Eight lives saved in two separate rescues at same beach!

The former world number ten surfer, Bryce Ellis, has experienced a wild case of deja vu, literally “already seen”, on Monday when he saved two drowning teenage girls from a rip at Yamba, a pretty fishing town a little south of Byron Bay.

Ellis, who is fifty-eight and who was described, a little unfairly I think, as “ginger-haired” in Matt Warshaw’s Encyclopedia of Surfing, was fishing at Yamba’s Main Beach when he saw the girls jump into a rip at the northern end of the beach.

Ellis handed his fishing pole to a bystander and jumped, fully clothed, into the drink.

With the help of a nearby surfer, the pair saved the two kids.

“They were a little bit anxious I think,” Ellis told ABC News. “Whenever you go into an oxygen debt, I think, it does get a bit frightening… You’ve either got to get to the sandbank or let it take its course or wash over to the rocks… It really rockets out … it looks like beautiful water but there’s a certain spot where it does get very strong and it drops off.”

Four years earlier in 2018, same scenario, Ellis was fishing when he heard screams and saw a group of six nurses caught in the same rip.

“I don’t think they had very good swimming skills,” he said. “One of the five women had gone under a few times and had swallowed water.”

Ellis swam out, worked out who was in most danger, and, collecting ’em in pairs, eventually got all six women safely to shore, a feat that earned him a bravery award.

In the citation it was said the event could have “easily turned into a major search operation.”

Ellis says respecting the ocean and knowing your limits is real important, something 1984’s rookie of the year has always lived by.

In 1986, Ellis and fellow Australian Gary Green withdrew from the opening round of the Billabong Pro at Waimea Bay because the surf was too big.

The wonderful Mara Wolford, RIP, was Bryce’s girl in 1986 and wrote poetically about the moment.

Bryce would never live that morning down. There was a North Shore winter, a couple of years later, when Bryce and I stayed in a house right on the Bay. One morning, the friend we were rooming with woke me at dawn to go surf Pinballs, when it was just starting to cap on the Bay reef proper, so that when Bryce woke up the first thing he saw see was me out in the lineup. I had fun out there. Not until later did I discover that our friend’s motivation was to poke fun at Bryce.

It went on for years. There were articles, lots of heckling and jokes, and a perceptible freeze-out from the world tour’s League of Titans. It is crystal-clear to me now, however, and has been for decades, that Bryce did exactly as he should have that morning at the Billabong contest. He followed his own judgement, listened to his better, and acted on logic and experience—or lack thereof.

There is nothing stronger or more elegant than a man who doesn’t bow to the crowd.

Another brick in the wall.

Mere days ago, at the dawn of the Billabong Pipeline Pro, I wondered if maybe, maybe, the World Surf League’s patented Wall of Positive Noise was beginning to crack. Students of professional surfing are well aware of the Wall, which the League began erecting soon after acquiring the Association of Surfing Professionals in 2012 for free. The only sentiments allowed, inside, are those unrelentingly cheerful, unfailingly cheery, even in the face of irrefutable truths otherwise.

Well, mere days ago, the League published, on its very own organ, a story lightly critical of Brazilian Filipe Toledo’s ability at Pipeline, writing, “It’s no secret that Pipeline is not Filipe Toledo’s strongest venue on Tour. While he’s arguably the fastest, most exciting surfer in the world in high-performance waves, there has been room for improvement when it comes to surfing heavy barrels like Pipe.”

A small break?

Small truths peeking through?

Toledo, for his part, proved the League very much correct by failing to paddle for decent waves on The Day of Days, earning a whopping 3.50 heat total and further cementing his reputation as the bravest coward.

But did sadness reign thereafter at the thought of hurt feelings?

Did one WSL staffer simply go off reservation?

Panic in the halls of Santa Monica that a situation had arisen needing to be immediately countered with an all-out absurdist campaign of unrelenting positivism?

Possibly and to whit: Yesterday’s historic women’s day two featured the “blood feud heat of the century” pitting mortal enemies Moana Jones Wong against Tatiana Weston-Webb. You certainly recall last year when Weston-Webb dropped in on Wong then proceeded to get “belted” both on land and Instagram as Wong unleashed a stream of insults including “if you have bad eyesight then don’t surf Pipe” amongst many others.

Well, in its wrap the World Surf League described the affair thusly:

On the other side of the draw, wildcard Moana Jones Wong continued to show the world why she’s considered one of the best women out at Pipeline. Dispatching longtime friend and one of last year’s Rip Curl WSL Finalists Tatiana Weston-Webb in the Round of 16 with her graceful tuberiding, she relished the underdog opportunity.

Longtime friend?

The Wall is back.

Let's get ready to rumble!

There are plots and there are subplots but one of the best of all must be Moana Jones Wong vs. Tatiana Weston-Webb in today’s heat three (watch here).

Oh but you certainly recall last year when Wong punched Weston-Webb on Pipeline’s sand. Derek Rielly wrote at the time:

Much teeth gnashing over a drop in at Pipeline yesterday featuring local shredder Moana Wong and world number three Tatiana Weston-Webb.

Moana, who is twenty, a purple belt in Brazilian jiujitsu and one of the few gals who surfs Pipe for fun, belted Weston-Webb on the beach and used the words “stupid” and “bitch” to describe her interloper.

Shortly after, Moana used the microphone of Instagram to telegraph her displeasure at the event.

Much fun.

Many thrills.

There's a new Zuck in town.

The Hawaiian island chain, floating glorious in the very center of the Ocean Pacific, has long been a hot real estate opportunity for wealthy mainlanders looking for paradise. Swaying palms, coconut wirelesses, mai tai fun though land grabs often leave the local population bereft.

Take, for example, Facebook founder and world’s fifth richest man Mark Zuckerberg’s foil playground on Kauai cryptocurrency mogul Jonathan Yantis’ massive Maui spread.

Regarding the latter, Yanis, The Daily Beast is reporting, has become furious by noise made from locals congregating near his land and has attempted to put a stop to it by erecting official looking signs reading that the area was restricted to “natural sounds only” as there are precious seabirds nesting nearby along with a security guard.

The property, worth some $24 million and purchased in 2020, is one of ten estates Yanis owns around the world.

The move infuriated activists who staged a protest last weekend with lifelong Hawaii resident Summer Starr declaring, “It’s one of the last local spaces. I believe Mr. Yantis is weaponizing environmentalism against indigenous gathering rights.”

For his part, Yanis declares all the noise is coming due “underage drinking,” something he is beneficently trying to stop and that he is yet another victim of “cancel culture.” He told The Beast that the security guard is “Joe Aloha” and that “A lot of the local people really liked [the interventions]. They were grateful because it wasn’t like a gang of kids that were controlling the space anymore.”

Activist Kai Nishiki, who organized the protest, various much disagrees, saying the whole business started when Yanis’ people “accosted” her Native Hawaiian son, who was cliff diving, telling him that “Hawaiians aren’t special.”

He then removed a ladder that locals used to access the ocean.

Nishiki, anyhow, said the protest was completely peaceful and enjoyable for all.

Yanis countered, saying people “showed their asses on the camera and took shits on the front lawn.”

Big trouble on the Valley Isle.

More as the story develops.