Carson, during his two-hour solo sesh, as photographed by his gardener. | Photo: Carson's gardener.

Interview: Graphic Design icon David Carson on epic solo sesh during Tortola’s 24/7 lockdown, “It’s one thing being the only one out, I get that every season, but it’s a whole different feeling knowing no-one’s even coming out!”

Who among us could ignore the siren call of empty four-footers spinning down a down a tropical point like a mirage?

Yesterday, we celebrated the eighteenth most influential artist in history, David Carson’s solo session at Cane Garden Bay on the Caribbean island of Tortola.

As the joint bunkered down to fight the spread of Covid-19, Carson flouted its six-day long twenty-four hour lockdown law to ride empty four-foot CGB on Sunday, March 29, posting the event on his Instagram page, and, eventually, losing his surfboard to the local cops.

I asked, who among us could ignore the siren call of empty four-footers spinning down a down a tropical point like a mirage, its endless beckoning enough to drive any man mad.

Carson, who is sixty-four years old and whose surfer bona fides are proved by the fact he was once invited to the prestigious Smirnoff Pro Am in Hawaii, felt as restless as a ship pulling against its mooring.

The view from Carson’s yard.

I asked him, today, about the experience.

How good was CGB in the grand scheme of things?

“Best day of the year,” said Carson. “It can get bigger, but rarely as clean. I’ve been here twenty-three winters now and I’d rate this as one of my top two go-outs. It’s one thing being the only one out, I get  that every season, but it’s a whole different feeling knowing no-one’s even coming out.”

Carson, during his two-hour solo sesh, as photographed by his gardener.

Carson said he was surprised no one else had a swing at what was always going to be a one-day swell.

“I saw it coming on the charts, right after they had  announced the island’s lockdown. The night before I read online that they had just announced a five-thousand dollar fine and possible twelve-month jail sentence for ‘anyone who violates the curfew’. Ugh.”

Carson, whose own property extends, theoretically I suppose, fifteen yards into the water, knew it was firing from the moment he woke up.

“There were long lulls between sets so if you quickly had a look, you might’ve thought it was flat.”

Thing was, Carson could hear it.

He took a morning coffee, watched a few sets, then figured his strategy.

“Get one wave, then get back in before the cops come. I wanted to know I had at least ridden one wave during what truly was ‘a once in a lifetime opportunity’ but then I decided after the first wave, ok, maybe three and then I’ll go in. Two hours later, I was still out there.”

Figuring he’d save a little energy for the late sesh, the joint aways pulses right before dark he says, Carson came in and sat beneath the same tree he always sits under after a sesh.

“Just to relax, do some breathing exercises and reflect on what just happened. Then I saw ’em.”

Cops.

“Two police officers walking up the rock on the point to where I was sitting. Oops. Well, I had kinda been expecting them all morning and I was surprised it took them over two hours to show up.”

Carson said, “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” replied the cops, who then asked Carson for his ID.

Happy and polite Tortola policeman.

“I was still dripping wet and I told him I didn’t have it on me. Kinda without warning, he grabbed my surfboard which I was holding on my knees as I sat, they took my name and they were gone. He told me to get it at the local police statin when this is all over.”

Cops leave with Carsons’ vessel.

When was the last time Carson surfed it solo like this?

“Well, living right here, the property goes right to the water, I often see the first rideable set come down the point. So it’s not that unusual. I’ve had solo sessions  a half-dozen times just in the past couple months, but not like this.”

How did he feel about the episode with the cops?

“Overall, the cops were pretty decent about the whole thing,” says Carson. “I understand they were just doing their job in unprecedented circumstances. I think we both showed mutual respect, which goes a long way in disputes. We’re still in lockdown here so I haven’t heard much about what people think, though no doubt some of the other surfers were kinda jealous or pissed. I would be. There was a news conference where they talked about how many people had been arrested since the curfew started and someone asked, ‘What about that guy who went swimming?’ That’d be me.”

I ask Carson for his response to people who snitch and the narcs who say nobody should surf.

“I walked down my own property that actually extends fifteen-yards into the sea and jumped of the rocks. It’s two acres. The gate was locked and I never left my property. There wasn’t another person in site so no one was in any danger… the new two-week lockdown here specifies that you are allowed anywhere on your own property. The police couldn’t see me around the point from their offices and I suspect never would have seen me…”

“But,” says Carson, “there’s an old guy here who used to surf, who lives up the hill. The police told me he and his wife called to complain that I was surfing.  As my gardener was opening the gate for the cops to leave, one cop said,  ‘Look, she (the wife) is up there filming us now.”


The price of surfer resistance.

High stakes game of cat-and-mouse: Malibu Season opens to first empty lineup in one hundred years; SUP pilot arrested after high-speed chase for breaching “gestapo” lock-down laws!

Unidentified SUP pilot takes on amphibious division of LAPD!

Two days ago, it was celebrity VALS Jonah Hill and Jaden Smith raising their fists to LA County’s beach closures.

(Read about their brave resistance here,)

Now, on the opening day of the Malibu season, the new face of surfer-resistance against what super-shaper Matt Biolos calls “Commie” Gav Newsom’s “gestapo laws” is an unidentified SUP pilot who took on the amphibious division of LA’s cops.

After a short-ish session, the city’s lifeguard boat pounced and the pilot subsequently arrested.

The springsuit-clad man was led, in chains, up the famous beach, now home to television actress Meghan Markle and her former royal husband, Haz.

Captured SUP man, chained and arrested at Malibu.

And how good are the waves?

Watch…

View this post on Instagram

Empty Malibu right now, unveiled and naked.

A post shared by Beach Grit (@beach_grit) on

Update, from Lost Hills’ Sheriff Station,

On April 2, 2020, Lost Hills Sheriff’s station deputies were flagged down by lifeguards regarding a male adult in the water, disobeying lifeguard orders to exit the water.

The suspect remained in the water paddle boarding for approximately 30-40 minutes. LASD boat was brought in from Marina Del Rey Station, once the Sheriff’s boat arrived on scene, the suspect complied and swam to shore.

The suspect was arrested for Disobeying a Lifeguard 17.12.115 LACC and Violation of Government Code 8665. The suspect was transported to Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station where he was booked and released on a promise to appear.

Net closes in on rogue pilot. The photo, which appeared on the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station Facebook page drew one comment: “Not another soul in the water and yet this monster chooses to demand his freedom and liberty to paddle board in the abandoned waters off the coast.
Abandon all hope you have become subjects to a government that considers you slaves and revenue prey.”

 

(Footage and other photo courtesy of noted BeachGrit commenter Hippy.)


Question: Will the Coronavirus Apocalypse lead to a glorious VAL boom where surf instructors and soft-top manufacturers grow ludicrously rich?

A terror worse than death?

It is difficult to remember now, but there was once a time when surf brands made money and had money. Millions. Billions. Capitalizing on an 80s – 90s lust for day-glo’d, tan, Michael J. Fox-adjacent vision of rad.

Quiksilver, Billabong, Hot Tuna, Rip Curl, et. al. sold the dream in, retrospectively, win-win fashion. “Poseurs” in the “val” wore the clothes, talked the talk, and supported the likes of Kelly Slater, Dane Reynolds and surfboards to you and me with razor thin margins.

The wheels fell off, of course, when that valley poseur transitioned to parkour then non-binary sexuality all while wearing Forever 21 but the brands continued to limp along until this Coronavirus Apocalypse and now real, real trouble looms.

Furloughed workers. Slashed budgets. “Normal” forever yesterday’d.

Well, as your enlightened friend says, “this too shall pass” and it shall but what does “surfing” look like on the other side?

Will Volcom hire back its workers tout suite? Will shoppers flock back to Rip Curl stores?

Hmmmm.

Maybe?

But certainly many, millions, billions, will flock back to the beach, grab an instructor who grabs a soft-top because surfing is relatively free, everyone is laid-off and “honey, let’s scrap this year’s cruise and go learn surfing in Santa Cruz.”

Out-of-work Rip Curl store employees fall back on teaching surfing.

Out-of-work Quiksilver store employees fall back on teaching surfing.

Lifeguards, supplementing income and witnessing the invading hordes, fall back on teaching surfing.

Ashton Goggans, now fighting fit because he can’t afford food, Sam McIntosh and other furloughed Stab employees fall back on teaching surfing.

No?

No longer poseurs in the val but VALs not poseuing. VALs in the lineup.*

Don’t worry, we’ll always have sharks, but tell me I’m wrong.

Tell me the end of this current, novel apocalypse doesn’t lead to one far more insidious.

But also, what will these now ludicrously rich surf instructors and soft-top manufacturers do with their money?

More as the story develops.

*Pleasure Point etc. but how long before they accidentally drift out to The Lane?


Blood Feud: Doctors clash violently over new theory that surfers are “Coronavirus Super Spreaders!”

McDreamy vs. McSteamy.

In an earth-shaking revelation, it was reported yesterday, here, that surfers, generally misanthropic and lonely, may in fact be Coronavirus super spreaders. Kim Prather, a “virus scientist” from UC San Diego said, “Surfers are saying that they’re safe if they stay six feet away from other people, but that’s only true if the air isn’t moving … Most of the time, there’s wind or a breeze at the coast. Tiny drops of virus can float in the air and get blown around.”

Very much worry about all the spray that surfers, especially noted power surfers, send skyward when we BASH the lip.

Noted power surfer (pictured) making an excess of spray.
Noted power surfer (pictured) making an excess of spray.

In any case, this morning Hawaii’s health director, a doctor, and a University of Hawaii professor violently disagreed with San Diego’s theory and let’s not delay in learning all we can.

A news story from San Diego quotes a scientist who says coronavirus droplets could be spreading in the sea breeze. That scientist hasn’t returned our inquiries.

But Hawaii’s health director, a surfer himself, isn’t buying it.

“I disagree with that,” said Dr. Bruce Anderson.

“I think surfing by its very nature reinforces social distancing.” Professor Miller also says the sea breeze theory is unproven. He also says sunlight is very effective in killing microorganisms, such as the coronavirus.

Hawaii News Now found no hard science tying the spread of COVID-19 to ocean exercise. The risks appear to be the same as anywhere else.

Because of that, University of Hawaii Epidemiologist DeWolfe Miller says the advice is the same: Stay 6 feet away from each other.

UC San Diego = Team Skindog.

University of Hawaii = Team Tudor.

Have you picked your leader yet?

More as the story develops.


Watch: World-famous fisherman catches massive 2400 lbs Great White shark, “horrifying yet titillating” animal rights activists!

“One minute everyone’s bored to death talking about Tiger King, the next minute we have the baddest fish in the ocean right under the boat!”

And by now, you have certainly watched at least a few minutes of Netflix’s new The Tiger King, no? The craziest but craziest triangle ever caught on film featuring methamphetamine, missing teeth, gay, mullets, guns, missing husbands, cults, open relationships, missing limbs and tigers.

Very entertaining but also very sad to animal rights activists. Horrifying yet titillating. All those beautiful beasts locked behind bars, being bred for petting then discarded, pacing and depressed.

Many to save. Many to love.

Well, though not as au courant, animal rights activists should feel the same or similar about a 2400 lbs female Great White shark just caught off the coast of South Carolina. Would you like to be maybe horrified but certainly titillated too?

Famous South Carolina fisherman Chip Michalove told FitsNews:

“One minute everyone’s bored to death talking about Tiger King, the next minute we have the baddest fish in the ocean right under the boat,” Michalove said.

Michalove spotted a mammoth shadow lurking behind the boat and knew it was go-time.

The boat-sized white shark circled around Michalove’s 26-foot catamaran and chomped the bait.

“Then she took off like a train,” Michalove said. “She took 300 yards of line in a matter of 45 seconds.”

Michalove — who has caught and released 33 great white sharks in his career — wasn’t worried as the monstrous fish jerked and tugged the line. He’s done this dance with the apex predator of the Atlantic many of times.

“We applied pressure when she was about 15 yards away, then locked the drag and set the hook,” Michalove said.

Mmmmmm.

Excited?

Exitado?

More as the story develops.