"A troublesome pattern of behavior..."
If our World Surf League has positioned itself as champion of one thing, outside equality, it is the cause of our precious environment. At certain stops, professional surfers who have flown halfway around the globe are encouraged to plant bushes. At other stops, broadcast time is spent advocating for ecological awareness. The League is attempting to save a fragile wetland in Australia by replacing it with a Kelly Slater wave pool, partnering with cheaply constructed Chinese SUVs in order to better utilize landfills, doing “the work,” as they say.
Well, no organization can be perfect and the WSL is currently drawing fire for utilizing a pit used with thousands of plastic balls in order to mimic a novelty wave. Critics are calling the comedic stunt “ethically misguided” and “morally reprehensible.”
Plastic, as you know, is a leading cause of ocean pollution and takes roughly 450 years to break down when sloshing around in the great blue.
Not funny.
Santa Monica is yet to respond to those demanding account but let us hope the plastic balls will be reused in an ultra-sustainable way. Maybe as spare tires for Great Wall Motors fleet?
Smart.
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That clip of Strider won’t generate the creation of more plastic but it did get the WSL free publicity on Beach Grit, so looks a win to me.
plastics are known to cause male pattern baldness. also, this…a man flew to Cambodia to party with some prostitutes, contacted super gonorrhea…complaining of urinary tract pain, he went to his Austrian Doctor. The doc asked him if he drank the water or had contact with dirty plastics? “yes & yes” he said. “I strained the water with a broken condom and tossed them back with a pint or two. That’s what I told my wife.”
Wave machine “boring” as Nias…
Because Joao looks like a hampster who just skulled a can of Red Bull in between his turns. Limbs flying everywhere, board bucking under his feet like a goddamn mechanical bull.
What happens in between your turns holds almost just as much weight as the turns themselves.
Ethan won fair and square.
Seeing strides upended by the ball pit is one of the most memeable moments the wozz has gifted us. Environmental considerations aside, this is legit gold.
This young fella is merely mocking those who go balled later in life. It’s harmless. Like a fake lynching. Who doesn’t like to attend a mock-lynching with the good ole’ boys?!?!
(edit: this a joke BTW – see: “BALLED” see?)
Pretty sure the pit is filled with plastic balls unless those balls sexually assaulted (“used”) the pit. Scary thought!
In one of those rare moments of ‘I wonder what’s happening in world of surfing’, I happened upon a live feed of the wave dancing in Saquerema. This was the first thing that I saw.
I turned it off.
Millions of similar plastic orbs are floated on drinking water reservoirs worldwide to combat evaporation of precious potable h2o.
Perhaps the wosl will donate their balls to a Brazilian village whose water supply needs protection from the harsh sunlight.
Good old-fashioned ecological awareness can strike when you least expect it.
Maybe Kelly can float a multitude of balls on his evaporation prone wavetub…
“Here Brazil…open up and take our balls” -WSL
I have no doubt this marketing project is packed up and moved to the next place for showing. Chas its easy to throw rocks when you have how many boards made of petro chemicals?
At least 10! Also, I never advertise self as ultra-sustainable so my rocks zing without hypocrisy.
To be lauded as a surfjourno of the highest calibre !
A beacon, a shining light …. Oh wait. This is BG and the bar has been set pretty low.
You Chasvertise!
10 that is impressive considering Derek is possible still on the soft board he rents at North Bondi sipping his chai latte with almond milk. You think he could write off some tax profits on a new hipster board.
World Clown Tour – clowns itself. Again and again.