Swimmer mauled to death by fifteen-foot
Great White shark in front of eye-witnesses at popular Sydney
beach, “It was terrible. I am shaking. I keep
vomiting… the splash looked like a car landed in the
water”
By Derek Rielly
"It came back and swallowed parts of his body and
that was it. It disappeared."
(Editor’s note: This story was previously
titled Rock fisherman killed by a fifteen-foot Great White
after slipping off rocks in front of eye-witnesses at popular
Sydney beach, “It was terrible. I am shaking. I keep
vomiting… the splash looked like a car landed in the
water”. The title and pertinent details have been changed as
new details came to light.)
A swimmer was hit and killed by a fifteen-foot Great
White shark at Little Bay, a few clicks south of Maroubra
beach in Sydney’s south-east on Wednesday afternoon.
Simon Nellist, who was thirty-five, was practising for an
upcoming charity swim when the White hit.
Fisherman Kris Linto said he saw the White attack.
“The shark came and attacked them vertically,” Linto told Nine
News. “We heard a yell and then turned around. [The splash] looked
like a car just landed in the water.”
“When he went down there were so many splashes. It was
terrible. I am shaking,” he told ABC news. I keep
vomiting. It’s very, very upsetting “He just …enjoying the
day, but that shark took his life.”
There’s a video kicking around of the attack but I ain’t
watching it.
Here’s some of the dialogue.
“Someone just got eaten by a shark.
Oh man! Oh no! That’s insane. That’s a Great White shark.”
“The person’s still there!”
“I just saw a four to five metre
great white explode on the surface just here on a swimmer and it
was like a car landing in the water.”
“Fuck man, I heard a scream and the
shark was just chomping on his body and the body was in half just
off the rocks here.”
“It came back and swallowed parts of
his body and that was it. It disappeared.”
Half of Nellist’s body was recovered.
Six months ago Nellist posted on Facebook, “Shark net and drum
lines protect no one and kill all kinds of marine life each
year.”
WSL commentary team including the disappeared Martin
Potter, left, and Joe Turpel, far right. Ross Williams, middle,
yanks his legs apart.
The WSL has elevated toxic positivity to an
art. And I can’t help but admire it!
By surf ads
"What the WSL has created is an ideological
institution of system-supportive propaganda so self-censoring Noam
Chomsky would be proud."
Some people don’t like the WSL’s commentary
team. Not me. I look forward to the WSL call as much as I
do the surfing.
Chris. Rosie. Kaipo. Strider. Ross. The coterie of special
guests. Each comp I tune in, turn the speakers up to 11, and wonder
what gifts will be bestowed next.
Not because I enjoy listening to it all.
I’m impressed by the discipline. The commitment. The dedication
to wringing any semblance of discontent from the dialogue that this
team has accomplished.
The ‘wall of positive noise’ does the WSL a disservice. Walls
can be scaled. Walls can be torn down. What the team at Santa
Monica have created is an ideological institution of
system-supportive propaganda so unwavering, so self-censoring, so
unthinking, Noam Chomsky himself would be proud.
They’ve elevated toxic positivity to an art. And I can’t help
but admire it.
What is toxic positivity? In psychological circles, it’s known
as a dysfunctional approach to emotional management that happens
when people do not fully acknowledge negative emotions. “A pressure
to stay upbeat no matter how dire one’s circumstance is.”
Consider it. WSL commentators exist in a world of the eternal
present. In the booth there is no past. No future. The world
outside does not even exist unless it is of some explicit reference
to the approved reading of the events unfolding in front of
them.
But most importantly, there’s no bad vibes.
These conditions in front of us right now are the best they
could possibly be. Nobody is underperforming. Every competitor is
in with a chance. Combo’d by 18 points with a minute left and an
empty horizon?
‘If anyone can do it, <insert surfer here> can.’
There’s no losers. Literally. Post-heat interviews are only ever
granted to winners.
(What are we missing from the insight, emotion, energy of the
vanquished?)
Then there’s the women. The women? The women are making history.
They’re amazing. We’re smashing the glass ceiling. Creating
equality for all. And they will be running today.
Wait a minute. No they won’t. In fact, we’ve never heard of
them. What women?
Or the loss of Turpel from the booth. Potter before him. Zero
discussion. A void of information. They might be back next
competition. But they might not. For all we know they were both
taken for a helicopter ride at the Sosa ranch.
Not a word will be uttered. Because no wrong has ever been
committed by the WSL or anybody involved with it, nor could any
such wrong ever possibly be committed in the future.
This is the constant assurance being screamed at us. The
manufactured consent. The team are like lackeys of some
totalitarian dictator that refuses to admit the possibility of
defeat. Stalin’s generals reading from Pravda as the eastern front
collapses.
Everything Is Fine.
Now I don’t level any of this criticism directly at the
commentary team. Individually they all do a good job, for the most
part. They’re professional. Dedicated. Absolute sweethearts to
boot.
It’s obvious somebody behind the scenes setting the agenda. A
player pulling the shots. Chomsky would suggest it’s the corporate
ownership, or the advertisers, or some other shady player in the
ruling class. He’s probably close. I’d suggest a mild mannered,
chest-waxed Oklahoman with a skewed appetite to risk.
Whoever it is, they’re letting themselves – and the team –
down.
The incessant positivity is condescending at best.
Self-defeating at worse. Anybody with half a surfing brain can tell
when Filipe’s having a melt. To try and sugar coat it is offensive
to both he and the audience.
Same goes with the scheduling hiccups re: integrating women into
the format. I think pay equality is fantastic and know that this
approach will pay off in the long run. The WSL should be commended
for it. But it won’t always be pretty. This is the start of a long
process. Not everybody will be comfortable with it 100% of the
time. It’ll take a while to start working. It might need to change
on the run. Why do we have to pretend otherwise?
I know this is old ground being re-hashed, but based on the
first look at this year’s effort things are getting worse.
The WSL is painting itself further into a corner. Something’s
gotta give.
The solution? Simple, as I see it. First, inject an old hand
into the booth. Somebody from outside the surf world. A straight
shooter that can ask the simple questions for the non-surfing
audience, and call out some of the many inexplicable nuances of
competitive surfing. Like the old English bloke they paired with
Barton at the Olympics. That guy was mint.
Then, give the likes of Ross, Pete Mel, Stace Galbraith and
booth guests like Slater or Mick Fanning permission to speak
freely. Call out bad judging, bad surfing and bad officiating. Ask
the difficult questions. It’s all part of the game. Punters don’t
demand perfection. But they do demand transparency.
Finally, don’t be afraid to stick the mic in front of somebody
who’s just lost a heat. Ask them what happened. What did they do
wrong. How are they going to fix it for next time. How did it all
Make Them Feel?
Ultimately athletes are inspiring. Other-worldly. The gods
manifest in man and woman. They’re why we tune in. And why we will
continue to tune in. But it’s their follies that truly connect us.
We want to share their highs and their lows. We want to see their
sacrifice, their anguish, their pain.
By denying us that, we’re being denied our very own humanity. Or
something.
The big question now is: will the WSL listen?
Stay Tuned.
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Open Thread: Comment Live on Day One of the
Hurley Pro Sunset Beach presented by Shiseido!
By Chas Smith
GOATs on parade!
Wow but it seemed like an eternity to arrive at
this moment, this time, when our professional surfers and surfettes
will once again paddle from shore into pitched competition with
each other and with nature.
Jordy Smith appears in heat one. Kanoa Igarashi heat two. Kelly
Slater, who is sometimes called the Greatest of All-Time, or GOAT,
joins us for heat three. Will the women surf today? Will they even
kick the event right off? Impossible to know.
Exciting times and made more so by enjoying with your very best
friends in the comments. Watch here or here. Comment below.
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Screen grab from film EuroTrip.
Inspired by World Surf League mantra,
Nantucket activist introduces bylaw that would allow topless
sunbathing for all genders: “This is really antiquated and this is
inequality. Some men have bigger breasts than I do!”
By Chas Smith
Dominos of institutional sexism fall!
The World Surf League has proudly, loudly,
beaten its breast these past few years as champions of equality and
champions it is, equalizing pay between men and women, having them
surf the exact same waves on lightly different days, running many
advertisements with the word “equality” while also using the
hashtag “#equality.”
Aside from female longboarders, who have become cannon fodder
for the League, this message of samsies is resonating from the
halls of Santa Monica all the way across the nation to the tony
beaches of Nantucket floating, there, just south of Boston. Dorthy
Stover, a resident, was on the warm sand this last summer and
infuriated that she could not take her top off and enjoy some extra
vitamin D just like her male counterparts.
It is, currently, illegal for women to de-layer, a right solely
possessed by men, and so Stover has activated and is introducing a
bylaw that declares “In order to promote equality for all persons,
any person shall be allowed to be topless on any public or private
beach within the Town of Nantucket,” for which to be voted upon in
May.
Stover told the Cape Cod Times,
“This is really antiquated and this is inequality. Some men have
bigger breasts than I do. Nantucket has a history of fighting for
equality,” and feels that passing the bylaw will decrease people
feeling insecure about their curves (save the men with large
breasts). “I’m not saying that everybody has to be topless. I want
to support the love of the body.”
Back in Santa Monica, though, do you imagine pride and joy is
resonating back and forth from World Surf League CEO Erik Logan’s
office down to World Surf League commissioner Jessi
Miley-Dyer’s?
The dominos of institutional sexism falling all thanks to
professional surfing?
Let’s hope.
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The suit stems from the 2020 Nazaré Tow
Surfing Challenge, held on February 11, 2020. During the event,
Botelho was involved in the infamous jet ski crash that made
international headlines, where he and his partner, Hugo Vau, were
thrown more than 20 feet in the air. The chaos of the accident led
Albee Layer to state, “Our lives are clickbait.”
Star of big-wave tour sues World Surf
League alleging “gross negligence, fraudulent concealment,
intentional and negligent misrepresentation” following near-fatal
wipeout at 2020 Nazaré event, “Our lives are clickbait!”
By Cedar Hobbs
"When the big-wave star was pulled from the water,
he had no pulse. It took more than a minute for medical personnel
to revive him."
On February 9, 2022, the noted Portuguese big wave
surfer and 2019 Big Wave Tour top-six finisher, Alexandre Antonio
Keja Botelho sued the World Surf League in California state
court.
Bill Sharp, the General Manager of the Big Wave World Tour, and
Scott Eggers, the Safety Director of the Big Wave World Tour, were
also named as defendants.
The suit stems from the 2020 Nazaré Tow Surfing Challenge, held
on February 11, 2020. During the event, Botelho was involved in a
jet ski crash that made international headlines, where he and his
partner, Hugo Vau, were thrown more than 20 feet in the air. The
chaos of the accident led Albee Layer to state, “Our lives are
clickbait.”
During the event, Botelho and Vau were launched into the air
after trying to drive out of the impact zone following one of
Botelho’s rides.
Botelho landed on the ski, striking both his head and chest,
rendering him unconscious.
According to Botelho, he was unconscious in the water for up to
six minutes before he was pulled from the sea not breathing.
Earlier rescue attempts were made by his tow partner Alemao Edilson
Luis da Assuncio, but Botelho was not saved until he drifted close
enough to the shore to be reached by rescue personnel.
When Botelho was pulled from the water, he had no pulse. It took
more than a minute for medical personnel to revive him. He also
suffered a perforated lung and was rushed to the hospital in
critical condition after vomiting water on the beach.
After arriving at the hospital, Botelho had to be intubated (a
medical procedure where a tube is inserted into the trachea) for
“machine-assisted breathing.” According to the complaint, Botelho
“required his lungs to be drained and further suffered a bacterial
infection in his lungs from the sea water.” He remained in
intensive care for a week and had to be hospitalized for fifteen
days.
Further, Botelho alleged psychological injuries from the
accident, including “nightmares of the drowning, sleep and mood
disturbance, and a gradually dissipating fear of entering ocean
water again.”
He also lost various sponsorships and income as a result of his
inability to compete.
Botelho alleged claims of: (1) negligence/gross negligence; (2)
fraudulent concealment; (3) intentional misrepresentation; and (4)
negligent misrepresentation. He seeks damages for past and future
expenses and loss of revenue, as well as punitive damages and
attorney’s fees.
According to Botelho, the WSL greatly exaggerated the event’s
safety measures and then coerced competitors into signing waivers
of liability after competitors realized the promised safety
measures were not present.
In the months before the event, Botelho and other surfers became
concerned about the adequacy of the safety measures proposed by the
WSL, prompting the surfers to propose “that each team be provided
with a budget to assemble their own, hand-picked safety team.”
According to the complaint, the WSL agreed to the proposal that
“each team [would] have a dedicated water safety jet ski and driver
shadowing them while in the water and three radios and a dedicated
channel per team for communication.”
The WSL, through Bill Sharp, also communicated a three-layer
safety plan: the first being the team member on the ski to make
pickups; the second a “dedicated Safety Support pilot and jet ski
to pick up a surfer in the event the team member is unable to do
so;” and the third being medical personnel position on the
shore.
According to the complaint, this plan “was deemed by virtually
every surfer invited to participate in the Nazaré event as
unsatisfactory” and the WSL was allegedly made aware of the
discontent via a group email.
The surfers, including Botelho, were concerned about the lack of
an additional safety layer. They insisted on the presence of an
additional jet ski carrying a rescue swimmer “dedicated to the
rescue and pickup of any hurt, unconscious, or in distress
surfer.”
To comply, the WSL allegedly agreed to hire Kalani Lattanzi to
be the rescue swimmer; according to the complaint he was listed in
this role in the WSL Information Kit provided to the
competitors.
The complaint alleges that the WSL failed to take any steps to
implement the safety measures promised to the surfers. Further, it
alleges the WSL “willfully and fraudulently” concealed this
failure.
The WSL also allegedly never contacted Lattanzi, the agreed upon
rescue swimmer.
The complaint alleges further failures on behalf of the WSL: (1)
failure to provide a dedicated Safety Support jet ski driver to
shadow each team; (2) failure to provide working radios to each
team’s spotter; (3) failure to provide three promised radios to
each team, resulting in Botelho’s spotter’s inability to
communicate with safety personnel; (4) failure to provide any
rescue swimmer; (5) failure to provide “the minimum number of
experienced water safety individuals anticipated by the
competitors;” (6) failure to implement “a clear structure” and to
assign responsibilities to water safety personnel; (7) failure to
place a strategy to address emergencies; and (8) failure to train
and equip lifeguards on the beach with the necessary lifesaving
equipment.
The competitors did not become aware of the WSL’s alleged
misrepresentations until the eve of the event. When competitors did
become aware of the inadequate safety measures, some refused to
sign the required agreement between the individual and WSL. The
agreement included a waiver of liability.
In response, the WSL allegedly told surfers they would not be
permitted to compete if they did not sign the agreement. According
to the complaint, many competitors felt pressured to sign the
agreement due in part to costs associated with traveling and
training for Nazaré and perceived obligations to sponsors.
When Botelho signed the agreement, he was still not fully aware
of the extent of the WSL’s alleged misrepresentations.
According to the complaint, after signing, he still was under
the impression that Lattanzi would be acting as a rescue
swimmer.
The complaint alleges that the confluence of these factors,
notably the lack of an independent rescue swimmer, resulted in
Botelho’s injuries.
