A North Shore icon weighs in on Hawaiian bureaucracy!
Eddie Rothman’s laugh is art. Building from grumble to genuine, pure chuckle. Slow rolling and infectious. Better than any super villain’s. Better than rock candy.
I called him last evening, after hearing Dave Prodan claim on the Surf Splendor podcast that Da Hui did not get a permit to run their Backdoor Shootout. It sounded scurrilous. Like the World Surf League spreading falsehoods in order to cover bureaucratic mistakes so I went seeking the truth.
Eddie answered on the second ring.
What are we up to?
I heard a rumor from the WSL that Da Hui didn’t get a permit for the Backdoor Shootout. Is that true?
We never do.
And then the laugh. That carved from granite laugh.
They take it away every year. Every year we go back and get it. Every single year. They took away the Duke Kahanamoku Classic in favor of a bodysurfing event and they don’t care. The State of Hawaii does not care, at all, about the Hawaiian people and this is what they do every chance they get. You can fill out a permit in Hawaii…they don’t care if you lie or whatever you do. Last year the director, how’s this, she took away our contest. She said we didn’t get the permit on time, right? So the independent council came and deemed her actions an erroneous abuse of power and made her sign the permit back to us. After getting the permit back last year from the independent council she went and took it again. They’re a band of idiots. They are so stupid. And then again this year. We have this happen every year.
But every year you end up running the contest, right?
We don’t care if they give us the permit or not. It’s a cultural event for the Hawaiian people. The way this place works is… incredible and it’s not like people are getting paid off. They’re just incredibly… ignorant. But we’ll go get it back again, I guess, we’ll go through the thing and this time it got a little more publicity…
…because the WSL?
Yeah because the WSL. What happened with the WSL is, remember we sued them and the city for the rules they made but they violate the rules every year and you’re not supposed to get a permit the next year if you do that. So for them, they met with the city, they changed the rules that they made, that we sued them for, that they’re trying to break. Now it’s biting them in the ass because they made the rule. This system is just fucked over. It’s incredible.
Do you think the WSL will come back or are they done?
How they gonna leave? The WSL made the contract to begin with. Now they want to break it? Good luck. The rules they made with the city, about how you have to do this and that and apply for the permit… those are their rules, not ours. We sued them over the rules they’re trying to break. They can’t so the WSL bum rushes the city, thinking that the ignorant fucks of Hawaii are going to buckle but they can’t. There’s like five sue jobs waiting for them. But here’s this lady (WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt) getting off the plane saying, “I’m from London, I’m from tennis, I’m from this…” You know let’s put it this way, if the WSL had credible people like Peter Mel, Pat O’Connell, Myles Padaca, Pancho Sullivan…there’s a host of others. Martin Potter, Barton Lynch… if they had people up there running the thing right, there wouldn’t be any problems. Everybody would be stoked.
My heart raced with the thought of Pat O’Connell as head of the World Surf League. He would be a perfect choice, having been around the block but also forever young, so as soon as I got off the phone with Eddie I called him. He answered on the third ring.
There’s a North Shore movement to get you installed as head of the WSL. What would be your first order of business?
Pat, ever gracious, laughed too. His was not carved from granite and appropriately wary.
Ooooooof. I have no idea man. I’m too close to it all but I will say this. The old model was broken. The WSL had to do something and I like big, bold moves. I’d rather it all fall on its face because everyone tried something new rather than just keep going the way it’s going.
Lack of fear sure is refreshing and I am going to dream of the day when Eddie Rothman and Pat O’Connell run professional surfing.
Also, Dave Prodan was right!
eddie, pat and the gang should go for another surfing championship tour and fuck the wsl
Got make a dime dudes,everyone is sucking on the teat.industry -media -coaches -clothing – licence holders – pros – state and national surf bodies – high performance clinic’s- grom comps – surf schools – travel agents – old has been commentators in the end you are all going to hell in a hand basket when pro surfing finally dies from the abuse you have all reigned down on her.
imagine Pat oConnel running the tour, the head judge would be Ross Williams and JJF will be forever a champ
Load of double-speak
The Hui is suing the council?
Are their Lawyers called the “Blacksuits”?
I think we all need to get our heads around the fact that the WSL is going to go belly up, probably by the end of this year.
Any other company would have gone belly-up a long long time ago but the WSL has Dirk and Natasha Ziff to keep bailing them out.
We sent app on time and was proven by council that the City misplaced our permit application. Different than WSL issue.
Well they won’t be running Barton Lynch, that’s for sure. Sadly BL is no longer required by the WSL CT commentary team. WSL’s cuttin’ costs, kiddies! While watching the Snapper thing, see if you can tell other areas in which costs have been cut!
Right – are they trying to cut their way to get to break even? It can work for a bit, but they must make sure the amputations aren’t fatal for the patient.
They’re trying a lot of things, and cutting’s one of ’em.
And oh what a recipe for success austerity usually is!
You know if the WSL thing fails, there’s a good chance people will be able to look back on it and say, maybe it’s better to start with not much and build something, than to spend up big then have to contract. Austerity is best practised at the beginning, out of necessity; then it becomes a useful habit, not an unwelcome shock.
But pro sport is a very weird business and if the WSL is still around in five years, running KSWC pools on five continents and benefiting from a resurgent surf industry, then I guess a lot of people will have to re-think their ideas abut it.
I hope it flames out then is rebuilt grassroots style. By Surfers for surfers
Which ironically enough is how it started and ran for decades.
No fancy comp jerseys: they’re using dollar-shop bin bags with numbers drawn on them in white paint.
The judging tower has been replaced with a pile of old Porta potties balanced precariously on each other.
They haven’t rented those fancy headsets, so the commentators are standing VERY CLOSE TO THE CAMERA talking into a pair of old earphones. The booth has also been replaced by 1 largeish umbrella.
Turps will commentate then put on a skirt and run down and beach interview too.
All the staff will stay in tents on the beach – no ritzy accommodation
No-one from the broadcast crew can fly to oz they all have to go via ship or hot air balloon
J² will sail his own way won’t he? Do the competitors count as ‘staff’? In a way they are.
Fuck to watch on facebook then lose Barton who is hands down the best – I wont be watching that’s for sure!!
Seriously the WSL is fucked if they throwing 8.83 and 10 in 1ft manly and the had turps there commentating – that’s not cost cutting!!! He would demand big bucks to be guest commentating!!!
No BT? He was probably the best one out there IMO…
The Da Hui will run the Shootout! with or without a permit.
The WSL will only run the Pipeline Masters if they have a permit.
The brief conversation Chas had with Eddie was very enlightening. Revealed aspects that Stab never got from their journalists’ efforts.
Shit do Stab have journalists?
One is a private Co owned by a very very rich man….and the other a collective of people who actually live and work in Hawaii , helping Hawaiians….and even a couple of Hawaiians !!
I’m just throwing shade. No, i don’t believe there’s any semblence of journalism on STAB. I think STAB’s Rory fancied himself a journalist on this. Here’s a Rory comment from his article:
Rory Parker Robert Bolduc
24 days ago
I reached out to the WSL repeatedly in an effort to get their point of view. Other than Sunny Garcia no one was willing to speak to me on the record.
14
I’m glad that Eddie isn’t fretting about it. Indeed the Shootout! is a real homegrown effort. It seems like the WSL was trying bs strongarm tactics, in waters where such isn’t tolerated. The WSL got what they deserved.
Someone throw Sophie a lifebuoy, she’s drowning here.
I doubt that. In fact I suspect the WSL may be closer to black ink right now than at any time since it took hold of the world tour.
Such a great thing to put on her linkedin page: Took failing business close to break even without any added expense to or thought of improving the product while eliminating its anchor distribution point.
yeah. how is that? exclusive digital distribution rights? nothing coming back to your own site except forums/articles/”bios” where people can discuss what they watched on Facebook? at least it didn’t sound like it was going to be set up by Snapper.
It’s gotta save a couple bucks knocking two sick events off the schedule and bringing in one at pool your money master’s already paid for. If we could all just start thinking more like investment strategists than people who simply love surfing; perhaps we could all love the WSL.
investment strategy is what i fell for when i was 9
Chas got more nitty-gritty from one phone call with Eddie than what Rory got deeply imbedded in the Mayor’s Office for a whole week, surreptitiously posted next to the Mayor’s under desk foot massage machine.
Next to the desk, under the foot massager? Nah, he is under the desk using his big mouth properly.
After the tussle C-Dog got street cred. They boys now.
Reminds me of The Rolling Stones hiring The Hells Angels for security….at least only one guy died !!
Watched “Gimme Shelter” last year!
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When I am King, I’m going to instruct my loyal surfing subjects to have a fucking personality or be put to death. At least I give them a choice, I will be a kind King.
God save King Ragnarmatic .
I dub thee Sir Jimmy, knight of the night
Imagine a world where a surf contest run by Eddie and crew is “cultural event for the Hawaiian people.” Lulz.
Fast Eddie is not Hawaiian
Is this where you tell us he’s a Jew from Philadelphia? Regardless of where he was born, his children are Hawaiian and he’s certainly put his stake in the ground on a variety of issues.
He’s really from Philly?
Don’t know about him putting his stake in the ground but he’s definitely put his fist into a lot of dudes faces. One of the funniest things in the world is seeing a clueless Haole wearing a Da hui T-shirt—-hilarious.
Clueless Haoles mmmm… just out of interest where are you from?
Guess I just get pissed off when someones words, no matter what they have done for their community have more weight due to what percentage of blood they have running though in their veins.
Personally I’ve felt the need to include the bloodline of my Children into conversations to gain support or leverage on certain discussions locally.
And that fucking sucks.
In “godzone”?
Are your children hapa?
Part Maori…
Mine are part filipino ..
Personally I think it’s a waste of a good steak, it should go on the hibachi, preferably after being marinated in shoyu and garlic overnight.
I will say, in all honesty, that Eddie Rothman cares more about Hawaii and Hawaiians, truly and deeply, than most care about their own flesh and blood.
Fair enough.
Dream on.
Do elaborate. Surely you have a vast cauldron wherein this knowledge hides. Be kind, and share it with the group so we can all be the wiser.
Fast Eddie just seems to be in it for Eddie.
I wouldn’t know, and I get the impression you don’t either. Seems too, and does are two different things. My impression is he does care and the macho posturing is out of necessity.
I’ll second that!
Caring about your clan is nice, but selling them meth and stuff is nicer.
Amen
Comment of the decade.
Shootout is ran by the Hui O He’e Nalu. And 90% of our competitors are native hawaiian. So yah it is a cultural event.
Best event in surfing. Friendly team format delivers the goods. Immense talent pool. I’ll watch this years event over and over on Red Bull TV.
Respectfully, Mr Rothman, at this point Martin Potter couldn’t run a potato.
fuck I’m paying that on sentence structure alone
May I postulate that Laird Hamilton head up the WSL.
Studies have shown (I’m paraphrasing here) that traditionally most CEOs are 6’ +, chiselled jaws and have that salt-pepper hair look of approx 50. People (boardrooms) like that shit. This is despite any evidence that the person may or may not have any business sense at all. They hoist them up to be leader. It’s purely based on a charismatic look.
Some sauce: https://www.google.com.au/a…
Well, given that I am a legitimate board member of my wife’s not for profit cooperative, and didn’t become so until my chiselled grey hair*, salt and pepper jaw and hitting 50, I concur heartily with this theory.
Furthermore, I would argue that the willingness of less capable management to promote the least threatening employees, for example sycophantic yes men, to positions of power lead to the current position of the surf industry.
*Sure, starting to generate grey hair in my mid twenties is a slight issue, but whatever.
Grey hair beats no hair .
Yeah. Got one mate who started balding at the same time I started going grey. He tried to claim he’d rather be bald than grey, but reneged on that about two weeks later. Poor fucker has alopecia. Doesn’t even have eyebrows now.
Surfs ok though. No drag.
Hilarious.. Not laughing at, but with..
Sophie doesn’t have grey hair nor is her jaw chiseled.
Yeah I knew someone chime in w that.
The study looked at hirings over the last many decades. Times are ‘a changing and I’ll wager that I’d you looked at their data it would also show that.
I wonder how many times Ziff hired CEO’s during his ascent into billionaire land. Do you think he made a lot of hiring mistakes during those days? Sophie, while accomplished, seems a bit out of her element. I don’t think that was a mistake. Any serious attempt to make money in professional surfing was guaranteed to involve a rough stretch. I don’t wonder if Ziff planned for push back, I wonder if he thought he could weather the storm through 1 vs. 2 CEO’s. I think Ziff believes 1. Sophie’s lack of prior experience in professional surfing is a mistake only when the time comes to call it that. When that time comes, Ziff can still play the hero, while Sophie takes the blame for the transition that the WSL is neck deep in at the moment.
Of course, she would be the easiest sacrificial lamb in history.
Not yet ?
My cosmetic surgeon friend could help her with the jaw.
Well I am well and truly fucked for sitting on any boards to reign in that free cash!!! Was sort of banking on that for my future
Give Eddie credit…he didn’t refer to the Hawaiians as “my people”
Well, Fast Eddies not Hawaiian.
Not many of the Chosen People from the Mainland are.