Aloha, Hawaii.

Yesterday we had the great pleasure of meeting the world’s first and only surf therapy PhD candidate, a handsome man named Jamie Marshall who studies that ancient art in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.

Today we shall learn about the “branding agency” Cre8ion just down the pendulum in Cardiff, Wales, UK that gives its employees Fridays off and forces them to go surfing. Before we tuck in to the BBC’s wonderful reportage let’s spend a brief moment discussing the name “Cre8ion.”

I assume it’s pronounced “Creation” but feel the firm would better fit my branding needs if it was pronounced “Cre-eight-ion” and would likely sign up for their services if the employees aggressively corrected anyone who dare call it “Creation.”

In any case, the BBC:

Allowing staff to take Friday off every two weeks to “do sport, go surfing or read a book all day” has boosted employee performance, according to a company boss.

Cardiff branding agency Cre8ion said the move improved its creativity and staff retention.

The idea of a four-day week – or reducing average weekly hours to 32 without a pay cut – has Labour backing.
Business body CBI Wales said there was not enough evidence to back the move.

For six months, the nine-strong team at Cre8ion, which has offices in Cardiff and Bristol, has worked a two-week pattern where staff take the first Friday off entirely, then on the second they work on research and development and their own ideas, either in the office or wherever they want.

Staff with young children, for example, cannot always do the things they really enjoy on the weekend, he said.
“Having that extra day back, allowing them to go and do sport, go surfing or read a book all day, that gives them that time back.

“And people can think ‘well it might not work in my industry’, so I challenge people: ‘Well if you can’t give a Friday off to all your workforce, why not have half the work force take Friday off and the other half take Monday off?’

“If you’re looking to retain millennials, these sorts of things are really important to them.”

Oh.

I thought the staff had to go surfing on Fridays. This “do sport” or read a book all day sounds off. Still, between surf therapy PhDs in the north and “surfing Fridays” in the south, the United Kingdom is more surf-friendly than the United States, Hawaii, Australia or Brazil.

Do you think Prime Minister Boris Johnson would open the coffers and give BeachGrit (buy here) a substantial incentive package, including money, to move its offices, currently in Cardiff-by-the-Sea (America) and Bondi (Australia), to Manchester (England)?

How much?

Show the horror and blackness that rots your soul! Or go light!

Welcome to Portugal, a punch-above-its-weight colonialist power that once held dominion over hunks of Africa with the added kink of eating up Brazil.

Today, according to the Surfline forecast for the penultimate event of the WSL’s WCT schedule, the surf is “jumbled (‘five-to-seven-foot faces’), with mixed-up shape but improving some over the afternoon behind the frontal passage.Moderate onshore winds continue through around midday before winds ease and trend more favorable in the afternoon. Rain showers likely through around midday.”

Tomoz, better winds with a few bomb sets.

A world title is, how do you say, on the line, although it’ll take two days of rough and tumble for the smog to clear and the action to start.

Still, it ain’t the worst thing in the world to back and forth with virtual pals.

So, light up, cool down, part your dressing gown and comment you know where.

Watch here.

MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal Men’s Seeding Round 1 Matchups:
Heat 1: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN), Willian Cardoso (BRA), Ricardo Christie (NZL)
Heat 2: Kolohe Andino (USA), Griffin Colapinto (USA), Soli Bailey (AUS)
Heat 3: Italo Ferreira (BRA), Yago Dora (BRA), Frederico Morais (PRT)
Heat 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Caio Ibelli (BRA), Crosby Colapinto (USA)
Heat 5: Filipe Toledo (BRA), Ezekiel Lau (HAW), Vasco Ribeiro (PRT)
Heat 6: Gabriel Medina (BRA), Joan Duru (FRA), Miguel Blanco (PRT)
Heat 7: Owen Wright (AUS), Jack Freestone (AUS), Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Deivid Silva (BRA), Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA)
Heat 9: Julian Wilson (AUS), Conner Coffin (USA), Jesse Mendes (BRA)
Heat 10: Seth Moniz (HAW), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Peterson Crisanto (BRA)
Heat 11: Ryan Callinan (AUS), Wade Carmichael (AUS), Sebastian Zietz (HAW)
Heat 12: Kelly Slater (USA), Michel Bourez (FRA), Michael Rodrigues (BRA)

The bastards.

“Man-eating” Great Whites can be blamed for mostly everything and now that can include pushing the United States economy, and thereby the world’s economy, into recession.

I do not joke.

For today, the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book or “Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions.” The report comes out eight times a year and hopes and dreams hang upon its spiral binding.

And today’s had bright moments, the U.S. economy continues to expand at moderate level, but signs of worry cannot be ignored, particularly in the tourism sector.

Worry so great that NPR’s Marketplace program feat. Kai Ryssdal suggested recession might be around the corner.

What is the cause of this retracting tourism?

Monstrous Great White sharks.

According to Bloomberg News:

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston cited sharks and a tornado, along with a robust U.S. dollar, as reasons behind a “challenging summer tourist season” in Cape Cod.

“One theory was that the strong U.S. dollar prompted more Americans to vacation abroad this summer,” the regional Fed bank said Wednesday in the latest Beige Book summary of economic conditions across the U.S. Moreover, “media attention was ‘overly’ focused on increased shark sightings and (rare) tornados.”

Oh sorry.

I guess misanthropic Great White sharks are not to blame for the impending recession but rather BeachGrit’s extended coverage of them.

My bad but when you get laid off from your job due to stagnation and budget cuts please remember all the laughs we had.

What mental benefits can surfing bring?

Every morning I wake up before the sun has risen above the horizon, slip on my moccasins and head out into the world, foraging for surf stories to put on your breakfast table. Sometimes I find big, juicy, ripe ones like the professional surfer union inking a 10-year deal with their World Surf League in which North Korean levels of praise were heaped upon benevolent, all-knowing Santa Monica masters. Sometimes I find small, dry, underdeveloped ones like the completely unrelated to surfing meteorologist who drowned after delivering a rough water warning.

Sometimes the stories fill the belly with warmth and the heart with laughs. Sometimes they leave us all hungry, angry, grumpy.

Today’s, I hope, will give you such a sense of goodwill and hope that you will change your mean, mean ways. Oh not you but J.P. Currie for I have discovered another Scottish surfer and this one is the world’s only Surf Therapy PhD candidate. Please step inside Edinburgh Live and meet (soon to be) Dr. Jamie Marshall

Jamie Marshall’s course at Edinburgh Napier University is unique, he’s the only person in the world studying for a PhD in surf therapy.

He first started surfing aged 14 as a way of escaping a difficult time with bullying at secondary school.

He’s now exploring the physical and mental benefits that surfing can bring.

He said: “I fell in love with surfing the first time I tried it age 14 which was also a pretty difficult time for me at school due to bullying. Surfing provided a bit of an escape for me but I also identified as a surfer from that point on and that was something no one could take away from me.

“In some ways, this probably made my career path inevitable!”

“Scotland now has a history of excellence regarding surf therapy and I’m delighted to have played a part in the success that the Wave Project has had here in this country, working with vulnerable young people across Edinburgh and the Lothians.

“A key part of my PhD is to support the evaluation of surf therapy based upon the experiences of participants.”

I wonder if Dr. Marshall’s work will also eventually include vulnerable adult learners (buy the t-shirt here)?

And if you could get a PhD in one facet of surfing would it be surf therapy? I think I would choose to get mine in Content, Media and Studios.

It’s a growth market.

And Gabriel Medina invokes the might of the divine to wrap up title before Pipe…

Shortly, maybe today, likely tomoz, the penultimate WCT event of the year hits Portugal. The two-time world champ Gabriel Medina can wrap the title if the cards fall thus.

First, he’s gotta make it to the semi’s or better.

If he gets second in the final, Filipe has to lose in or before the round of 32, Jordy or Kolohe have to lose before or in  the quarters and Italo, who won the contest last year, has to lose before or in the round of 16.

If Gabriel wins the event, Filipe has to lose in or before the round of 16, Jordy and Kolohe in or before the final, and Italo in or before the semi’s.

Earlier today, Gabriel, who is one of Brazil’s 123 million Catholics, invoked the might of God with a post of Instagram referencing Hebrews 11.3. I’m a Catholic, I know this verse, the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebes.

It’s a doozy, gives a real sweet hit of voltage.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3p-F9ZgjpC/

In essence, trust God’s will ’cause he an all-seeing motherfucker who ain’t afraid to poke his gigantic wang into your business if he feels you deserve it.

A hundred thousand likes already. Don’t tell me that ain’t divine.

My fav part of the Bible and it always gave me a little kick as a kid, can be found at Genesis 19: 31-32.

“One day the older daughter said to the younger, ‘Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.’”

As for the waves, and when the contest might run, in an email to the event’s surfers, The WSL writes:

“Surfers, this is the plan for Plan for the next few days at the MEO/RC Pro; Main Site at Supertubos and 3 Back-up Sites. Pico da Mota, Pico do Fabril & Lagide. We should have 3 days of surf from Thursday onwards at Supertubos (Wednesday only a small chance), after that, forecast doesn’t look too bright, so we may need to run heats in onshore conditions in order to finish the event. We’ll always make sure that there are enough opportunities for every competitor. At this stage we’ll move sites only overnight, pending wind, swell and tide conditions, The good news is that we have the bet banks in Supertubos in the last 5 years. We’ll keep you posted.”

Also, Pip Toledo’s back has repaired and he’s “ready to rip.”