"This guy's a hometown hero does whatever he wants and has the whole city sending me threats and how they are gunna get me."

The rivalry between Californian “surf cities” Santa Cruz and Huntington Beach, a tinderbox since a 2008 settlement that gave the Surf City trademark to HB, has exploded following a low-level breach of surf etiquette by the Santa Cruz world tour veteran Nat Young. 

Huntington Beach’s Griffin Foy threw a firebomb on Instagram, claiming Young, a former rookie of the year who fell off the tour following a series of personal tragedies only to requalify a few years later, stole onto his wave and then sought a “hit” on the HB shredder. 

Now, Foy, who calls himself “gfoy”, has challenged Young to a cage fight. 

“Dude acts like this and then has the whole city ready to fight or kill for him and come after me!” writes Foy, who is twenty-one. “Whatever, I’ve had hits on my head before nothing new. I know how to move. That is local surfing in California aka group of (pussy emoji) mentality. Not many solo G’s. Guy looked at me (I’m on pink rails) video doesn’t show whole thing. Dropped in on me with his wide box stance so I wasn’t too  concerned if I ran into him in the process of teaching him how to surf… we should start a surf league like UFC maybe @surfingfightclub and with mma to handle beefs. Who wants to invest? My money is on me against this dude in a surf-off AND in the octagon. I don’t typically give out free lessons like this. That being said, any investors, let’s  start a new league. IDK, something more exciting, more real, more entertaining. Some pro surfers don’t give me my respect so I’m willing to earn it by all means. That’s all for today on keeping it real with gfoy.” 

 

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Comments are well worth a stroll through, one key-jockey welcoming the chance to join Foy in squaring off with Santa Cruz. 

“dude lmk what’s good I’ll fight them. The line up used to be about respect. I’m not sure what happened in the last few years but I definitely think we should form a different kind of surf club to regulate the local legends, weekend warriors and the Brazos. You ever run in to trouble hit me up I’ll be on my way brah.”

Foy says “Nat would definitely be very soft for burning me and not fighting with the weight advantage but hey I’m giving him the chance anyway.”

Nat Young’s camp is yet to respond to the challenge. 

More as it comes, develops etc. 

8 million fans (and counting) can't be wrong!

The United States of America and Australia both met the same fate at yesterday’s World Cup of Soccer proceedings, namely knocked right out. The once-every-four-years extravaganza, hosted in this time in the migrant workers’ paradise of Qatar, has featured some dominant performances from traditional powerhouses Brazil, France, Portugal, a shock early exit by traditional powerhouse Germany and the US plus Australian teams making it out of group play.

While national media attempted to cover the various matches, citizens didn’t really care and only went along with the “hype” due pressure.

Now that the teams have been relegated to where they belong, i.e. not playing soccer, those aforementioned citizens can mercifully turn their full attentions to the upcoming World Surf League season.

As you know, there has been an explosion of surf fans making the WSL one of the most watched sports on earth, bigger than basketball, tennis and hugely bigger than soccer. Over 8 million, and counting, tuning into finals day with lots more vectors for growth according to CEO Erik Logan.

As you also know, the Haleiwa Challenger, just-wrapped, has introduced ten exciting new male surfers and five exciting new female surfers onto the 2023 Championship Tour.

Men: Leonardo Fioravanti, Ryan Callinan, Rio Waida, Ramzi Boukhaim, Ian Gentil, Ezekiel Lau, Michael Rodrigues, Liam O’Brien, Joao Chianca, Maxime Huscenot.

Women: Macy Callaghan, Molly Picklum, Caitlin Simmers, Bettylou Sakura Johnson, Sophie McCulloch.

It will be wonderful to see them all paddle out at Pipeline though very sad to see them all pack their bags after Margaret River to go home, or at least all of the men.

Who will you be most sad to see go?

Me too.

Rage against the machine.

Surf fans do not generally agree on much. The World Surf League Championship Tour is either too long or not long enough. There are either too many surfers or not enough. Kelly Slater either should have retired a decade ago or should surf until he’s seventy. The judging either rewards floaters too highly or not highly enough. The only area of universal agreement is that Surf Ranch is not an appropriate place to host an event. Or, rather, Surf Ranch is not an appropriate place to host an event and Stephanie Gilmore is absolutely without reproach.

The eight-time world champion is as graceful as she is stylish, and charming as brave. Her ability, tenacity, dignity all 10 out of 10. When she speaks we all listen and she just spoke to Stellar magazine, telling honest truths about the sometimes nasty surf industry.

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Gilmore, who appears on the cover surfing in a yellow sundress, declared, “For my first eight years on tour, my pay was probably $12,000 to the men’s $40,000. But I didn’t question it because all I wanted to do was surf,” adding later that (the surf industry) can be a tough place for women to not feel intimidated” and “Yes, there were moments where I felt pressure as an up-and-coming surfer to look good in a bikini and to have that hot beach-girl vibe. But I’ve watched other female athletes like Serena Williams be fierce and feminine, and I feel like the older I get, I realise how fun it is to embrace both sides.”

The $12,000 to men’s $40,000 is truly egregious and it is a fine thing that it is now all fixed up. The early pressure she felt to have that “hot beach-girl vibe” is also unfortunate and should have been layered onto Mick Lowe instead.

Gilmore perfect just the way she is.