What does it mean?
Days ago, and after lightly teasing exciting spots, the World Surf League announced that it would host 2022’s championship crowning day at the same wave that hosted 2021’s championship crowning day.
Lower Trestles.
Now, Lowers is by no means a dog. Southern California’s “skate park” provides “thrilling” sections for homeschooled e-bikers to throw many and varied “aerial maneuvers” but championship crowning? Difficult to take seriously when Pipeline, Teahupoo, G-Land dot the tour calendar.
In any case, what’s done is done and the World Surf League’s Global Chief Revenue Officer and Advisor Cherie R. Cohen took to Facebook to share the news, writing “The Rip Curl WSL Finals will return to Trestles, CA!” including a video in the announcement.
Surf legend, 1977 champion, Shaun Tomson was quick to respond albeit entirely cryptically, penning, “Time to bust down the door!”
Bust down the door?
The phrase is most commonly associated, in our surfing, with the film Bustin’ Down the Door wherein Tomson and a pack of brash young Australians including, but not limited to, Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew and Ian Cairns, traveled to Oahu’s North Shore, surfed well and infuriated the locals.
So what is Tomson meaning here?
That the World Surf League’s top 5 men and women are going to go to Lowers, surf well and infuriate homeschooled e-bikers?
It’s the only analysis I can muster.
Help?
JJ FLORENCE is the next Shaun Thomson
Go for it Shaun …ex surfer from sa
What you have to remember( at least in the United States) that 80% of the population, will never even get( in their lifetime) to see a” Beach,” in either de of this country.”Pretty simple( what are surfers& I can’t understand,” What the hell they do?” Virtually everyone,” Can” pick- up, ” a Baseball, Football or Basketball, and play that sport. Just telling it like it is.”And”, maybe, It’s better this way!
WTF is Global Chief Revenue Officer and Advisor Cherie R. Cohen
Someone who is given a job to try and make some cash for the WSL. Which is clearly a poisoned chalice as they haven’t a clue how to do that. Free to air viewing and a few adverts for products no one has heard of and more importantly no one wants.
Well the second line touts the Opener at Pipe. Perhaps that was what he was commenting on
Last year all was well. The winner was the right person; that is the only reason their concept could be deemed a success.
But what about this year? With the current roster (particularly with Pipe, Sunset & Portugal all being shifted in to their prime seasons) we could easily see JJF take a clean sweep of the first three events. Followed by a Margarets, G-Land and Tahiti, for a total of 6 wins from 10 events. That’s not too much of a stretch, particularly if you consider that Medina has said he won’t be competing this year.
He could then lose the title in a single heat (or best of 3… whatever it is) against Felipe or Italo or Jordy or Kanoa, or any other surfer who’s put together a couple of finals and one win in throughout the season, at head high Trestles.
Now, that might not happen this year, but the fact is that sooner or later this format is going to crown the wrong person.
You might be onto something.
PS: even if Gabe competes, he can’t win the world title. He’ll miss at least 3 stops unless he changed his mind about the jab.
Cheers Shauno , ps hows the family fortune holding up post Apartheid ?
Fuck I’d rather hear the words rail replacement bus service than Trestles finals day.
Perhaps Shaun could go bust down the door of the Marine base, and really show them who’s boss?
Barton tried that once. Came off second best. Maybe that’s why hes gone loopy.
Nah, BL went loopy dropping tabs down the Sth Coast at a local boaedriders prezzo late 80’s.
Maybe Shaun organising to send those women’s Mal riders from Noosa to just open up some skulls on finals day??
This isn’t Shaun, obviously, but coincidentally, I made this yesterday.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
https://www.instagram.com/p…
No way man that was totally Shaun Tomson at Kailua Beach! I was there… just kidding.
Bustin’ down the e-bikes. Filipe hiding from local school children in the bushes. Just history repeating itself.
Shaun should just stick to commercials with frisbees.
https://m.youtube.com/watch…
Shaun got the frisbee. Cheyne got barreled at OTW.
https://m.youtube.com/watch…
He’s letting us know that the prune juice is taking effect.
“The “new normal” does not include eradication or elimination, it added. “Neither COVID-19 vaccination nor infection appear to confer lifelong immunity. Current vaccines do not offer sterilizing immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection.”
“Your great-great-great-grandchildren will still be getting immunized against coronavirus’: This Mayo Clinic doctor says it’s too late to eradicate COVID-19”.
Let’s bust down the Pfizer door and blow all those mad scientists up.
You with me Sam?
Yes, at least metaphorically blow them up.
You bring the Meta, I’ll bring the Semtex
Did you see Marty Taupau getting drawn into some anti vax bullshit claiming he was one of a group of professional athletes who had died from taking the vax? His response was classic
I don’t know the names of any knights players
Sorry buddy
Tex Hoy son of….!!
Now I know one
Haha! That’s great.
What the …..? Are you the new king of clickbait or what?
Haha, this stuff is finally getting to me, welcome to the future.
Best description of Lowers yet
WSL is blowing it by not having Legends Heat at every event.
Yawn.
Whatever. This article is lame. Let’s get a Covid lockdown vax mask social credit score article going. Surfing is Freedom!
Expression Sessions were somewhat cool…
That was because the surfing was so fricking boring to watch. Expression Sessions allowed guys like Archy, Pottz, etc to surf without the constraint’s of the judging.
Just start a utube Chanel with locals willing to film at wsl event before/after. Invite pros to surf, put it on Chanel with live stream, have viewer’s vote. Best air, most silly and stuff. Call it the deep tour!!
I’m mostly interested in a collaboration on utube with Chanel perfume for a new fragrance called Axel. It will be have the aroma of feces.
I can’t wait till they start having legends heats with Mick, Joel, Taj, CJ, Cory, et al.
The last legends appearance by Mick and then Taj in WSL heats was underwhelming
Shaun and I are starting a rebel tour.
Don’t quit your day job.
Wildcard for Simpo!
There’s nothing rebel about Shaun
Nothing.
Shaun’s about as rebellious as Wheaties, or a girl scout, or B.grit (ouch).
The Clean Cut Pro powered by Lowes?
Alternate commentary stream by the continuous call team lol
That would actually be epic
so Bustin’ down the door….egos , insults , never apologised to the Hawaiian people , started an era of hatred and racism……they busted down the door , couldn’t back up their big mouths , and ran home with their tail between their skirts…..I am pretty sure that Kanga/PT and Sean are still not welcome back in Hawaii…and a few years ago Rabbit asked Da Hui if it was OK to surf Hawaii with his son , Jagger……no was the answer….this was a really sad time in surfing History…….to invoke Bustin down the door is just down right insulting to all of us!!!
Words are violence!!!
Wear ear protection at all times
sometimes words cut a lot deeper than any physical shit!
No they dont
I thought being an Aussie you would have been on their side. The way it was represented in that film was that the Hawaiians were overly sensitive.
exactly the opposite , Aussies ate shit in Hawaii for the next 20 years or more , I was lucky being friends with Reno A and a lot of Hawaiians as I was bit darker than the average Aussie , sorta was adopted by the Hawaiians…so I felt their pain….Also in the Winter of 73 I stayed with PT , Kanga and Wayne Dean on Sunset point….so lived thru a lot of , Bagging the mokes!!
“I felt their pain!!!” fuck you’re a Muppet.
pain turns into anger , so many people got fucked up physically called Haoles …..same as when in australia I would get called a black cunt…..I would Muppet them …..
How did Cheyne fit in? Seemed he was still floating through there in the early mid 90’s. I lived and worked with Steve Elliot for a short period. I guess I was rather removed from the scene unless I was in the water staying in Kahuku. His little factory was above the bakery . I remember the Brazilians taking the heat from locals at that time. I always seemed to have problems with gorrilla’esque white dudes.. Had a local paddle upto me at Velzy’s. Hist first conversation was “Don’t paddle for any wave I’m paddling for.” I listened and obeyed his request. I lined myself up for the next wave after his, pull in and repeat. So it went. We finally caught eyes from the green room as he was paddling back out. He smiled and paddle over as I was making my way back in the lineup. “You’ve had a couple good ones. Time to go in”. For me walking across the lot and behind those single story appartments brought more fear than in the water.
The worst was sitting under Charlie Walker and some black shorts local absolutely having a verbal field day on each other at sunset. I was so afraid to look up or paddle away in fear of local taking it out on me. Charlie was a specimen, didn’t appear local wanted to go to blows with him. I really thought I was a goner. All and all never had a problem with locals.
Cheyne developed a really good relationship with Johnny ah Mushrooms , local musician from what I remember and the Willis Bros……yea was really heavy at the start with the Brazilians…V Land was heavy but I was lucky enough in 83 to stay at Danes, one day he said we are going to stop and pick up Junior at his house on the point at VLand…Dane said he won’t talk to you as you are Australian…..I had a dislocated shoulder at the time from Honolua Bay…I body surfed for 3 days…he would not talk to me at all…I would be in danes Truck, squeezed in between Dane and Junior…on the 4th day , he grunted at me w’sup……we surfed a lot at V-land after that …Junior would paddle out and just tell everybody , Go In …had a lot of sessions with just the 3 of us out….one day he said to me tell Rabbit because your cool , I saved him last nite……he was driving by Haleiwa late one nite when he saw Rab being hassled by a bunch of locals from Haleiwa…walked in , Rab was pissed….grabbed him picked him up threw him in the back of his truck , and threw him out at Sunset….
Charlie was amazing best sander in the world incredible surfer , and earnt his respect the hard way……
Johnny Orr was the musician you mentioned ( I think).
I moved there in 83′ lived across street from v land by Perry Dane. Junior would throw rocks at Perry’s window in the morning to wake him up if waves were good.
One day I was surfing beautiful V Land and Junior was out. He never vibed me.
Strangest thing happened. Junior looked up and back toward Kawela Bay like he felt something in the air. “Dane”, he said inexplicably.
Then maybe 3 or 4 minutes later Dane and another guy pulled up into that old dirt lot in the bushes to the east. I swear there was no way Junior could have known he was pulling up.
Yeah Johhny Orr , very gentle human being…..do you know if he is still around?
Junior when I got to know him was a BIG gentle Giant of a man..and tht’s where we’d park with Dane….like his own Parking area……He and Dan e had a really strong bond….funny story with Perry…we were all on the beach burning one…there was Marvin /Dane /Max M/Kaipo and a couple more really good solid 6′ with sets…Perry paddles out yells at everyone , ” if we don’t know you…go in already”….3/4’s of the people went in…had an excellent surf with about 10 guys out…ah the good ol days..
Good post. I wish there were more stories on here.
give me a call…
Haha yea there must be a few people on here with a lot of good stories from back then. Trying to find good stuff to read online now is basically impossible it seems, unless there’s good sites I don’t know about.
Jamie Brisick’s latest north shore memories on his IG lately are priceless.
You became a funny story the moment you arrived there.
In ’78, my family went on holiday to Waikiki and I took a robbie Dick 7’2″ despite my Mom’s argument that I could rent a board. 3’s was insane the first two days, but being December that was an anomaly.
I knew I had to find a way to the North Shore so I asked the Valet at the Sheridan. He said that I should tell my family how fun it was to visit the Kahuku side (PCC’s tourist trap) and we would have to drive by Sunset.
My Grandma bit, she wanted to see “authentic” Hawaii even though I have no idea if that was up there so the decision was made, we go. Consierge arranged everything.
Pull up at Sunset and I pull the board out. “I’ll see you guys on your way back” and my sister starts whining that I always get my way, she would have preferred being on the beach at the hotel (good looking pool guys is my guess).
Sunset is pumping and I see Shaun, Nick and Reno walking down to the channel off Vals reef. I was in full celebrity worship mode.
I just followed them and my mom drove away with the family (can you imagine that being done today?).
It’s was like living in the magazine…. I recognized everyone and kept following them being a very good paddler (private swim lessons, call it the Mark Spitz effect).
It was like dodging two story buildings, the wind was howling and the lineup was like angry wolves. Got caught inside so badly, washed around and humbled, but kept trying.
Got back into a position and didn’t realize I was sitting on the swing wide peak (west peak). As fate would have it, the first one was benign and I made the drop back into the channel…. ok, I can do this (?).
Next one swings to me and this guy is whistling GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
About half way down the face I began stalling, as if frozen in the wind and I remember falling upside down to the trough and taking a historic beating. Came up with a broken leash, some dude catches my board and I swam towards him, he tells me stay in the impact zone and wash in, my board was only the tail section at this point, clean snap.
I get in the parking lot and I’m bleeding on my shin, pretty good, but whatever’s I was bummed about not having a board.Family pulls up and my Mom is screams at me about the board, a new custom purchase for the trip. Grandma thinks I am bleeding out and they drove back to town looking for med attention. Of course, it stopped bleeding, just a cut and I got grounded for the rest of the trip for breaking my board.
My sister missed curfew a few nights later and my indiscretion was completely forgotten as she got grounded.
Until I bought weed from a pedicab and emptied my mom’s ciggarette to fill the rolled paper with the puna bud. Boom, I joined my sister in confinement.
Haha great story!!. My dads architectural firm had a branch in Honolulu so our family would go there for two weeks very summer.
I went in 81 with a 5’8” single fin and when I tried to pull it out of the box I smashed a huge hole in the ceiling of the hotel room with the nose of my board A big south swell hit while I was in Lahaina and caught the breakwall really good. I would paddle out at sunrise so the crowds we ok. Never got hassled
I can relate to having a whining sister that complained during every trip. Went to a Transpac post race party and was already drunk then took way to many bong hits and got lost trying to walk to the beach.
I also bought one of buttons used Rawsons at the local motion shop. Wish I would have seen him surf.
One of my friends grew up on the north shore and was drinking beer and riding in the back of button’s truck after buttons won some contest at sunset. He threw up all over the side of his car. LGR probably knows my friend.
Yeah bro, ceiling fans were deadly to those huge boxes! Shortest were 8’ at that time and my twin fins were 5’8”s. I grew in college so that changed soon enough. Buttons and Liddel were amazing to watch as was Larry. I wrote a piece on another blog about becoming friends with Larry.
Good story of yours. Type it long form and submit. Reading your story feels like we are chatting on the top deck of a charter boat after surfing all day long. What is better than that?
Just some of the things that happened during the month I was there. I’m sure if I was there in the winter I’d have a good one of my first embarrassing north shore experience.
The first time I paddled out at sunset was solid 10’+ , I followed Kanga ,as he had just won the Smirnoff….cut the corner , got cleaned up by a big set , swam in got my board , paddled back out a local says to me,” Brah….watch the guy knee paddling out the back , follow him”….it was Jeff Hakman, Mr Sunset….my Sunset days became more better…LOL!!!!
#?
Look what happens when you get Brutus “Talk’n Story”..
Haha better then vax shit.
if we mock southerners for waving a loser flag…..
4ft tall alcoholics are often the craziest
“Bagging the mokes”?
Can you elaborate on that a bit? Meaning?
It’s very coincidental, as I just had a little run in a couple of days ago with one local guy and that term (mokes) came to my mind after a not so nice expletive from him.
Haven’t thought of it in years.
in those days it was a way of saying Dumb Hawaiians…..took me awhile to work it out, Hawaii when I was 19 was really my first time I started understanding what we call racism today……….I actually got real Hawaiian aloha from Reno/BK…lotta great stories surfing the Boneyard with BK 6-10’…. Reno silver channels…..when he told me not to say a word except grunt to his friends as I could pass for a local….went and watched the last Moody Blues concert with Reno in town…..met his brothers etc….was blown away by the culture , had some real revelations about Australia…
Lots of name dropping … you must be very special
I’m dropping my Daddy’s name.GOD, as I’m his son.I do not paddle-out, I part the break& use my new” Electric bic.ycle”.
Polynesians
He could just fly in and surf Diamond Head. I doubt there’ll be many repercussions from that.
long way to go , be careful of the boys who run the surf schools!
Long way to go for a D-grade break.
Still, yer in Hawaii.
Andy and John John are the superior Hawaiians.
do you understand what an indigenous Hawaiian is?
You understand what indigenous is…. it’s nothing special in the global world
What happened to aloha?
tarnished by white egos!
Like Eddie Rothman?
Sorry maurice that one was too tempting not to post.
Pipe seems to be the elite playground of the 1% kid’s.. If I’m wrong shed some light? Is they’re still the rare kid sleeping in his car, under a tent/ tarp, or in a conex box to surf his/her dream wave. The place seems over run by sponsors, you tubers… Still haven’t seen a highlight reel of Mason victory waves from Da Hui event. Did he really topple the best including a very hungry Brand and Mamiya?
Eddie & co aren’t what they once was.
Aren’t you heading over there soon?
yep hopefully early March……
Relapse?
What a load of crap..nothing special abt being Hawaiian surfer just ag lot of ego
Maybe its just the surfing equivalent of “it’s time to kick ass and chew bubblgum?”
And I’m all out of gum.
Duke Nukem!
Its actually rowdy roddie piper from “they live”, he ad libbed the line, though i think his version was “its time to chew bubblegum and kick ass!”
Agree the duke nukem version was better though.
Imagine trying to get the game Duke Nukem to market now…woke generation would smite you into oblivion!
“I’m an equal opportunity ass kicker!”
I’m going to rip off your head and shit down your neck? Bit strong even for old Shaun.
In that movie trading plces the bad guy tells someone to fuck off or “ill rip out your eyes and piss on your brain”
Shaun The Traansnormer, The Godfather of Poo Stance is going to break out and teach you worthless, snide, snarky cunts The Code to find Porpoise.
He’s cracked the pussy code that’s for sure
Did Trumpy have any special instructions for the Leader of the Proud Bois of the Northern Beaches of Sydney Chapter the other day ? Or are you still Standing Down and Standing By ?
Yeah, don’t vote for half dead morons.
Or guys that spit on you when they talk
What up Albo.