How did Founders' Cup feel to the youth?
If there was one defining adjective of this past weekend’s Founders’ Cup it was “historic.” The Historic Founders’ Cup. Historic. “We are witnessing history.” Historical. Just kidding. Historic. And being thus, we here at BeachGrit did our very best to record for future generations who will come back to May 5,6 2018 looking for answers. Looking for truths about the historic weekend. The picture painted was honest albeit grouchy. The monotony of the thing. The lack of progression etc.
The moments I watched left me cold but my eyes are old, my spirit dying and thus my opinion maybe wrong? There is one way to know. I must speak with a youth who was there, soaking in the atmosphere. A youth not tainted by disappointment.
Thankfully there was one such youth and his name is Owen. My wonderful fourteen-year-old nephew.
Now, Owen lives on California’s central coast and is as earnest as they come. A Norman Rockwell character come to life. He plays baseball, runs track and surfs every weekend with his dad. He likes watching professional surfing too and so he, his dad and a friend drove to Surf Ranch, paid full pop and… experienced history. What did he think?
Tell me honestly, O, what did you think of the Surf Ranch Founders’ Cup?
I thought it was actually really really really good. Pretty organized. I was shocked when I first walked in the gate and saw the pool. It was amazing. My favorite part of the day, other than getting to see the pros surf, was that the viewing was so awesome. Instead of waiting on the beach you could lean up on the cement wall and see all the sections. The barrel sections and the open sections coming right at you. It was awesome. I like it better than watching a surf contest at the beach because it is a perfect wave. Yeah. Definitely the future of surfing.
Who was your favorite surfer of the event?
Favorite surfer? I gotta say Jordy Smith. He did awesome.
Anything wrong?
You couldn’t get very close to the surfers. They were always behind the cement wall and there was no signings or anything like that. The food situation was terrible. We had to wait in line for an hour a half.
But overall you give it a thumbs up?
Oh yeah. It was totally awesome.
And there you have it. Can you squint and see through a fourteen year-old’s eyes? I’m trying. I’m trying real hard.
Based on this interview and it’s likely use as customer feedback by Sophie and co., this entire wave pool thing has the makings of a minor league baseball game… who ‘ya got in the sausage race in between runs at The Surf Ranch Open?
May I take this opportunity to repeat my previous comment on another story here on the surf ranch. Peter Mel said MVP at founders cup. That’s enough for me.
It took 30 minutes to get it in but yeah prob about 30 seconds later she was on her way to the pharmacy to get the morning after pill.
Fuck the metric system!
Danger – Rant ahead – I crossed the Nullabor in December of 1974 (school holidays) as a VERY young person. Going west the roadsigns were in miles, coming back east two months later, they had all been changed to kilometres (with helpful miles on the sign as well) My Dad was ten sheets for the entire three day drive and had adapted by the time he hit the pacific.
C’mon America i’ts not that fucking hard.
As an ex-pat Seppo: fuck feet and inches for anything but: people height, wave height, dick & board length.
Fathoms are pretty cool too.
Fathoms are cool.
Light-nanoseconds are subzero.
Wait but my penis is more in centimeters so waaaaay bigger
Do you not recall that surfing’s warren buffet aka Derek Reilly invested a small fortune in Necro, he may have been wiser “investing” in sharkbanz
I wonder which wave pool contest was better?
The 2018 Founders Cup or The 2015 Red Bull Unleashed
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
For competitors competing, or the regular folks, just watchin?
That middle~of~the~pool view looks kinda close, + cool…
The hyperbole in these events is stupefyingly cringey. That’s what kills it for me most of all.
Ok. Interesting tech, very good surfers. Horrid environment.
The crazy flag-waving and drooling jibber-jabber is turd-glitter aimed at the generations of the spoon-fed unquestionings whom US TV has trained to be so.
Well put.
I spent my entire 15th year on earth squinting furiously, but for entirely different reasons.
How do the pros get up to speed for said event there come September? Those who surfed it founders cup weekend have advantage – if I was one of those who missed out would call “injury wild card” and boycott the fuck out of it
Maybe if i decide to super glue my eyelids together to see if can hold the squint longer ???
If the pool becomes the Olympics venue, this issue becomes even more acute, I think!
If??
I am trying to parse the viewers perspective…….can someone enlighten. From where the kid stands (he has a future of good teeth ahead, v. important, nothing brings a man face to face with opioid addiction more than toothache) it looks like the opening section is about half a mile away behind a couple of protruding concrete pylons. No? Yes?
Just trying to make a valid comparison with Snapper where I can stand on the edge of the sand and see pretty much the whole ride at roughly equidistant viewing angle.
I think watching something like Snapper or Brazil would be more fun, honestly. Like it always looks like a party to stand there in the shallows at Snapper and watch the surfing.
I found viewing trickier than expected. You can see the entire right or the entire left from either end of the rectangular pool. In that case they surf toward you. But they’re quite far away, actually. You can get closer at Snapper for sure. It’s a decent hike to switch from watching the left to watching the right — and I didnt’ realize straightaway that it was even possible. There were more people watching the left because that was the end with the VIP food and drink.
The closest point to the surfing is the long edge of the pool opposite the train — which is where the grom is hanging out and where the judging tower was, I believe. There were also a couple VIP patios and a media area on this long end. From this vantage, you get the start of the ride — from the media viewing area, you could see both left and right — so you can see a few turns before they disappear from view. Then you switch to the video to see the barrel and finish.
The crowds seemed most into the surfing along the long edge. The people at either end were into it, but not quite as fired up, it seemed.
Thats what I thought, so you can’t see the entire ride. And have to switch to see either left or right?
That sounds really awkward.
You can see the entire wave from the ends — but it’s not close up at all. Here’s a wide-angle shot from the left viewing end.
And yeah, to see the right, you have to walk to the other end. I’m pretty sure I walked like five miles on Saturday when I was trying to get photos. I definitely also saw more lefts when all was said and done.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Poor Strider.
lost should make him a branded pool noodle or one of those giant inflatable swans
Still searching for a good simile for Strider at Lemoore…a eunuch at an orgy?
A salty pickle on a burger.
‘Cept he’d perfectly capable of splashing the sled jizz with his blue donger.
a nun’s cunt?
Chas at a fashion show sponsored by LV, Grey Goose Vodka and Hot Nife but hosted by Mick Fanning.
Or a papier-mâché board with fake legs ‘sitting on it’ which he wears round his waist.
I’m 38 and I enjoyed the contest – it was cool to have our favorite sport televised on CBS. I was just disappointed that there was no competition between opponents since the entire 1 hour televised event just had all the surfers on team USA surfing their heats. The team format does not work.
Did CBS only show Team USA?
I watched on Saturday and only saw Team USA. I was enjoying it and getting into the program – and then it abruptly ended and switched to golf. As a result, I got no feel at the end for any competition between USA and any other team.
Why are you and many other Americans so pleased that CBS have broadcast surfing? Can you describe how the mainstream acceptance of Surfing that this broadcast initiative infers makes you feel ? Please limit your answers to 200 words and hand in to my desk by Friday afternoon. Mr Jackson, stop picking your nose. Class Dismissed.
You were a bit dark in Paris Texas Harry, are you method acting from the grave?
oh also the grom zone in the middle of the pool was the best for seein’ turns all close-like. i watched a couple from carissa from there!
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Can we talk about how your homepage takeover links to a stab advertorial post?
We always kick to Stab and The Inertia!
Kick to the nuts
At 14-years old, anything that doesn’t involve school, homework, church or chores is awesome.
I got my first root at 14.
14 seconds of awesome.
your hand doesn’t count mate
That was about 12. Back in the glory days when you didn’t even need to clean up after a good maz.
your poor mum
You’re my dad.
So LT is actually God? Kelly won’t be happy.
yours the size of a Goanna too?
You must have been sore.
…was he handsome?
Imagine how maggot the crowd would have been if this event was held in rural Australia on a hot weekend and sponsored [sorry ‘Partnered’] by a beer company.
And I’m not saying that’s a good thing.
Chas, I believe you can’t see good in wave pool because you had a bad experience there – very simple explanation. By the way, given BG’s never ending negativity to wave pool, does anyone see the irony in the pool crushing Chas’s shoulder – Is it almost cosmic?
Oh I bathe in that comic irony every single day! I also parked in Mick Fanning’s spot before surfing.
would you try the new Texas pool? Or does the thought of surfing another tub give you ptsd?
For sure. The Waco Experience seems fun.
Like the Branch Davidians.
Isn’t it time we had another fucked-up cult show up?
Perhaps Kelly could start one deep in the bowels of Leemore and in 10 years all his surfing / train driving sex-slaves can escape and write books / do daytime talk shows etc.
You don’t have to burn yourself on the toaster to know that Auschwitz was not fun.
https://giphy.com/gifs/joey…
I am trying to squint and see this grom’s uncle through his eyes……
This was pretty much the vibe in that center section of the pool. Lots of stoked out groms. It was the farthest from the VIP food and beer, which made me sad, but the best spot for getting close to seein’ turns and stuff.
Were you there, Jen? Crazy.
Satan should be all over this shit.
Satan’s sarcasm is obviously difficult to read.
Subtle nuance is not my strength.
Give us a chance Sat, I fell for that too
I was at the mid-section as well. Day 2 had the left breaking further down the pool if I reckon?
Oooh, not sure! I moved around too much to have a good read on that. Definitely the wind made the left a bit different on day 2 than it was on the first day. But not sure about the starting point, honestly.
I did like that mid-section on the whole. Shady, good vantage point.
Couldn’t agree more!
Crazy that there wasn’t more signings etc for the groms on the day