Tragedy struck, and continues to slowly
unspool, off the popular Dutch beach resort of
Scheveningen as five surfers have been killed, more are still
missing and several others required rescuing during the last
24-hours.
Rescue teams in the Netherlands on Tuesday recovered the
bodies of three surfers. Two other people rescued from the sea the
day before died shortly after being pulled from the water.
Surfers familiar with the conditions at Scheveningen told
the Dutch public broadcasting organization NOS that strong winds
and adverse currents might have made things difficult for the
surfers, some of whom were reportedly very experienced. They said
the large amount of foam on the waves may also have played a
role.
The search for the missing surfers was called off as darkness
fell but resumed this morning with rescue helicopters flying close
to the water in order to blast away the foam.
And in all my years of reading, writing about surfing I have
never seen anything like this. It is difficult to fathom the scope
of destruction and conditions that could have claimed so many
lives.
Surf forecast site MagicSeaweed
describes Schevenigen as, “Most well know spot in Holland, a
stretch of small jettys flanked by a huge harbour wall that gives
SW wind protection and a paddling out channel. Often lacks in power
and closes out, therefore a lot of longboarders. Picks up all swell
directions and breaks through the tide but best on a NW at
high.”
One man screams, another enjoys ride.
@grahamblade
Aftermath: Man who filmed surfers’
hair-raising escape from “member of Great White family” near Bells
Beach talks of bitten man’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: “He
kept messaging me that night, saying he couldn’t sleep, saying he
was stressing out!”
And watch the full HD movie! Hear the
blood-curdling screams!
It’s not every day a man gets nicked by a member of the
Great White family, in this case the broadnose sevengill, a shark
hunted by the Chinese for its excellent liver
oil, very good for giving a man the hardest of
honeymoon dick.
Now, the full story of the event and its aftermath can be
revealed.
Graham Blade is a twenty-eight year old plumber from Torquay,
the town you live if you wanna surf Bells, Winki and so on. He’s a
little sick at the moment, chronic fatigue syndrome, and was
filming his pal Matt Sedunary, thirty-five, shredding small
Southside, a wave immediately south of Bells.
Blade was sitting on the cliff overlooking the waves with his
digital camera, entry level but quality lens, good enough to film
his buddy surf, when he heard a shrieking so loud it felt like
someone was yelling directly into his ear.
“Literally…screaming,” says Blade. “I didn’t know what
was happening. I thought he was having a panic attack or
something.”
In the water, Blade’s buddy, Matt, was trying to calm down a
surfer from Reunion Island, Dylan Nacass, who said he’d been bitten
by a shark.
Blade started filming, the water unseasonably clear, the shark
visible.
If you examine the photo, below, you can see Matt, yellow,
thinking it’s all a fabulous time, while Narcass is in what he
believes, perhaps incorrectly given is a life-or-death
scenario.
It wasn’t until the pair had paddled twenty metres in that Blade
realised the shark was at their feet.
“I yelled, ‘It’s still behind ya! Paddle in!’”
In the carpark, Nacass’ hands were shaking so badly he couldn’t
type his phone number into Blade’s phone.
“He eventually came good and said he was going to get some
beers, that he was happy for his life, that he was going to go and
relax.”
Torquay’s Matt Sedunary, left, and Reunion surfer
Dylan Nacass, ever so gently roughed up by “member of Great White
family.” Photo: @grahamblade
Blade says it wasn’t until his buddy Matt saw the footage, and
saw how close the shark was the whole time, that it was actually
just behind his feet, that he got shaken up.
“He was watching the footage and said he didn’t realise it was
there, that it was so close the whole time. That spooked him out
the most. That there was no warning. And even when it bit the dude
on the knee not one bit of water moved around him. That kept
playing on his mind.”
Back at their Torquay palace, Blade and Sedunary were hunted by
reporters with their news crews, who made the pair play Supercross
on their Xbox for some B-roll footage.
Blade wasn’t sure if he should, or could, ask for money for his
footage so out it went, for free.
Later that night, when the pals, who share a house, spoke about
it, Blade said, “Mate, it’s pretty full-on to be in the water when
someone actually got bitten. Whether the bite was massive or tiny,
it’s wild.”
And all though the course of the afternoon and night, Blade was
getting texts from Nacass.
“He was saying he couldn’t sleep and he was stressing out. I
told him, yeah, well, you did just get bitten by a shark. It does
make sense.”
Watch the HD footage and hear the blood-curdling screams
below!
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Image courtesy of CCY Architects.
Breaking: John John Florence determinedly
surfs Kelly Slater’s new Palm Springs “wave basin” while ecstatic
fans cheer!
Architectural renderings are such wonderfully
utopian works of art, no? There’s something about the
aspirational quality, the gauzy haze, the
real-yet-computer-generated people standing here and there.
Everyone always having a good time. Much space between parties,
especially in the day of social distancing.
I’m a fan of the genre and am thrilled to showcase a just
released piece featuring Kelly Slater’s recently announced Palm
Springs Surf Ranch from CCY Architects, a team of “architects,
interior designers, sketchers, writers, snowsliders, and motivated
people united by a passionate spirit” based in Basalt,
Colorado.
Per Instagram we read, “On The Boards: Located in California’s
Coachella Valley, Coral Mountain resort is a next-generation
recreational experience, anchored by the Kelly Slater Wave
Company’s 14-acre Wave Basin.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CADKst6lb-a/
And if you click
here you will behold the most detailed description yet
of the project but back to the rendering, doesn’t it make you want
to book your trip immediately?
John John Florence determinedly heading out in full wetsuit even
though it is Palm Springs and everyone is in shorts and a girl
appears to have just gotten out of the pool in a bikini. Seabass,
maybe, watching from deck with triumphant fist raised. Millennial
on skateboard really cruising for a bruising. Plenty of open space.
Friendly conversations here and there. Enough ethnic diversity to
feel “woke” or at least “woke-ish.”
Which brings us to the real question.
How much would you pay for a condo onsite?
What about a condo three blocks away?
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Screenshot Reno 911
Crime and Punishment: Man daring to lay on
beach gets run over by Florida police officer driving Ford
Explorer!
When I was a younger man, one of my favorite
things to read was The World’s Most
Dangerous Places by Robert Young Pelton. The travel
guide detailed various countries/autonomous regions like
Afghanistan, North Korea, Chechnya, giving each one a danger
ranking while providing tips on how to move around, where to eat,
who to look out for etc.
Very fun though if written today, the beaches of these United
States would rank the most dangerous of all, or at least would have
one month ago.
Surfing outlawed, standing still while gazing at the ocean
outlawed, eating Asian fusion cuisine within a chopstick throw of
the beach outlawed. Much police officer harassment. Many bullhorns
used at maximum volume.
Restrictions have, thankfully, started to relax but are our
beaches any safer?
A man lying on a Florida beach was injured Friday after an
officer drove a police cruiser over him, authorities said.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, William
Koziarz, 66, of Michigan, was taken to an area hospital with
serious but non-life-threatening injuries, the Tampa Bay Times
reported.
Deputies said Indian Shores Police Department Officer
Natasha Hindman, 27, was driving a fully marked 2018 Ford Explorer
police cruiser Friday at 6 p.m., WTSP reported.
Hindman had just begun her beach patrol and was driving
slowly along the sand when the left tires of her vehicle drove over
Koziarz’s hips, the Times reported.
According to a news release from the Sheriff’s Office,
Hindman stopped and immediately gave aid until paramedics
arrived.
But have you ever seen anyone become run over by law enforcement
on a beach? What about a surfboard?
I have only seen a lifeguard cruelly bulldoze a made-with-love
drip sandcastle that took me over an hour.
Very sad.
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Ben Kelly. Photo courtesy of Ben Kelly
Surfboards.
Santa Cruz surfer killed in shark attack
identified as local board shaper
"Safe travels and hopefully you are mowing more
foam, and ripping again somewhere better."
It was reported here yesterday that a 26-year-old
surfer was killed by a fatal shark attack a mile south of
Manresa State Beach, very near Santa Cruz. He was surfing 100 yards
from the shore, at about 1:30 in the afternoon, when the attack
occurred and was pronounced dead at the scene from a leg
injury.
Today, it was revealed that the surfer, Ben Kelly, was a local
shaper.
I am a self-taught shaper bringing the core fundamentals of
board building into a fresh new mindset and clean modern feel that
works for you! I love the process of creating: taking something raw
and formless and making it into something both functional and
aesthetic. This involves working directly with surfers where they
are at in their surfing journey and equipping them to take the next
step.
you were doing it brotha!!!! Your quick rise and hard work
was inspirational and it is really hard to think that the central
coast is all of a sudden going to have to move on without you. So
much love to you and your family. Safe travels and hopefully you
are mowing more foam, and ripping again somewhere better.
