"Crazy how if you slap a donkey for burning you, you can get arrested. But donkey can run you over and gets no punishment."

A  couple of weeks ago, shackles were sure as hell raised on the North Shore following the near-death of legendary big-wave surfer and ocean paddler Chris Owens who nearly exited this mortal coil when he was kneecapped by an adult learner at Waimea Bay.

Chris Owens, of course, ain’t no ordinary surfer or lifeguard.

In 2005, after a wild twenty-two hour haul through giant seas described as “one of the greatest feats of human endurance ever”, Owens paddled the sixty-five nautical miles between Oahu and Kauai.

Owens, who survived a one-minute hold-down at Mavericks in 2019 in surf deemed too big to run the Mavericks Invitational contest (“I went down and said hello to my friends Mark Foo and Sion Milosky”), was surfing a mid-sized day at Waimea when he was taken out by the adult learner.

Another North Shore lifeguard Joey Cadiz was unsparing in his criticism.

“Change is coming. No more entitled individuals that buy a gun and “think” they can surf Waimea. People that can barely swim, dependent on their floatation, board and luck by shoulder-hopping. Y’all DONE!!! I train for the worst possible situation and I’m READY for it! But not what I go out there for! Take a good moment to think about your abilities, training, preparation, and awareness before you paddle out next time!”

Comments ran hot.

Changes need to be made!!! Need to harden up folks!!! When you see something do something we all need to step up and do what’s right!!! No worry about what’s legal sorry if I sound savage hahah but this shit is out of control on many levels

Crazy how if you slap a donkey for burning you, you can get arrested.. but donkey can run you over, take you away from surf/ work for months.. and gets no punishment

This kook should have gotten cracks on the beach. No place for this out there.

That’s so fucked! The exact reason I didn’t surf there today. Too many kooks because it’s not bombing! But imagine it is and these kooks are out there tryina literally kill us!!!! Fuck that guy. He needs a north shore warm up head slap at the very least.

 

T

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A post shared by Joey (Kahana) Cadiz (@joeyaloha_)

 Now, with the world’s most prestigious big-wave contest The Eddie Aikau set to run this Sunday, and with Billy Kemper and Makua Rothman already out of the event due to injuries sustained during the Backdoor Shootout, third-alternate Owens was looking like an almost certain starter.

The Eddie only runs when Waimea is a consistent twenty-to-twenty-five feet and in its almost thirty-year history has produced only nine winners, John John Florence the last surfer to claim the title in 2016. 

Miss it and it may not run again for a decade.

Thoughts, prayers, condolences etc.

 

 

 

 

 

"I felt like a longboard world champion… cancelled!"

Mere hours after the US awoke to a court judgement that determined public figures were forbidden from silencing constituents in the landmark Miko v Jones case, a decision that has opened Kelly Slater to multiple class actions, a surf fan has accused WSL CEO Erik Logan of erasing a comment from his personal Instagram account.

The surfer, named Carlos, says he had engaged on Logan’s post detailing the CEO’s attempt to capture California’s once-in-fifty-years swell with his old Nikon D7000 writing,

“The fact that you were taking pictures of this historic swell instead of surfing it is what wrong with the current leadership of the WSL.”

 

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A post shared by Erik Logan (@elo_eriklogan)

Within an hour, says Carlos, the comment was gone.

“I felt like a longboard world champion… cancel,” he told BeachGrit, referring to the unprecedented decision by the WSL to suspend three-time world champ Joel Tudor from all competition, alleging unsportsmanlike conduct, damage to surfing’s image and verbal assault.

That suspension followed a heated series of posts, interviews, with and from Tudor following a rumour, possibly started here, that the World Surf League was gonna slash cut the longboard world tour from three events to one.

Tudor was very angry and especially so after the WSL featured women’s longboarding heavily during its Pro Pipeline event.

“(They) want to run this fake shit about equality and inclusiveness,” Tudor wrote. “Don’t be a bunch of fucking phonies.”

In the case of Carlos v Logan, the story has a twist for when a second version of the bombshell comment was posted, this time with a J’Accuse…! prelude, Logan allowed it to run  unmolested.

Weary of battle?

Aware of the then still-ongoing Miko v Jones case?

A subtle mea culpa, guilty as charged and so on?

More questions etc.