The World Surf League alongside partner Jeep
are pleased to announce the release of a brand new virtual reality
project today called Jeep Sessions: A Journey in 360. Skimming
quickly through, it appears the participant (player?) once fitted
with an immersive VR device, chooses to either join Jordy Smith or
Malia Manuel to… wait. I’m sorry. I’m not very good at summarizing
press releases.
Here, read some select passages real quick and then we’ll
discuss.
Jeep® Sessions: A Surfing Journey in 360° follows WSL
Championship Tour surfers Jordy Smith and Malia Manuel as each
embarks on a Jeep brand adventure to find the best waves. The
project can be viewed in both a 360° video and an interactive VR
experience. The VR application enables users to select their
journey through “gaze-based interactions,” where the user’s eyes
become the controller within the 360° visuals.
“Our project goal was to push the boundaries of VR
technology to show what a surf trip feels like from the
first-person perspective,” said Steele, Rapid VR co-director. “I’m
excited to share this. It’s pretty incredible knowing my mom can
now experience riding a 20-foot wave.”
Fans have the option to choose to explore in Smith’s all-new
2018 Jeep Wrangler or Manuel’s Jeep Renegade. Filmed on the island
of Oahu, both the Jeep Wrangler and Renegade demonstrated the Jeep
brand’s legendary 4×4 capability and stylish design in an off-road
adventure through forest terrain and beautiful beaches.
“I love that everyone can go on whichever adventure they
want in this VR experience,” said Manuel. “It’s a win-win for the
viewer visually whether they go with me in the Jeep Renegade, or
Jordy in the Jeep Wrangler, as we go off-roading to explore the
beautiful scenery in Hawaii and find these amazing waves to share
with the world.”
Within the app experience, viewers also have several points
of choice presented by Sunny Garcia, Hawaiian surfing royalty who
has scoured every inch of the island, which affect the narrative
and result in different endings, including an option where all the
featured surfers share waves together.
Mmmm. I have a few questions.
What if you stare at Jordy Smith’s nipples the entire time vis a
vis the “gaze-based interaction?” Is this allowed?
Would you like for your mom to experience riding a 20-foot
wave?
Exploring the island of Oahu with Jordy in his Jeep Wrangler can
you go anywhere? Like, Ewa Beach? Can you try to buy ice? Do locals
chase you?
Did Malia Manuel really say, It’s a win-win for the
viewer visually whether they go with me in the Jeep Renegade, or
Jordy in the Jeep Wrangler, as we go off-roading to explore the
beautiful scenery in Hawaii and find these amazing waves to share
with the world.” Or was that written in the press office
afterwards?
The journey is narrated by Joe Turpel and you can/should watch
while thinking about my questions and coming up with some of your
own.
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The drawback about working at Surf Ranch is you don't
actually get to ride the wave so much. But, maybe one of these a
day? Enough to quench thirst? Better than a hundred dirty closeouts
at your local beach?
Hiring: Work at Surf Ranch!
By Derek Rielly
Are you action oriented? Do you like watching rich
people fall on waves?
Last November, the World Surf League gifted me and
Charlie, along with several others, a showpiece day at
Surf Ranch in Lemoore, a city in Kings County, California.
What was notable, apart from the size of the joint, the tasteful
furnishings, pavilion-style buildings and Sal’s consumption of
protein bars, was the general glow among the workers – the
lifeguards, the administrative staff and so forth; the sort of
ambience that only comes when the culture you work within is kind
and fair.
The one drawback, of course, is the staff don’t actually get to
ride the wavepool so much, which must make them want to tug chunks
of hair out.
I have all the required skills apart from “a thorough
understanding of office management practices including Accounting
and Human Resources. Daily duties will include assisting with
administrative business tasks such as onboarding, timecard
management, payroll, work rule enforcement, account coding,
financial reporting, purchase order management, and budgeting.”
Of the “personal attributes” required, “Integrity and honesty,
exceptional attention to detail, masterful organizational skills,
an enthusiasm for coaching, teaching, and the development of people
and action-oriented — enjoys working hard and looks for challenges”
I like to think of myself as “action-oriented.”
If I was asked in the interview what I don’t do well, a question
designed to test your honesty, I would say, “I’d go glassy-eyed and
catatonic watching kooks blow wave after wave.”
Do you have what it takes? Would you set up a home in
cotton-farming Lemoore so you could work at Surf Ranch?
The salary is undisclosed although I imagine around 100 thousand
dollars per year would be a rough approximation.
Dino Adrian has his forehead lovingly kissed by Cyclone
Marcus bomb.
Watch: “Fucking Unsurfable for
Civilians!”
By Derek Rielly
A revealing three-minute short from hyped Cyclone
Marcus swell…
Just over two weeks ago, a cyclone birthed the rarest of
birds, a north swell in Western Australia. These sorts of
swells happen every five, sometimes ten, years and are tracked with
excitement. Even Perth, a waveless joint more famous for its insane
urban sprawl and just as insane summer onshores put on a reasonable impersonation of
Hossegor.
Seven years ago, and three hours further south, Taj Burrow, Jay
Davies and Dino Adrian were gifted impossibly perfect, and often
impossibly hard to get into sandbottom tubes. That was Cyclone
Bianca, when clean two-foot runners turned into eight-foot bombs by
the afternoon.
This year it was Cyclone Marcus, although the swell direction
had a little west in it which meant the most photogenic of waves
was “fucking unsurfable for civilians,” according to the former
Margaret River pro surfer turned real estate agent Mitch
Thorson.
In this three-minute short, shot by Scott Hammond and Tom
Jennings, we see Jay Davies, Dino Adrian and pals being spat into
out of tubes, and sometimes into the sandy spittoon, all via tow
rather than paddle, which was the preserve of bodyboarders.
Watch.
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I can feel your halo (halo) halo
Miracle: The Making of St. Mick!
By Chas Smith
The hero of Australian surfing on his greatest
journey yet!
You are well-aware, by now, that the 2018 Bells
Beach Classic is Mick Fanning’s last stand. The Coolangatta local
and 3 x World Champion, 37, will no longer don a colorful singlet
nor will his rich baritone fill a World Surf League branded
microphone again. It is almost over but not quite as Mick will
paddle out against stablemate Owen Wright in the quarterfinals when
competition next begins.
Breathless superlatives will flow, each and every one obviously
deserved, as Michael Eugene Fanning is hurtled toward full
sainthood.
And I must say that I have never seen anything like this in all
my days upon this earth. In order to achieve full sainthood it is a
well-known fact that a holy man or woman must first die and then
three miracles must occur in his or her name. The process can take
anywhere from six years to hundreds of them and is by no means
assured even for the holiest. But Mick is special and the hero of
Australian surfing has already been marked with his first
miracle.
Yes and as reported by the Daily
Mail, Mick’s ex-wife, wedding industry titan
Karissa Dalton, not only watched him surf on the WSL webcast and
not only cheered him on but posted an image of the affair to
Instagram. Let us read for it is meet and right so to do.
They ended their relationship in January 2016 after eight
years of marriage.
And despite ending things romantically, Karissa Dalton and
Mick Fanning are still on friendly terms.
On Tuesday, Karissa took to Instagram stories to cheer on
her ex-husband during a surfing competition, alongside best friend
Pia Miller.
Karissa shared a photo of her and Pia drinking martinis as
they watched Mick compete on a laptop.
‘Go Mick!’ Karissa captioned the photo, while Pia shared the
same image and wrote: ‘Go Mick you good thing!’
Karissa and Mick have remained on good terms, despite that
the surfer is believed to have moved on with American model Breeana
Randall.
Lending her support! Karissa shared a photo of her and Pia
drinking martinis as they watched Mick compete on a
laptop.
A true miracle without any shade of doubt. Turning on the World
Surf League’s webcast, listening intently to Martin “Pottz” Potter
and Joe Turpel, watching an ex muscle turns through chubby runners…
one down, two to go.
And I have written a poem to celebrate. Would you permit me to
publish?
Remember those walls I built
Well, baby, they’re tumbling down
And they didn’t even put up a fight
They didn’t even make a sound
I found a way to let you win
But I never really had a doubt
Standing in the light of your halo
I got my angel now
It’s like I’ve been awakened
Every rule I had you break it
It’s the risk that I’m taking
I ain’t never gonna shut you out
Everywhere I’m looking now
I’m surrounded by your embrace
Baby, I can see your halo
You know you’re my saving grace
You’re everything I need and more
It’s written all over your face
Baby, I can feel your halo
Pray it won’t fade away
I can feel your halo (halo) halo
I can see your halo (halo) halo
I can feel your halo (halo) halo
I can see your halo (halo) halo
Hit me like a ray of sun
Burning through…
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Zeke v John John: It was thrilling and almost wincingly
painful to watch, like a David Attenborough documentary where the
elegant ruminant gets savaged by a lion then has its insides ripped
out by a pack of hyaenas. The champ looked so helpless. All that
insouciance at the Gold Coast was gone and in its place was a
lonely blond-haired kid being frowned upon by an older man on the
stairs who shook his head sadly as the siren
sounded.
Bells Day 5: “Florence’s insides ripped out
by hyena!”
By Longtom
Zeke Lay eats John John alive, Parko surfs like
new-born giraffe with foetal alcohol syndrome!
Isn’t life the most whimsical, curious and inscrutable
of affairs? It’s what I love about Pro Surfing, above all
else: this eternal tilting at the windmill of a mainstream
audience, its earnest and blackly (unintentionally) comic embrace
of total corpo-speak, the smoke and mirrors faking it until you
make it pieces in the mainstream business media. Its subtle and
none-too-subtle shifts and changes that seem to leave all concerned
– especially the surfers, sorry athletes – clueless
and gawping like goldfish in a bowl.
I do not jeer. Believe me. Especially after a day like
today.
People say to me all the time: “Why do you fucken write about
pro surfing if you fucking hate it so much?” Lovers of the game
think I should love and true haters think any attention is
legitimacy to the evil commercialisation in surfing.
Jared Diamond in his foreword to Guns, Germs and
Steel said in relation to similar objections to
writing about Human History : “This objection rests on a common
tendency to confuse an explanation of causes with a justification
or acceptance of results”, which sums up my response on the matter
perfectly.
You’d go a long way to find a more curious, bizarre in Strider’s
words, morning in Pro Surfing history. I tuned in and after
wrassling with the WSL webby which persisted in locking into
yesterday’s stream and got live action halfway into the Zeke
Lau/JJF round three heat. Replays showed Zeke, with a face like an
Easter Island statue and physique to match, had monstered John, got
all up in his grill and had sent the world champ into a tailspin.
Combo’ed, Florence fell, then fell again as the clock ticked down.
It was thrilling and almost wincingly painful to watch, like a
David Attenborough documentary where the elegant ruminant gets
savaged by a lion then has its insides ripped out by a pack of
hyaenas. The champ looked so helpless. All that insouciance at the
Gold Coast was gone and in its place was a lonely blond-haired kid being
frowned upon by an older man on the stairs who shook his head sadly
as the siren sounded.
John’s presser was abject. He looked terrible. Bags under the
eyes like a parkie who’d skulled a flagon of cheap port and spent
the night curled up in a bus stop. He called Zeke’s aggression
“kinda lame” and said “I might do it in the next event.” Which made
me snort my coffee and shout aloud “As if!”
John has no aggro in his game. None. Unlike Fanning, who brings
an intensity to any recreational lineup, I have no qualms getting
my quota if John showed at my local breaks.
Putting it bluntly, and regretfully, Parko’s surfing in his heat
with Fred Morais was farcical, almost risible. It was borderline
slapstick. He looked as coordinated and solid as a new-born giraffe
with foetal alcohol syndrome stumbling it’s way across New York’s
central park on New years Eve. Yes, it was that surreal.
Only a faint vestigial image of something graceful and elegant was
visible in the bumbling performance he laid on. To be charitable,
and in his own words, he had a shocker.
Strider said it might be something in the water, as even the
king of three turns and a solid finish Adriano De Souza struggled
with standing on a surfboard. But what? There are drugs that make
people smart, like Modafinil and Ritalin and Coffee. What could
have made the best in the world stumble about like English
accountants on a Friday night? Rohypnol? Ether? Had the earth’s
magnetic field been reversed, as has happened before, overnight and
suddenly everything was topsy turvy and upside down? Maybe it was
just sleep deprivation, the Top 34 seems like Daddy Day Care these
days and every Dad knows that wobbly burnt out feeling of being
kept up all hours by a screaming kiddy. I don’t know.
It took four heats before the curtain was drawn on the slapstick
and Filipe and Italo took the lineup. If you read any of the
Snapper coverage you’ll know Italo is my boy. Using Nick Carroll’s
objective analysis method I determined him to be the fastest surfer
on Tour and the best goofyfoot and believe, to date, he has been
crucially underscored. Like the Gold Coast, it’s a shame he had to
meet Filipe so early in the draw. It’ll probably be the best heat
of the comp. Toledo made a grey, wobbly lineup and grey sky shine
with the light of a thousand suns. He blitzed and shralped and
threw high speed edges at every half lip and corner he could find.
Alone, he made it seem like a different lineup. But Italo was
better. Very, very big high-speed cornering from bottom to top and
massive finishes with perfect handling. My heart was in my throat
watching Italo’s second ride with six minutes to go and needing a
score. when he stuck a huge landing I found myself fist-pumping and
saying “Yes!” First heat I’ve watched where Occy Skins ’97 looked
dated. Could have gone either way but I think the judges have
finally caught on to the fact that Italo is leading this wobbly old
peloton.
An hour’s break and back to Winki with more gurgle to deal with
for round four. Maybe something is biding its time, over the
horizon and is ready to announce its arrival. Give this year it’s
shape and definition; the way John’s performance at Margaret River
did last year.
Michel Bourez was simply sensational and for all the big new
meathead journeymen on Tour with hams the size of Sally Fitzgibbon,
there is no one even close to him as the premier power surfer on
Tour. That reminds of a post Chas Smith wrote about the rise of
midget surfers… hold that thought, we’ll come back to
it.
Mick Fanning was several shades off the pace in his round four
heat with Wilko and Pat Gudauskas, and I feel like a worm for
insinuating yesterday that Pat had nothing to offer except a few
miserable sixes and sevens. He just looks… a little too hyped up
for my taste. At least he didn’t get his coffee spiked with
rohypnol this morning. Mick made a mistake, gave Wilko a scoring
wave, looked resigned to losing and having his last heat, was
over-scored on a ride which got him back into it and then loosed
the old instincts to win the heat. Pressure now for a fairytale
finish will be acute and severe.
Zeke Lau, Fred Morais, Italo and Gabe are through from round
four.
Am I seeing this correct?
I often lie awake in the wee hours, unable to sleep, listening
to the whine of a mosquito, wondering. what if I’m dead wrong? I
don’t do Facebook much but I saw an update from the surf journalist
Nick Carroll who stated, “There’s a potentially great and very
challenging round three draw in the Bells men’s event. A lot of
good surf coming, and some of the heats could go very big. I don’t
normally hype the CT, it gets enough of that, but whoa. Take a look
if you can.”
That is a totally different perspective to mine. I have to
cleave to the view of commenter Wiggoly’s Paddling Style, who with
his great flair for the scatalogical, sent me an email today
saying, “This Bells is about as exciting as a half-sucked cock at a
wedding.”
What are you seeing? Where does the truth lie?
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Remaining Round 3
Results:
Heat 7: Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 13.07 def. John John Florence (HAW)
9.76
Heat 8: Frederico Morais (PRT) 11.60 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS)
9.07
Heat 9: Conner Coffin (USA) 9.83 def. Adriano De Souza (BRA)
9.63
Heat 10: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 16.60 def. Filipe Toledo (BRA)
15.40
Heat 11: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 11.86 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
11.73
Heat 12: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.16 def. Willian Cardoso (BRA)
13.30
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Round 4 Results:
Heat 1: Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.77, Owen Wright (AUS) 12.00, Wade
Carmichael (AUS) 10.60
Heat 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.33, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 14.00,
Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 13.17
Heat 3: Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 12.57, Frederico Morais (PRT) 11.16,
Conner Coffin (USA) 11.10
Heat 4: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.33, Italo Ferreira (BRA) 12.17,
Jeremy Flores (FRA) 11.00
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Quarterfinal
Matchups:
QF 1: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
QF 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)
QF 3: Ezekiel Lau (HAW) vs. Italo Ferreira (BRA)
QF 4: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Frederico Morais (PRT)
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Jon Pyzel and Matt Biolos by
@theneedforshutterspeed/Step Bros
