Those brave men and women who shoot images of
our surfing from watery angles have always impressed me most. But
who, amongst us, hasn’t been influenced by their work from the
earliest ages? The intimacy, the closeness that only brave man, or
woman, bobbing in the brine, sometimes extremely heavy, with heavy
camera and fins can bring.
It takes guts. Guts and an eye for art and a knowledge of surf
and strong legs and strong arms and a stout heart.
Daniel Russo, Jimmy “Cane” Wilson, Brent and Brian Bielmann,
Peter Taras, Damea Dorsey, Ben Thouard, but to name a very few,
have made their mark in the space with Thouard just winning the
coveted Ocean Photographer of the Year award.
The Frenchman’s intoxicating picture of surfer getting pounded
at Teahupo’o beat out a colorful squid, sea otter in school of
fish, even more colorful squid, sea snake all tied up in knots, sea
turtle being chill and silly crab.
With rumours of acquisition by the Authentic Brands
group at fever pitch, the iconic surf company Billabong was
ordered, or so the whisper goes, to offload its famed “A-team”
house overlooking Pipeline on Oahu’s North Shore.
The six-bed, four-bath contemporary looking joint sits on 9000
square feet of prime beachfront land and was quickly snapped up by
a company insider who’d long enjoyed its fruits.
And, although the sale price remains secret a figure close to
six million dollars has been touted.
I’ve only ever stayed at the place once and was forced, due to
my beta male status, to sleep in a subterranean bunk room although
one star did make me and my biz pal welcome with a succession of
gifts, as well as the surprise three am treat of marijuana smoked
through a hollowed-out apple.
Such was the star’s stamina and appetite for “partying” as they
say, my pal and I were forced to flee to Honolulu for the less
physically demanding pursuit of cocktails and prozzies.
The house, which can sleep eighteen people an feed a multitude
with its three kitchens, entered surf folklore when it
featured in Chas Smith’s coming-of-age book Welcome to
Paradise: Now Go To Hell, described by the New York Times as
“a compulsively readable narrative, indisputably great”, with a
passage given to the day Fast Eddie Rothman paid a surprise visit
to Billabong frontman Graham Stapelberg.
Hill's Azoff and DiCaprio's Belfort on set during
filming of the 2013 smash hit.
Beloved actor, body positivist and Malibu
surf inspiration Jonah Hill hospitalised with bronchitis following
seven months of fake coke use, “It’s interesting pretending to be
on drugs!”
"If you ingest that much matter into your lungs,
you will get very sick."
The Hollywood funnyman, whom you know in these pages as
the surfer inspiration to anyone whoever thought about turning to
surf in their middle age but were afraid they’d missed the boat or
thought they were too chubby, weak or afraid, has revealed
a shock health crisis following his role as Donnie Azoff in 2013’s
The Wolf of Wall Street.
Yeah, this clip is a little old, BeachGrit was only a couple of
years into this world when this thing surfaced, and brave Mr Hill
had yet to bleach hair, buy two Malibu mansions, an 88 foam board
and become engaged to a surf instructor, but still worth, very
much, repeating, I think.
Hill’s character in the black comedy, which was produced and
directed by the great Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island, Boxcar
Bertha, Bringing Out the Dead), is a real creepy son of a
bitch.
Marries his first cuz he don’t want any other man to have her,
tells DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort if had retarded kids ‘cause of the
genetic risk he’d loose ‘em in the woods or institutionalise ‘em,
eats a goldfish, joins Belfort in gaming stocks, makes million, and
enjoys quaaludes and coke.
In the clip, which you can watch below, Hill says he did so much
fake coke during the seven-month filming he got bronchitis for
three weeks and had to be hospitalised.
“We were literally doing fake coke for, like, seven months,
every day. I never had more vitamin D in my entire life; I could
have lifted a car over my fucking head.”
Even though the fake coke was vitamin powder, it didn’t matter
says Hill ‘cause “if you ingest that much matter into your lungs,
you will get very sick” and adding, “It’s interesting pretending to
be on drugs… I’ll use music. I’ll make a playlist for every
scene, so I’ll try to make, like, music that [makes me feel]
jittery and chaotic… and then just drink a ton of coffee and Red
Bull.”
The patron saint of VALS lives a vastly different lifestyle to
that of Azoff, of course.
Just two weeks ago, BeachGrit reported that Hill had become a
Mercedes van-driving surf nomad scouring the Californian coastline
for waves in a Mercedes adventure vehicle, also known as the Beast
Mode 4×4.
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Exclusive: Surf fans dry eyes, become
wildly euphoric after stunning revelation that Kelly Slater and
Gisele Bündchen follow each other on Instagram though Tom Brady
follows neither!
Surf fans, moments ago, were seen mournfully
weeping, or it may have actually been woefully sobbing, after the
shocking announcement that Gisele Bündchen had initiated divorce
proceedings from Tom Brady as a result of his telegraphing
retirement from professional football before reneging and suiting
up again.
The world’s greatest and oldest surfer, Kelly Slater’s, own foibles as it relates to
retirement suddenly thrust into the spotlight at the
worst possible time.
But might those tears have been premature for those hoping,
dreaming of a rekindling between Bündchen and Slater?
For those unaware, the Brazilian supermodel and eleven-time
champion dated from 2005 through 2006 creating a dynamic duo our
kind had only witnessed once before
in history.
Their potential reunion the stuff of whispered myth.
But, alas, Slater’s refusal to hang up the singlet a major
possible roadblock.
Except.
An enterprising surf journalist has uncovered the greatest hint
of all. As any modern man, woman, none-of-the-prior knows,
Instagram is the place to telegraph the heart’s true desire and
look and see.
While Tom Brady is followed by both Slater and Bündchen…
He follows neither. But, they follow each other!
The candles surf fans have been lighting appear to be
working!
Love, truly, is the way.
Though it may feel like we’ve finally crossed the finish line,
more candles can’t hurt.
Buy in bulk, please.
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Kelly Slater (pictured) hiding assets.
Surf fans woefully sob as source reveals
Gisele Bündchen’s breakup with Tom Brady due his fear of retirement
leaving steamy reunion with world’s oldest professional surfer
Kelly Slater in sudden doubt!
What a difference a day makes. Less than
twenty-four hours ago, surf fans had never been so high, riding to
the very crest of a wave that has been building all week. Namely,
the revelation that Gisele Bündchen and her husband Tom Brady had
each hired divorce lawyers and were not “hanging out,” as it
were.
The two had been married for over a decade but suddenly, and
seemingly without warning, separation hung heavy in the air. While
this fact was, and is, sad, surf fans couldn’t help but feel a rush
of emotion, of hope that maybe Bündchen was on her way back to the
world’s greatest surfer, Cocoa Beach’s Kelly Slater.
The Brazilian supermodel and eleven-time world champion had
dated during 2005, 2006 and formed the very picture of beauty,
brains, international sexy.
Yum.
And, thus, the aforementioned surf fans have been hanging on
every drip, every drop from the saga, finding references to Kelly
Slater everywhere. Bündchen was seen sending smoke signals to
Slater, saging her car,
visiting a faith
healer, altering a
tattoo, dropping praying hands
emoji underneath a comment about love and commitment
(or something).
The pure joy but today, now, possible heartbreak looms as a new
revelation directly implicates Slater’s life choices as
“unaligned.”
Speaking recently to Us Weekly, an insider said friends of
Brady, 45, and Bündchen, 42, “are upset” at the Buccaneers
quarterback “for going back on his word and coming out of
retirement,” referencing his NFL change of heart.
“They hate the way Tom is refusing to bend for Gisele,” the
source continued.
Allegations of discord between Brady and Bündchen first
surfaced in September, when Page Six exclusively reported that the
pair had engaged in heated arguments over his NFL return. A source
later stated, however, that their issues have “nothing to do with
his decision to return to the NFL,” noting the claims are
“sexist.”
“The problems are not due to his decision to play football
again — sometimes things are complicated,” the source
said.
