Media watchers astounded, opinion split as surf journalist promoted to “Khan of All Written Word!”

A major step up.

Ripples are spreading through the media world, this morning, after it was revealed that Chas Smith, BeachGrit surf journalist and author of four books, one award nominated, had been promoted from his current position to “Khan of All Written Word.”

Smith, who got his start as a contributing writer to Vice, transitioning laterally to Stab then climbing to editor-at-living-large at Surfing before ending up as a surf journalist, and co-founder, of BeachGrit has split opinion in his new role.

While some were quick to praise, adding both fire emojis and heart eye emojis into the social media press release, others consider the controversial figure ill-suited to carry the weight of his title.

“Khan of All Written Word” is a very important job,” one correspondent stated, anonymously so as not to cause an embarrassing row. And while Chas Smith does have an indefatigable, often infuriating, thirst for pumping out many, many jots and tittles each day, the quality of them has been rigorously debated. I belong to the camp that his grammar, alone, should disqualify him from such an august post.”

In any case, Smith will be expected to work closely with the World Surf League’s new Chief of Sport Jessie Miley-Dyer who, herself, was recently promoted to that position from Senior Vice President of Tours and Head of Competition.

“The announcement comes,” according to that press release, “in conjunction with the start of the 2023 WSL Championship Tour (CT) season with the Billabong Pro Pipeline on the famed North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. In this role, Miley-Dyer oversees the entire competitive landscape for the WSL’s Tours and competitions, including the World Championship Tour, Challenger Series, Qualifying Series, Pro Junior Series, Big Wave, and World Longboard Tour, and specialty events/series. In addition, Miley-Dyer oversees the athlete development pathway as well as the integrity of the sport through judging, scoring operations, and sportsmanship.”

Exciting times.