Fugitive living in Sydney’s Northern
Beaches turns himself in after 30 years on the lam, cites stringent
Covid lockdown restrictions as reason: “Stuff it, I’ll go back to
prison.”
By Chas Smith
Strange days.
A fugitive, at large for thirty years, turned
himself in to a Sydney police station days ago citing the city’s
stringent lockdown laws as his reasoning.
64-year-old Darko Desic, who appeared in court on Tuesday and
was denied bail, had been living in Sydney’s tony Northern Beaches
for three decades, a happy life filled with surf, or at the very
least an idea of surf, and the Carroll brothers, Nick and Tom,
nearby.
But Covid restrictions cost him his cash-in-hand job as a
laborer and rendered him homeless. He slept on the beach for a few
nights before deciding prison a better option, telling a friend,
“Stuff it. I’ll go back to prison where there’s a roof over my
head.”
Desic was originally arrested in 1992 for “raising marijuana.”
He was giving a three-and-a-half year sentence, which he served
13-months of before cutting his way out of a centuries-old prison
in Grafton.
Originally from Yugoslavia, he was worried he’d be deported but
Australia officially made him a citizen, when on the lam, so he can
chill in the relative freedom of prison unworried.
Construction boss from Colorado bests world
champion surfer CJ Hobgood to win surfing’s most prestigious
fantasy league; reveals amazing secret strategy!
By Taylor Lobdell
Wins a thousand American dollars and custom Panda
surfboard.
BeachGrit’sSurfival Leaguelaunched this season as an
alternate to Fantasy Surfer.
Pick one surfer to advance past Round of 32 and you
survive.
Survive longer than everyone else and win a thousand American
dollars and a custom Panda Surfboard.
The Surfival League came down
to the final event, where 11 members (including 2001 World Champ CJ
Hobgood) battled for the top spot.
Mark Bocksch, from Frisco, a pretty little ski town in Colorado,
outlasted 300+ Surfivors to take the title.
He had Gabriel Medina winning and picked a combined heat score
of 34, only .11 away from the actual total and .03 away from
runner-up CJ Hobgood.
Bocksh, who grew up surfing, moved to Colorado twenty years ago
to bang his snowboard down mountains (four resorts are nearby,
Breckenridge, Copper Mountain etc.)
He heard about the Surfival League while listening to The Grit!
podcast with Chas Smith and Davey Scales.
“t seemed easy enough. I’ve never played any kind of
fantasy surfer before but decided to give this a try,” he
says.
His strategy was simple.
“Definitely didn’t want to pick who David Lee Scales and Chas
Smith were picking (Editors note: they were both out within the
first four events) and I didn’t try to get fancy. I just picked the
best surfer at each event. My strategy for the final was picking
Gabe and for the combined heat score I just cracked a beer and
thought about it. I came up with 34. The final heat score was
33.89.”
How’d he feel when he won?
“I couldn’t believe it. I was watching the final and reading the
BeachGrit comment section and just could not believe I
Surfived.”
The last time Bocksh surfed was in mid-July in Encinitas, real
close to Chas as it happens. He says he’ll be back out there in
November where he’ll shred his new custom Panda.
“I actually only looked this morning at the website because I
didn’t want to jinx it. The dolly dagger looked interesting and
also the shiitake. I’m not the smallest guy so I want more
foam.”
What else?
“I’ll take my jet ski parade whenever you guys are ready. Thanks
so much for putting this on, it was a blast. I’ll be drywalling and
smiling the rest of the day.”
See y’all at Pipe in January!
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Listen: There is only one extravaganza that
can beat the wildly successful World Surf League Finals Day and
that is “Ben Gravy vs. The World!”
By Chas Smith
...a celebration of the everyman and graceful
aging.
It was a beautiful production and Santa Monica should be praised
but I thought of an even better production, on the fly,
whilst chatting with David Lee Scales today.
Ben Gravy vs. The World.
The impetus came from Clifton James Hobgood, who called into the
show to proffer an even better idea that I’ll make you listen to
purely because CJ sounds so deliciously much like Matthew
McConaughey, and my wheels began spinning.
What if BeachGrit produced a competition where,
monthly, YouTube sensation Ben Gravy would surf against one aging
star after another, each slightly older than the last, until
beating one? Think: Gravy vs. Hobgood – New Jersey, Gravy vs.
Occhilupo – Snapper, Gravy vs. Tom Curren – Mainland Mex, Gravy vs.
Shaun Tomson – Rincon…
Scales thought Gravy would beat Tomson at Rincon. I think Ian
Cairns at Lowers and that’s the fun of the format… what age, and
which star, does the very popular and lovable Gravy take down?
A celebration of both the everyman and graceful aging.
Magnificent, no?
We also talked about the importance disliking your neighbors and
what it takes for a man to suddenly, and radically, upgrade his
look.
Definitively our best show yet.
Listen here.
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Famous Hollywood fairy Orlando Bloom shares
video of himself paddleboarding next to Great White Shark: “When
fear becomes your friend!”
By Chas Smith
Yikes.
Actor Orlando Bloom, famous for playing the
fairy Legolas in Peter Jackson’s brilliant adaptation of J.R.R.
Tokien’s The Lord of the Rings, wowed fans and the rapper 2 Chainz
overnight by posting a clip of himself paddleboarding next to a
great white shark.
The short video, featuring Bloom using his paddleboard more like
a Native-American-adjacent canoe, depicts the 44-year-old
Englishman slowly moving up on the shark from behind then cruising
along next to it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CT0KUQkh_76/
He captioned it, “When fear becomes your friend.”
The video was captured off the coast of Malibu by Carolos Guana
who said, “In this clip, I filmed @orlandobloom next to a nicely
sized juvenile white shark. The opportunity to share some of my
knowledge with Orlando, knowledge I’ve gained from the many
scientists I’ve been fortunate enough to talk to and work with, was
a highlight of my day. In the end, the real stars of the sea are
the sharks. But having Legolas himself nearby. That’s pretty
cool!”
Pretty cool indeed.
Rapper 2 Chainz, though, was unmoved and commented, “Hellllll
Naw.”
Bloom’s partner Katy Perry added, “Next time go out and put some
peanut butter on babe.”
I have no idea what that means.
Do sharks like peanut butter?
Or is it a shark deterrent?
Funny like when peanut butter is applied to the roof of a dog’s
mouth?
More as the story develops?
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The best portrait of Gabriel Medina after title win! By
the king of reportage, the beautiful Steve Sherman. | Photo:
@tsherms
Beloved philanthropist and surfboard
pioneer reveals the shocking detail newly crowned world champion
surfers Carissa Moore and Gabriel Medina missed in their victory
speeches!
By Derek Rielly
Can you guess? Do you know? Oowee etc.
At the conclusion of a golden Tuesday in San Clemente,
and moments after a suddenly handsome“cocaine cowboy” WSL CEO was
revealed, the two world champs were crowned and victory
speeches made.
Joe Turpel reached over to Gabriel Medina and explained that
he’d been “teaching us to smile, teaching us to win.”
Gabriel thanked his fans in Portuguese and, in English, praised
a divine influence (“All the order and glory goes to God”) and
credited his wife Yasmin for “making me comfortable even when it
was stormy.”
Carissa thanked “my family, my friends, my amazing husband.”
After some thought she also thanked her coach, Newcastle’s Mitch
Ross, and which point Gabriel remembered he must also thank his
coach, Cronulla’s Andy King.
I didn’t hear, or note, the shocking detail missed.
One man who did, howevs, was pioneering surfboard shaper, Nev
Hyman, who made his name, first with Nev Surfboards, later with
Firewire, and who recently caused a ruckus with his plan to make
billions out of selling pre-fab houses to Third World countries
(the ruckus quickly subsided after he
issued a stinging rebuttal on BeachGrit.)
Writing on Instagram,
“Awesome wins for Gabriel and Carissa (love heart emoji and
BIPOC shaka… But how is that shapers, Biolos and Cabianca
don’t rate a mention in the acceptance speeches?”
I texted Biolos and asked if he was sad or nonplussed; he said
he didn’t notice.
I didn’t hit up Johnny Cabianca ’cause of the time diff. Also,
’cause I’m so starstruck with the man. He a genius. Most underrated
shaper in the world. He could lift my glistening sex works in his
palm and I’d be thrilled.
Too bad he didn’t get a lil shout-out.
What’s the feeling on the street?
And, Nev, to pro surfers,
“Please, pro surfers…show some love to the world for the crew
who make the surfboards under your feet that take you to your
podiums of well earned glory. (we all know you love and respect
them!!)”
