Just in time for the Pipe Masters!

We all know what the surfer’s drug of choice is. The one that most mirrors her wayward heart. The one that replicates his insatiable appetite in the water on land. It’s a love story (buy here) and in an apparent attempt to corner the elusive Christmas surf market retail giant Walmart offered a “surf-like” Santa Claus preparing a tableful of cocaine over the words “Let it snow.”

The sweater has, unfortunately, been removed from Walmart’s offerings and let us turn to People magazine for more.

The sweater’s description on the website read, “We all know how snow works. It’s white, powdery and the best snow comes straight from South America. That’s bad news for jolly old St. Nick, who lives far away in the North Pole.”

After the sweater was mocked and criticized on social media, Walmart issued an apology to Canadian news organization The Global News.

“These sweaters, sold by a third-party seller on Walmart.ca, do not represent Walmart’s values and have no place on our website,” the statement said. “We have removed these products from our marketplace. We apologize for any unintended offence this may have caused.”

The sweater, which was made by clothing company FUN Wear, is no longer available on Walmart’s website.

My question is, how will Walmart now corner the elusive Christmas surf market?

How will the executives hope to outfox gift idea geniuses at The Inertia?

More as the story develops.

The storm before the calm!

Today is almost the beginning of non-elimination heat surfing. Excited? You should be. Hawaiians are in the water vying for the two spots that have been carved down from fifteen, or something, a few years ago.

An absolute gutting.

I loved those older times, when Hawaiians, born and bred at Pipeline and/or Kauai, would run Champion Tour surfers up and down the reef. Scaring them into oblivion. Now these Hawaiians have their own “event” called the Pipe Invitational which feels a bit like an interment camp.

Does it not?

A representative from the World Surf League once told me, directly after the absolute gutting, that if I actually looked at the heat scores during those robust Hawaiian years, I would see most of them losing in early rounds and none of them really affecting much of anything.

Rude.

For surfing is what we feel in our hearts, not numbers that appear on bland pieces of paper.

No?

In any case, enjoy the show here but don’t forget to leave li’l ol’ BeachGrit open so you can be amongst friends for we do not know what the World Surf League is capable of. First they came for the Hawaiians, and I did not speak out — because I wasn’t Hawaiian.

Etc.

Come read the tale of Roger Casugay!

And have you ever done anything heroic or, at the very least, imagined yourself doing something heroic? I think it is human nature to picture ourselves at the very nexus of some colossal event. A hurricane blowing through town and access to Ol’ Doc Marten’s place has been washed out but we, fearlessly, grab our surfboards, paddle in and save the day. A child has climbed too high into a tree but we, bravely, climb up afterward, put the quivering youngster on our strong backs and, again, save the day.

Yes, we would all be great assets in/around any tragedy or high-stakes moment but what if there was also a gold medal on the line? What if saving the day also meant losing? Would we be that quick, that… selfless?

And let us meet true hero Roger Casugay from the Philippines. Let us study an example of good, proper decision making.

Filipino surfer Roger Casugay earned the Philippines its first-ever gold medal in surfing at the Southeast Asian Games today (Dec. 8). But even before winning the men’s longboard competition, the 25-year-old athlete was already heralded as the event’s hero for an unselfish act during a semi-final round last week.

Casugay was leading a one-on-one race against Indonesian surfer Arip Nurhidayat Friday (Dec. 6) when he noticed that Nurhidayat broke his ankle leash and was swept by towering waves at Monaliza Point, La Union in northern Philippines. Typhoon Kammuri (called Tisoy locally) has made conditions challenging at the 30th edition of the biennial sporting event.

Casugay, a surfing instructor, paddled back to Nurhidayat and helped him back to shore. Spectator Jefferson Ganuelas described the scene on Facebook, noting Casugay “rescued him not minding the ongoing race for gold medal.”

Sports fans—including many Indonesians on Twitter—are calling Casugay a hero, a title he’s uneasy with. “No, I’m not a hero,” he said to Rappler. “I didn’t really save him from drowning. He is a good swimmer. I just calmed him down.”

“We have a brotherhood in surfing,” he told CNN. “If someone needs help, you go. I didn’t think about winning and [am] just relieved that we were both safe. We were overjoyed when we reached the shore.”

Well, I guess the selfless hero won a gold medal anyhow and see? We should always be very dubious when served up a theoretical either/or. We should point to Roger Casugay and say, “Both.”

Ain't life grand?

If you could, right now, “transition” away from your current job and start a new career, what would you become? A Cirque du Soleil performer? Seasonal Halloween superstore manager? Surf traction and accessories rep? If “making money” is the actual goal, it’d be hard to dismiss getting into the alcohol game. Beer brand St. Archer flipped a few years back for tens upon tens of millions of dollars. Balter, Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson et. al.’s brainchild, flipped days ago for tens upon tens of millions of dollars.

Well, iconic surf filmmaker Taylor Steele is a smart man and switching from surf film making into tequila mastering, much like George Clooney, and let’s learn about his certain future tens upon tens of millions of dollars. Let’s tuck right into The San Diego Union-Tribune, pour some salt on our hands and ready a lime wedge.

For more than 30 years, legendary surf filmmaker Taylor Steele has been traveling the world with his career in overdrive.

But this year, the 47-year-old father of two has intentionally shifted his life into a lower gear. He moved back to North County after more than 20 years away and last month, he officially launched his Encinitas-based lifestyle brand, Solento.

A composite word that Steele says means “slow sun,” Solento reflects a new phase in his life where he’s reconnecting with old friends and taking the time to savor his environment and enjoy life more. The company’s first product is a high-end organic sipping tequila designed to be savored slowly.

“Tequila is an entry place to have a ritual experience with people,” he said of his entry into the bottled spirits industry. “It might feel like it’s a bit of a change to someone looking from the outside, but it feels very natural to me. It’s where I’m at in my space, trying to connect more.”

It was while he was living in Australia that Steele discovered artisan tequila during a trip to a family-owned agave farm in Jalisco, Mexico.

“I fell in love with the intricacies of tequila. It’s more like wine than vodka. Each harvest has a different flavor. It’s a beautiful thing,” he said.

Etc.

The piece goes on to detail how Steele hopes to grow the Solento brand beyond tequila and it is an inspiration but, back to you, to us, if we were going to get into the alcohol game together which sort should we choose?

Let’s take tequila off the table, let’s not compete directly with Taylor Steele and let’s also leave craft beers behind which leaves us with…

Scotch?

Spiced rum?

Sparkling wine?

Help!