Blame Gabe!
Margaret River, a few hours south of Perth on Australia’s rugged western shore, is truly God’s country. Gorgeous hills dotted with vineyards, kangaroo farms and macrobiotic restaurants tumble into a sapphire ocean teeming with life. The towns are a postcard dream, impossibly cute with broad accent’d locals ready to serve you in any manner of ways.
It is truly perfection, a public relations department dream. Margaret River sells itself but what happens when Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina hijacks the marketing? Margaret River turns into Uluwatu (in Indonesia some 3000 km away) or Gnaraloo station (in West Oz but 1300 km north) is what.
What an unmitigated disaster! But true. You recall this year’s Margaret River Pro, paid for by Tourism Australia, completed in Uluwatu. Well, there is discussion next year to move it equally far away (basically). And let us turn to the grand West Australian for more.
The Weekend West understands Margaret River Pro organisers met Shire of Northampton chief executive Garry Keefe and representatives from the Kalbarri board riders club to discuss moving the competition north. Kalbarri’s Jake’s Point (500km north of Perth) and Gnaraloo station (1000km north of Perth) are believed to be possible locations.
A State Government spokeswoman said Tourism WA had an agreement with Surfing WA to hold the Margaret River Pro next year.
“We are in early talks with Surfing WA and WSL about future years,” she said.
Then later…
The attacks (during this year’s event) prompted backlash from international surfing champions including Brazilian surfing heavyweight Gabriel Medina, who aired concerns about returning to the water.
Medina told his six million Instagram followers at the time that he did not feel safe training or competing in Margaret River after the attacks.
“They had two shark attacks on a beach close to where we’re competing,” he said. “I do not feel safe training and competing in this kind of place — anytime, anything can happen.”
So.
Have you ever surfed in either Kalbarri or Gnaraloo station? Good? Fun?
Nice for competition?
And sharks?
And more importantly don’t you love how Australia kicks Gabriel Medina under the bus every single time there is a conversation about the cancelled Margaret River Pro? It is a well-executed campaign, no doubt, and I think that Gabriel Medina should move to Australia and become a villain.
Like, star in all the movies as the bad guy etc. Always shaking a fist at the camera and warning locals that he is one bad mama jamma.
And without further ado…
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
Nothing thats the problem , ask Brutus aka MC whats wrong with OZ grass roots surfing , Majeks and Thirsk classic examples total kooks in the water with way to much influence over surfing WA and feeding from the trough.
Real breakin news Justin Majek is exposed as an imposter , cant surf never could but runs surfin WA and gets to make the call on whats going down …now thats a headline , give me Fast Eddy anyday the atleast the prick surfs
What happened re Majek?
Seems to me like a direct challenge to gabs to show him up. Here you scared of sharks? Ok face up to tombstones. We will show the world you have no stones. Lovely plan to show him up. Pay back time.
In his favour , having won at Tahiti , 2 finals at Pipe and 2 wins at Cloudbreak ,he would probably go into the event as favorite which he probably will never be at the three venues available if the competition unfolds at Margaret River ? He may be afraid of sharks but doesn’t appear to be fazed by rock or reef ?
Lol… the last place Gabby wants to surf is fat Margies or the Box (even though he has improved out of sight for the Box). Gabby would certainly be the favourite at Gnarloo. He is the best forehand tuberider on the planet; can surf deeper than John.
I’ve spoken to A Kalbarri local about this. One of the lads is prepared to paddle a dead sheep out there. You do the maths on the viability of this contest.
Will he be wearing a legrope ?
West Aussies are easily triggered. Somehow this will be blamed on the “Eastern States”. Just hold it at Rottnest, they can get some cute photos of Quokkas; that will get the WA tourism bureau happy and everyone will forget about the sharks.
I was a yes but ended up voting no… just for the fact that once the week was over, tension and bitterness would’ve remained amongst the core locals and that may have hindered my surfing experience here.
Diplomacy in action . Fools rush in while the wise man considers all the possibilities and long term outcomes and potential repercussions ?
A pool in Perth would solve all problems.
One in Ca, one in Japan, one in Perth ….
Where’s next ?
duhhh of course, Florida.
How about red bluff?
Shut the fuck up! Haha
*nothing to see here*
hahahaha
Last time i was in carnarvon iit was hard to find razors so i grew a massive beard like the locals,medinas armpits will cry from the rash from paddling..plus a huge tiger shark bumped my mate there the same month ..brazillian breeze is just gas
WSL heading north! It will not be pretty, they will have a fight on their hands, it will divide a community, there will be a civil war, it will be bloody and violent, reminiscent of the conflict between Catholic’s v’s Protestant’s in Ireland, the rainbow shorts are not to be messed with!
Tell Gabe…get out there and Surf…or shut the fuk up.
Gabe is only a puppet for the Puppet Master!
They want pool surfing….so they can sell more crap…in a Entertainment Park. This is the big money agenda!
$200 a ticket….
Feel like I deserve a little bit of credit for this story. Ironically the shark population at both these places is probably worse, just not the same amount of people in the water to see it.
Maybe if the companies could put the locals on the payroll like the Hawaiians, but I’m pretty sure those Barri boys couldn’t give a fuck about money, you know, since they have the ability to earn it legitimately, unlike the north shore whose economy seems to be propped up by meth and overly processed ham.
As for Gnaraloo? The logistics would kill it. Dig up Sunny Garcia’s thoughts on the billabong challenge that was held there back in the late 90s
Turts I hereby give you credit for the drop.
Would love someone to dig up those SG thoughts.
So: even wilder, more remote location with possibly even bigger sharks, LOTS more surfers in water than normal, further from hospitals etc. Wot could go wrong?
Ask Luke Wyllie what can go wrong. SG likened his experience (from memory) to, ‘one long camping trip, and I hate camping’. He stayed in the nearest town which is a 2hr drive away and is a massive shit hole named Carnarvon. Can you imagine Gabs staying in a tent in the middle of the desert?
They’ll fly in and out. Luxury temporary accommodation buildings on-site with subservient eunuchs serving them peeled grapes and little lobster skewers.
I’m afraid there are luxury cabins on Gnaraloo station. now mate up near the old shearing quarters.
Sad but true.
Yeah did think about that. Even the Bluff has ‘Glamping’ facilities.
Luke Wyllie is a grade kook , who just happens to have inherited a fucken shit pile of loot , hes still a fucken kook though.
You know, I used to hate on him a bit. But I don’t agree he’s a kook. What’s funny however is the amount of C grade surf personalities sucking up for free chopper flights
Heres some credit.
Have an up ^
wa wa waa i hate camping bo hoo
camping is for white people who did not grow up poor
Tombstones would be waaaaay more likely to fuck up a pro than a shark at margs. The irony of this must escape them.
So true I hit the reef there and really fucked my feet up. Deep cuts and reef rash all on my shoulders gnaraloo is so heavy
A ha ha ha ha ha
ha haaa hha haa ha.
ha ha ha haaa ha. Jesus.
They’ll be able to make a sit-com out of this at least, “What happens when a rustic, starkly beautiful and disturbingly violent fishing town gets the Offer of a Lifetime from an American billionaire and a government tourism department? Think Tim Winton meets Eat Pray Love! sit back and watch the crayfish fly!!”
Sitcom title: Blood Feud: NW by SW.
(Thanks for fucken Nothing.)
My boardriders club turned down a QS comp a few years back, It was a saga of the greatest proportions and I still get shit and digs about it from both sides 8 years on…
It’ll tear that Town in particular to pieces.
They’ll be towing dead whales in to shore.
I am just wondering how the WSL Logistics is going to turn these two lefthanders into rights ? I have a very charismatic French mate ( great surfer and talented linguist , singer/ songwriter, serious party animal and now successful bar owner ) who successfully travelled the world and the only place in the whole surfing universe where he got absolutely no warmth was during his sojourn in KALBARRI. Have doubts they are rubbing their hands together (except maybe Clay because he is famous for rubbing his hands ?)with glee in anticipation of CIRCUS WSL coming to town ?
Kalbari boardriders are in talks with gov and wsl reps ,opposing it
Has your mate been to Mauritius?
I’m sure it’s less sharky up at either one of those spots… /s.
Doesn’t it get crocy up at Gnaraloo? If so, I’m for it!
Wherever they hold it, I hope they still call it the Margaret River Pro (in memory of Gabs Medina).
With a GM award for the surfer who displays the greatest commitment to shaving or crying.
The best thing Gabe has ever done. No more Margs, the only thing surfers like about that place is the wine. Which is actually pretty average.
Nothing like an icy stein of Munich’s finest river water, eh?
i am pretty sure you never drank any good wine from margs to say something like that their chad and cab are right up with great bourdeoux my friend and even their sauv blanc like suckfizzle are great.
It’s a know fact that shortly before getting in the water Gabe cut himself while he was shaving his armpits, his blood in the water led to the shark attacks, he is entirely to blame!
incidentally his blood is very close to that of female menstruation which, thanks to Laird, we all know brings the sharks. How about towing a tattered Gabby Medina 100km off the coast to ensure contest site safety? I’m all for it..