A bold pro-milquetoast agenda!
Surfline, the world’s largest surf
website, has had a very long run at the top. What started
as a telephone call in service turned online in 1995 and has been a
go to for any serious surfer since. I’ve always been fascinated by
it. Thousands upon thousands of eyeballs coming every day for surf
reports. Captive eyeballs since no one else has the camera network
etc. I always imagined how powerful the editorial voice could, in
theory, be.
Brands killed, brands made. The world shaped.
And maybe, the specter of this power kept Surfline from
ever trying to discover an editorial voice, preferring to stay
safely in the bland where no hurt feelings dwell.
Until last week.
It appears that new-look Surfline (the site has changed
and cameras are no longer offered freely) has decided it is going
to be the Fox News of surf media. A bullish mouthpiece of the
current administration. A bold pro-milquetoast agenda.
The transition was signaled by a softball
interview with World Surf League CEO Sophie
Goldschmidt and continues today with unvarnished excitement about
Olympic surfing’s schedule which, apparently has
locked down dates. Let’s read a touch together?
So we did what anyone curious about surfing and the Olympics
would do — called the ISA’s Fernando Aguerre, who, by his own
admission, “knows more about surfing in the Olympics than anyone on
earth.” And who are we to argue? It was Aguerre’s vision, drive and
commitment that led to surfing’s inclusion in the 2020
Games.
Turns out, those dates are placeholders. “This is one of
difficulties in having a competition in the ocean,” Aguerre said.
“They need initial competition dates to put some pins on the wall
to start selling tickets. And if we have a good swell, we’ll run
then — but if not, we have all the way through August 9th to run.
They do the same thing in sailing — if there’s no wind, they can’t
run, but they need to have dates on the board.”
This is good news, obviously. Surfing in the Games needs
four days to run, and a two-week waiting period is essentially the
same as a current men’s WCT event. Decent chance of surf.
Then later…
More good news: there is flexibility. It’ll be the ISA — not
the IOC or Tokyo — making the call to run each day. They can run a
few hours during the morning offshores, then hold till the next
day, etc. Just like a ‘CT event.
Etc.
I think it is wonderful that Surfline has found its
voice though I do wonder if the Huff-Po inspired The
Inertia will get testy. What do you think? Do you think the
Huff-Po inspired The Inertia will get testy?
