Italo Ferreira knows how to play tricks. | Photo:
WSL
(More) news from US Open: WSL reveals
Airshow Format!
By Derek Rielly
Eighteen surfers. Four-hour long events. Oh it
sounds like a prophecy from the future of professional surfing…
If you were in Huntington Beach last night, which
neither Chas or I were, you might’ve stumbled into the
saloon where Josh Kerr was busy announcing the format for the WSL’s
airshow at France in October.
–There will be 18 competitors: 16 hand-picked by Kerr, and
two wildcard slots that will be up for grabs (they have yet to
announce how surfers will be able to snag those last two
spots)
–The entire contest will be a 4 hours long
–There will be 6, 30-minute preliminary heats, with 6
surfers in each heat, each surfer surfing in two heats
–Airs are the only maneuvers that will be scored, and only
the top two airs from each surfer will be counted
–The cumulative two-air score of each surfer will be ranked
against all other surfers in the competition, regardless of heat,
leaderboard-style
–A surfer’s best air is doubled, and their two scoring airs
don’t have to be from the same heat
–At the end of the preliminary heats, after a 20-minute
break, the top 6 surfers on the leaderboard will surf in a
40-minute final
–Competitors in 7th place or below will get equal prize
money
“I tried to create a format where you have enough time to
really go for it and pull something if you’re a consistent
aerialist, which all the invitees are, of course,” says Kerr. “It’s
all about creating an environment where no one is holding back.
We’re going to be really harsh on the judging criteria, whether
it’s layback landings or forcing the air on a bad section. To get
in the 9-point range, you’re going to need to pull something close
to the maneuver of the year.”
It’s a departure from the format of the old airshows of the
’90s and ’00s, where you had to land two airs in every heat to
advance. According to Kerr, that encouraged low-risk, more
consistent airs rather than unbridled progression, which is the
goal of the new Air Invitational.
Eighteen surfers? Four-hour long events?
That’s sugar I can swallow…
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Day 3, US Open: “Why is Peter Mel Crushing
on Wade Carmichael?”
By Mariano Landa
Big-wave surfer and noted commentator finds love
while children play grab-ass in shallows!
Just when you didn’t think it would get any
smaller, it did. And today’s 11:00ish A.M. start
guaranteed a rising bump on the water from start to finish.
When I tuned in, guys were sitting 30-odd feet from dry sand,
closer to the water’s edge than the kids wading and playing
grab-ass in the distance. Such is the nature of truly dismal surf.
Much like the conditions, it seemed that everybody had a case of
the Wednesdays: the commentators seemed fatigued, the surfers were
similarly weary and many betrayed visible frustrations with the
scene. Shit, I felt bad for ‘em and I was office jockeying from
800km away.
But you know who I really feel bad for?
The Women’s CT. It just dawned on me that this
contest is a goddamn CT for the women. Okay, save me the shit about
how none of ‘em can do an air or surf when it’s big anyways. I
can’t imagine busting my ass to ascend to the fabled ranks of high
professionalism only to realize that one-foot windchop is the apex
of my professional career. At least the QS men have the illusion of
surfing Pipe and Supertubos and Chopes. The women? Mid-summer
Huntington.
But you know who don’t give no fucks about some
negligible windchop? Michael Rodrigues. After Crisanto and
Italo turned up the volume on Tuesday, Miggy Rods got the party
started in the first heat with 7 waves in 12 minutes, culminating
in an effortless frontside reverse that was still
memorable—remarkable, even—after watching three days of the same
turn from all comers in the field. The whole heat was a four-man
airshow. Which got me thinking about…
The Air Reverse as Kickflip. As usual the
commentary is shit, but it’s a pretty good barometer of two things:
first, what the present mental state of surfing (at least in
proximity to the industry) and, second, what agenda the WSL is
pushing in the background. Rodrigues, Seth Moniz, Cody Young, and
Soli Bailey all threw and made multiple air reverses in the opening
heat, forcing the commentators—if not the judges—to embark on a
discussion about the nuance behind each guy’s style and approach to
the same trick. Skate nerds know how big the “pro X has the best
kickflip” debates are, and I’m kinda stoked to think that surfing’s
level is so high, and ‘tricks’ so common that average surfers are
getting into the minutiae of style, nuance, and approach that have
long characterized wood & wheels. Ain’t every air reverse made the
same. One conversation I’m not into is…
The endless and undying rotation discussion. I
certainly don’t give a fuck if it’s a 360 or 540. Do you?
(Editor’s note:Yes! Its a 540!) Well
Chris Coté does and he couldn’t let it go for two whole heats, just
like that semi-estranged uncle who wants to tell you that story
again about the pretty hooker that he’s super glad he didn’t marry
after all. Where I can get down with Coté and Mel is the idea that
switch surfing is the future. I dunno to what extent it will ever
register given the current criteria, but there’s gonna be a pro who
only surfs frontside because his switch game renders the very idea
of a natural stance obsolete. And that is gnarly to contemplate.
You know what else is gnarly to contemplate?
Heat #18 had CT vets Banting, Freestone, Coleborn, and
O’Leary going head to head. Banting took it out after
riding only four waves and was completely candid about being sans
sponsor after the win. Coleborn looked chappy and frustrated after
missing a beauty of an early huck headed towards the pier. O’Leary,
currently in residence on the CT, finished dead last (as did Wade
Carmichael and Connner Coffin in their heats). Coupled with Brett
Simpson’s last-place finish in a heat characterized by high drama
lead changes and post-heat nail-biting, the whole landscape of
Spartans in decline was kinda sad. But that sadness was tempered
by…
Just how adorable Alejo Muniz’s son is. Alejo
wins his heat easy, pops a pacifier in his six-month-old son’s
mouth and marches him onto the post-heat interview, where the li’l
guy kept clubbing at the mic and cooing at Rosy Hodge (Editor’s
note: read about my date with comely
Rosy!). If we can’t have drug-addled miscreants and
weirdos in pro surfing anymore, I’m okay with having a legion of
jovial guys with big smiles and cute babies.
Speaking of cute babies…Kanoa Igarashi looked
in form with the day’s high total of 15.64. And as for big smiles,
Evan Geiselman unsurprisingly held it down in the fairly Atlantic
conditions, causing me to wonder why there weren’t more Floridians
in the draw. I also wondered why the fuck he was wearing a lei in
his victory chat. Apparently, some local chick comes down to the
comp every year and gives Geiselman a lei. I’d make a crude joke,
but perhaps the poor lass has a learning disability or something,
so fuck you for thinking I was going there. Bigger than her crush
on Ev though was…
Pete Mel’s crush on Wade Carmichael. After Mel
and Turpel speculated over whether Rob Machado’s long hair was
contractually obligated, Mel went all in on the finer points of
Carmichael’s wildman marketing potential. The ideal client, per
Mel? Harley Davidson. Wrong answer Petey, cuz guess what? The only
thing Wade’s marketing is WSL Merino sweaters, the new worldwide
avatar of tough and rugged!
Vans US Open of Surfing Men’s QS Round 2
Results:
Heat 17: Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 13.83, Seth Moniz (HAW) 13.27,
Cody Young (HAW) 11.40, Soli Bailey (AUS) 9.34
Heat 18: Matt Banting (AUS) 13.00, Jack Freestone (AUS) 12.20,
Mitch Coleborn (AUS) 10.50, Connor O’Leary (AUS) 8.57
Heat 19: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 11.97, Ethan Ewing (AUS) 11.43,
Lucas Silveira (BRA) 10.63, Brett Simpson (USA) 9.56
Heat 20: Maxime Huscenot (FRA) 12.33, Cooper Chapman (USA) 11.90,
Parker Coffin (USA) 10.36, Parker Coffin (USA) 10.30
Heat 21: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 15.64, Nat Young (USA) 12.00, Artiz
Aranburu (ESP) 10.90, Timothee Bisso (FRA) 9.43
Heat 22: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 14.00, Ian Crane (USA) 12.20, Tomas
Hermes (BRA) 11.20, Marcos Correa (BRA) 10.67
Heat 23: Michael February (ZAF) 13.44, Benji Brand (HAW) 10.84,
Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 10.00, Hizunome Bettero (BRA) 8.77
Heat 24: Evan Geiselman (USA) 13.33, Davey Cathels (AUS) 10.97,
Kyuss King (AUS) 9.23, Wade Carmichael (AUS) 6.87
Upcoming Vans US Open Men’s QS Round 3
Matchups:
Heat 1: Kei Kobayashi (USA), Keanu Asing (HAW), Yago Dora (BRA),
Adriano de Souza (BRA)
Heat 2: Ramzi Boukhiam (MOR), Reef Heazlewood (AUS), Heitor Alves
(BRA), Ryan Callinan (AUS)
Heat 3:Kolohe Andino (USA), David Van Zyl (ZAF), Lucca Mesinas
(PER), Griffin Colapinto (USA)
Heat 4: Joshua Moniz (HAW), Tanner Gudauskas (USA), Jesse Mendes
(BRA), Dion Atkinson (AUS)
Heat 5: Deivid Silva (BRA), Ezekiel Lau (HAW), Cam Richards (USA),
Thiago Camarao (BRA)
Heat 6: Bino Lopes (BRA), Miguel Pupo (BRA), Jorgann Couzinet
(FRA), Victor Bernardo (BRA)
Heat 7: Italo Ferreira (BRA), Joan Duru (FRA), Tanner Hendrickson
(HAW), Charly Martin (FRA)
Heat 8: Mihimana Braye (PYF), Peterson Crisanto (BRA), Jadson Andre
(BRA), Beyrick De Vries (ZAF)
Heat 9: Michael Rodrigues (BRA), Matt Banting (AUS), Ethan Ewing
(AUS), Cooper Chapman (AUS)
Heat 10: Maxime Huscenot (FRA), Patrick Gudauskas (USA), Jack
Freestone (AUS), Seth Moniz (HAW)
Heat 11: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN), Alejo Muniz (BRA), Benji Brand
(HAW), Davey Cathels (AUS)
Heat 12: Evan Geiselman (USA), Michael February (ZAF), Ian Crane
(USA), Nat Young (USA)
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Revealed: What’s next in beer and
surfing!
By Chas Smith
"Seeing everyone drink it is kind of our dream come
true!"
Someday I am going to write about something
other than the World Surf League here. Not today.
BeachGrit was a just birthed little thing when an unknown
by the name of Paul Speaker led a group in purchasing the
Association of Professional Surfers for free. I scratched my head
then and again when the name was changed to World Surf League and
again when he promised that billions of people would soon become
wildly addicted to the spectacle and again and again and again and
again and again every time he opened his broad mouth.
I wanted to meet with him so badly and begged any and everyone
for an interview but, alas, was rebuffed at every turn. “Is he too
busy?” I wondered. “Too… busy?”
Then Paul Speaker was fired. I breathed a sigh, initially of
relief but then depression, thinking the absurdity of his reign
would never be matched.
But then, as if by magic, a kindly British woman
descended from professional tennis and voila!
We were back in business!
I won’t backward fin you with too many details. You’ve been
along for the ride but each and every day presents a bounty that
Herr Speaker should be envy.
Like today on Instagram and let us read together:
The Ultra Brewing Collective, WSL, and the Kelly Slater Wave
Co set the stage for what’s next in beer and surfing while taking
inspiration from what’s truly great in this world — nature and the
human spirit.
Mic drop.
(Until tomorrow)
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Book extract: How a hard-charging
son-of-a-bitch busted his neck on an Indo trip and wound up in a
chair.
By Derek Rielly
Australian surfer Darren Longbottom went to the
Ments and all he got was a lousy wheelchair…
Ten years ago, the hard-charging big brother of shaper
and pro Dylan Longbottom, flew to the Menatwais for a
little r and r, hit his head on his board and wound up losing the
spark that powered his four limbs.
It’s an ultimately uplifting story, I suppose, “survival against
the odds” and so forth, but it sends shivers along my
mercifully still functioning spinal cord.
The hurt. The despair. It’s a mighty slashing underscore.
As Dylan told The Sydney Morning Herald,
“He’s been through so much. His wife left him a year and a half
after the accident. But still, I never saw him angry, even at the
beginning, after the accident. I would have been angry, but he
actually went the opposite way. He mellowed out. He became more
accepting of people, less critical of them, more patient. I felt so
sorry for him, seeing him in the chair. Then he’d say, “I surfed
for 33 years, which is more than most people surf in their
lifetime. I’ve had so many waves!” And he was content with that.
That’s his strength, to be able to look at it that way.”
This extract is called Moment of Impact.
Blue water. Blue water and silence … And then,
BOOM!
It was as if someone had turned on the television with the
volume set at its highest level, a flood of visions from my life
flickering by at lightning speed, stuffing thirty-five years into a
few seconds. It is a heavy, heavy feeling. My wife, Aimee, and my
daughter, Bowie … back further … our old house in Cronulla …
Christmas at my grandparents’ riding skaties with Dylan and Danny …
pulling stupid faces at every soccer team photo. And now, not
alive, just drifting in a vacuum.
A huge surge of energy came without warning and hit me like an
electric shock. I took my first breath after what felt like an
eternity. I was awake and in water, bobbing like a cork. The shock
was the burst of adrenaline, pulling me back from the edge of
nothing. I struggled to work out what was happening, before I was
back under water and sinking. Why was I sinking? Why couldn’t I get
back to the surface? I was swimming, for God’s sake, and I’m a good
swimmer, kicking as hard as I could, willing myself, telling myself
to surface.
What’s happening? Swim, you idiot, get back to the
surface.
My head finally broke through into the air, and I felt that
enormous surge of energy again, another shock, as I took another
breath.
My thoughts were still muddled, but this time I saw something in
the corner of my vision. Grab it! Just grab it! I wedged the
floating object under my armpit so that I wouldn’t go under again.
Now I had time to try to gather my thoughts and analyse what was
happening. I was in the clearest water imaginable, under a sky that
almost blended into the blue of the ocean. I realised that what I
had grabbed was my surfboard – or what was left of it – but I still
couldn’t piece together what was happening. Even with the
adrenaline running through my system I was beginning to feel
completely exhausted, almost empty. What I did know was that I was
in a load of trouble, and I let out a cry, ‘HELP ME, HELP ME!’
Stew pulled up on the jet-ski, and pieces of my memory started
to come back together. We had been doing tow-ins, using a jet-ski
to whip us into waves earlier and faster. There were a bunch of us
taking turns. Stew was shooting out the back of the waves on the
jet-ski when he saw my broken board in the water and thought he’d
check to see if I was okay.
As he pulled up, he looked puzzled. He didn’t know if this was a
joke, given my reputation as a joker. Any of my closest friends
would have just laughed at the sight – me hanging onto half a
board, hardly moving, as if mortally wounded. Luckily Stew realised
the enormity of the situation and jumped off the ski into the water
to help me. I was still shouting, ‘Help me!’
But Stew couldn’t hear me – no-one could. I was beginning to
drift away again, everything so vivid one moment … then
nothing.
Stew yelled out to the others – Prezzo, Greenie, Big Nathe and
Crusty – who raced in to help. Greenie was the first to arrive;
he’d seen Stew jump off the ski and was already paddling hard,
thinking something was wrong with the ski, only to find I was all
messed up.
We’d been surfing some random ‘bombie’ waves outside of a break
called Thunders, a remote location in the Mentawais, fourteen hours
by boat from Sumatra in Indonesia. The conditions were perfect:
sunny, not a breath of wind, consistent swell with waves three to
six feet high, palm trees in the distance. We were close to the
reef, a mixture of volcanic rock and coral, so it’s all razor
sharp, and the water was only six feet deep.
The last thing I remember was pulling off the wave and flying
through the air …
Now we were in the impact zone with the dry reef ten metres
behind us. Unbelievably, the water had gone dead flat. Another wave
would have rolled us all and pushed us, along with the jet-ski,
onto the reef with no escape, but the surface of the ocean was like
a lake. It was eerie.
Whether I passed out through exhaustion or fainted, I couldn’t
tell. Maybe knowing someone was there caused the adrenaline to
dissipate. I drifted into a dreamlike state; I could hear but I
couldn’t see. I thought I was talking, but I had no idea what I was
saying.
The jet-ski had a rescue sled on the back – a foam platform,
like a massive bodyboard. The boys were struggling to get me onto
the sled; I was like a dead weight. I heard someone say, ‘We’ve got
to get out of here before a wave comes!’ Greenie got me in a bear
hug – I still don’t know how he did it because I’m twice his size –
and he threw me on my back onto the sled.
But, still, the ocean was flat.
Greenie then jumped on top to secure me and yelled, ‘Let’s, go.
GO!’
We set off for the boat, but we had all been surfing and both
Greenie and I still had leg-ropes attached to our boards. Given the
urgency, we had forgotten about them, but with the first thrust of
the jet-ski the boards acted like an anchor and pulled us both off
the back.
Big Nathe was still in the water, and Greenie yelled out for him
to throw me back onto the sled while he took our leggies off and
stayed with our boards. Nathe got me on in one heave and jumped on
top of me as Greenie had.
Stew sped away again and backed off just as quickly once we got
out of the impact zone.
As the ski jolted to a halt, I made a shocking discovery. In the
ten minutes that had passed, adrenaline running through my body,
visions flashing before my eyes and my brain trying to gather my
thoughts, I still hadn’t grasped the severity of what had
happened.
I was on my back, Nathe still on top, stabilising me, when we
abruptly came to a halt and I saw my left leg fly, with momentum,
up past my eyes, almost reaching my shoulder. In that split second
my focus narrowed in on that vision and I snapped back to reality,
realising what I had just seen. I shouted, ‘I can’t feel my leg … I
can’t feel anything!’
Big Nathe repeated my words to the rest of the boys.
Whether it was the rush of finally putting together what was
happening or my brain going into recovery mode, I fell silent as we
raced towards the boat.
I had just experienced an enormous moment in my life. It was
Saturday, 20 May 2008, and we were in one of the most remote parts
of Indonesia, and breaking my neck was just the start of an
incredible journey, a journey where whatever could go wrong, did go
wrong …
Italo was in typical Italian Ferrari form, catching
fifteen waves and dominating a heat whose final tallies made it
look closer than it was. | Photo: WSL/Rowland
Day 2, US Open: “Italo is the best and most
anti-depressive surfer!”
By Mariano Landa
Comes in mid-heat and blows kisses to adoring
followers or shit-talking haters…
Another day, another dollar, another chance to huck away
a workday with the side screen open. The U.S. Open marched
onward on my desk in real time on Tuesday, providing exactly four
hours of Round Two heats in the same dismal surf that every other
West Coast denizen found at their doorstep.
But if opening day at HB is always an existential crisis of
sorts, day two embraced the dueling Kierkegaardian concepts of the
absurd and authenticity (nevermind Chas’s present traipsing
about with the Danes) to put on the best parking lot
Formula One derby in surf (great visual, @Walter Pepekay)
No leash, no problem. The Brazzas were all
about riding dirty on Tuesday, led by the likes of Italo, Jadson
and an on-fire Peterson Crisanto, each of whom advanced with ease
(more on them shortly). The timeless adage goes that surfing
without a leash is like sex without a condom. Ya hear it from
celibate old misanthropes, ya hear it from horny groms who haven’t
ever verifiably laid pipe, and ya absolutely never hear it from
female surfers. But the old proverb means one thing: it feels good
to eliminate drag but there’s the risk of letting your rocket ship
freefall into the danger zone. Of the guys competing sans leash,
most of ‘em lost their boards at some point and had to chase them
down, just like us commoners. In one instance, this showed the
whole wide world that…
Italo is the most and best Anti-Depressive.
Dude rocked a Neymaresque bleach-blonde look and manicured his
facial hair into a throwback pattern rife with ‘80s
cocaine flair. After taking a commanding lead, he lost
his board into the shorebreak, only to sprint after it and spend
the next two minutes blowing kisses to adoring followers or
shit-talking haters — it wasn’t clear which —up on the pier. He was
in typical Italian Ferrari form, catching fifteen waves and
dominating a heat whose final tallies made it look closer than it
was. The ensuing post-heat interview found the commentators waxing
nostalgic and philosophical when…
Peter Mel repeatedly referenced Italo’s locks as
“frosted tips” and then tsk-tsked the poor guy for not
knowing what “frosted tips” are. Now, since 1993 skate fashion is
long gone, I’m pretty sure that frosted tips imply using your
ding-a-ling to do something dirty with ice cream or a birthday
cake, not what you term a $500 haircut inspired by La Liga’s top
South American talent. Mel’s likely correct assumption that Italo
didn’t understand the reference to his bleached locks sent old
Petey down a rabbit hole, lamenting his monolingualism and
confessing that he never tried to learn another language during his
career. Honeysuckle Turpel placated ol’ Pete by telling him it’s
never too late to start learning as the awkward exchange dragged on
and on without a wave in sight.
Of Mice and Men. HB is typical midget madness.
Hiroto Ohara. Keanu Asing. Kei Kobayashi. Adriano de Souza. Little
dudes don’t bat an eyelash at little waves and you just expect ‘em
to keep the crazy legs going with ease. That’s why it was
refreshing to see Zeke Lau — the only current AFL or NFL prospect
in pro surf — hammer a 7-something for a left-then-right that was
apparently scored on the 1989 Hang Loose pro criteria for distance
traveled. Fellow big boys Joan Duru and Mihimana Braye handily
advanced in their heats, Duru hitting the high mark for the day
with a 15.83. And while I’m all about the fellow tall-guy steez and
struggle, Lau’s 7.33 for four safe turns and Duru’s 8.00 for two
mortal backside reos were solidly overcooked. Both guys won and won
big, but dem wasn’t the scores.
Speaking of scores, in his heat with Lau, Noe Mar
McGonagle did the unthinkable and logged a perfect
score. A zero. Yup. 0.00. Not a tenth of a point.
Didn’t take off on a wave. Let’s get Warshaw in here to enlighten
us, but methinks this is both uncommon and also pretty fuckin’ hard
to do, unless you’re imitating 2015 Filipe in Polynesia.
Speaking of Filipe… Everybody was on about how
Filipe’s not here and how’s gifting 10000 QS points to the
competition like a generous overlord showering grain on the
peasants. While overstated, it was reminiscent of the way people
talked about Kelly for missing a comp or skipping a heat a decade
or two back. Filipe’s certainly an otherworldy talent in the small
stuff and this line of commentary shows that 1. Toledo’s
progressive routine is so sharp that he’s worthy of getting big gun
hype like the all-time greats and 2. Even the people employed to
speak publicly by the WSL aren’t using the world title as the
measuring stick for raw shit-hot ability and entertainment value.
Wildcard implication is that shit is rigged and Filipe’s already
been assured the trophy at year’s end. I kinda hope so if he games
up in Tahiti.