"Like Medina, he never put on an act for anyone."
Today’s guest on Dirty Water is the former world title contender turned super coach Shane Beschen.
He was one of the first surfers on tour to regularly bring airs into heats, he scored the highest total ever in a heat, thirty points via three tens on three waves, and he’s an in-demand coach with two shredder kids.
He abhors mediocrity in anything and his face has a fragile look as if it might have been broken and stuck together again, or like a gun no one knows is loaded.
Two years ago, Beschen was described by the Encyclopedia of Surfing’s Matt Warshaw as “the least huggable pro of all” and said he “never put on act for our benefit. Kind of like Medina, but even less fucks given.”
On today’s podcast, Charlie in Cabo, Beschen in his beach shack at Rocky Point, me in Sydney, we talk about San Clemente when it was a wild little town run by Matt Archbold, Christian Fletcher and Martin Potter; seeing multi-generational change on the tour; the rebel tour he tried to launch with Derek Hynd and the fear it struck into little Taj Burrow’s heart; the “gnarly racism to haoles” in Hawaii, his secret east-side getaways with notorious North Shore heartthrob Jon Pyzel and the three stupid mistakes every damn intermediate surfer makes and how you can cure this hole in your heart.
Of course, no conversation with Shane Beschen would be complete without an examination of his famous US Open final with Kelly Slater in 1996.
Leave a review on Apple podcasts, good, bad, five stars or zero, just gotta be entertaining, send us the link and we’ll send you a tail-pad, anywhere in the world. Yeah, they’re that tough to move.
(Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, Overcast, Pocket Cast, Castro, Castbox, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Deezer and Listen Notes.)
Looks like Shane jumped up before Slater😮
shane was one of the top 5 guys i ever seen surf in my life. and this was even 10 years ago.
I remember one of the quotes about Andy Irons before he became the people’s champ (TM) and they said “I hate him, he’s even worse than Shane Beschen”. This was probably around the time he had the punch on with What’shisname.
I give the chat a 7.5 out of 10 but I was also eating a quiche at the time so.
Lorraine?
It was a baked egg pie full of cheese, spinach, and broccoli.
Is that a Lorraine?
Na it’s gotta have the bacon mate, tips the whole thing over the edge
Thanks for the quiche Lorraine recommendation.
I had one this evening and it was delicious.
No problem mate. My work is done here, glad you never have to suffer through just a plain old bland egg and spinach pie ever again.
Also take hard look at ya self cunt..
I need a Nick Carroll episode! Talking guns, competition, the last east coast swell and whatever else he wants to talk about. Could listen to him all day! @Beach_Grit:disqus
I melt whenever I talk to Nick, behave embarrassingly etc.
lazer eyes to your bullshit?
And won’t except tail pads as payment?
Oh man. Where do I start? Unbelievable. Was this poddy purposely juxtaposed with Chuck’s article on the deep racist haolefication of surfing? Let’s unpack this idiot, piece by pertinent piece.
First, Beschen you’re a fucking haole boy blow-in. Your home is not Hawaii. Your home is San Clemente. Claiming 25 years of living here still makes you a newbie tourist. Doesn’t matter how many kids you spawned that grew up here that you gave Hawaiian names to. You’ll always be an ignorant outsider. You don’t even make any attempt to fake ingratiate. You talk and refer to local Hawaiian surfers as “them” like you belong to some exalted higher class of human.
At 16:40 is where your true punk haoleness comes forth:
“My mommy and daddy came here to live when I was young but the racism towards haoles at the schools was ‘really gnarly’ so they basically opted out …”.
Let’s get one thing perfectly crystal clear: the oppressed cannot be the oppressor. A reaction to white racism, white colonialism and illegal occupation towards Hawaiians and people of color cannot be characterized as “Hawaiians are racist” or “racism towards haoles was really gnarly”. There exists no reverse racism in this context. It’s always funny when haole come to Hawaii and are surprised when locals aren’t deferential to them and refuse to be subjugated. USA and Europenis haoles are so used to generational entitlement in their cloistered racist home communities that when they are forced to equal ground they crybaby “racism”.
So you waited until the north shore was all bought up by corporate haole and the local population was decimated until you felt it was safe to move here? Nowadays the north shore looks just like Maui with 80% of the population outsider haole like you. The local Hawaiian culture is long gone in that sense. We’ve been displaced by has-been haole surfers like you whose every other word is “gnarly”. You’ve been left in the cold with no marketable skills. You’re a stereotypical walking, talking Spicoli. Your blaming corporate capitalist interests on the culling of old and overpaid surf pros like yourself is disingenuous. Kooks like you from the long gone ancient “millennium generation” were fortunate to get a piece of the corporate devil’s gravy train. STFU and be happy you got a piece of it while it lasted.
Crikey!!
What about the Hos and their Chinese blow in heritage?
And the many philippinos etc.
God bless the US.
Coulda been konichiwa and not aloha.
God Bless America and quit clacking your dentures Bexy
I’ve never doodled a dandy Yankee.
To scared of a fake rape charge.
I dunno Huli I think you’re tarring Shane with a brush he doesnt deserve. There’s more at play and he’s not the Poster boy for it.
No doubt it might be a bit harsh Negs and it’s unfortunate that Shane has to be the poster boy but his remark at 16:40 is emblematic of a long running pervasive arrogant and entitled attitude. Unless you’re an indigenous man of color I certainly wouldn’t expect you to appreciate the perspective expressed unless you were living in my brown body here in Hawaii USA.
16:40 Where his parents didn’t want little Shane beaten up at school so didn’t settle in Hawaii and went back to a safe comfortable life in San Clemente?
Hardly worth the noose you have hanging for him for the sins of Queen and Country.
Appreciate your vigorous defense of old Shane but nah, no nooses here. Maybe a hot imu, a salt rub and paired with some poi he could be ono. Might be too hard and stringy like an old chook but good chewy for the dogs.
Ha! All good, I hear ya…
Guess I live in a Country that embraces its indigenous culture and attempts to make amends for the past unlike Uncle Sams global fuckery.
“Long Pig” has been served on more than one menu.. Honest question. Where is the line drawn as a local to be a local, is John John considered local? How about Koa Rothman? Malia Jones? Bruce or Andy…JOB? Are you local if your a hoale, likeable treat locals with respect, baby sit for JR’s relatives in the late 80’s then twenty years later the crew gives you a pair of black shorts? Indigenous have had it tough on all levels. The only answer is a spiritual world where all men and women are created equal!
Hey llama. Yes to all your questions. The term haole is not pejorative, It’s merely descriptive. In everyday use there is no negative meaning behind it yet to many outsiders it’s still incorrectly considered a slur. You can be 100% white European blood or ethnicity and still be a Hawaii local. For that we use the term “local haole”. Local haole would be one that is born, educated and raised here like Andy, JOB etc. who have no Hawaiian and no locally-born, white parents. If they have mixed local blood with outside haole then we would call them “hapa”. Koa Rothman would be considered a local hapa haole Hawaiian. As you point out, the distinctions can get really blurred depending on the individual circumstances especially as time goes on and more mixes get baked into the Hawaii pie.
But I like the second part of your comment and it’s the lesson that’s important throughout the world. If you visit or move to a place where you have already deemed the minorities or locals as “racist” or “racist Hawaiians” you have irretrievably established your superior prejudicial mindset and you will be treated as such. But, just like your example, if you visit or move or visit a new location and you embrace the locals with aloha and mutual respect then you will quickly be brought into the folds of our ohana and be treated like a brother or sister in the lineup or on the street.
Negs make a good point about how the USA treats its indigenous or minorities as compared to other less racially exclusive indoctrinated countries.
Hey Huli. Run for office already. Succinct, articulate and charismatic. Well spoken sir.
PS. A bit harsh on SB in my opinion.
I have no skin in the game. Maybe you can enlighten us who don’t know what you’re getting at?
Whenever people feel they have to drop the old “I’ve been living here for X amount of years” says a lot. It’s the haole measuring stick for how valid you think your opinions are.
I’ll listen to it later
Everyone watching the Kelly vs. Shane heat that day wanted to see a battle and Kelly chose to take the easy way to his win! “My people wanted me to punch Kelly out” – Shane
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The Momentum generation rolled over and played dead for Slater.
Chris Brown couldn’t sustain the challenge, but was equal to it. Beschen took the charge, did not idolize Kelly and stood tall. He made the 90’s interesting as the rivalry grew.
As for San Clam, Dino was the fire in town.
Kelly’s mix of ruthless competitiveness with unmatchable skill and CI’s was unbeatable. I don’t think anyone could have stood up to that for those 10 years. Too bad Andy let the pills stop him, plus that JBay gimme to Slater by the judges.
Y’see how good Slater looks in that 96 final?
His trestles final from black and white would still hold today.
what about the LMB crew?
Where are they now Brutus? You got one fixing dings out the back?
Bought expensive Northen Beaches property and lost the drive ?
Just another poor branding attempt really.. what did the boys achieve Moz?
I’ll listen to it l… aughing at the times when Chas, who has just realized he has gone five to ten minutes without saying anything, interjects with something faux controversial/something he’s written a million times and forgotten he’s mentioned a million times, which doesn’t exactly fit the flow of the conversation, but gets him “on the board,” as ELo would say.
… the surf life has not been kind to Mr. Beschen’s face. He looks like he could be Strider’s creepy uncle who spends all his free time at nudist colonies, applying tanning oil every twenty minutes, between sets of paddle ball and exaggeratedly bent over bocce, in pursuit of the perfect hairy, leather ballsack…
… oh, and was he the nightmare passenger for that Lyft driver in Oregon you guys wrote about months ago?
My specialty!
I thought exactly the opposite, very smooth forehead and a pale, waxen appearance, as if the sun had never struck his shores.
Slater is a straight sociopath.
seriously.
Its fucking great isn’t it!
They are easier to spot when you’ve dated one. As my brother told me later: Don’t put ya dick in psycho!”
Always remember the saying “all great men in history were probably megalomaniacs”.