Watch out!
There is not much surf news this morning, nothing that really compliments your morning coffee. The Vans World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach, North Shore, Oahu was called off yesterday because the waves became too big. I suppose that’s something and has the World Surf League lost its nerve? That is two events called off due to an abundance of size in under two weeks. Has the World Surf League lost its sense of grand adventure?
I’ll tell you one thing the World Surf League has not lost. Its sense of irony for it was revealed today that the League is “really, really protective of its intellectual property…” and let’s dig right in to this juicy little contradiction.
The quote comes from a new story about an incident that happened last year during the Jaws event. You certainly read it elsewhere then but, as a refresher…
An “unauthorized drone” was buzzing around the Jaws, maybe snagging some video etc. The League had its lifeguards try to throw swim fins at it before knocking it out of the sky with a proper helicopter. Doesn’t that seem a little on the dangerous side? Like, what if the the thing got stuck in the helicopter’s intake and made it crash at Jaws, taking out Albee Layer?
I would have made sure that #WhoAreYouBlowingInTheJudgesBooth trended all year long, in honor of.
But the helicopter didn’t crash, Albee didn’t die and the drone was sent to a watery grave. All fine and good but why the trouble? In a story on drone fan site PetaPixel the reasoning is explained.
According to a tipster that wrote in to PetaPixel, the WSL is really, really protective of their events and of the intellectual property that might be derived from them; hence, the strong arm approach to what the tipster says was a DJI Mavic drone that decided to drop in on the event.
Tipster Andrew Grose told the publication, “Like most sporting organizations the World Surf League (WSL) has been known to be quite protective in terms of its intellectual property rights…This is especially with regard to its copyright laws, making professional filming or photographing within contest areas almost impossible unless directly contracted by the WSL.”
Am I the only one that finds the World Surf League’s intellectual property hilarious?
Yeah?
Ok. I’ll be at the bar ordering another.
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Apparently the MLB owns everyone/everything and nobody is allowed to post anything without threats etc.
The opposite of the free content model
WSL Intellectual property? What’s that, Joey & Pottz?
Seems as if the world in general is really changing quick.
Do they have a CAA legal no-fly zone for these events?
Also: Can you imagine terror they might face if they bumped some Brazzo / SE Asian mafiosa drone out of the sky over there in Foreign Parts?
Upvoted for username. Needs more surfer rosa pics though.
I dropped the Pixies name in a room (Straya) and everybody thought I was referencing an obscure Disney movie…
The words intellectual and World Surf League should not come anywhere near each other.
I fucken hate have a nice quite surf at a remote location and some tourist kook starts flying a drone above me ,i so wish I had my rifle with me at that point , the done would be done dude.
happened to me at a pretty remote place, the guy (whom they were filming) was just doing the exact same fly away air, over and over. I assume it will be in some sort of commercial in Brazil.
Just tell them to put their BWT events in an enclosed area like a stadium. The space they decide put it in is called the ocean and it aint the China Sea. It belongs to everyone. Drones floating around when there’s a chopper hovering around like a Mavic Pro, that’s another thing.
Braddah Tim – you and I go way back circa 1978 when I was behind the bar at the Proud Peacock in Waimea valley and you were shooting emulsion. I moved to Maui in 88 to surf and wavesail. WSL BWT and every other surf profiteer who appropriates our public surfing resources for corporate gain should be grateful we don’t pull an Aikau and ban the Peahi contest circus club completely.
out of interest, how do you feel about the free surfs out there with all the engines buzzing about?
remember when they were called quad-copters? i’m pretty sure the US military/cia lead a campaign to beat the the term drone to banality in order to temper the disgust we should all feel when hearing the word.
it’s also fucked up the associations to the aforementioned aus band ‘the drones’, they reformed as ‘tropical fuck storm’, try messing with that!
(slow day in the cubicle)
Saw Tropical Fuck Storm on the weekend as a warm up for the even more impressively named King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, TFS were chaotic and entertaining but the music wasn’t actually that good. Kind of similar to how I’d describe BeachGrit as a source of surf news, really.
Haha. Appropriate. They’re not the most accessible group, but worth the effort if you care to dive in. Did you like the gizz? Also one of my favorites.
King Gizz are grouse, seen them a few times now but it would be hard to get sick of a 7 piece psych-prog-garage-folk-fuckaround band with 2 drummers. So far so good.
And the battery of the drone decaying in the ocean?
Corona is training locals as we speak.
what happens if sunset is maxed until tomorrow night?
Slow news so where is story on your middle east strike mission Chas??? A tease before Pipe?
do they check everyones phone before they leave the beach?
WSL
Anti -Intellectuals
Since 2015
life’s better in ignorance
What we don’t know, makes us laugh less? Or more?
Could be the Facebook livestream version of the co ..com …..commm.. en ..en ..n …en………t ?
Has Sophie created surfing’s first intellectual property racquet ?
Who dat drone, yeah?
Who dat drone?
Oh der it go
Der it go ‘gain
Der dat drone go!
Der dat drone go!
Look at it look at it
Der dat drone go!
Der dat drone go!
It’s killin it killin it
Der dat drone go!
Der dat drone go!
What is it who is it?
Der dat drone go! (I dunno??!!)
Der dat drone go! (I dunno??!!)
Der dat drone go
Lookin back
I know der’s much ta see
Aloha vibes, aloha vibes
Is how I prefer to speak
Hey hoale drone
Ya hoale drone
Would yoo like ta try some chopper blades
I just got my lei chillin on da beach just tryin’ a fly
I’m so haole I don’t even know how to spell haole
How would you spell pusshooks ?
Don’t laugh, Chas, just wait ’til the WSL releases its lineup of TV shows next fall, headlined by this:
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
a show that follows America’s favorite spark plug, Ike Ferreira (played by Italo), a former bad boy surf legend turned leading drug crime detective, double agent, chronicling his work for the DEA to take down the world’s major drug gangs (shot in major surf locales), only to also be working with them to make sure cocaine is available so the surf world can function…
Can Keanu Asing be his trusty sidekick?
no, he is doing a remake of Different strokes.
Book him Keanu. Murder One ?
I thought he was busy filming “Narcos Uruguay” nowhere near a strong enough mustache.
I was listening to something that was describing the MLB in the USA. It sounds very similar to WSL approach.
They were saying how MLB will be all but gone in a few years because of their approach; eSports smokes them etc. Sad.
It’s why the NBA is so amazing. Silver sure does know what he’s doing…
F1 had a similar issues, but the new owners have opened things up and there’s a new invigoration about the sport.
I don’t share your optimism about F1, seems like all the new drivers coming in are sons of millionaires and billionaires (literally) – they are getting rid of traditional tracks, three top teams more dominant than ever, it says a lot when Alonso has had enough!
i agree with what you’re saying, but i think these are all remnants of Bernie’s hand and change is more likely now. there have always been dominant teams, rich brats and struggling circuits. they’re closer to a budget cap than ever, ‘heritage’ circuits may have more contractual flexibility in the coming years (eg, hosting 5 races in 10 years) and … well … looks like the rich brats are here to stay.
post 2020 will be the real test.
i think alonso is an amazing driver, it’s fucked that he hasn’t has a good drive for years and i’m sorry to see him go, but i also think he made his own bed. at best Flav did and it’s his fault for letting that sleaze ball guide his career.
Flav was a legend with the ladies, I can’t understand it, he looked like a fat toad and screwed all the supermodels going! Ok a rich guy hooking up with beautiful women is nothing new, but a disgusting nasty piece of shit of a man hooking up with millionaires who were supermodels doesn’t compute! Time will tell about F1, I hope that Honda they are putting in the back of the redbull is decent!
i couldn’t agree more. i’m quietly confident that renault can gain some ground too (i think they abandoned this year’s car pretty early), imagine an 8 way battle for pole/wins. but maybe that’s too optimistic.
A Hamilton whitewash is more likely, wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t have a man more suited to driving tractors slowly as a team mate!
I do remember the Honda powered Williams (this is back in the Nigel Mansell/Nelson Piquet days) was the F1 at the time.
That before or after they culturally appropriated and patented the mad huey shoey?
WSL is owned by the Tribe, they bring us law and Justice….whi which stand gor Just Us…them.