Boardroom to beach.

Oh but the World Surf League has done it again, and by “done it again” I mean lost out on a thrilling new television program exploring the world of surf. But have you heard of “Barons?” A surf and business drama that will premier this very week over Australian, I think, air?

According to Variety, “Barons is an upscale, but easily approachable, eight-part series that examines what happens when money gets muddled with friendship. The 1970s-set beaches-to-boardroom rivalry story is fictional, but parallels the establishment of the real-world Billabong and Quiksilver surf-wear labels.”

The industry publication sat down across show creator Mick Lawrence and asked how he became inspired to which he answered, “I picked up a book at the airport called ‘Salts and Suits,’ which was a very dry business book by a journalist that I had known called Phil Jarratt. It’s not an absolute roaring yawn or a page turner. But what it did have was the really fun kind of direction as to how the surf industry was built from 1970s. How they turned the idea of a surf lifestyle into a multi-billion-dollar industry.”

A little rude to Jarratt, no? The “a very dry business book by a journalist I had known” dig?

In any case, the first season will cover the 1970s and feature Torquay, I think, which is nicknamed Velcro Valley, then, if all goes well, roll out four more seasons featuring the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

“The 80s and 90s are crazy as far as the characters and the decadence in that time,” Lawrence adds.

Exciting but back to our World Surf League. Isn’t this the sort of business WSL Studios was supposed to be producing before its untimely demise?

Another swing. Another miss, I suppose.

Watch the teaser here.

Three Kings.

A new, sublime short film dropped yesterday featuring a trio of top athletes sharing their thoughts on life, death, love and friendship all while surfing the famed Waco tank.

Lewis Hamilton, known by some to be the best race car driver in the world, and Dylan Ferrandis, a French motocross superstar, joined big wave champion and new favorite commentator Makua Rothman deep in the heart of Texas for a session and a chat.

Rothman opens up with the truth that a surf trip is as much about the people on it than anything and also noted that when he’s surfing the Waco tank it doesn’t feel “artificial” at all but rather like Uluwatu. Hamilton shares that watching the other two surf kept pushing him to try more, try better, even attempting to figure out how Rothman was throwing neat little spins.

Rothman turns it right around and says nothing he could have done would have made him as happy as seeing Hamilton and Ferrandis come out of the barrel and his coaching, throughout the piece, is truly a highlight.

At the end, Hamilton declares “Surfing is my favorite sport. It really is. I love the ocean and the water, the power the movement, and going out there feels like your disconnected from all the negative things that are going around in the world.”

Truly anti-depressive. Watch, and feel, here.