A night to remember.

And the platinum hits just keep on coming for World Surf League CEO Erik Logan. “The Rusty Cudgel” is coming off what must be considered the greatest run, ever, in professional surf leadership. Things were looking shaky heading into Bells with the stench of The Ultimate Surfer still lingering and sitting champion Gabriel Medina refusing to play but then wham-o.

It began with the announcement that a cheap Chinese-made SUV was signing on as a sponsor of the environmentally-progressive league. Next, a surfer protest was brutally quashed with “feelings” and “friendship” being invoked. Then, it was revealed that Apple TV’s much-anticipated program Make or Break will be airing at the end of the month, disposable furniture manufacturer IKEA joined up for co-branded shelving and Morgan Ciblic planted a bush in Torquay.

A series of slams so undeniably grand that Logan must be the envy of Roger Goodell, Adam Silver, Rob Manfred.

Well, they can go fete him in person as it has just been announced that our Man from Muskogee is the person of honor at the upcoming environmentally-forward Heal the Bay Bring Back the Beach gala.

Per the release:

Following a two-year pause due to the pandemic, we are thrilled to announce the return of our Bring Back the Beach Gala on June 2, 2022. As a fundraising benefit for Heal the Bay, this exclusive West Coast event welcomes hundreds of leaders from the business, political, entertainment, and environmental communities.

And the excitement doesn’t stop there, as we will also be shining the light on the incredible achievements of this year’s honoree, Erik Logan. As CEO of World Surf League, Erik has gone to great lengths to bring clean water awareness and initiatives to the worldwide surfing community. We hope you will join us to support both Erik’s work and the wide-reaching impact of Heal the Bay.

Sipping on fruity cocktails, enjoying a beautiful sunset with the salty breeze, digging your toes in the sand, and winning an amazing getaway—does life get any better? Yes, when it all benefits healthy, safe, and clean coastal waters and watersheds!

You, too, can celebrate Logan’s greenwashing by gathering twelve of your friends and providing $50,000 (perks include recognition by event speakers from the podium and a private beach cleanup).

Don’t have twelve friends? $10,000 will allow you and nine others to rub shoulders with a who’s who of environmental stalwarts from California’s oil and gas industry (though no participating in the aforementioned private beach cleanup).

A loner? A mere $1000 and you’re set, or in the words of Maurice Cole, “simply put….green washing seems to be the WSL’s Modus Operandum.”

A night to remember.

Fruity cocktails.

“I'm motivated. I'm back to my athlete routine. Everything is back to normal."

Three months ago, the three-time world champ Gabriel Medina quit the tour just two weeks before its opening gambit at Pipe.

“I have emotional issues that I need to deal with,” he told fans via IG, referring  to the breakdown of his year-long marriage to the thirty-three-year-old Sports Illustrated model Yasmin Brunet, as well as ongoing, and various, feuds between his estranged family. 

Now, Medina, who is twenty-eight, will make his glorious return to competition in May at Grajagan aka G-Land, “one of the world’s longest and most challenging reefbreaks, and site of the original surfing camp.”

“I’m motivated. I’m back to my athlete routine, waking up early, eating well,” Medina told Brazilian news outlet Esporte Espetacular. “Everything is back to normal. Here we go. I’m going to Indonesia, it’s a new stage in G-Land. That makes me even more motivated.”

 

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In regards to his marriage, the split, estrangement from fam, quitting the tour and so on he said,

“I’ve learned a lot during that time that I’ve withdrawn from competition, and I feel like I’m 100%. That’s why I’m announcing my return. I’m excited, I miss competing, travelling, in that environment where I see all my friends there.”

Medina has already been awarded the 2023 wildcard for the first five events, as well as the back five events of 2022.

If he nails a couple of wins it’s a pretty good chance he’ll make the top five and, therefore, this year’s final at Trestles.

Grajagan, if you don’t know the story, was first surfed in 1972 by a couple of American surfers, became the site of the world’s first surf camp and, in 1995, a fabled stop on what was then the “Dream Tour”. 

The peace likely won't hold.

On February 10, 2022, sitting professional longboard champion Joel Tudor took to Instagram after becoming frustrated by a rumor that the World Surf League was planning on chopping his tour from three events down to one while also heavily featuring longboarding clips, particularly women’s longboarding clips, on a Pipeline telecast. “Yo @wsl @jessmileydyer @elo_eriklogan can y’all explain this kind of equality?” The San Diego native asked before continuing, “Not very woke of you to treat the log gals with so much disrespect in regards to pay? It’s kinda clear on your own Instagram which style is more favored by your audience!”

Thus began the War of the Noses, a conflict so hot and fierce, so radical and destructive, that crews are still finding bodies buried in the sand. At the end, the aforementioned Jessi Miley-Dyer, the World Surf League’s Senior Vice President of Tours and Head of Competition, and Erik Logan, its CEO, were forced to bend to Tudor’s will, keeping three events on the calendar, but showed their displeasure by holding two of them at horrible waves and also indefinitely suspending the champ for “Too much fun making and rude talk plus generally unchill vibes directed toward World Surf League leadership.”

Well, it appears that Manly, Huntington Beach and cancellation are not strong enough punishment as reports trickle out from a recent World Surf League and partners meeting. Witnesses say that Logan, who was sharing what next year will look like and how exciting it is for sponsors to be involved, stopped when he reached the topic of longboarding and said something like, “And then we have those longboarders,” while guffawing, rolling his eyes and utilizing other dismissive body language.

Apparently, the public shaming was well-received in the room with advertising executives at various oil refineries, coal mines and disposable furniture manufacturers excited to showcase their green bonafides through the act of wave riding, laughing and applauding. Logan, buoyed by the response, continued hamming it up for a moment, maybe walking an imaginary nose while employing a classic dunce face.

The fact that the incident has been released to the public does not bode well for peaceniks as it is likely hot war will, again, resume.

Will Tudor respond?

Will professional longboarders sign a petition a la their shortboarding brethren?

Currently more questions than answers.