Violent debate rages after World Surf
League unveils extremely controversial Hurley Pro Sunset Beach
artwork!
By Chas Smith
"Woaahhh when do we know the line up for the
festival? Only djs or we also have bands?"
The Hurley Pro Sunset Beach opens its window in
exactly one day and seventeen minutes, at time of writing, and the
outlook is not out-looking great. Surfline, the World Surf League’s
official forecast partner, is predicting double overhead surf
tomorrow which fades through midweek and gets chewed up by various
winds and whatnots. Kai Lenny, as you certainly know, is one of the
wildcards and birthday boy Kelly Slater will be up against his
nemesis Miguel Pupo in heat seven.
And while the attention of surf fans should be clearly and
cleanly locked into the other heat draws, it is being spent either
defending or slandering the extremely controversial artwork rolled
out in celebration of the event.
@tom_rix declared, “I like the design. MR get a wildcard?”
@egas_eymael stated, “are we going psychedelic? ok then” adding
three discos dancers even though the design is neither psychedelic
nor disco.
@_hvoide thought, “Should have had the design show howling winds
blowing the lineup to bits.”
@odigitalsurf wondered, “Woaahhh when do we know the line up for
the festival? Only djs or we also have bands?”
But where do you stand re. it?
Loving the retro or… not?
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Church bells peal as world’s greatest
surfer Kelly Slater turns 51!
By Chas Smith
Where would we be without him?
Today, February 11, is Kelly Slater’s 51st
birthday. Last year, on his 50th, he was fresh off a Pro
Pipeline win, wearing the yellow jersey and feted by World Surf
League executives across multiple blue checked Instagram accounts.
This year, he is equal 17th heading into Sunset and there appears
to be no official love or recognition, leaving the door wide open
for this community, here, to show that we are with the Florida born
legend through thick and thin.
Do you have plans on how you will celebrate the milestone?
Gathering the family around the high definition television to
watch Kelly Slater in Kolor?
Let me make that easy for you.
However you decide to honor the day, please share in the
comments below so that we can do a better job on his 52nd.
Here’s to you, Kelly.
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Chief of Sport Jessi Miley-Dyer (rear) and Chief of
Executives Erik Logan (fore) being silly. (Bethany Hamilton
insert). Photo: What's Up Doc?
World Surf League appears to troll Bethany
Hamilton, posts official “men’s championship tour rankings” after
Pro Pipeline as 1) Carissa Moore, 2) Tyler Wright, 3) Lakey
Peterson and so on!
By Chas Smith
You can't script this!
The World Surf League is known for many things
included, but not limited to, hosting professional surfing
competitions, employing Joe Turpel, being owned by Harvey Weinstein
pal Dirk Ziff, having a “Chief of Sport” etc. Generally not
included in that list is “having a sense of humor” though it
appears one might be blossoming in the aftermath of Bethany
Hamilton-gate.
As you know, the world’s best known surfer took to Instagram,
less than a week ago, to decry a change in World Surf League policy
allowing for transgender women to compete at the very highest
level. Hamilton’s impassioned
questioning about why the move was done in secrecy, if
any of the tour’s current surfers have been consulted etc. has
since gone viral with mainstream headlines picking it up and
progressive TikTokers fighting back by
enlisting sharks as allies.
Culture World War III.
The League, though, has been deathly silent and I took that as
rabid petrification amongst proudly awake executives who didn’t
know if they should sacrifice women or other women. But could I
have been wrong?
Might Santa Monica have been stealthily crafting the most subtle
joke ever?
For hours ago, 22 at time of writing, the official WSL Twitter
account tweeted the “Men’s Championship Tour Rankings after the
#BillabongProPipeline” as 1) Carissa Moore, 2) Tyler Wright, 3)
Lakey Peterson etc. etc. etc.
Ha!
No?
David Lee Scales and I discussed the Hamilton v. WSL business,
anyhow, on our weekly chat that went on for a surprisingly long
time. I think you just might find as humorous as Jessi Miley-Dyer,
Erik Logan and gang.
I don’t know who that gang is and also take it back.
Nothing is as funny.
Listen here.
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Progressive TikTokers recruit shark as
“ally” in war against Bethany Hamilton after one-armed soul surfer
vocalizes frustration over World Surf League trans-inclusive policy
shift!
By Chas Smith
Surf and TERF.
Bethany Hamilton may well be the best known surfer in
the world. The Kauai local, who burst on the scene as a
13-year-old after a nightmare shark attack took her arm, inspired
all with her courage, tenacity, unwillingness to quit. She
re-learned how to surf at a tip-top level, wrote an inspiring book
which became an inspiring movie and is impossible for all not to
appreciate.
Or, I suppose, was impossible for all not to appreciate
for progressive TikTokers have gone to war against the icon,
recruiting the aforementioned shark as an “ally.”
Less than one week ago, you’ll recall, Hamilton took to
Instagram in order to question the quietly changed
World Surf League policy that allows for transgendered women to
surf competitively. According to BuzzFeed
News, “The WSL’s new policy requires transgender women
to maintain testosterone levels lower than 5 nanomoles per liter
for at least a year, in addition to having a “female” or “X” gender
marker on a passport or national identity card.For transgender men,
the WSL does not state any hormone threshold and only requires
athletes to have a “male” gender marker on official identification
documents.”
Citing fairness, Hamilton sided with Kelly Slater and other
notable surfers in calling for a trans division.
Back to the progressive TikTokers. They are rage-filled at the
Soul Surfer’s “TERF” or “trans-exclusive radical feminist” stance
and are lobbing many micro-videos featuring the shark saying things
like “nom nom” on the popular Chinese spying platform.
What makes matters worse, TikTok is the most popular World Surf
League application leading some to wonder if Santa Monica is
quietly behind the attacks or, at least, tacitly approving.
More as the story develops.
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Larry, middle, with Strider Wasilewski, left, and Ross
Williams. | Photo: Larry Haynes/@fluid_vision
Tributes pour in for legendary surf
cinematographer Larry Haynes, dead of a suspected post-surf heart
attack, “Larry used his athletic talent, courage and oceanic
instinct to hold firm in the pit and then dodge potential
catastrophes!”
By Derek Rielly
RIP to a titan of the surf picture game…
The beautiful Larry Haynes, Hollywood’s number one go-to when
it came to shooting anything in giant surf, has died of a
suspected heart attack while crossing the road after a surf at
Laniakea on Oahu’s North Shore.
Details are pretty brief, but Larry, a Californian transplant
who moved to the North Shore thirty years ago and who was in
his late-fifties by my estimation, was without peer,
seriously.
“Some horrible news tonight,” wrote Kelly Slater. “The man is a
staple in our lives…It’s hard to imagine a surfing world without
Larry in it always screaming us into waves and throwing good
vibes.”
Originally from Central California, Larry moved to Hawaii
decades ago and never looked back. On every major swell for over 20
years, he has been swimming with a heavy water-housed movie camera
in the heaviest conditions. And he does so with a refreshingly
positive attitude and a huge smile on his face.
Larry has every reason to be bitter and condescending, but
he’s not. He’s constantly stoked. He has been sand-bagged,
double-crossed, and taken advantage of in the business world, but
he keeps on spreading the aloha, and for that he should be highly
praised.
To me, Larry is a precious character in the surf world and a
living legend.
I have seen him shooting wide-angle in-water film at giant
closed-out Off The Wall, Backdoor, Maverick’s, Teahupoo, and
Waimea. I once was in Australia with him when he shot wide-angle
water movies at the sharky Easter Reef when the faces of sets were
25-foot. Before GoPro existed, Larry used to surf with a 10-pound
camera attached to his head—a camera that would break your neck if
the lip hit you unexpectedly.
The guy is a human bulldog.
Larry has used his athletic talent, considerable courage,
and oceanic instinct to hold firm in the pit and then dodge
potential catastrophes with the thinnest of margins for what seems
like forever.
No one is paying Larry Haynes a salary or providing him with
health insurance. He is a freelancer who shoots for the pure love
of it, and has routinely put his life at risk hundreds of
times.
Larry Haynes swims in the pit to get the ultimate shot, to
provide the viewer with an intimate view of the sport we all love
so much.
Together with an elite crew of still photographers, he
consistently puts his life on the line—not for piles of money, but
for love of his craft, and for love of the ocean.
Tributes have poured in for Larry, who caught some of the best
vision of the Backdoor Shootout and the Eddie Aikau Invitational
over the course of the past month.
“Love ya Larry,” wrote Kai Lenny. “We are sure gonna miss you
down here. God speed my friend.”
