Australia, Brazil and maybe LA too!
You of course know Parisians, their casual elegance, their perfect trimness, their enjoyment of the finer things like Gauloises, chilled champagne and oysters but did you also know they’re stone-cold wave tank freaks?
It might be true!
Our World Surf League’s Dear General Secretary Sophie Goldschmidt sat down recently for an interview and we’ve already discussed her take on the troublesome far-right strain infecting most surfer’s heart but let’s jam on the Surf Ranch revelation shall we?
“We have one in Lemoore, which is our pilot facility. To be honest, we never thought we’d have events there but it’s just gone so well and the technology has become so robust that we are using that. But we’re building one in Florida; we’re also going to be building one in Tokyo, in Australia, in Brazil, likely LA, and we’re looking at building a couple in Paris.”
Australia, Brazil, maybe LA and a couple in Paris.
The City of Lights! Surf Ranches on every street corner!
In all serious, why do you think a couple in Paris? Is it just because Parisians are stone-cold wave tank freaks or is something else at play?
Baguettes.
The Sporting Cock.
What else could possibly be at play?
Stay tuned!
You of course know Parisians…never taking showers….sure givem couple of ponds that might help, wouldn’t hurt!
I’m blown away that shrinking little you is divorced. Fairly fell off my chair when I read it.
Yes funny no one came out with a line pour femmes, La Chatte Sportive ? They could have used Toucher La chatte a la voisine par Francky Vincent ?
Can’t help thinking this is a more appropriate forum for your French guillotine quote Dez. Segwaying* into story of future full blown surf wars between the wave pool aristos vs komentariot.
*Auto-correct, but somehow it works.
What kind of clouds are thoughts in the sky?
They call Lemoore the Paris of the Tulare Lake Basin.
There’ll be a giant whomping wave-generating bread product on Eiffel’s erection before you can say ‘Sir Mick Fanning, knighted for services to Sport’.
Knighted for “Exploration and Services to Global Tourism”, exposing many areas to the joys of 1st world tourists and economic growth hitherto undreamed of and unimaginable before His Coming. There shalt be the hallowed doorways of a Rip Curl Shoppe in every location crowned above by a grinning St mick pic, tastefully lit at night.
Who really gets knighted, I wonder? Mick, or Eugene?
$40m a pool, that’s $280 million.
Think about that.
No. I’m hungover as heck.
stop being a pussy.
hair of the dog.
I’m proper fucked.
C’mon little fella …. back on that hoss.
You can do it.
You guys are twisted! Haha. Well okay then here I go!!
Onya !
A light canter is recommended – no need for the jumps today.
Hahaha. I have been known to go harder on day 2 but I will head your advice. My binge drinking has taken on new levels of late.
Chemytrial in the sky with diamonds.
Sprayed like rats
Somewhere, Dirk’s accountant just had a heart palpitation.
Let’s see how the global economy rolls….I don’t think it will float that kind of a expansion….just saying people are broke and home values are going south… the # one asset of the masses.
Unrelated, but maybe not.
I read with amusement that Rip Curl signed St Mick up for 10 more years. 10 more years of The Search ! Mr Ridgeback described St Mick as “the most important surfer In the history of our company.” Whatever the fuck that means …..
It means Rip Curl forgot about Tom Curren.
Tom won 3 , Mick won 3 , so what will Rip Curl say when Gabriel wins 12 ?
“Gabriel Medina is the most important pool surfer in the history of Rip Curl. And congratulations to Mick Fanning being named headmaster of Instituto Gabriel Medina’s Daddy Daycare Center. And Rip Curl apologizes to Tom Curren for that remark 15 years ago about Mick’s importance in Rip Curl’s history”?
Does it surprise you as a Californian that we may estime Mick as high in Australia as you do Tom at home ? Tom doesn’t seem the type to be worried about such things either .
It surprises me that Eugene doesn’t get more credit for Mick’s accomplishments.
There are 1000s of Eugenes on the Gold Coast but only one Mick . The list of could of beens and should of beens who never left the party and got left behind is frightening .
And Wayne Lynch for that matter.
Prolly more important at that time to the success of RC than St mick is now.
The golden child ! As I have often said there are so many hipsters trying to surf like him but they don’t even know he exists . I read in an interview somewhere lost in time that he got in trouble possibly at Palos Verdes from a local who accused him of trying too hard to surf like Wayne Lynch and Wayne was forced to inform the bloke that it was normal because « He was Wayne Lynch ! « .
Hahahahahar !
Old saying, Be yourself, every other cunts taken.
What about Maurice? Would there be a Rip Curl if he didn’t take the rap (allegedly)?
Brutus is bitter a/f
not near as much as kelly will say.
tom who?
me?
Tom wasn’t much of a company man…
I agree. But without Sonny and Tom, Rip Curl would have been crushed into non-existence by Quik/Bong.
Yeah nah on that. They did and still do make the best wetsuits, I reckon that helped.
Without Tom!… period.
Sonny Miller was sort of important to the whole The Search thing.
no that’s why I am unemployed still!!
Let’s been clear here:
When you think about The Search you think about Rip Curl, TC, Sonny Miller
When you hear about The Search you don’t think about Rip Curl, Mick / Mason / Conner / Owen / Wilko / Gabby and some other filmaker…
Beacause this: they created history, stigma, paradigms…
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
And Because this
Surfer
https://www.surfer.com/feat…
PARADIGM SHIFTS
THREE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL RIDES IN THE HISTORY OF SURFING
TOM CURREN: Jeffreys Bay, 1992
By Derek Hynd
The trouble with perfect alignment of surfer, wave, and cinematographer was highlighted in May of 1992 when Tom Curren’s hallowed “first ride at J-Bay” simply was not documented. Fifty years in the future, the now infamous film of the rider/wave will intrigue the same way, but it’ll still be the second wave that will be studied in awe.
Tom’s arrival at J-Bay that year was arguably the most anticipated moment in surf history. Could there be a greater vicarious surfing rush than the world’s best surfer at the world’s best pointbreak? Big call of course…there had been Gerry or the other Tom during their respective primes paddling out at solid Pipe, Simon Anderson likewise during his incredible test paddle-out at big Bells aboard the early Thruster. Tom and Occy’s paddle-outs behind the pier at the OP Pro had, in themselves, set some sort of compounding phenomenon. Maybe even Duke in December 1914 riding to shore as a large chunk of Sydney lined Freshwater Beach in anticipation of the greatest athlete on Earth walking on water.
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The timing, linkage, style, and drive of Curren at J-Bay would be second to none. American surf fans alone willed it so. The last peg was gaping; they just needed Tom to show up.
Tom had missed the legendary 1984 swell at J-Bay, which was noted for the arrival of Mark Occhilupo and the swan song of Simon Anderson. Curren remained in Durban to get set for the upcoming larger events. It was regarded as a decent tactical ploy until the waves actually arrived. Thus, he lost his shot to elevate his surfing to never-before-seen levels. For Tom, years would pass before Jeffreys Bay came back onto the horizon. Rip Curl’s The Search campaign was developed primarily to give Tom any shot he wanted at any location, hoping that consumers would dig the vicarious rush.
He’d come away from Haleiwa six months before having hit a mark there that would likely never be surpassed. It was the best possible way to bow out of competition. The Search now afforded him indulgence in waves of freesurfing fancy.
Tom was on song as The Search started. Its first stab, a Canary Islands trip with Jeff Hornbaker as cinematographer, highlighted a few hiccups—personality clashes, the star’s tendency to miss flights, and his less-than-average quiver.
Veteran shaper Mark Rabbidge was inserted as a new variable to remedy the problem. The design Rabbidge ultimately created for Curren to ride in South Africa was based on his observations of Curren’s surfing during an epic 1990 season. The basic dimensions were 6’6″�— 18 1/2″�— 2 1/4″.
Tom was due to hit J-Bay for the May full moon. Just about every surfer who knew what was in the wind believed it would be the greatest display by a natural footer there, surpassing Terry Fitzgerald and Shaun Tomson whose high-watermark had never been categorically challenged. Rabbidge was sure that an evolved design under Tom’s feet would produce the right reactive first touch. Knowing the likely reality of Tom arriving late and without much in the way of boards, the 6’6″ Rabbidge was the agreed board for the occasion, colored in tribute to Tom’s yellow-railed Cole from Haleiwa.
As expected, Tom was late. He missed two days of the best J-Bay seen in a long time. Boneyards all the way down the line, the type of surf that doesn’t happen much anymore, went begging as flight after flight was missed, including one when Maurice Cole exited a French airport as Tom entered. The odds were insanely long, but apparently the sudden chat about great surf in France led to another plug pulled. If ever there was an easy stream of flights, here they were—no time difference involved, a night flight, a quick connection from Johannesburg, and an arrival at prime time for the renowned afternoon light.
At 2 p.m. on May 28, 1992, there was no sign of Tom. The swell was dropping. The flight from Johannesburg had landed at noon. The only word coming down from France was that this time he’d boarded the first of his flights. Twenty minutes later, he walked onto the front lawn of Cheron Kraak’s hallowed home above the Supers takeoff. He was with cinematographer Sonny Miller and second camera Tommy De Soto. The board was handed to him. Less than 10 minutes passed before the paddle-out. Miller gave De Soto the key role of capturing the length of the ride down the point. I butted in and asked the ultra modest and soft-spoken De Soto to be on the beach before Tom in order to document the rock hop and paddle out through the gully. The way the swell was ebbing, there were maybe five or six sets left before it died completely.
Cut to the beach and De Soto. No time for formalities. He got set up in time, did the 16mm load and lock, had Tom perfectly framed, flicked the switch, and…a disconcerting sound of tape being chewed as Tom made his way out. Miller’s main man hadn’t ever loaded this type of camera before. By now, with Tom outside and waiting for the wave during a lull and the cameraman too far away from anyone to call for help, he was in the type of hole that a person in his line of work might consider dire. The set came. Not a big one, but Tom took off. De Soto was still trying to figure out the loading. Some bozo dropped in on Tom, so Tom flicked straight off.
If ever there was a welcome bad act, this was it, for precious time was bought. A bigger set swung in immediately and Tom’s innate understanding of the lineup put him in perfect position. De Soto shut the camera and said his prayers as the ride began. No strange sounds. No chewing. Smooth running. It would be far and away the most professional of shots that De Soto would manage on the trip. Indeed, so good that the slight movement as he takes a breath halfway though the ride stands out like dog’s balls on a canary.
The ride itself was as expected: perfect. As good as anyone had ever ridden Supertubes. A piece of cake for a genius who had probably mind surfed the wave 100 times. Rabbidge’s untested board had the miracle touch just like certain Merricks and Coles did, with the type of accelerated release that was Curren’s hallmark on top-tier equipment. The board, indeed a one-off as shaper and surfer did not again link up, put Tom in the zone off the first bottom drive. It stands as one of the best boards ever built for J-Bay with the proof being the way the wave was ridden—style, substance, and variation. One can also appreciate the master working out the board as he powered down the line. It is perhaps the only ride worth studying for surfers of any level.
WATCH: (1:43)
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
And because this
The Search – Tom Curren J Bay Quad
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
And because that
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Dogs balls on a canary..
MP anyone?
Well
I can see The Search around the world… the search for distant an unexplored pool’s… deep in into the darkness and savage heart of Mongolia, Afghanistan, India, Pasquitan, Somalia, Bhutan, Brazil, Russia, USA, Australia, Congo, China, Papua…
Here we see the footage of Mick, and someone that I think is Conner ” The Coffin”, signing the new contract with Rip Curl…
I cannot distinguish whos is who… but Rip Curl now is reaching another level in clothes, for sure!
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
perfect. one for the clergy and one for the common people of paris.
Don’t forget one for the Nobles .
The Summer Olympics 2024 Paris ? Too late for 2020 Tokyo …..
But they could hold it at Lacanau or Hossegor or Biarritz ?
The sailing events from Berlin 36 and Munich 72 were held 10 minutes from where I live in Kiel so there is no historical precedent which obliges them to hold all the events in the host city .
Sorry to drag the quality of engagement down to 1,500 QS level but…
Olympic shenanigans came up during almost every heat during round 2 of the women’s 1.5K QS in Tenerife, which I watched in its entirety thanks to the modern miracle of multiple screens. Every second surfer with an American or Australian accent was surfing under an obscure flag, some of them openly telling all 7 of us viewers that they’re aiming for the Olympics.
There are a lot of new as I like to call them warm water Germans as they tend to have lived all their lives in the warmer regions/colonies of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland like Frankie Harrar ,who was an NSSA all star, in California and Leon Glatzer who was born in Hawaii and then moved to Costa Rica or Rachel Presti from Melbourne beach Florida who recently won Germany’s first world title in the ISA under 18s at Huntington Pier .
I watched on Thursday so we might have been 8 and that left is right up my alley ! Spent 3 months in 2010 on a nearby island and would love to return .
I was on the piss with a bloke from Berlin a couple of weeks ago and he was keen sailor and a top level competitive sailor as a teen. amazingly he didn’t see the ocean until he was 17. is this the future?
Buggered if I know but his life sounds like sailing’s version of North Shore the movie ? You can script this ….
I didn’t think to question his integrity, he seemed like a good cunt. even if he was German.
Sailing pools!
“we are also going to build one in Tokyo? “
you mean it hasn’t started for the 2020 Olympics ?
Wavegarden being built in Paris , French not happy with Sophie as she moved the WSL HQ to Portugal , as there was no-more Hossegor Pro…she’s English and Brexited the WSL from France …….good luck Sophie meeting with the French for your pool…
Paris Olympics , July ….has to be Hossegor , or even up between Vieux Boucoup??
Spot on
WSL
Thursday, February 21, 2019
After surfing’s inclusion in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Paris 2024 organizers today proposed that it should continue to be part of the world’s biggest sporting spectacle. Surfing will now await final approval from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Paris 2024.
“Surfing’s proposed inclusion in the Paris 2024 Olympics is very exciting news,” said WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt. “This further builds on the significant momentum and growth the sport is already seeing globally as we get ready for Tokyo 2020. The WSL looks forward to continuing to work closely with the ISA and Paris 2024 to hopefully optimize this opportunity for surfing.”
Zurf is doomed…