Do you crave the agony of defeat or the thrill of victory?

I took a few hours out of my busy day yesterday to watch professional surfing. You were there too, I think, watching with me, watching John Duru versus John Florence (pronunciation Luke Egan’s) and what did you think of that heat? Impressed? Infuriated?

More curiously, for whom were you cheering?

John (Duru) or John (Florence)?

Most curiously, though, why were you cheering?

Were you cheering for John (either) to win or to lose?

I’ll be honest with you here. I was cheering for John (Florence) to lose but why? I think he is a fine champion, very much enjoy the way he surfs and hope that when the season swings to Pipeline he is neck and neck with Filipe Toledo and Gabriel Medina for the crown but yesterday against John (Duru) I was quietly pumping my fist while those around me groaned.

Now, it is rude to admit so what was my problem? I sat and thought about what my problem was and first settled upon my upbringing. My father would always cheer for the underdog every time and I followed right along there. Cheering for the hard-luck kids/teams but that wasn’t what was happening yesterday. I wasn’t cheering for John (Duru) to win. I was cheering for John (Florence) to lose.

After more consideration, I concluded that I’m a bad seed. Rude. Incorrigible. Unlovable and it would serve society if I was lobotomized. I enjoy watching the agony of defeat more than I enjoy watching the thrill of victory but what about you?

Where do you stand on this important issue?

Can you share with the group?

All your favorites back in the water!

A full set of waves just went unridden. Pottz mocked the competitors. Turpel added something drab. Where are you? What are you doing? Tensions are extremely high right now. Backs are against the wall and we have a perfect swell angle with a little shadowing from Australia but it fits right into Keramas with improving conditions.

Can you say M-Rod?

“Just not finishing that first ride but some great hangtime and…” sorry. I’m acting like a court reporter here, live blogging what Pottz is saying.

That man is the worst person who has ever been let into a broadcast booth.

Ever.

Watch here and discuss!

Halusinabido: The belief that your non-surfing spouse/partner will one day understand.

Have you ever felt the strange wistfulness of being in a used bookshop? Have you ever been sent into a fit of exhaustion inspired by acts of selfless violence? Have you ever had the frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time?

There are words for these feelings. Respectively, they are vellichor, kuebiko and onism.

Below is the 2019 updated list of surf-related terms one may feel but can’t explain.

Kepsafolinus: The logical realization that you were, in fact, condemning yourself when you compulsively verbally abused the blameless ocean after not getting into that wave.

Chrüdwing: A confluence of elation and terror in knowing that you’re paddling out but will most likely injure yourself gravely before making it back to shore.

Ob: The erroneous belief that sharks don’t swim in water this shallow.

Jaterska: A state that allows one to maintain the belief that they’re a kind-hearted human while feeling rage at fellow surfers in the water. Jasterska Postus: A subsequent state of existential confusion upon hearing one’s toddler ask if they “had fun playing in the aqua” upon returning to the beach.

Fusstalitosis: An irrational, momentary belief among atheists that — after being caught inside for an extended period of time — they were wrong about religion, have entered purgatory and will spend the rest of time unsuccessfully trying to make it back outside.

Aquanolanosis: A sleep-dream state whereby laws of physics bend to your subconscious will as waves break in all six directions of the hexagonal paradigm.

Rudital: A low-grade, pseudo-somatic anxiety that one will never see loved ones again brought on by floating in the ocean for over four hours. Ruditalspexal – A derivative whereby the anxiety degenerates to the unwavering fear that everyone on land has perished in torturous agony as a result of a nerve bomb.

Vit: The belief that the universe has fated this set wave to you alone.

Mauex: The sudden realization that the verbal thrashing you’ve been unloading on fellow surfer for the past two minutes has, in fact, all been in your mind.

Olafaction: Acute sexual arousal sprung from ingesting the shampoo odor of a female passerby in the water. Olafaction Postus: Subsequent paranoia that the odor may have been from that hippie guy.

Oglielous: The recognition that the person in the neon-colored wetsuit you pegged a kook surfs better than you do.

Fintrial: An occurrence whereby someone on the the beach overhears you hoot during a solo session.

Womboozium: The amniotic tranquility derived from losing all sense of time while floating in salt water believed to be nostalgia for the womb.

Ringkong: A state of paranoia that everyone wishes you would just paddle the fuck in.

Halusinabido: The belief that your non-surfing spouse/partner will one day understand.

Trouble starts with "T" and that rhymes with "P" which stands for "pool."

So last I heard, and forgive me because I can’t recall the exact numbers, the World Surf League was claiming that Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch had sold out all its available days for… $10,000? $100,000? I can’t remember exactly but sold out, right? Then the World Surf League was offering steep discounts but very quietly. Slashing the price by more than half for those same days but very very quietly as not to alert anyone.

Not exactly confidence inspiring.

The business model is still not clear for Surf Ranch or any of the new artificial waves for that matter. Is this current boom (new Surf Lakes just announced in England etc.) going to lead to a massive bust when good inland folk aren’t willing to part with real money in order to surf? Or will there be a boom of epic proportions as good inland folk peel off bill after bill in order to “taste the tube?”

Impossible to know but a new, unforeseen competitor might create havoc in the marketplace and let’s learn all about them right now. Let’s not delay.

With new river parks, big flows and a swelling roster of whitewater surfers itching to carve after last summer’s meager trickles, the river surfing wave is about to flood Colorado.

“The biggest river surfing season ever is on tap,” says Mike Harvey, the river park engineer and co-founder of Salida’s Badfish SUP. His son, Miles, is one of Colorado’s top-ranked river surfers. “Interest in river surfing right now is ridiculous. Last year people struggled to find a place to surf and this year the state is going to go Richter. There are going to be people all over the place trying to surf.”

And they will have plenty of choices. There are at least 10 whitewater parks and roadside river waves in Colorado with features that accommodate stand-up paddling and surfing. The rare Big Sur — a river-wide wave atop an old dam in DeBeque Canyon that emerges when Colorado River flows edge past 20,000 cubic-feet-per-second — is likely to break for the second or third time in the last decade, drawing hordes of wave riders from across the West. There’s even a Colorado River Surfing Association, fostering a community of wave riders across the state.

“It kind of feels like this is all happening overnight,” says Brittany Parker, one of the country’s top SUP paddlers who lives in her van and, yes, it’s often parked down by the river.

Etc.

Now, do you think the wave tank barons will band together and dump toxic chemicals into Colorado’s rivers in order to neutralize the threat or will they be of a “rising tide floats all surfboards” mind?

Also, while I have you, are you a Keynesian economist or an Austrian economist?