Dramatic video shows volunteer lifeguards
rescuing surfer from rocks in New Zealand: “He was cold and
apprehensive to get back in the water!”
By Chas Smith
Heroes.
Every surfer worth her salt has been caught in
an uncomfortable position at sea. Maybe caught in a riptide, panic
starting to bubble. Maybe out just beyond a swell that has risen
significantly, fear beginning to grip. Shark fin spotted,
bashed-off-the-reef wipeout, leash ripped and board sucked away,
etc. etc.
It feels good to get oneself out of trouble and it also feels
good to get someone else out of trouble and, days ago, volunteer
lifeguards in New Zealand saved a surfer from his perch stranded on
rocks and felt good.
California does not have the volunteer lifeguard position
available but I do believe they are called “clubbies” in Australia
and NZ.
Anyhow, the dramatic rescue took place on Muriwai Beach when a
member of the public spotted the surfer and called the emergency
number.
Volunteer squad member Glenn Gowthorpe, accompanied by another
lifeguard, jumped into action and made it across the churny water,
arriving to the surfer how had been stuck there for 2 hours and was
cold. A police helicopter circled overhead, shooting award-worthy
video (watch here) and
acting as backup.
“You never know what could happen. We might end up in trouble,”
Gowthorpe said.
Eventually, they convinced the surfer to get back in the water,
as he was “apprehensive,” and made it successfully to the
beach.
The surfer appeared to be riding a round nose fish.
A very fun choice in playful surf but maybe not when dramatic
rescues are in order.
If you had to be saved from rocks, all caught on video, which
board would you want beside you?
Important to think about.
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"Surfing won’t save you from meth and opioids and
crack. If anything, surfing may prime you for addiction
to stronger forms of intoxication, stronger rushes. The very best
surfers in the world have fallen to hard drugs, after
all."
Study reveals: “Surfing
may prime you for addiction to stronger forms of
intoxication, stronger rushes!”
By Jamie Brisick
Part addiction memoir, part sociological study, new
book The Drop “dismantles the myth of surfing as a radiantly
wholesome lifestyle immune to the darker temptations of the
culture…"
It’s a sad trajectory we know all too well.
Ace surfer wins world titles and/or rides giant waves only to
fall into substance abuse in the post-athletic years.
It makes no sense. And yet it makes perfect sense.
The Drop: How the Most Addictive
Sport Can Help Us Understand Addiction and
Recovery, by Thad Ziolkowski, explores this
phenomenon at length. Part addiction memoir, part sociological
study, part spiritual odyssey, Thad “dismantles the myth of surfing
as a radiantly wholesome lifestyle immune to the darker temptations
of the culture and discovers among the rubble a new way to
understand and ultimately overcome addiction.”
A lifelong surfer, a Yale PhD, a Guggenheim fellow, the author
of the memoir On A Wave, Thad lives with his
family in New Jersey.
What compelled you to write The
Drop?
When I started surfing, age 10, I was struck by the charisma of
surfing compared to other things. I played several sports, I loved
listening to music and reading, but surfing trumped all that,
especially when the waves were good: it was impossible to think of
anything else.
When I left the beach to go off to college, I felt that the only
way I would be able to focus on my studies was to quit surfing,
quit it like a drug. I was also deeply troubled by the prospect of
surfing only occasionally, of being anything less than absolutely
on my game. It was all or nothing. Which is itself a very addictive
way of looking at things, one surf culture enforces with its
contempt for dilettantes combined with the whole spirit of “go for
it!”—of total commitment.
During the years when I wasn’t surfing, when I was living the
life of a poet in the city, I became addicted to alcohol and drugs.
I never imagined I would ever surf again and yet when I was at my
lowest point I found myself at the beach in Far Rockaway. I bought
a board, I went surfing, and it all came back to life, who I was
and how it felt before the darkness crowded in.
Surfing was something other than drinking and drugging to feel
excited about. It carried me back to when I was a child again — I
was a happy, frothing grom when I was surfing. It was something to
quit smoking for, to get fit for — and ultimately to get sober
for.
But as soon as I started surfing again, I also felt its old
power to eclipse everything else, and I had rein myself back in
several times — not throw away everything I had worked for and move
to Kauai, for instance.
Then there was the whole issue of surfer drug addicts — surfers
I had known growing up, and famous ones —Michael Peterson, Jeff
Hakman, Mike Hynson, Lynne Boyer, Tom Carroll, Kong, Buttons, Flea,
Mel, Ruffo, And of course Andy Irons. But many others, of all
levels and renown, known only to the surf world insiders and a few
others.
So I had thought a lot about the connection between surfing and
addiction, and lived it, and The Drop is the
result.
What was the most surprising/unexpected thing you found
in your research?
The existence of what neurologists call “opponent processes,”
biochemicals that are produced in response to any experience that
makes you tipsy, high, or drunk — a line of cocaine but also
falling in love or violently grieving — or riding the wave of your
life.
The theory that accounts for opponent processes is that at its
most basic level the brain has evolved to be a contrast detector.
The brain’s default setting is a clear-headed neutrality that keeps
us ready to respond to our environment — to get food, sex and
drink, mainly, and to respond to threats.
The upshot is that try as we might to get and stay high, or
stoked, the wily brain is always bringing us back down to
earth.
Did you have trouble getting surfer addicts to open up
to you about this topic?
In some cases, for sure. And I respect and sympathize with the
desire not to be publicly linked to addiction. It hasn’t exactly
been easy for me to come out as an addict! Despite all the progress
that’s been made since the 1980s, when researchers found compelling
evidence that addiction is a chronic disorder of the brain,
addiction still elicits a lot of knee-jerk disapproval and
moralizing.
And in addition to the wider social stigma of addiction,
there’s a tradition in surfing of circling the wagons and keeping
mum on the darker aspects of the sport.
Luckily, I also passed muster with certain well-known surfers.
Word then went out that I could be trusted and folks began to tell
their stories. For addicts in recovery, it’s
considered beneficial to be open about their
addiction, because it teaches others the truth about it, and it
helps establish self-acceptance and generosity. So in the case of
surfers in recovery there was a pressure exerted by the recovery
community to share and be open. Privacy can feel like
secretiveness, and keeping secrets is not good for recovering
addicts.
What’s the take-away of the book — what does surfing
have to teach us about addiction?
Surfers often talk about getting “hooked” on surfing after their
first real wave. There’s a pride and pleasure taken in being
seized, a sense of specialness, of election. Surfers as the Chosen.
Only a surfer knows the feeling.
And truly, surfing is a blessing, a good addiction. It’s one of
the great blessings of my life, for sure.
But it won’t save you from meth and opioids and crack. If
anything, surfing may prime you for addiction to
stronger forms of intoxication, stronger rushes. The very best
surfers in the world have fallen to hard drugs, after all. Their
stories, along with the latest science on addiction, have a lot to
tell us.
Crystal Ball: Largest news agency in the
world declares if surfing successful at Tokyo Games, Olympic
bodyboarding will follow!
By Chas Smith
Fingers crossed.
And oh how the pressure is ON. As you know
well, surfing will make its official Olympic debut in mere weeks’
time. Many, save Jordy
Smith, are very excited but will it be a grand coming
out or a total fizzle?
Well, it depends on the waves I suppose.
And Gabriel Medina vs. Italo Ferriera.
But if the waves are good, and if Gab + Italo perform, then one
of the oldest, largest news organizations in the world suggests
that Olympic boogie, longboard, SUP may follow.
There are two gold medals up for grabs in Tokyo, one each
for men and women using shortboards. Should these competitions
provide the spectacular drama and visuals usually associated with
the sport, other events such as longboards, bodyboards and stand-up
paddleboards (SUPs) may be included at future Games.
And later…
At approximately 1.8 metres in length, the shortboards
usually have three small fins on the underside and a pointed nose,
which gives skilled riders the freedom to carry out tight turns and
dynamic changes of direction that are harder to pull off on larger
boards.
Shortboard supremacy coming to an end?
That depends, again, on Brazil.
The irony.
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Inspired young hero plans to surf 301
straight days after horrific shark attack: “The lifeguard who came
he was like, ‘yeah, I can see your lungs through your back!’”
By Chas Smith
Mike Tyson would be proud.
We’ve all, at this point, imagined being out
and getting hit by a shark and easy to say, “Oh, I wouldn’t let it
affect me. I’d be right back out there as soon as I’m healed…” but
much different to say than to do. The great Mike Tyson famously
said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face,” and
getting big in the torso by a shark carries much more gravitas
which is what makes Encinitas’s Keane Hayes much impressive.
Heroic even.
The then thirteen almost fourteen year old was diving for
lobster off Beacons beach when he was viciously mauled. According
to San Diego’s local ABC
affiliate, when he was brought to the beach, the
lifeguard said, “Yeah, I can see your lungs through your back.”
A very chill lifeguard.
The boy was life-flighted to Rady’s Children’s Hospital and
underwent multiple surgeries including getting over 1000 stitches
but even that didn’t stop him. Now sixteen, he is committed to
surfing 301 consecutive days.
“I think we’re on day 170. It’s also just a personal goal just
to surf a ton and be in the water fishing or doing whatever.
Honestly, it just kind of feels natural you know, like I’m not
pushing it, I’m not scared,” he told the news outlet.
He is also committed to helping others overcome their own
fears.
“Going with Bethany Hamilton and pushing girls without arms,
like amputees, like that’s…. it’s, I can’t even describe it, it’s
just so much fun and feels good to help them.”
Heroic altogether.
Mike Tyson would be proud.
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Human hard-on Raimana, left, and eighties supermod
Cindy Crawford. | Photo: @cindycrawford
Eighties supermodel Cindy Crawford
describes OG Tahitian surf-stud Raimana Van Bastolaer as human
Viagra, “I call him the Big Blue Pill. He can get anyone up. Even
me!”
By Derek Rielly
The human hard-on!
In one of the loveliest rags to riches stories you could
ever imagine, Tahitian Raimana Van Bastolaer, formerTeahupoo ambassadorturned smiling face of the Surf Ranch, has been described
as human Viagra by eighties supermodel Cindy Crawford.
Viagra is a medication used to treat erectile dysfunction or to
ramp up an already tumescent womb-duster. Side effects include
deeply satisfied gal, a terrible chafing on shaft and a reputation
as a pussy assassin.
On Instagram, the fifty-five-year-old whose career peaked in
1987 when she appeared alongside the other OG supermods Christy
Turlington, Linda Evangalista and Naomi Campbell on British
Vogue, writes,
And this is why I call @raimanaworld the Big Blue Pill — he
can get anyone up—even me!
A roll call of celebs, including NY designer Donna Karan,
supermodels Carolyn Murphy and Christine Brinkley, joined in in the
comments, thrilling to the
ride and to human hard-on Raimana Van Bastolaer.
Are you half a man and therefore used out of necessity or was
your intent to fill an already overflowing pool, to stoke an
already burning crotch fire?