Upside.

Yesterday, the 50-adjacent onetime prodigy Joel Tudor became champion of professional longboarding with his inspirational win at the Jeep Malibu Classic presented by Havaianas. The victory, over British man Ben Skinner, cemented Tudor’s already extremely solid place in surf history.

The oldest champ ever and the black belt declared, afterwards, “The most proud thing of all of this is that I finally beat Kelly at something. So remember that.”

Poignent and made me wonder. Is professional longboarding secretly the jewel in the World Surf League’s gilded crown?

To wit, longboarding is much more practiced by the legions of VALs embracing surfing as a healthy lifestyle alternative and much more understood by them. This vast army represents the sort of hockey stick growth the WSL so craves.

Furthermore, the gap between the women and the men is virtually non-existent leading to the very real possibility of the two competing in one, beautiful genderless class. Equal prize money, equal opportunity, equal wave quality, equal coverage, more than equal hope in breaking through mainstream reticence to embrace a pursuit often seen as “white” and “privileged.”

Groundbreaking.

Lastly, the League is sitting on the world’s greatest longboard wave, one that can be conjured at the push of a button flowing magnificently through the middle of industrial dairyland.

Altogether, it really does seem there is much more upside in longboarding than in short.

Not convinced?

Prove me wrong.

Provocative.

Days ago, it was reported that China’s robust People’s Liberation Army conducted beach invasion exercises on Fujian island, which happens to be very near Taiwan.

According to official Chinese accounts the action involved “shock” troops, sappers and boat specialist who were “divided into multiple waves to grab the beach and perform combat tasks at different stages.”

Video was released of soldiers throwing smoke grenades and breaking through barbed wire. Digging trenches in the sand etc.

The war-game was extremely provocative as, over the weekend, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that Taiwan will be “reunified” with the mainland.

Worrisome but, as a surfer, I was curious as to Fujian’s potential and quickly searched “surf Fujian.”

Surfline and Magic Seaweed had it listed but no information. Surf-forecast, though, provided the gold.

Funingwan in Fujian is a reasonably exposed beach break that has inconsistent surf with no particular seasonal pattern. Offshore winds are from the west with some shelter here from north winds. Short period wind swells are the rule and the best wave direction is from the east southeast. The beach break offers both left and right hand waves. Crowds are never a problem here. Water quality is rather poor here.

It sounds lightly depressing so I then conducted an image search for “sad surfer.”

And look at that. Top row, fifth picture from left, Derek Rielly spraying all the mopes.

Very cool

What was I writing about again?

World War III?

Oh yeah.

Do you think the west will care if/when China gets grabby or will there be much hand-wringing followed by Hong Kong-sized shrugs?

More, I suppose, as the story develops.

Live by the boogie, die by the boogie.

Near a week and a half ago, a burst pipeline off Huntington Beach leaked over 144,000 gallons of crude oil. The disaster shuttered beaches from Surf City down to Laguna as black ugly washed up on the sand, coated birds etc. Businesses began filing suit against Houston-based Amplify Energy Corp. while calculating potential future losses.

Mike Ali, who owns beach rental shop Zack’s very near the bike path, said customer traffic is down by 90% since the spill and he expects it to be two years before normal returns.

Some hope yesterday’s beach re-openings will help. Huntington crews have been testing the water daily and have declared there are no detectable levels of oil-associated toxins.

69-year-old core lord bodyboarder Richard Beach didn’t wait for the official word, though, and tried to sneak some el rollos in before re-opening except was rebuffed by a lifeguard on a ski, who chased him back to the sand.

“The water’s perfect,” he told KTLA news, frustrated by the shortening of his solo session. “Clear all the way to the bottom.”

Time and time again, bodyboarders have proven themselves to be the most fearless derelicts in the surf pantheon. From conquering slabs to drop-kneeing to never ever having a hope of making a career to no coaches to little respect they are what we should all hope to be, internally, while standing proud on fiberglassed foam.

Long live, Richard Beach.

Long live the boogie.

A phenom.

Now, is there anything Maui’s Kai Lenny cannot do? Conquer oceanic mountains on all manner of craft, paddle between his islands like it was nothing at all, befriend the world’s 5th richest man and teach him to fly, charm two aging recently converted fitness buffs, revive the long-thought dead art of hardback book publishing.

No, there is nothing he cannot do and, regarding the later, his gorgeous immortalization, published by Rizzoli, is due out October, 26th.

Per the press release:

A jaw-dropping photographic narrative, Big Wave Surfer: The Greatest Rides of Our Lives features the biggest and most dangerous waves and the legendary men and women who risk their lives to surf them. The most expansive book of its kind, this lush volume collects a vast array of contributions from over 30 of the best big wave surfers today.

Over the last decade, a handful of surfers have been progressing the sport of big wave surfing to new extremes. Kai Lenny, one of the preeminent big wave surfers, offers readers a glimpse into this world sharing his personal stories and perspectives, and inviting the world’s best surfers—from legends who pioneered the way to young guns who are the future of the sport—to contribute personal tales of the greatest waves ever ridden. Also included in the book are the best women big wave surfers in the world, and their incredible stories—from barrier-breaking moments to competing in their first ever competitions in a historically male-dominated sport.

That list of male domination includes our Pete Mel, Laird Hamilton, Shane Dorian, Lucas Chumbo, Ian Walsh and many more. Keala Kennelly, of course, barrier breaking.

The book will cost $60 U.S. though add much more value to any coffee table it graces.

Maybe difficult to jump over, though, which might be taken into consideration.

Buy here.