Super yacht that ran aground on reef at “the ultimate wave, the best wave in the world” finally freed after leaking diesel into pristine waters for two weeks! “Every time Haoles are around the water they steal it, pollute it, poison it and even drown in it!”

“And they say plastic straws are killing the ocean…”

For the past two weeks, grave fears were held for one of the world’s best waves after a ninety-four-foot super yacht ran aground at Honolua Bay, the one-time site of the WSL’s women’s tour finale.

Videos on Instagram showed the four-bedroom, five-bath Nakoa high and dry on the rocks in front of where surfers paddle out to the world-famous righthand point.

Honolua’s place in surf lore runs deep with four-time world champ Mark Richards describing the joint as “the ultimate wave; the best wave in the world.”

Community feels ran hot as news spread through the island.

“Thanks elites…Your dream life fucks up our only life. Send dis guy back. With massive fines that go back to restoring land and water in Hawai’i. Too many fuck ups over here. We cannot overlook anymore. Barred. No can ever return.”

“Haoles should be banned from water,” said another local. “Every time they around it something goes wrong. They steal it, pollute it, poison it and even drown in it!”

Earlier today, and after a rigging crew spent all day Saturday preparing the Nokoa to be pulled off the reef and aided by favourable weather conditions, the stricken yacht was dragged to open waters.

The marooned Nakoa, landlocked for two weeks at Honolua Bay.
Riggers work to secure the stricken Nakoa.
Riggers work to secure the stricken Nakoa.

“I’m beyond words,” said Dan Chang, Chair of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. “We all thought today was it. It was either going to happen or not. I’m extremely pleased.”

As the Nakoa was dragged out to sea a pod of humpback whales began following the Nakoa and the two salvage boats as they headed west.

“If you’re Hawaiian you think about hō‘ailona, or sign. There was no wind until we saw the whales and it suddenly picked up. We all had chicken skin,” Chang said.

Update: Even after a salvage job reported to have cost half-a-million bucks the Nakoa now appears to be sinking just offshore.

Load Comments

"I don’t want to fail in my relaxation time – I just want to go with the flow and soak in the fun. No pressure, only carefree, uncomplicated enjoyment. I simply want to enjoy the ride.”

Vulnerable adult learner surfer preaches the joy of mediocrity in devastating essay, “I’m happy being a below-average surfer”!

Do you like sucking? Or does it break your heart and haunt you in your dreams and across every waking second of your life?

The surf world was rocked this past week when a long-time adult learner wrote convincingly of the joys of being a kook for ultra-left wing Brit newspaper The Guardian. 

The Adelaide-based writer Kerri Duncan, a “thirty-something” who has been “surfing for almost twenty years” says despite two decades in the ocean she still “frolics in the whitewater with the little tackers, whooping when I manage to stand up on a wave like a kid cycling for the first time without training wheels.” 

It’s the sort of return on investment that would have most wannabe surfers quitting the sport in disgust. 

But, not Duncan. 

“Supportive friends and well-wishers have suggested I take lessons, offered to be my mentor, or insisted I could improve if I trained harder. The implication is if I’m passionate about something, I should also be proficient. I say thanks, but I’m happy being a below-average surfer.

“While I get a sense of fulfilment from developing certain skills, I want to reserve some activities purely for imperfect pleasure. I would go so far as to say I need to reserve some activities purely for imperfect pleasure, for the sake of my mental health. 

“Psychologists have been spruiking the positive effects of hobbies on psychological wellbeing for years; we get those essential happy hormones from losing ourselves in a chosen activity, giving us a sense of meaning and purpose, while being blissfully distracted from everyday stressors.

“When I focus too much on getting better at something, it creates room for failure. I don’t want to fail in my relaxation time – I just want to go with the flow and soak in the fun. No pressure, only carefree, uncomplicated enjoyment. I simply want to enjoy the ride.”

And, in words that will be a salve to anyone who’s been plateauing at a low-to-intermediate level for years, Duncan writes, 

“I don’t need to improve at something in order to enjoy it. If I find an activity that brings me simple happiness, I can permit myself to treasure it as it is – whether I objectively suck at it or not.”

Do you like sucking? Or does it break your heart and haunt you in your dreams and across every waking second of your life, your asshole puckering at the sight of any wave over six feet?

I stand in group two.

Load Comments

Winfrey (pictured) touring Maui. Logan (insert) a li'l angel. Photo: Instagram
Winfrey (pictured) touring Maui. Logan (insert) a li'l angel. Photo: Instagram

Oprah Winfrey purchases “big chunk” of Maui for $6.6 million prompting surf enthusiasts to wonder if former acolyte Erik Logan still in media mogul’s ear!

Kelly Slater's Ulupalakua Surf Ranch on the way?

News broke overnight that Oprah Winfrey, very famous and worth some $2.7 billion, had purchased a “large chunk” of Maui for a reported $6.6 million. The plot of land, 870 acres in total near Kula, in the Valley Isle’s guts, formerly belonged to the Ulupalakua Ranch which specializes in elk hamburgers.

Wow.

As you certainly know, the media mogul owns property in Montecito, Chicago and Colorado, three places that don’t feature surf nor Albee Layer and her sudden interest in the birthplace of the Sport of Queens has surf enthusiasts wondering if her former acolyte, one Erik Logan, is in her ear.

Logan, the World Surf League’s current Chief of Executives, previously served as the Oprah Winfrey Network president and kicked the then-struggling television operation to great success. Coming over to the WSL, the Oklahoman was named head of studios, which promptly shuttered, and failed upstairs to the number one slot.

Winfrey’s new holding is exactly 12 miles from Jaws and 40-ish from Honolua Bay making it the perfect spot for an artificial wave facility.

Kelly Slater’s Ulupalakua Surf Ranch.

Rings, no?

Load Comments

Dez Becks, Shaq and iconic Billabong, top, and Quiksilver ads from the halcyon eighties.

David Beckham and Shaquille O’Neal owner “days away” from inking deal to buy Quiksilver and Billabong for $US1.3 billion!

Hot new daddies for surf industry icons!

The sale of surfing’s two most iconic brands, Quiksilver and Billabong, has been swinging back and forth for a year or so now, with BeachGrit dutifully following each moment of the pendulum.

First, it was Vans circling the beleaguered Boardriders Inc, owner of Billabong, Quiksilver and RVCA, then Authentic, “a robust house that includes the licensing rights to Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Muhammad Ali” followed by Hurley owner, Bluester Alliance, all picking over those bleached surf industry bones, brands once so mighty the entire sport squatted on their shoulders. 

The original deal with Authentic shot itself, we were told, ‘cause the current owner of Boardriders Inc, Oaketree, wouldn’t let go of the retail outlets, ironic considering all that dang bricks and mortar was a millstone around Billabong’s neck as sales shifted online.

Now, Bloomberg is reporting that  Authentic, which also owns the David Beckham and Shaquille O’Neal labels, and another once-great surf label Volcom, will be taking the keys to Quik and Billabong as soon as this week in a deal worth $US1.3 billion. 

As Boardriders was shopping around the biz last year piss poor cash flow and maturing loans forced it to cut costs, sacking twenty percent of its Australian staff or almost two hundred jobs. 

At its peak, Billabong was valued at five billion Australian dollars but eventually sold for $390 mill or one dollar a share. 

Quiksilver, meanwhile, did its shirt after trying to take over the entire surf-ski market with its spectacularly disastrous buy of ski brand Rossignol for seven hundred mill only to sell it a few years later at a stunning seventy-five percent loss. 

Load Comments

Kai Lenny (right) squinting. Woody Allen (left) gently encouraging a solution. Photo: Someone in Walmart.
Kai Lenny (right) squinting. Woody Allen (left) gently encouraging a solution. Photo: Someone in Walmart.

Mega surf brand Hurley continues exciting pivot toward elder care, releases line of handsome readers at Walmart!

The future is so dim I need specs!

The rise of Hurley from highly-regarded surf brand to must-have everything everywhere all at once is one of the more exciting bits of our new surf epoch. Those who dabble in history will certainly know the Hurley name. Bob, its onetime owner, made it very famous through his surfing then shaping expertise and also financial wizardry. Not yet thirty, the handsome man scooped the U.S. Billabong license for $40,000 and turned it into a $100 m business. After that he went out on his own with Hurley, which sold to Nike for hundreds of millions more, and then, four years ago, sold to Bluestar Alliance.

Derek Rielly wrote at the time, “The way Bluestar works is it identifies brands it wants to buy and once they get the keys, “our team of experts embark on a complete and thorough understanding of the brand’s potential channels of distribution and price point strategies. We create tools such as brand development profiles, trend guides, style guides and marketing strategies. These marketing materials portray graphic illustrations and a strategic marketing road map to enhance consumer brand recognition.”

Surf fans thrilled when fingernail clippers, pool toys, beard oil and Kai Lenny soon appeared on the market.

All absolutely perfect for an aging demographic but new-and-improved Hurley is not finished. After sponsoring the 47+ set’s favorite wave, Sunset Beach, the house has just released a line of very stylish readers at Walmart for the almost too good to be true starting price of $138.

Phenomenal.

But what is your position vis a vis readers? Do you rage, rage against the dying light and sit in your bed squinting hard at BeachGrit‘s famously cantankerous comment thread or have you given in to the joy of spectacles?

Will you swap them out for a pair of Hurleys?

More as the story develops.

Load Comments