Great News: Surf apparel industry on path for “explosive growth” over next decade, set to blow past 1.5 billion dollars mark!

Thank you Billabong!

With much of these United States of America being put under lock and key, once again, in order to combat the robust spread of a novel Coronavirus, you might be feeling bleak and sad about the future of a once great economy.

How are restaurants and bars supposed to survive without being able to sell food and/or drinks?

Salons without trimming hair?

Well, at least we have the surf apparel industry.

You are certainly aware that surf branded soft goods, like t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts, became not popular some decades ago spinning the surf apparel industry into a great apocalypse.

Many fired.

Much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Yet it appears that all that was needed to pull The Stone, The Mountain and Wave, The Search etc. out of its nose dive was a real great apocalypse.

According to market specialists Grand View Research, the global surfing apparel and accessories market, valued at USD 1.04 billion in 2019 is set to grow at an annual compounded rate of 5.3% over the next seven years and reach an overall valuation of USD 1.56 billion by 2027.

Exciting.

The reason for this stratospheric spike may surprise you.

“In October 2016, Trinity Board Sport announced the launch of a surfboard based on parabolic rail system technology. The board offers 20%-30% more volume than a conventional surfboard, thus offering high degree of balancing and significant performance advantages.”

And

“In July 2019, Billabong, an Australia-based company announced the launch of a graphene-enhanced surfing apparel named Furnace Graphene. This product is intelligently designed where graphene wrapped yarns trap and retain heat more efficiently, thereby offering warmth to the wearer.”

Have you ridden one of these magic parabolic rail surfboards?

I can attest to the power of Billabong’s graphene-enhanced surfing apparel.

Very warm.

But what will you do with this glowing report? Start a surf brand? Send out the resume to existing surf brands?

Much to ponder.


Adorable maniac and toy. | Photo: @jackbatesphotography

Heavyweights: Watch as a tiger shark wrestles, eats hammerhead in three-feet of water at Juno Beach, Florida! “There was a guy swimming with his dogs who had no clue this was happening!”

"Witnessing this tiger's power and beauty chow down blew my mind…"

Pretty little Juno Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, is a sleepy little joint of three thousand souls more famous for its loggerhead turtles, its pier and a drowsy golden brown climate than undersea battles ‘tween leviathans.

Here, as snatched by Jack Bates Photography, we see a tiger giving hell to a lifeless hammerhead thirty yards off Juno Beach.

“Sorry to see the death of this hammerhead but witnessing this tigers power and beauty chow down blew my mind,” writes Jackie. “Interesting fact: 30 yards down the beach there was a guy swimming with his dogs who had no clue this was happening.”

Tried to call Jackie to check if it was real or not; that cut between above water and below is a little sudden, but time diff maybe making connecting difficult.

Tigers eating hammerheads ain’t a new thing. Here’s a little something from Nat Geo.

As for Jackie, kid shreds.

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It’s crazy how life turns out. 5 years ago I was passing through Tamarindo CR and this crazy Tico said… “yo buddy, you surf?” I honestly thought he was trying to sell me something but I chatted with him. We surfed a few waves instantly became long lost brothers and then I went on my way. We lost touch for a while and then randomly I get this dm on insta, “come to costa bro” I had a little break from weddings and really wanted to keep moving as Florida was feeling extremely stagnant in the summer so I pretty much just sent it. We didn’t exchange numbers and I barely even remember one interaction we had but I trusted it. And here I am living in a dream based off one little “yo buddy” from a stranger 5 years ago. Thank you for the showing me such an epic time @tamarindo_purecradventures I’ll be posting much more from this journey soon

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And has an eye for imposing, goddess-like beauty.

Junoesque, y’might say. 


Destroyer swell hits Australia’s east coast: “This was the biggest and best wave ever ridden in Sydney! The wave of the day, the wave of the swell. A freak!”

"I've been shooting for ten years and it's the biggest and best wave I've seen for sure."

It ain’t no lie to say that Australia’s east coast lit up like a Christmas tree these past couple of days. 

Didn’t matter if you were curled up away from the brunt of the swell at Snapper, easing into six-footers among the Whites at Lennox like Longtom or seizing control of a Sydney reef with refrigerated composure, these were the days when surfers became, like days of yore, the Gods of Olympus. 

And yesterday, Sydney’s Chris Lougher, pictured below, slammed his excalibur into a wave at Deadman’s, a reef halfway between Manly and North Head, filmer Spencer Frost describes as “the wave of the day, the wave of the swell. A freak. I’ve been shooting for ten years and it’s the biggest and best wave I’ve seen for sure.”

This joint, Deadies, will yank you out of your bean-bag and crack you over the head with grenades of power.

Breaks on a cliff.

A little chip-shot into a section that, usually, don’t have an exit door.

“For a paddle wave, that’s incredible for Sydney,” says Frost.

Frost has been busy as hell fielding calls from news outlets and surf sites since he threw the frame grab from his RED camera onto Instagram.

“I went and did some training, didn’t look at my phone, came back and it had gone absolutely bonkers. Missed calls from everyone. Local newspapers trying to call me. Stab, Surfer, Coastalwatch, every surf media outlet. I didn’t think it would blow up like it did.”

What makes the image even more remarkable is that it was shot using a giant 800mm lens with a two-time converter from Freshwater Beach, a couple of nautical miles further north.

“Getting cheeky with a long lens,” says Frost.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCp7OXYB7wQ/

So far, the bidding for his RED footage has hit two gees, but Frost is hoping for a little more.

Whatever happens it’ll be loosed in a day or two.

In the meantime, here’s a reel of raw footage shot from the cliff.


Watch: Great White Shark named “Helen” drowns a thirty-five foot humpback whale off the coast of South Africa!

"Very strategic."

Remember back when the world was pre-apocalyptic, hair salons were open, refillable sodas were the norm and we humans had two main concerns?

1) Keep the Country Country

2) Save the Whales

We have done a good job, all things considered, with number one. Country is still, ostensibly, Country thanks to many brave North Shore property owners painting the slogan on signs and putting them Kamehameha adjacent.

Number two, though, seems to have fallen through the cracks and let us not tarry. Let us fly to South Africa where a tagged ten-foot Great White named Helen “very strategically” drowned a thirty-five foot humpback while negligent humans watched via drone (watch here).

According to Ryan Johnson, a marine biologist reached for comment, Helen knew exactly what she was doing in heading for the tail, finding an artery then letting the poor humpback bleed for thirty minutes before attacking the sweet creature’s face.

“There was no hesitation. It’s as if she knew exactly how to go about it. Even though she was a fraction of his weight, she was attempting to roll him over, pulling him down to get his blow hole under the water, apparently in an effort to drown him. She managed to weigh him down under the water and he just didn’t come up again.”

Do you think there are any tagged sharks out there named Karen?

Are they depressed?

Are you depressed for not saving the whales?

You should be. Just this past year a humpback saved a diver named Karen from death by shark.


Rumor: “Major” World Surf League announcement regarding 2020-21 season “coming soon”; Pipeline start and champion to possibly be crowned at Trestles in fabulous one day event!

Kolohe Andino for 2020-21 champ. Caroline Marks on the women's side.

Tease me once, shame on me. Tease me twice, shame on me. Tease me three times, shame on me. Tease me four times… wait. No shame at all. We live in the future where predilections and kinks of every make and model are not only acceptable but to be celebrated.

Tease me, World Surf League, one more time!

And apparently my predilections and kinks are all being sated for a new, hot rumor floating out of Santa Monica on tickly feathered wings.

You well know that Erik Logan and team have titillated us much since the Coronavirus descended and cancelled our culture.

No professional surfing. Only Lawn Patrol.

And yet announcements announced. Announcements coming soon. “Major” announcement at the beginning of June. “Major” announcement at the beginning of July. But no “major” announcement forthcoming. The League not even explaining where the “major” announcements went.

Sad.

And we’ve been left to our own devices, as Erik Logan and team have silently retrenched, to monger in rumor. But substantiated rumor from inside the belly of Santa Monica’a beast. True rumor or true-ish.

Another?

Certainly.

A source “close to the levers of power but also very much involved in franchising Subway sandwich restaurants” has floated that a “major” announcement is coming on Tuesday and will cement the already rumored rumor that the 2020-21 season will be mashed together, beginning this December at the Banzai Pipeline.

Where will it end?

According to the source, ending the whole shootin’ match “…at Trestles in September with a one day surf-off between the top four men and women” is being heavily discussed.

Imagine, Trestles there in North County, San Diego once tossed onto the scrapheap of modernity, replaced by a giant blue plow in a long Lemoore lake now back and the crowner of champions.

Do you like?

Love?

I do. It’s a wonderful parable for hanging in there, not giving up, not losing heart when the chips are down.

Kolohe Andino for 2020-21 champ. Caroline Marks on the women’s side.

Tell me I’m wrong.