste for war will die out, partly for this reason, and partly because it will involve long and severe work for all. Good nature is, of all moral qualities, the one that the world needs most, and good nature is the result of ease and security, not of a life of arduous struggle. Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish forever.

BeachGrit: Do you believe that  “Stoke and Leisure” could solve some of the world’s great, intractable problems? 

Scott: One hundred percent. Old mate Bertrand has hit the nail on the head! If everyone could take a step back and chill out a little bit the whole world would be a hell of a lot of a nicer place to spend our time. I don’t want to get tangled up in a discussion about politics but here is another hypothetical: we round up Trump, Putin and Kim Jong and we invite them over to Hawaii for the Vans Triple Crown for a few cold ones and a spot of the best surfing this planet has to offer! I’m willing to bet we get ourselves a little bit of world peace all thanks to a little bit of stoke and leisure.

Vote here!