Pipe Masters until 2021!

Does it warm your heart every December when the non-surfing marketing executive turned Dear General Secretary of the WSL, Sophie Goldschmidt, makes her annual appearance on the podium at the Pipeline Masters and talks about surfing’s “hallowed waves”?

Its’ all very…inclusive… devoid, as it is, of gender or even participational bias. We’re all surfers now etc.

Earlier today, the WSL announced it had secured permits for events in Hawaii for the next three years. This is a switcharoo from last year when the Pipe Masters was all but shelved (figuratively, not literally, as in ass) after a testy permit-roundabout between the City of Hawaii and the WSL.

Not any more.

From the presser:

“…the World Surf League is pleased to announce that the City & County of Honolulu has approved three years of permit applications, ensuring that the following WSL events will have the opportunity to run during their traditional holding periods and at their usual locations in 2019, 2020 and 2021:

• Sunset Open, Sunset Beach, January 18 – 28
• Volcom Pipe Pro, Banzai Pipeline, January 29 – February 10
• HIC Sunset Pro, Sunset Beach, October 28 – November 10
• The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Series:
• Hawaiian Pro, Haleiwa Ali’i Beach, November 13-24
• Vans World Cup, Sunset Beach, November 25-December 7
• Billabong Pipe Masters, Banzai Pipeline, December 8-20

“Hawaii is an integral part of surfing and a hugely important community for the WSL,” Sophie Goldschmidt, WSL CEO said. “The permit approval is a great step to not only ensuring the world’s best surfers continue to be tested in Hawaii’s hallowed waves in the coming years, but that these events provide infrastructure and developmental support for up-and-coming surfers from the region.”

Two more WSL events will be held before the 2018/19 Hawaiian winter surf season draws to a close: the Sunset Open QS1,000 (January 18-28) and the Volcom Pipe Pro (January 29-February 10), which will see the return to competition of former two-time WSL Champion John John Florence (HAW).”

Excited?

And do you think John John Florence will ever return to port?

A life so isolated the law and public morality can't touch you!

I doubt if we’ll see a family like the Wrights within surfing ever again, at least in my lifetime.

Three surfers on the tour, including a duel world champ, and all of ’em with their own  aesthetic. Three unleashed virtuosos romping through a program of standards. What’s not to love?

For added spice, mysterious illnesses derailed two thirds of the pack. These included Owen’s so-rare-it-didn’t-have-a-name delayed brain trauma that resulted in a push for compulsory helmets and Tyler’s potentially career-ending Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Lesser known is Owen’s taste for real estate. His portfolio contains a beach house near Lennox (with an indoor swimming pool that meanders through the living room) for which he paid $A1.4 million as a twenty-year-old in 2010, a Federation-style joint in Byron Bay ($A975,000), a townhouse in the surf town of Thirroul on the NSW South Coast ($605,000) and, this, the sprawling mountain hideaway Ahisma, on the NSW South Coast, bought for $A765,000 two years ago and now listed for sale at $A1,190,000.

From the brochure:

The ultimate nature escape, ‘Ahimsa’ offers complete privacy, stunning views and private creek frontage. The perfect place to breathe, unwind and appreciate nature.

The home has been designed to embrace the natural beauty of its environment. A full wall of bifold doors open your living space out to the large ironbark deck, the kitchen offers a servery window out to the covered deck area and even the shower can be open to the outdoors.

Other than the cleared land around the house, the rest of the property is natural rainforest, with your own private path meandering down through the rainforest to Brogers Creek. With very little maintenance required on the property, it is the perfect retreat to relax and enjoy the peace and beauty the property offers.

Even on a cold rainy day, you can snuggle up by the wood fire watching the ever changing landscape from the comfort of your lounge.

While the home embraces nature, modern conveniences have not been forgotten. Power and phone are connected, there is Telstra mobile reception and the kitchen features quality appliances including a dishwasher, gas cooktop and electric oven.

If you’re looking for your own piece of paradise to escape to, you can’t get much better than this. 

C’mon, let’s do a little walkthrough.

Like it?

Do you dream of chucking in the big-city life for an existence punctuated by the morning call of native birds, a honey-skinned and undemanding gal lolling around on the futon massaging her clitoral branches, and empty reef breaks?

Come, come, it’s a real-life garden of Eden.

Call Kate!