Go-for-broke former world #4 surfer makes shock return to public life!

The man who described the WSL's Instagram account as "pandering bullshit that's exploiting surfing" returns with his dangerously purist blog, marinelayerproductions.

Dane Reynolds is an almost thirty-five-year-old father of three and former world number four surfer from Bakersfield in California known for his “go for broke style of surfing that includes many experimental and aerial maneuvers.”

It’s not a stretch to say that even with cheeks so adipose that his eyes have become mere slits, Reynolds’s bold lines on a wave still quicken the pulse of spectators.

Five years ago, or thereabouts, Dane quit his blog, marinelayerproductions, and shortly afterwards, released a torrential confessional called Chapter 11.

Talking about a panic attack he says, “In my heat, my throat started closing. I got out of the water and into my car. I was on the 405 in my Volvo doing 90 MPH to the hospital. I pulled over and called (wife) Courtney and said, I think I’m dying.”

Over the course of the intervening half decade, Dane notably quit his multi-million dollar with Quiksilver and started his own brand, Former, along with Craig Anderson and co.

Earlier today, Reynolds announced he was back in the blogging game.

“Think I’m gonna start blogging again 🤒 I know blogs are dead but still feels like the right platform to post surf videos and opinion and include my friends I surf with every day. Stay tuned 🤘🏽”

In an interview with Monster Children magazine he described the WSL’s Instagram as “pandering bullshit that’s just exploiting surfing.”

His fussy meticulousness and purism will be welcome.

In the meantime, rewatch Chapter 11.

Chapter 11 from Marine Layer on Vimeo.

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Opening special: Rent indoor New Jersey wavepool for $US1800 an hour! Complimentary surfboards, 85-degree water!

Trunks and glassy ramps in the middle of a dirty Jersey winter.

The five-billion-dollar New Jersey mega-mall American Dream in East Rutherford, eight miles from Time Square if you’re wondering, opens its indoor wavepool to the public on April 1.

The pool is a smaller version of the fabulous Waco pool and the operator will rent you the entire pool for an hour for $US1800 on weekdays and $2100 on weekends.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9FcMuGnsZw/

You get twenty pals in the pool and it’s going to cost around a hundred bucks apiece. The joint spits out between 100 and 180 waves in an hour depending on the setting. The wave menu includes “the A- frame wave, under-the-lip-take-off barrel, or a perfect air section.”

The session is run through Will Skudin’s surf school. Will is a noted big-wave charger from Long Island, New York who once kissed a Nazaré lip and lived to tell the tale.  A smart backing with hopes that Will’s street cred will impress both the core and the unbaptized.

Surf coaches, lifeguards and wave technicians are all included and it is recommended that advanced shortboarders bring a board two-to-five liters above normal volume. Fresh water etc.

Also, according to the website the wave pool is “Perfect for Team Building, Bachelor and Bachelorette parties, before and after NYC and Corporate events.”

Some notes to remember.

In New Jersey, right now, the water temp is hovering around forty-one degrees (five celsius) and today’s wind chill brings us to about nineteen degrees (minus eight C) outside. The temp inside the wavepool, which is indoors, is seventy-five degrees (twenty-four C). No wind either. Pure glass.

Also worth noting is the the pool is located to the left of the Kung Fu Panda Water Temple of Awareness and just behind the Thrillagascar fifty-foot freefall.

Post-Session, you can  “live it up like royalty at King Julien’s Pineapple Jam Swim-up Bar”.

Live adventure here. 

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"What you gonna do about it Kelly?"
"What you gonna do about it Kelly?"

Terrifying: Experts declare uncommon gathering of Great White sharks off the Carolinas suggests they’re “preparing for an unprecedented feast!”

Our feet are the Orange Chickens of the Sea.

Oh no. Oh hell. Do you live in one of the two Carolinas? Either North or South? Both are some of my favorite states in this union, I’ll admit, because have you ever visited? Have you ever tasted pimento cheese dip? Ever wandered Charleston’s streets? Ever whooped and hollered for the Demon Deacons?

I weep for you, for me, for us because a whole mess of Great White sharks are amassing off the coast of both North and South Carolina preparing themselves for what scientists are calling a “feast.”

A “feast” of what?

Male surfer feet, obviously, as they are apparently as tasty to “man-eating” Great Whites as Panda Express’s Orange Chicken.

Don’t believe? We must immediately turn to South Carolina’s most revered local media.

That notorious gathering of satellite-tagged great white sharks off the Carolinas has shifted.

Data from the nonprofit OCEARCH shows they’re still enjoying each other’s company, but now their predatory union is off South Carolina — between Myrtle Beach and Charleston.

Seven great white sharks are now “pinging” in that region, while two stragglers remain off North Carolina’s Crystal Coast.

The sharks, all of which are fitted with satellite trackers, range in size from 9 feet to nearly 13 feet, with the biggest weighing 1,420 pounds.

Great white sharks are known for using the East Coast as a type of highway, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, but such a satellite gathering is uncommon among the tagged predators, experts say.

OCEARCH was the first to bring attention to the “big grouping,” with a Feb. 8 Facebook post that asked why these sharks might be segregated from others on the coast.

Commenters speculated it likely has to do with an abundance of food, and OCEARCH experts believe that is likely the case.

However, no one has speculated on what they’re apparently feasting on.

Oh I’m speculating right now. I’m telling you directly.

Male surfer feet.

Sprinkled with talcum powder that acts similarly to MSG.

The Orange Chickens of the Sea.

Oh drat.

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"I'm voting Warren now!"
"I'm voting Warren now!"

Analysis: New study ties vicious “man-eating” shark attacks to impending Coronavirus pandemic to Donald J. Trump’s re-election odds!

Everything is sharks.

Adam Smith who uttered the now iconic phrase, “All things relate to vicious man-eating shark attacks, more or less…”, couldn’t have known how right he actually was back in those bucolic 1700s. The Father of Capitalism, prescient, though hit that nail straight on its head. In a new-ish book titled “Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government, two political scientists, Larry M. Bartels and Christopher H. Achen, examined how the terrifying 1916 New Jersey attacks that inspired the film Jaws sunk President Woodrow Wilson’s presidency.

Let’s sample from the Boston Globe.

With sharply declining tourism revenue, and no system in place to prevent shark attacks, local communities turned to the federal government for help. President Woodrow Wilson, who had previously served as governor of New Jersey, convened a Cabinet meeting, but his own Bureau of Fisheries told him there wasn’t much to be done. By the time he mobilized Coast Guard resources to patrol the waters, the sharks had moved on and the fear and controversy had faded.

But local voters, adversely affected by the economic consequences of the attacks, still took their anger out on the president. According to Bartels and Achen’s calculations, in the communities most impacted by the attacks, Wilson underperformed by 10 percentage points.

Etc.

And, I’m sure you can guess where this is going, no? Exactly correct. To what many are calling “The Great White Shark of the Lungs.” Again we turn to the Globe.

The more the new coronavirus outbreak, and the government’s response to it, becomes politicized, the worse things are likely to turn out for Trump. Since Trump has already gone out of his way to blame Democrats and the media for exaggerating the potential impact of the virus, the politicization train appears to have left the station.

Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to minimize the impact of the rapidly spreading virus for fear that panic will negatively affect the economy may backfire spectacularly. Now his actions and response are tied directly to the crisis.

If Covid-19 causes major dislocations, Trump will inevitably pay a price for any resulting economic slowdown, even if blame for the underlying pandemic can hardly be placed at his feet.

So do you agree that Great White sharks will essentially undo Trump’s political fortunes or do you think this is MSM straw-grasping to an unprecedented and rude degree, stoking fear and division and blaming the prehistoric beasts for all our problems?

Rude, if true.

More as the story develops.

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Watch: Either “heroic or villainous” man torches rack holding over 500 surfboards in beautiful Waikiki!

Things we lost in the fire.

Do you recall the mid-2000s tragedy Things We Lost in the Fire starring Benny of the Bull and Halle Berry? My recollections are vague though I do remember heroin somehow being involved. In any case, a few evenings ago a man torched a surfboard rack behind a police substation in Waikiki that held well over 500 boards.

Per the Honolulu Star-Advertiser:

Mayor Kirk Caldwell is asking the public for information about the person who started a fire that destroyed about 525 surfboards and damaged nearby buildings Thursday night in Waikiki.

Police opened a first-degree arson investigation in the fire that began about 8:20 p.m. near the Waikiki police substation at 2425 Kalakaua Ave. Fifty-four firefighters responded with 13 units and found the surfboard rack fully engulfed in flames, said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Jeff Roache.

The fire was extinguished at 9:17 p.m. A fire damage estimate is pending.

Roache said in a statement that the fire destroyed all the surfboards in the storage rack, which is operated by the city. The rack also sustained extreme damage.

Honolulu Emergency Services Department spokeswoman Shayne Enright said the destruction included five rescue boards used by city lifeguards for a loss of $6,000.

A video showing the suspect has just been released.

Now, fire is very bad and destroying other people’s property should almost always be frowned upon but…

…oh no “buts” at all except…

… just one observation. Many of the burned boards appear to possibly be SUPs and/or 12-foot longboards.

More as the story develops.

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