For it was there on Jensen Beach, very near Port St. Lucie, that
a Florida man simply named Jeremy was severely bitten by a confused
nurse shark. A poor animal so befuddled, so perplexed that it
refused to let go for hours.
What did Jeremy do? Bash the creature on the head with a conch
shell until its unnecessarily aggressive brain matter filled the
Atlantic?
No.
He lovingly cradled the chronrichthye as if it were his own
child, likely knowing that he had entered its environment and
deserved the whatever manner of dismemberment befell him, while
lifeguards and firemen gathered trying to figure out how to
dislodge the sharp, extremely painful teeth.
Jeremy continued smiling and joking as a crowd gathered. After
much time, shark still affixed to arm, the lifeguards and firemen
gave up and transferred him to a local hospital where the shark was
removed and thrown into a medical waste bag.
“You’re a hero!” one man on the beach shouted as he was wheeled
away.
A hero indeed, displaying the very best of humanity. Showing
what makes us very cool and sharks beautiful but completely
un-evolved.
The Florida Man I strive to be.
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Man, I sure am gonna miss Santa Monica.
From the BeachGrit legal department: “What
will the WSL’s death rattle look like? Kelly Slater’s retirement?
Elo’s return to Oklahoma?”
And now, the death of all corporations, litigation.
ASP Holdings, LLC, aka the WSL, is currently being sued in
federal court by Evanston Insurance Company.
Evanston and the WSL allegedly entered into an insurance
contract in 2017 that covered Paul Speaker, Terrance Hardy, and
Jonathan Miller in their capacities as Executives of the WSL.
Speaker, Hardy, and Miller were sued in 2017 over alleged
actions stemming from Zosea’s acquisition of the WSL.
Evanston is seeking “a judicial declaration to the effect that
the [policy] does not provide any coverage for a lawsuit captioned,
Michael Barnes, et al. v. Zosea ASP Holdings.”
According to the complaint filed in June of this year, the WSL
tried to invoke their insurance policy in the Barnes dispute.
At issue is the fact that the policy allegedly only covered WSL
executives in their official duties.
The litigation was stayed pending completion of Barnes v.
Zosea.
That suit was settled last month.
What will the WSL’s death rattle look like?
Kelly’s retirement?
Elo’s return to Oklahoma?
The shuttering of the Surf Ranch?
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Greatest surfer ever Kelly Slater burnishes
bonafides in east Asia as Slater Designs surfboard appears in
Korean mega-group BTS’s music video!
By Chas Smith
A man for all seasons.
Kelly Slater, arguably the greatest surfer
ever, environmentalist and artificial wave pool impresario
won many fans in China, when he hit back at an historically
inaccurate troll last month with the defense, “Writing me out of
the blue talking shit is such a crock of shit. Accusing me of being
a racist? My girlfriend is Chinese. You’re on glue. You’re a
miserable coward. And now you’re
blocked.”
The well-meaning but slightly off commenter had suggested that
U.S. intervention was a great global negative, overall, after
Slater had suggested America should bomb many Chinese fishing
vessels illegally trolling, as irony would have it, near the
Galapagos Islands.
The two went back and forth before Slater’s coup de grace, which
thrilled residents from Shanghai to Lhasa and maybe even planted a
little hope in many Chinese female hearts. The King not being
married and all.
Very great and similar to Richard M. Nixon’s Ping Pong
Diplomacy.
Now, Korea is, of course, not China but it appears that Slater’s
charm, his warmth, his profound cultural understanding is welcome
there too as mega-group BTS just released a video featuring a
Slater Designs surfboard.
Is it a Cymatic?
Sci-Fi 2.0?
FRK?
Watch here at the 27 second mark and you tell me!
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WSL CEO/Vanguard Erik Logan (left) wearing his
storytelling cap and tie that signify his preeminent position on
the "Road to Stoke."
Just in: World Surf League partners with
analytics company Comscore to help with “explosive audience growth”
as it dedicates itself to “changing the world through the
inspirational power of surfing!”
By Chas Smith
The move to "cult" in full swing!
There has not been a World Surf League
Championship Tour event since Brazilian Italo Fereirra dispatched
countryman Gabriel Medina to take the crown near the beginning of
December, 2019. Not one heat, not one round, not one blow of the
hooter over Joe Turpel’s muffled, “Oooooh. Exciting, Pottz.”
Professional surfing is not alone in its inability to host live
action in the Covid-era but may be singular in its wild, unchecked
success. While other leagues, confederations, associations have
stumbled while trying to connect with audiences in a new way, our
WSL has experienced “explosive growth” in not only audience numbers
but also corporate partnerships and sponsorships.
A true unicorn but how?
Why?
Let us read about the new union with Comscore (Nasdaq: SCOR), a
trusted partner for planning, transacting and evaluating media
across platforms. And to the press
release we go.
Comscore will provide the WSL with access to Comscore’s
signature Media Ratings solutions, including Comscore Video Metrix®
in the United States, Australia and Brazil, and Media Metrix®
Multi-Platform in the U.S., to better understand audience behavior
and media consumption across desktop and mobile devices.
This deal, which comes as the WSL is seeing explosive
audience growth and in partnerships and sponsorships, signals the
power of the sport of surfing. The World Surf League is dedicated
to changing the world through the inspirational power of surfing by
creating authentic events, experiences, and storytelling to inspire
a growing, global community to live with purpose, originality, and
stoke.
Oh yeah. I sometimes underestimate the “power of the sport of
surfing” and short-change the League’s dedication to “changing the
world through the inspirational power of surfing by creating
authentic events, experiences, and storytelling to inspire a
growing, global community to live with purpose, originality, and
stoke.”
Changing the world through the inspirational power of
surfing.
Living with purpose, originality and stoke.
Have we arrived?
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The WSL, happy in diversity.
From the BeachGrit legal department: The
WSL, an alleged “story of naked greed and orchestrated
concealment.”
By Cedar Hobbs
And, the WSL valued, according to court docs in
2016, at $US600 million!
A little history.
The ASP was acquired in 2013 by Zosea Media, a startup owned by
Paul Speaker and Terrance Hardy.
Speaker and Hardy were the original architects of the WSL we so
love today, becoming controlling owners of the new joint venue
along “with the billionaire who invested all $25 million of its
capitalization.”
I assume you can guess who this mysterious “billionaire” might
be.
After the merger, the new venture was valued at $600 million,
allegedly resulting in Zosea’s 50% share tripling from $100 million
to $300 million.
It’s also alleged that after the acquisition of KSWC, “the
billionaire investor would have invested approximately $50 million
into the combined company, and it was natural that he expected
Zosea to relinquish its voting control over the combined
venture.”
In 2016, Paul Speaker was terminated as the CEO of the WSL, with
approval of Hardy and Zosea chairman Jonathan Miller. Speaker
allegedly negotiated an exit deal that included selling 60% of his
Zosea stake back to Zosea, which Zosea sold back to the
billionaire, effectively reducing its ownership share.
Zosea then paid out $12 million to Paul Speaker.
According to a complaint filed in 2017 by the Barnes Firm, a
personal injury law firm, a year before the 2016 acquisition of
KSWC, Michael Barnes, the owner of the Barnes Firm, and two other
persons had been admitted as small equity owners of Zosea in 2015
in return for providing legal services.
Barnes alleged that the small equity owners posed a significant
problem to Zosea, as they could have upset the new merger deal or
the $12 million buyout.
Barnes also claimed that he had contractual rights to be bought
out “upon a change of control of Zosea . . . and also the right to
tag-along in exit sales.”
Hardy, Miller, and Speaker allegedly circumvented the minority
owners’ right to exit “at that $600 million combined value” and
thus circumvented paying “at least $5 million to the ZoSea minority
holders.”
According to Barnes, Zosea concealed the change of ownership and
Speaker’s exit deal from the minority owners.
In 2017, Barnes initiated arbitration against Zosea, which
allegedly prompted them to claim “that Barnes was not entitled to
any documents because of some nebulous ‘malpractice’ and ‘conflict’
by Barnes.”
The alleged malpractice was attributed to Barnes having become a
member of Zosea.
In response, Barnes brought suit in California state court.
Zosea, Hardy, Speaker, and Miller filed a cross complaint
against Barnes in January 2018, alleging breaches of ethical duty,
fiduciary duty, and legal malpractice. They alleged that after
closing the deal, Barnes “conditioned the release of the deal
documents and his future legal work on obtaining a larger
percentage interest in Zosea, effectively holding the deal
hostage.”
They also claimed that after the deal was closed, they had to
obtain additional counsel to rectify Barnes’ errors.
Zosea sought to rescind the issuance of Barnes’ ownership and
take the case to arbitration.
The parties agreed to confidential arbitration in April 2018, so
much of the litigation is not public.
On August 19, 2020 the parties settled for an unknown
amount.
