Buy: Terry Bradshaw’s Big Island love nest
for a song!
By Chas Smith
Ex-Steelers star is selling his surf front
apartment at cost!
It is Sunday in America, the day we think about
professional football. The day we ponder professional football in
our hearts. And since you are American (I’ll post something the
Australians will understand before they wake) you are pondering
professional football while also pondering if you should go surfing
or not. If you live in Southern California the answer is likely
“not” this morning though you may be one of those sorts who must
paddle out even if it is very bad.
A dilemma, to be sure, but what if I told you that you could
have your cake and eat it too? That you could purchase ex-Steeler
quarterback Terry Bradshaw’s Big Island love nest for a song?
You can!
The apartment was purchased three years ago for $1.295 million
and is being sold for $1.3 million. And see. I told you. A song!
Ignoring inflation and skyrocketing real estate prices. Need
more?
The 2,111-square-foot apartment, part of the Manua Kea
complex, has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a living room, a
kitchen with mahogany cabinetry and granite countertops.
What distinguishes the home is its easy access to a
luxurious resort lifestyle, said listing agent Michele Paape of
MacArthur Sotheby’s International Realty.
“Properties like these that offer amazing ocean and mountain
views, and have step-out-the-door access to a world-renowned golf
course, but with ultimate privacy, is what makes them so desirable
in paradise,” Ms. Paape said.
Building amenities include an infinity pool with spa,
outdoor grill area, exercise room, gathering room with kitchen and
a game room, according to the listing.
Buy here and
never be conflicted on Sunday morning again!
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Opinion: “Every surfer should be talking
about Stab High Right now!”
By Derek Rielly
Chas Smith and David Lee scales podcast in real
time with Texas wavepool event…
Earlier today, Chas Smith and David Lee
Scales recorded their bi-monthly podcast The
Grit while watching the wavepool event Stab High,
held in Waco, Texas.
Over a Texas-themed charcuterie, the pair garnished the event
with their own commentary.
“If the rest of the media is silent about this event, fuck them
all,” Chas told me while driving home to north San Diego county
from David’s modest hacienda in Huntington Beach. “Stab went out
and spent a shit-ton of money to entertain us for a day. Everybody
should be talking about it, whether it’s good, great or shit.
I have nothing but respect for
Stab and everybody should give equal weight
to this event as they would to the WSL.”
Like skateboard mega-ramp events, pools are going to become the
preserve of little boys, in this case Eli Hanneman etc.
It’s easy to watch the WSL and be snarky but they do kinda nail
their event broadcasts.
The best surfers still are on the WCT.
Bobby Martinez does real fine backside hooks at Rincon. Not so
hot at calling airs in a pool.
Mason Ho has a slow-burning spark that takes hold of your eyes!
Hoo-eee, last-minute rodeo.
Listen here!
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From the let-them-eat-cake department: Surf
Ranch Florida reserved for elites!
By Chas Smith
The People get informational kiosks though!
I’ve been so darn fascinated by the Wave Pool
Wars that I find it difficult to sleep at night. Awake I lay, eyes
following ceiling fan spinning languidly, trying to calculate the
costs of waves at Surf Ranch, wondering if the operators shorten
the dampening time to 3 minutes instead of 4 how many more waves
could get generated. Wondering if American Wave Machines technology
feat. at Waco is the perfect nexus of quality and economy.
Wondering if Wavegarden’s burgers will carry the day. Wondering if
Surf Lakes in Australia, opening very soon, will make the other
pools feel redundant or will it itself feel redundant.
And when the sun pokes its head up I am no closer to conclusion
than I was at midnight.
Which tank will win out, at the end? How can Surf Ranch with its
$5000 per day price tag compete?
Is it the Spruce Goose of pools lorded over by a mad,
germaphobe?
How?
How is it economically viable?
Well… this morning my bleary eyes found answers. Maybe Surf
Ranches, soon to be dotting the globe, are not for everyone. Maybe
Surf Ranches will be very exclusive country clubs for the .5%
And let us read from the Palm Beach Post
for Palm Beach is of course the site of Surf Ranch Florida.
The site will be a major training facility for professional
surfers, said Joni Brinkman, a principal with Urban Design Kilday
Studios. She didn’t know to what extent it would be open to the
public, but she did say the site would have informational kiosks
for visitors to learn about the surrounding natural areas. They
plan to partner with the county’s Environmental Resources
Management department in doing so.
And again:
She didn’t know to what extent it would be open to the
public, but she did say the site would have informational kiosks
for visitors to learn about the surrounding natural areas.
And one more time:
…she did say the site would have informational kiosks for
visitors to learn about the surrounding natural areas.
So there you go. Surf Ranches and the WSL don’t want The People
muddying the waters, as it were. Surf Ranches are not for me or for
you but for millionaires and billionaires. At least they are giving
us kiosks to learn about the surrounding natural areas though.
Thank you Kelly Slater. Thank you Dirk Ziff.
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Meet: the iconic fashion photographer who
made surfers barbarically sexy!
By Derek Rielly
The great Bruce Weber's gorgeously torrid work with
Kelly Slater, Shaun Tomson, John John Florence, the Fletcher family
and so on.
If you enjoy examining black-and-white photos of men in
underwear as much as me you’ll know the work of the
American photographer Bruce Weber. Abercrombie and Fitch, Calvin
Klein and so on. A real one-of-a-kind.
Via an enduring friendship with the famous surf family The
Fletchers (Herb, Dibi, Christian, Nathan etc) Weber occasionally
cuts frames with surfing celebrities: The Fletchers, natch, John
John Florence, Laird Hamilton, Shaun Tomson, Kelly Slater, Bruce
Irons.
Look at the harmonic revelation of the world champion Kelly
Slater, and pals, all with thorn stumps out.
And the barbarically sexy Laird Hamilton (with eighties star
Brooke Shields).
In an issue of the always very good Saturdays Magazine,
the New York clothiers interview Weber about his relationship with
the surf game.
I won’t take you all the way to the bottom of this particular
grove (click here for the full
story) but you’ll like these moments.
Surfers remind me of the rock and roll guys of the ’60s and
early ’70s. Rabbit Bartholomew is a good example. He was the Keith
Richards of surfing: hair, clothes, jewelry and all. All the
surfers I met early on had great style and a desire and passion for
living in the moment. They made no money. They were like wrestlers
in that way. College and high school wrestlers never make any
money, but their hearts are totally into it.
Danny Dimauro: When you work with surfers, what is it
that you’re seeing, from an artist’s perspective?
bw: I think you always discover something when you look in
the eyes of an adventurer—whether it’s a surfer or a person who
climbs mountains. They defy incredible obstacles. Their eyes seem
to have the same light as the sky. They’re almost translucent.
Surfers are adventurers, people who know no boundaries. My interest
in surfing began with photography, but I was never going to be out
there in the waves taking surf photographs. I take portraits.
Surfers remind me of the rock and roll guys of the ’60s and early
’70s. Rabbit Bartholomew is a good example. He was the Keith
Richards of surfing: hair, clothes, jewelry and all. All the
surfers I met early on had great style and a desire and passion for
living in the moment. They made no money. They were like wrestlers
in that way. College and high school wrestlers never make any
money, but their hearts are totally into it. To meet a surfer whose
heart is so into the sport and into being in the water—there is
just nothing like it for a photographer. I was really lucky that I
got to photograph so many people when they were just beginning. I
photograph for Vanity Fair sometimes, and my friends who work there
often tease me—they say, “You’re really great with people when
they’re beginning, or when they’re in their 90s.” I forget about
that sometimes, but it is how I live my life.
Danny Dimauro: Let’s talk about your relationship with
Herbie and the Fletcher family.
bw: It was around the time when I first photographed Marky
Mark for the cover of Interview. I wanted to do a sportsman, so I
thought of Nathan and Christian Fletcher. I drove down to where
they live in San Clemente with my assistants and some clothes. Dibi
opened the door and said, “That fucking 405 is terrible.” It’s the
last thing I expected that a mom would be saying to me. I stepped
in the house and there were all of these great artworks and painted
surfboards everywhere. We were in the kitchen talking, and
Christian came in with his hair half-shaved, a tattoo on his skull
and a ring through his nose. He was so beautiful—it just made me
love surfing that much more. It felt like I was in the middle of a
crashing monster wave when I was at their house. I went into
Nathan’s room—it hadn’t been cleaned in years. Surf paraphernalia
everywhere, like a great piece of art. I knew I was photographing a
record of their family, living there at that time. I just adored
Herbie and Dibi. I kept imagining that they were like my adoptive
parents. They taught me so much about the surfing world and surf
clothes. They instantly became great friends of mine and still are
to this day. I had some of my greatest times with them during our
travels and visits over the years. Looking back at all of those
surf films, I think that the Fletcher family’s story would have
made the best surf film ever. I know that Sean Penn was really
interested in it at one point, but then he got occupied with other
films he was working on.
Dad-strength: Aged Australians teach world
a lesson it won’t soon forget!
By Chas Smith
A stacked final day!
Tell me that you are now officially a fan of
the World Surf League’s Masters Division. Tell me you know that the
spark, the pasión,
missing from the World Surf League’s Championship Tour (aside from
Kolohe Andino) has been discovered burning brightly in the
semi-autonomous Azores. Tell me you are watching.
If you are not watching it is a great shame and, very quickly
before I forget, where is Dino Andino? I would like to see him surf
again and I would like to see Mike Lambresi surf again too but more
on that later for we need to discuss how aged Australian men took
their proverbial belts off, ample stomachs spilling over
waistbands, and whipped the rest of the world. Whipped aged
Americans and aged Brazilians, even an aged Frenchman if you
consider Tom Curren French, which I do.
Australian surfers are dominating both the men’s and women’s
events at the World Masters and Grandmasters Championships in the
Azores.
No less than five Australian men – Jake Paterson, Dave
Macauley, two-time world champion Damien Hardman, Luke Egan and
Matt Hoy – made it into the masters quarterfinals in Portugal on
Thursday.
Paterson has been particularly dominant, knocking out
Sydneysider and two-time world champion Damien Hardman before
eliminating former world champion Hawaiian Derek Ho.
The West Australian coaches promising young QS surfers
including Leonardo Fioravanti, Ramzi Boukhiam, Marc Lacomare and
Ezekiel Lau and Kael Walsh, and he’s aware they’ve all been
watching him compete.
“When I’m out there I’m actually thinking of what I preach
but I still made a couple of mistakes and I’m sure my guys will
text me and let me know about it, for example when I lost priority
paddling for a wave I didn’t get,” Paterson said.
Natural-footer Egan cut the lefthanders apart to post the
big enough scores to defeat Aussie Dave Macaulay and local wildcard
Joao Alexandre on Thursday.
“It’s so cool to see everyone is still as passionate about
their surfing. I think it goes to show that no matter how old you
are, if you really put the effort in you can still keep a very high
level,” Egan said.
Etc.
I wonder if things would be a little different had Dino Andino
and Mike Lambresi been in the draw?
Also, I know it is not called The Grand Wizard’s division
because it is called the Grandmasters division but I think it would
be cool if they could change the name. Surfing’s eldest champ
should be called a Grand Wizard. The Grand Wizard of the WSL.