A question for the ages!
I’m an old hand in the surf game now. A weathered turnip. Been around this block for a good fifteen years and seen things you wouldn’t even believe (just kidding. I’ve written about all of them ad nauseam). Seen lots of kids billed as “the next…” only to fizzle and end up drawing a welcome but meager paycheck from Dirk and Natasha Ziff’s professional surfer pension fund. I rarely get excited anymore by these pan flashes and so was caught off guard just now when BeachGrit’s kitchen cabinet member James Prier texted “I’m calling that Kanoa Igarashi is going to be the most marketed and sponsor in demand surfer going forward.”
“Kanoa Igarashi?” I thought. “That Kanoa Igarashi? The one with straight black hair, a fear of larger waves and an unnatural physical celebration?”
James pressed forward with a compelling case about how Kanoa ticks all the boxes, doesn’t offend, shows up, doesn’t say naughty things. That he has the right sponsors and the WSL will push him out with looming Olympic surfing debut in Japan etc. etc. but I just can’t buy it.
The boy bores the shit out of me. I understand the marketing angles but, at the very end, doesn’t there have to be some sort of spark? Some burn?
Kelly Slater has star power. So did Andy Irons. I think Kolohe Andino does and is going to explode soon. Kanoa Igarashi is dull and not that he can’t discover a personality but it ain’t there right now.
So what do you think. Is the current US Open champ a dry heave or the future of surfing?
How’s this: having an uncle who is a teacher doesn’t mean Grif is smart. Get back to yer PTA meeting…
Griffin Colapinto is the future of Surfing until someone better comes along. He is the next JJF for sure. Kanoa is good but what do they say, vanilla? If Kolohe was going to make a charge for a title he would have done it by now.
Glad you could join us after your PTA meeting with Grif’s uncle. Grif must be smart if his uncle’s a public school teacher…🤦🏼♀️
Im So late to this party. Fletcher said it best when he said something like. Most of the guys in the top 30 are boring. He said that like 25 years ago.
Christian Fletcher for President
Whichever surfer first claims to suffer from gender dysphoria, will be the next big thing. That’s how cool surfing has become.
Award Winning Environmentalist:
“….Dozens of trees were uprooted from a sanctuary in a nearby town, too. The plants, it turns out, had been carted off to the 12-acre West Tisbury estate of Dirk Ziff, a New York investor and heir to a publishing fortune….”
https://www.wsj.com/article…
Award Winning Environmentalist:
“The Ziffs apparently also wanted the big boulders that would give their manufactured habitat the look of virgin woods. And here in Patterson, officials say, the Ziffs found just the rocks they had in mind: in virgin woods owned by Putnam County….’It looks like a comet went through there,’ said Sam Oliverio Jr., a county legislator. ”He just raped that area.””
https://www.nytimes.com/200…
Don’t think Kanoa is gonna be a serious threat for the world title in years to come but he’s clearly gonna do more (and better) than Kolohe. I mean. Hasn’t he already?
I agree about Kolohe. He’s a top 3 level talent. The Aussie weighted WSL Judges don’t like this. He gets burned over and over with underscoring.
Kanoa is also very talented. Japanese are raised to be respectful. I like it. He kinda let allot of pent-up emotion blow, and fine. To each his own. But cool is cool, and he’d be better served by being understated instead of claimraining all over fuck. Let your surfing talk. Dont forget, Felipe skipped this.
It’s called passion!
No Griff is not Kelly.
America has its problems (old hippies, liberals, democrats…worthless all of em). Nevertheless, still mightiest (military/economy) country in the world…..by a mile. Why is it that about 75% (probably higher) of worlds population would emigrate to the US if given the opportunity? People don’t emigrate to countries that suck.
Old hippies, liberals , Democrats…………worthless = surfers ? Power moves from east to west and if you stand on the beach in California you can slowly wave it goodbye ?
The money we waste on the military instead of education is our weakness. As Trump said he loves the poorly educated.
That’s a good one. Liberals always wanting more $ for education. Never ever enough. We spend more (per student) than any country and yet education gets worse every year.
Listen well: MORE$ DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN BETTER EDUCATION. The public school system has proven this.
Yes more $ can give you a better education if for example a kid goes to to a private Catholic school. But more $
for public schools just gets sucked up by administration and teacher’s unions. And even if that wasn’t the case, the curriculum is so bad that more money won’t make a difference.
You are a fucking kook spouting pure made up nonsense – smarter countries pay their teachers much much more that is a fact. The curriculum gets bad where we spend too little or have right wing nuts write evolution denying textbooks. Fuck you and your anti education pro war filth.
My wife went to a public school and got into an Ivy League school I went public too and have a doctorate and make a fine living.
Triggered! Looks like I hit the mark. 😉
Kanoa sticks it into long, driving, shallow Backdoor barrels that most of us would either puss out on or claim for the rest of our lives. Kid is a very fucking good surfer and getting better, doesn’t appear to be a dick either. Leave him alone?
Exactly where does the hate come from makes no sense? I freaking loved the final and was rooting for him all the way.
Fuck you, Chas – Kanoa is the man.
So if his uncle was a serial killer, would that make him a serial killer? You can’t name-drop or bloodline your way to smarts, buddy.
I think he’s probably one of the top 5 surfers in the NSSA
You’re a damn fool nssa surfers don’t charge back door
Not so sure he was charging Backdoor as a grom either. Then again maybe he was and if so, that is respectable but also beside the point. IMO his surfing is robotic, comp-programmed, score-driven, homogeneous, bland and lacks any form of spontaneity, feel or rawness. He is the exact opposite of Italo, who is by far my favorite surfer on tour bc his surfing exhibits all the qualities that Kanoa’s lacks, again IMO. I’m genuinely curious as to what you like about his surfing…
He’s been pushed since he got on tour. I remember watching his round one heat at Bells versus Dusty and Jules his rookie year. They were throwing buckets and burying rail yet he won the heat with a series of check turns. His approach is safety surfing with a very P.C. dash of flair. Completely devoid of any wow factor. He surfs like a ripping 13yr old from 2004, his surfing can’t hold a candle to Griffin’s. Fuck the WSL right in their jap eye!
What’s the bet it’s a Jebus reference?
Are white surfboards done too? Man I hope not. I hate paying extra for stained resin.
is no body going to mention the the WSL subliminal justification for different prize money. showing a womens CT semi followed by a mens QS semi clearly illustrated the performance gap.
“I think kolohe andino does and is going to explode soon”
The entire surf industry has been waiting for this for years… im not buying it anymore.
A california japonese surfer with a lisp tongue that cheer for the national french team with gay ass leo fioravanti best friends with the biggest asshole arrogant prick pro surfer from hawaii, this jumping japonese is a case of study.
Fuck you, you racist piece of garbage. Chas, is this what your site is about ? Nationalistic trash? By saying nothing you are condoning hate. Fuck this.
Seth moniz may have just qualified