World Suicide Prevention Day: Save a life
and win future world champion Caroline Marks’ signed jersey!
By Chas Smith
It's anti-depressive!
Today is World Suicide Prevention Day and while
BeachGrit is typically your go-to for light fun-making and
updates on the ethnicity of Kelly Slater’s girlfriend, there are
places and times to highlight real issues and the real people
making a difference.
Florida’s Jamie Tworkowski has been involved with mental health
and suicide prevention since 2006, and is also BeachGrit’s
Volunteer Director of Typos. Before founding the non-profit To
Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA), he worked as a Quiksilver sub-rep
then Hurley rep in his home state.
This year, TWLOHA is rallying
around the campaign Worth Living For and
trying to raise 250k which would cover 3500 counseling sessions, as
the vast majority of those who die by suicide have a diagnosable
mental health condition, and 45,000 searches using the “find help”
tool on twloha.com.
Students of professional surfing will know that Marks is one,
maybe two, years from winning a World Surf League championship
trophy, assuming the World Surf League exists in two years.
A wonderful prize, to be sure.
In any case, if you need any help at all, or know others who do
reach out. TWLOHA is wonderful enough to make an old crank like me
tear right up.
It’s anti-depressive!
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Justine Dupont (pictured) getting robbed.
French big wave surfer Justine Dupont
explodes at WSL over Big Wave award ruling: “I am especially
disappointed and ashamed of this league which claims to represent
our sport!”
By Chas Smith
Fireworks!
Early this morning, the World Surf League, now
based in CEO Erik Logan’s Manhattan Beach bunker and stored next to
his various flavors of Laird SuperFood and inspirational wall
hangings featuring quotes from Stuart Smalley, released the
long-anticipated winner of the cbdMD XXL Biggest Wave Award.
Per the press release:
Today, the World Surf League (WSL) announced that Maya
Gabeira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) won the cbdMD XXL Biggest Wave
Award and set the new World Record for the largest wave ever surfed
by a woman. As part of the Red Bull Big Wave Awards (BWA), the BWA
validated Gabeira’s ride as the new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title
holder for the largest wave surfed (unlimited) – female.
“This wave was during the [WSL Nazaré Tow Surfing] contest
and although I say I’m not a competitive person, I was very in the
zone and braver than I usually am on this day,” said Gabeira. “I
was risking more than I usually like to do. When I let go of the
rope, I had a feeling it could be the one but wasn’t sure. The
speed was very high but the noise that the wave made when it broke
made me realize that this was probably the biggest wave I’d ever
ridden.”
Gabeira’s record-setting wave measured 73.5 feet, besting
her own previous World Record, 68 feet. She broke the record at the
infamous big-wave surf break, Praia do Norte in Nazaré, Portugal,
on February 11, 2020, as part of the WSL’s inaugural Nazaré Tow
Surfing Challenge event. Although the men’s and women’s divisions
are separate for this category, Gabeira’s ride also beat the men’s
cbdMD XXL Biggest Wave, which was won by Kai Lenny (Paia, Hawaii)
and measured 70 feet.
Today, the World Surf League (WSL) announced that Maya
Gabeira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) won the cbdMD XXL Biggest Wave
Award and set the new World Record for the largest wave ever surfed
by a woman. As part of the Red Bull Big Wave Awards (BWA), the BWA
validated Gabeira’s ride as the new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title
holder for the largest wave surfed (unlimited) – female.
“This wave was during the [WSL Nazaré Tow Surfing] contest
and although I say I’m not a competitive person, I was very in the
zone and braver than I usually am on this day,” said Gabeira. “I
was risking more than I usually like to do. When I let go of the
rope, I had a feeling it could be the one but wasn’t sure. The
speed was very high but the noise that the wave made when it broke
made me realize that this was probably the biggest wave I’d ever
ridden.”
Gabeira’s record-setting wave measured 73.5 feet, besting
her own previous World Record, 68 feet. She broke the record at the
infamous big-wave surf break, Praia do Norte in Nazaré, Portugal,
on February 11, 2020, as part of the WSL’s inaugural Nazaré Tow
Surfing Challenge event. Although the men’s and women’s divisions
are separate for this category, Gabeira’s ride also beat the men’s
cbdMD XXL Biggest Wave, which was won by Kai Lenny (Paia, Hawaii)
and measured 70 feet.
Condemnation was swift and fierce from France’s Justine Dupont,
who had been up for the award. Per her Instagram she declared:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CE9UDWMH1Wn/
The @wsl announced that the record for the biggest wave
surfed would be awarded to a surfer who does not finish her wave. I
decided to smile about it even though I am deeply hurt to be
subjected to a decision that I believe is totally unfairI’m
especially disappointed and ashamed of this league which claims to
represent our sport . They are based on a report from scientists who use the word
“approximate” in front of each of their statements. It is
stipulated among other things that:
-The size of the 2 surfer girls is approximately identical:
FALSE (at + or – 10cm) -Our two waves are approximately the same distance from the
photographer: FALSE these are 2 different peaks on the biggest
beach break in the world. -They define the bottom of the wave of my competitor about 2m
below where the lip of the wave breaks. -Images of the other surfer were used after the publication
deadline.
And much more ..
For the wave of men they arrive without a scientist to give
an exact height of 70ft. For the women after postponing the
decision for a month and consulting a dream team of scientists they
come to the conclusion that my competitor’s wave is “approximately
2 or 3ft bigger.”
At first I wanted to scream, then cry, but eventually I
prefer to keep smiling and my head held high. They won’t take away the pride and pleasure I have in surfing
those big waves.
Thank you all for your messages. Thanks to the surf
community and locals in Nazare for your support I am surrounded by
an incredible team and people, I am fortunate to be supported by
partners who believe in me, I am aware of it and
fulfilled.
The season is starting and I know that I can surf even
bigger waves without waiting for some records from them.
Fireworks.
Other professional surfers, and stars, were quick to weigh
in.
Johanne Defay penned, “garde ton sourire, tu as raison (keep
your smile, you’re right!).”
Big wave hero Lucas Chumbo added, “here’s nothing to do. No
worries we have many years to try again and we know who is the
best.”
Motocross racer Camille Chapeliere, “You are number 1!”
Etc.
Kelly Slater’s much valued opinion on race relations in the 21st
century has not been added though is certain to be soon.
But how do you think WSL CEO Erik Logan is taking the
criticism?
On the chin or is he hiding under a comfortable goose down duvet
eating pints of Häagen-Dazs banana peanut butter chip?
Or chocolate sea salt caramel?
Honey salted caramel almond?
Wait.
What flavor of Häagen-Dazs does Logan use to soothe his
emotions?
Regular chocolate?
There’s no way he eats regular chocolate is there?
In any case, compare the waves for yourself here.
Dupont:
Maya:
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One of the guys who dragged the lifeless body to shore,
Jade Parker, said “the whole idea that the shark was trying to
single him out is not realistic”, despite the footage showing
unequivocally the shark doing exactly that. It hit him then hit him
again.
Longtom on Superbank Great White Hit:
“That’s the end of that fantasy. No more thinking crowded Superbank
is a refuge. How far down the path are we to a Reunion Island
reality?”
By Longtom
One of the guys who dragged the lifeless body to
shore, Jade Parker, said “the whole idea that the shark was trying
to single him out is not realistic” despite the footage showing
unequivocally the shark doing exactly that. It hit him then hit him
again.
Five pm, an hour before low tide, little off-season
tradewind swell running.
My boy and his pal out scrapping around by themselves on the
outer bank reforms at Lennox Pub, me feeling edgy as fuck and
wishing I’d driven them up to the Pass or even Superbank… somewhere
safe with more legs in the water.
Little almond-eyed tubes safe under the veil of nets and drums.
Greenmount felt then, as it has since the whole shark crisis kicked
off, about the safest place in the world to surf.
The most unlikely place to have that giant rooster tail of water
erupt around you or a loved one and the whole familiar by now
horror playing out, except this time caught in the web of the
surveillance society.
Yeah, I saw the footage.
That’s where I would have sat with the kids, down the end past
Little Marley, picking up some little wide runners into the
afternoon glow. Probs having a little chat in between waves with
Nick Slater, asking him what he thought of the Morning of the Earth
twin he was riding.
Forty-six, still feeling good. Washing off the stress after a
good day selling real estate. Lots of buyers, people escaping the
lockdown, looking for sunshine, warm water and a safer surf
compared to across the border.
It’s all changed now.
That’s the end of that fantasy. No more thinking crowded
Superbank is a refuge, even if from paranoia.
You get sick of looking over your shoulder every five
minutes.
Check on the Sharksmart feed and you get something like this
daily: DPI advise 2.81 m White Shark tagged and released from SMART
drumline at SOUTH BALLINA, Ballina at 06:15 pm on 8 Sep 2020.
Ignorance offers no bliss either. It is what it is now.
And what it is, is fucking hectic. Just how far down the path
are we to a Reunion Island reality?
Further than we were a year ago is the only honest response.
Much, much farther than a decade ago.
Shallow water, it would have been waist deep on the tide. Clear
water. Can’t pin mistaken identity on the shark. It must have come
in like a polaris missile from the amount of water it displaced.
There was no delicacy in the attack. The footage shows clubbie
skis, three or four of them heading his way, to the rescue, I
thought.
But they didn’t respond.
Others seemed to not notice, or scatter.
Despite the crowd, an utterly lonely way to die.
What Owl Chapman termed “the naked moment”.
He was already bled out by the time they got to him.
Contrary to reporting yesterday the nets were set, along with an
array of eight drum-lines. The nets, just landward and to the north
of where Slater was surfing, the drum-lines array, just seaward of
the Snapper Rocks line-up. That left a corridor aimed directly at
Slater of around three or four hundred metres in width in which a
White shark swam before attacking the man.
The PR debate over sharks rages on.
Fanning, himself a survivor, is in full pitch mode for a
documentary called Save This Shark which (unsurprisingly)
runs the angle that sharks are merely “magical, majestic and
misunderstood creatures”.
One of the guys who dragged the lifeless body to shore, Jade
Parker, said “the whole idea that the shark was trying to single
him out is not realistic” despite the footage showing unequivocally
the shark doing exactly that. It hit him then hit him again.
There’s simply no other way to parse those moving images.
The footage.
The fucking footage.
Would I want that footage out there if it was my kid, my pal,
gal, etc etc?
I’d be driving around with a baseball bat looking for the perps.
Is it an inevitable consequence of the surveillance capitalism we
all live under? A thousand times, yes. We all want the convenience,
we have to accept the consequence. We are all addicted, as Tool
noted in Vicarious to watching things die “from a good
safe distance”.
Why can’t we just admit it?
What to do?
Pull your kids out, take a day off.
Deal with it.
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Boss Move: 80-year-old man who went missing
on hike surprises family, loved ones, by crashing press conference
set up to mourn his demise!
By Chas Smith
No surfer has ever been so cool.
Many years ago when VAL website and perpetrator
of after-the-fact wokeness The Inertia pivoted from “surf”
to “outdoors” I felt it was a very silly move. What good are the
outdoors that don’t directly relate to the surfing and/or
snowboarding?
Camping is a hassle, ziplining is whatever, birdwatching is a
snooze and hiking… well hiking is just about the worst thing a man
can do with his time.
And look at the egg on my face.
Days ago, an 80-year-old hiker pulled a better move than any
surfer ever by crashing the press conference set up to mourn his
loss and appeal for people to go out and search for his, likely,
lifeless body.
Harry Harvey, a very strong name in and of itself, had gone
hiking on Sunday in northern England but became separated from his
hiking partner when a vicious hailstorm hit. Police and the Royal
Air Force spent four days combing the region, coming up empty.
The family scheduled a press conference but, little did they
know, a wildlife photographer had found Harvey peacefully camping
by his lonesome and drug him back to civilization, surprising all
those in attendance.
Many hugs etc.
Harvey described his adventure thusly, “I had three really good
wild camping nights where I was on my own and had all the kit I
needed. The only thing I was getting a bit short of… I’ve got a
hell of an appetite… and when I get hungry I’ve got to get
something to eat or I can’t go on.”
When asked if he was happy to turn the mourning into dancing, he
responded, “If I’d have known, I wouldn’t have come back. I could
do without all of this.”
His daughter-in-law added, “He’s had a blast, we’ve had a
nightmare.”
No surfer has either done, or responded, cooler.
I shall now take up hiking.
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The shark tooth found in Nick Slater's Morning of the
Earth, triple-stringer twin. ID'd as twelve-foot White. | Photo:
Queensland Fisheries
Killer shark in Superbank attack identified
as twelve-foot Great White
By Derek Rielly
A surprise to nobody…
When the sirens start and the surfer’s body is dragged
onto the sand on Australia’s north-east coast, Rob at
Kingscliff, Mani at Wooli, Nick at Greenmount, it don’t take a
marine biologist to know the hit is by a White.
And the survivors, Phil at Bunker
Bay (“Freakishly big Great White”), Chantelle at Port
Macquarie (“The scream was everywhere, there was
splashing everywhere”), they know ‘cause they’ve seen the
White, they’ve felt it drive its teeth into limbs hanging
underwater.
Three months, five hits by Great Whites on surfers, three,
fatal.
Yesterday afternoon’s fatal attack on Burleigh Heads real estate
agent Nick Slater, at drum-line protected Superbank is part of a
stretch of coastline that hasn’t had one fatal shark attack since
the nets and the drum-lines were introduced in 1962.
Forster to Byron, yeah, Great Whites, no nets.
Pick a time, pray to your god.
But the Gold Coast?
Earlier today, Queensland Fisheries identified the killer shark
in the Superbank attack as a 3.5 metre Great White, a twelve-foot
bus.
A bad sign.
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Jon Pyzel and Matt Biolos by
@theneedforshutterspeed/Step Bros
