"Benefits of the tie-up will include industry placements and internships for students with the WSL across a range of disciplines."

Brilliant. Just brilliant and I couldn’t be happier to report that our World Surf League finally has an “Official higher education partner in Australia” because it needs one now more than ever. Just yesterday we learned that scheming, big-brain’d Ivy Leaguers are looking into the nefariousness of “nationality bias” in World Surf League judging. How to counter the potential damning that might come from a report? Well, to officially partner with a private not-for-profit university on Australia’s Gold Coast, obviously.

Australia’s Gold Coast is known for many things: Snapper Rocks, Mick Fanning. Also it is known as a hub of smarts n stuff. Bond, private and not-for-profit since 1989, will be the perfect bulwark against Stanford, Harvard, Oxford etc. and let’s head straight to the press release to learn what lucky students will be getting n stuff.

The two-year deal beginning in 2020 will see Bond become the Official Higher Education Partner of the World Surf League Australia.

Benefits of the tie-up will include industry placements and internships for students with the WSL across a range of disciplines.

Bond University student Rachael Tilly became the youngest world champion in the history of professional surfing when she won the 2015 longboard title at the age of 17.

From San Clemente in California, she is studying a Bachelor of Sports Management while still competing on the women’s longboard world tour.

“I’d love to use my degree to make an impact in the surfing industry,” Ms Tilly said.

“My lecturer at Bond set me up with an internship at a WSL event earlier this year and I learned so much.

“This is a huge opportunity for students, even ones who aren’t specifically into surfing.

Yes.

I’m excited for more potential employees to dawn the WSL’s Santa Monica door who “aren’t specifically into surfing.” They can join WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt and a host of others who know nothing about the stuff n stuff.

My fingers are crossed for a similar partnership right here in America.

What institution would make the best fit?

Don't be passive and dumb. Raise some noise!

Did you know you can order French wine in four sizes: demi (half a litre), distingué (one litre), formidable (three litres) and catastrophe (five litres)?

A fitting entrée, one might say, to tonight’s broadcast of the Quiksilver Pro where Surfline calls six-to-eight-foot faces early, easing. Offshores in the morn.

Pour yourself a drink. Yes?

Mine is champagne and barley water or, if friends arrive, which is unlikely, a turkey cocktail: to one large turkey add one gallon of vermouth and a demijohn of angostura bitters. Shake.

If you’ve been following these Comment Live streams you’ll notice a not-so-subtle lesson in modern French cinema dressing up the main photo: we began on day one with Brigitte Bardot from Et Dieu Créa la Femme (watch here), Alain Delon in Plein Soleil (watch here), Ludivine Sagnier in Swimming Pool, day four was Gaspar Noé’s Love and, today, Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos in Blue is the Warmest Colour.

Anyway, contest etc.

Watch here, comment you know where and wait for Longtom’s hot volume analysis tomorrow.

Quiksilver Pro France Round of 16 (Round 4) Match-Ups:
HEAT 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA)
HEAT 2: Ezekiel Lau (HAW) vs. Ryan Callinan (AUS)
HEAT 3: Marc Lacomare (FRA) vs. Wade Carmichael (AUS)
HEAT 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Jack Freestone (AUS)
HEAT 5: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
HEAT 6: Seth Moniz (HAW) vs. Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA)
HEAT 7: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Yago Dora (BRA)
HEAT 8: Michel Bourez (FRA) vs. Italo Ferreira (BRA)

*You and Hong Kong split all the profits!

So you might have read earlier that surf/skate sneaker Vans pulled a leading shoe from the brand’s online competition Vans Custom Culture that alluded to the months-long protests in Hong Kong. I trust you are aware of the situation there and don’t need to stumble over the news here but China is currently acting egregiously toward historically brave Hong Kong citizens unwilling to bend the knee and give up all rights.

Vans, historically “rebellious,” issued a statement declaring:

“As a brand that is open to everyone, we have never taken a political position and therefore review designs to ensure they are in line with our company’s long-held values of respect and tolerance, as well as with our clearly communicated guidelines for this competition.”

Freedom ain’t free, as they say.

Anyhow, the stable genius Superworm came up with a brilliant idea in the Sacred Comments™ writing:

So Chas, contact the designer, and run the design on a BeachGrit Tshirt or deck grip. Take the win. Virtue signal, promote and profit in one hit.

Done.

And I’ll even contribute all the profit to Hong Kong protesters and the designer.

So, who are you? All we got is “Canadian-based designer Naomiso”.

Where are you?

Email [email protected]

Blame Australians (I think)!

I sometimes wonder how the world would be different if I had been born smart. Could I have written a Pulitzer prize winning book about The Surfing Life? Could I have discovered the cure to some heretofore uncurable disease? Might I have been able to write the phrase “…discovered the cure to some heretofore uncurable disease…” without trying and failing to spell uncuralbe six different ways before looking it up and realizing it’s incurable thereby saving twenty-odd seconds?

We will never know because I was born me but if I had been born smart, like super Ivy League smart, I can assure you that I would have employed my brains to uncover inherent bias in World Surf League Championship Tour judging.

Thankfully, Cornell’s Jojo Aboaf, who will graduate in three years, is doing the Lord’s work and let’s go straight to The Cornell Daily Sun for more on his findings.

According to Aboaf’s initial calculations, not only did the scoring panel reflect traces of bias, but the application processes and interviews did as well.

Aboaf also noted that “correlation does not equal causation,” and said that other factors, like event location, might also be relevant to his results.

He created his model by collecting data from the World Surf League website sifted through thousands of data points and web pages using a web scraper — an automated software that extracts data from websites.

In 2018, there were 6,600 waves ridden over the course of the entire competition circuit, Aboaf said, and was able to get information on 6,300 of the wave time frames using his software. Although Aboaf is very tentative on making decisive conclusions because he is “a third of a way in[to]” his project, here’s what he says he’s found so far:

“Most of the people who surf internationally in competitions come from the US, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, Portugal and France,” Aboaf said. “The judging panels are made up of that same core, compact group of countries.”

As he delved deeper into his research, though, Aboaf uncovered “nuances in statistics” that contradicted his earlier predictions and further enriched his findings.

“The data might tell you that an Australian judge on average gives Australian surfers higher scores than non Australian surfers,” he said. “[But] you also have to analyze how Australian judges perform generally speaking because Australian judges could just like to give higher scores.”

“No matter what the outcomes are,” Aboaf said, “there needs to be an emphasis on diversity on judging panels.” From the hiring processes to the review boards, Aboaf deduced that “promoting diversity in those contexts … reduces the chances that biases have true effect.”

Aboaf hopes to publish his findings in an academic journal and inspire Cornell students to take a critical eye to existing systems.

Oh man, I’m so lost. Can you explain to me using what my fifth-grade teacher called “li’l words?”

I’d be greatful.

Gratful.

Gratefull.

Happy.