Is the new look tour inherently body shaming?
So I was talking with a good friend yesterday and the newest Surfer magazine was sitting there and of course I started flipping through it while talking and then I saw a picture of Wade Carmichael and said, “Wow. He’s fat.”
Now it was a rude thing to say but he looked fat in the picture and/or husky but my good friend apoplectically responded, “Pro surfers can’t be fat…” and I looked up at him and realized he was not joking at all but deadly serious which made me think.
Can today’s pro surfer be fat?
In the 80s, 90s, 2000s it was very easy because back then pro surfers weren’t athletes. Mark Occhilupo, Mick Lowe, Kekoa Bacalso, etc. but today and now with the training and the airs and Surf Ranch contortionist barrels… it is a whole different game. A fit game. And there doesn’t seem to be much room for plus-sized men. It even seems that 150 lbs would be an unofficial cut-off of sorts not counting the great John John Florence who is not fat but likely weighs… 170 lbs.
Or maybe my good friend is wrong. Maybe there is a quiet revolution happening at the Championship Tour level where Jordy Smith, Wade Carmichael and… Italo(?) are bringing the cushion for the pushin’ back to the fore. Big turns, lots of water displacement, etc.
The pendulum is always swinging but do you think the new look tour favors feather light small boys or beefy tees? It seems, with the loss of both Fiji and Pipeline that the feather lights haven’t been in a better position since the Bud Tour days of old. That the cushion for the pushin will be a decided disadvantage. That in a few years, with a few more pool events locked down, pro surfing will be like women’s gymnastics and titles will be won by 13 year olds who weigh 98 lbs.
Hmmmmmmm.
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What about fat surfer chicks?
I’d be more pissed with the photo that gave me a pin head and plus sized body
Uh, is Wilko no longer on tour?
I started seriously lifting about four years ago, basically for strength/vanity (I was scrawny before)… and to have another hobby. Extra bulk has not been good, my flexibility is more limited than it used to be and I have no “pop”… my bottom turns, though….
Gym bulking.
Somewhere, the guy with the screen name “ Jimbo’s missing limbo” is chuckling at the photo of that fat fuck in the shade after dropping in on some poor fuck… no more, pal… sucks to be a drunken idiot….which hand do you wipe your ass with? OH wait , the only one left
Cheeseburger is a cool bastard.
No mention of Shawn Briley? Possibly the greatest plus sized ripper of them all?
https://youtu.be/CiynpYUi8FU
Yeah he’s the king-size king
Big man of Backdoor
type it into your browser.
You’d know!
Bud Llamas must’ve been a good 220 in his prime.
I am glad there is appreciation for plus size surfers. not so much an appreciation for plus size shorts, more an appreciation for plus size turns, a big guy who knows how to use his weight through a turn will never get boring.
you sound bitter. go surf and wank less.
foj
That’s a banned phase here bud. no mention of that Cat… I’m sure you understand why.
my bad. won’t happen again.
it’s me, Heisenberg!
Should there be diff weight classes?
A heavyweight / featherweight CT?
Noa is a full butter ball
not anymore
Actually now that you point it out, I had noticed he’d trimmed up a bit. I like to hang shit on Noa but the truth is he’s my second favourite surfer to watch. The first of course being myself, shot from my GoPro that’s fixed to the nose of my 7S mid length
Hey Chas,
You do know that Pipeline is still the last event on the 2018 Tour, right?
Waiting period apparently is from Dec. 8th to 20th, 2018,
so Pipe will close out this years Tour.
Here’s a link to a WSL press release:
http://www.worldsurfleague….
Aussie leg starts in a coupla dayz, right?
Here’s the WSL Men’s Championship Tour Event Schedule:
http://www.worldsurfleague….
Be interesting to see how The Fat Boyz do, eh?
So your not happy being called “a fucking Jew” but your ok to call someone fat on a public forum ??
Yes the 90’s , where professional surfers would be red faced and semi drunk, throwing up in the line up.
Hey once the gymnastic thing takes place we will have gold medalling “Athletes formerly known as Russian” and China winning the whole thing. While the world eyes are glued to Oly screens I will quietly surf that forgotten realm called “Beach”.
I can’t tell you how many times i’ve been burned and snaked by big bruddahs / sumo in makaha and queens, and diamond head. Ok well on the wesside I give up all my wave rights to the highest line uppers . . . and act like I’m in compton and say whut up to all the G’s and act chill . . . don’t take off an any wave if a G is remotely padding for it.
Yes the big guys also can outsurf pro shortboards on their 8 or 9 oh’s. And to be all inclusive: Yes I’ve been humbled by the big aunties and Hawaiian versions of Fat Amy.
I have yet to run into a extra large LGBTNT or GLBTNT smurfer. They are rare but so are blackhole suns, but now astronomers have found them.
I’m going to think about my professor surfing future, now that major universities will have some wave pool of some type.
Wanted: Wave pool tech / wave pool cleaner
guess you’ve conveniently forgotten Cruikshank’s performance at legit OB and Brownie with the backside lipper heard round the world
Heavy waves for heavy surfers. Simple. What can you say about a surgeon perfect line bottom turn carried out by a fat bloke and Bam! Release the shit like there is no tomorrow. Kinda Clay Marzo.
Imagine Toledo carving the hardest he can. Nice rail work but power surfing? How about early 90’s Occy doing those look backs hacks only on weight and body placement? Weight is power. But now you get a fkn 7,5 for a rotation on shitty Pipeline. Definitely wsl is not fat friendly anymore.
Beach Grit Presents the Plus Size Surf Tour. Sponsored by Little Caesers
It’s possible that since the inception of the best 2 waves and jet ski assist that the surfers use less energy in a heat than before ? In Occy’s defense, he was probably one of the fittest surfers on tour when he was in his prime in the 80s .
Than got swallowed by a couch got fat and ripped the shit out of waves. He was not exactly fit during those Billabong films. And seriously, how good can St. Leu be surfed?
We may never know as the men in the grey suits have taken over that spot .
Yeah man. Grey suits with a big mouth. They own Reunion now, but still big fat animals and hungry
Are there any fat chicks on tour?
I’d be watching if there were.
no. because nobody is sponsoring them to do the QS.
its not about surfing, its about marketing.
the anorexia vibes are hella strong
We’ll know the pendulum is swinging back towards big turns when Michelob Ultra jumps ship and the WSL gets a new beer sponsor, BIGFOOT! https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
when you bet your buddy he can’t finish a six pack and really need the win
Ha! My introduction to the beer was that exact scenario! It was baçk in college 94-95. I made it to five, after which I couldn’t see my feet, let alone move them in any sort of constructively useful manner.
the Christmas Ale packs a punch as well