Reincarnation.
Exciting times to be a surfer. The most exciting in history, perhaps, or at least since the great Duke Kahanamoku strode the earth nearly a decade ago. More people enjoying the pastime of kings since ever before. An Olympic birth just over the horizon. Our own Duke Kahanamoku reborn as an extremely handsome Japanese by way of Huntington Beach statesman named Kanoa Igarashi.
The young-ish surfer was recently profiled on Australia’s ABC News and the comparison between Kahanamoku and Igarashi was obviously striking.
Igarashi will be the same age as Duke Kahanamoku was at his first Olympics, but it’s not the only thing they share.
The young Japanese surfer exudes the same statesmanlike qualities as the Hawaiian who first believed surfing could be an Olympic sport.
“You know, this is a huge moment, I’m sure not just for me but I can speak on behalf of all the other surfers we’re going to feel pressure that we’ve never felt before,” he said.
“You have Brazilians, you have Australians, you have Americans all feeling pressure from their country and we are all really proud to represent our flag.
“But there’s something about it being in Japan and I feel like in a way I am representing our country to the world of surfing, and also representing surfing to the Olympics.
“So, in a way, I feel I have a lot on my hands,” he says, “but this is what I feel like I was born to do.”
Very cool. Igarashi also talks about his new megaphone and butterflies in his blood.
right.. that is my bone to pick with those selling the sport and the spots… Fuck the magicseaweeds/surflines and tourism shit, selling what they stumbled upon.. sorry about your spot… I have moved a few hundred clicks north of where I was surfing and get it alone.. but not for long. they will all start coming in every time i get a good wave..
Meanwhile Bells is pumping.
Nearly, I wrote. Nearly.
That’s true that we overlook a good surfers daily life just because they rip. We all know that guy that is a complete fuck up getting arrested dropping out of school etc but has so much talent in the water.
Today I watched a religious entertainer transform a low-end petite Syrah into Jesus’s blood and then back into something that tasted exactly like wine. It was truly amazing to witness this miracle. Needless to say it’s been a bloodbath ever since. Cheers boys
Lets do a live comment thread on the lay day to see if there’s any difference in the action.
about the only thing they have in common is the fact their respective roots are from Pacific island-archipelagos brought to heel by whitey in the 20th century.
whaddya expect when their source is Matt Warshaw?
Give him $$$$!!!!
Looking like Weds and Thurs like CB said. Only issue seems to be the wind. How does Newy do on a south east wind?
Merewether does ok’ish in a southerly as long as it’s not too east.. if it’s big, the point fires up and it’ll be on. JJF and Medina would be my picks should that happen.
That said, seeing a few of these guys and girls up close it’s pretty nuts what they can do with very little. I watched Connor Coffin, Brissa Hennessy and Ace ripping apart small waves down the coast a bit today and it was epic to watch.
They surf so fast. We have pros that surf OB like Josh Kerr, Damian Hobgood Nat young etc. It’s basically pull in to barrels all day, not down the line point break surfing where you can really see the difference between pros and everybody else.
And light footed, but still powerful. Most crew were getting a turn maybe two in, they were catching ripples and tearing them apart with 4 turns massive spray and huge end section hits. It was great.
It seems like they are pretty diminutive people overall but they use good technique to be able to throw spray.
Ya, I caught that too. (it’s sure not the first)
And with mistakes like that, we’re supposed to take these posts seriously? it seems he doesn’t even take the time to proof-read them, just throws something together for some filler material.
We like it broken, ok?
Chaz is shit. Can’t write for shit, can’t surf for shit.
Throw up your credentials champ
The event, which sold tickets for $30, marketed itself as “bringing Bali and its culture, food, entertainment, shopping and leisure lifestyle to Australia”, while also donating money to the Balinese people… Australia / culture… There’s your problem.
How’d I do?
Not bad for you
“Sometimes you wanna see what kinda spray’s gonna go on your board to make it really pop” ~
I see what you mean…..
Embrace Accelerationism. Once the sport is marketed to death and every last dime has been milked from surfing, I will finally paddle out at the local free from any Vals on a Gerry Lopez™ foamie
A buddy of mine has been saying “Kanoa virus” for the past year and was not in realization of it. I kind of liked that pronunciation. That and “kung flu”.
I have a particularly racist acquaintance that calls it “the nip bug” I pointed out “nips” was a name traditionally given to the Japanese soilders in ww2 he scoffed and called me an SJW and asked if “Chinky pox” was any better.
No. No, it isn’t.
Chinky pox is award level. Your acquaintance has some good material.
The above picture pretty much represents everything that’s wrong with pro surfing, some dude on a podium (a chair), groupies following him, thumping his chest, thinking, ‘I’m the best’, while the waves are forgotten.
Kinda makes me wanna puke, if that’s pro surfing– you guys can have it–and all the garbage that goes along with it.
If you guys (Chase) had any cajones, you’d boycott the Olympics and the coming Circus that’s gonna be called surfing.
Do you you think the NBA is bad or the NFL?
i am sure there are few courts in the city, that used to have a small pick up game, but it got discovered and now the local neighborhood kids never get to use the church’s hoops and court because the outsiders discovered there was a sick court they could take over and fuck the kids that were born to short to dunk. or something like that.. so yes.. maybe it kind of sucks.. but mostly.. if they are not in the water.. i am ok with it. NFL not in the olympics.. yet
Not sure where you live but there aren’t too many secret spots anymore, at least in Nor Cal. I would agree with both you and sam if it was 1976. It’s 2021 though and it feels like Sam is fighting a battle that was lost a long time ago. Pro contests aren’t going to make Salt Creek any more crowded.
What I am trying to understand is whether or not any kind of winning and losing is bad. Are card games bad etc. What I take way from your post is that you don’t like the commercialization of it all because it exploits it. I agree that March Madness more fun to watch than the NBA for that exact reason.
Is it OK to want to surf better than all your friends who you have to sit in the car with driving home again? Competition to me is an essential part of having our society progress.
Easter ham, flowers, blooming, everybody feeling the day that Jesus came back to life. I guess the Romans killed him because he was a hippie protester.
we still have a few near us.. but mostly in the last 3 years and covid especially, it has gotten fucked. covid took it to a new level.. before covid, lots of beaches are empty with nice peaks and some of our points were locals only, then the folks just started paddling out with stand ups and more.. we still take the waves in a cycle, but as more crowds approach more folks come to the good spots and literally ruin waves in a general sense, but in a micro sense.. ruin the wave you have been waiting on because they are jellyfishing in the inside. I directly relate the selling of the sport and lifestyle to the corpos and more. fuck em
Surf schools and Surfline Cams. We had to become weather experts back in 1978. Had our little radio shack cubes listening to the bouy reports to decide whether to go across the bridge to Ocean Beach SF or to drive over the hill to West Marin.
One hour drive between spots so if you screw up you just wasted your day.
There are still places that nobody really knows about, and the google execs would drown at those spots anyways.
Bank Wright’s “surfing California” pretty much named ALL the secret spots in California 40 years ago. As an 11 year old sponger I read that thing cover to cover dozens of times. When I could finally drive and surf I got to explore some of those spots I had only read about. The only place place I’ve ever been hassled was walking down west cliff drive near steamer lane….and that was because I was rocking my banana slug hoodie!!
That was an incredibly detailed guide. I think there was one for Hawaii also. A friend of mine was surfing the channel in bolinas and got back to his car. His. Surfing California book was taken and a joint he had rolled was smoked .
Umm, ok, interesting, all the years in my grommet hood and afterward sitting in a car cruising to the beach or back with other surfers, I don’t think I ever once thought about surfing better than them.
I just wanted to catch some waves and be stoked.
And thank you for the Easter reminder, cause yes, He is ‘still’ alive today.
And because of that, there is still hope for us, a new life, and hope for the world.
oh fuck. i thought this was a space safely away from that horseshit.
i agree.. fuck the marketing of it.. I want a tour that is not trying to reach past the market of core folks that truly care and know the difference between each act. I don’t care if they get rich with marketing outside of the sport, but for fucksake, it is just fucking us surfers at are homes. No (B)Ziff, I don’t want to share the fucking waves with others..I hate other fucking surfers… so fuck off.
Be interesting to see how many WSL employees actually surf and have done so longer than two years? I feel like the adult learners that end up working in marketing for anything boardsports are to blame. The lack of roots is so obvious.
In another life, I worked with these kinda people and was pretty horrified when I started out to learn that at least 90% of other employees couldn’t name a shaper. Not even the super obvious ones. Even in a ‘surf town’. I understood the hiring ‘good’ people thing but I also knew a lot of people who grew up surfing, who also would have loved a job and performed 10,000x better but couldn’t get in because of the lack of a bullshit carsalesey ego. Anyone who actually understood the whole ‘surf’ thing was usually pushed out pretty quickly.
Moreover, half of these ‘marketing’ execs just got lucky because of timing, not talent.
Yeah yeah, this is all very good.
But more importantly, does he subscribe to Ellie-Jean or is he more of a Renee kind of guy ?
Or do his interests lean more towards Derek and friends ?
I am out of touch with what going on. Do Bondi locals have their own acronym now?
Bondi-Sexual?
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
which is his fitness tracker and which is his gps g-shock and where’s his boyfriend?
This was Kanoa’s reaction, still in the water, when he learned of the comparison between him and The Duke.
He didn’t believe it, and it thrilled with emotion!
Have to thank the guy for blessing me with my avatar…
I smell an imminent Walkley Award for this fine bit of reporting. Bravo!
Was the last sentence “more as the story develops?”
real-talk: “no more as this ‘story’ unravels” is a better sign-off for ALL posted articles on the ‘Grit. It’s ultra-hard surf candy, not a Gobstopper. it’s gnashed and gnawed and swallowed nearly whole. not succored and savored. and i wanna tip my cap to you for bringing this non-controversy to the forefront of my conflict-seeking sensibilities
Haha thats what this place is, conflict candy.
I am expecting LGR to be waiting with a lei at the airport for Kanoa when he get’s back.
Wait, Duke willingly claimed a new national status in an ignominious effort to capitalize on hoped for Olympic endorsement monies? His character was that shallow, and his identify that up for sale?
Hawaii wasn’t an American State when Duke represented America, so there is some similarity!
The way he cradles his red bull on the podium is eerily similar, too.
Let’s not forget his Hawaiian haircut homage to Keala Kennelly!
Please don’t correct me when I’m dumping on Kanoa.