"He put his life on the line promoting the brand”
The British big-wave surfer Tom Lowe remains in a Papeete hospital following a catastrophic wipeout at Teahupoo, that dirty big hole at the literal end of the road on the island of Tahiti.
Lowe, who is twenty-nine, was pitched on the takeoff, busting six ribs and puncturing a lung in the subsequent collision with the famous reef.
The wildly talented Lowe, from the Cornish beachside hamlet of St Ives, has long been a stand-out at Irish big waves Aileens and Mullaghmore, as well as at Jaws on Maui, Mavs in California and at Mexico’s Puerto Escondido.
Our source tells us Tahitian authorities won’t let him leave French Polynesia until all his bills, totalling thirty gees, are paid. Now Lowe, who is on a retainer of a rumoured one thousand dollars a month at Vans and hence broke as hell after slinging ten gees at chasing this swell, is a little stuck after his medical insurance said they won’t pay up.
And, so, fellow big-wave legend Greg Long has put out a call for cash to get his pal fixed up and off the island.
During the recent monumental swell at Teahupoo, Tahiti, Tom endured a bad wipeout. His resulting injuries from hitting the reef required he be airlifted to the hospital where he underwent multiple emergency surgeries. He is currently in stable condition but will need to remain under close watch in the hospital for the coming days.
Unfortunately, Tom’s travel insurance will not cover his medical treatment, so we are seeking the kindness and generosity of Tom’s global surf family, friends and compassion of the community, to help assist with his ongoing medical expenses.
Anyone who has ever met Tom knows him as a humble, kind and talented surfer who is a dedicated family man to his wife Tess, daughter Tigerlilly and soon-to-be baby-on-the-way.
Tom has a long road ahead, but true to his nature, he is positive, in a fighting spirit.
Tom and his family extend their heartfelt gratitude for all the love and support during their time of need.
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Fans were quick to light up on Vans, the multi-billion dollar shoe empire owned by VF Corp, a behemoth in rude fiscal health that owns fifty percent of the US backpack market via its brands North Face, Timberland, Eastpak and JanSport.
How are the brand sponsors of the biggest names in big wave surfing not providing comprehensive medical insurance for this incredibly dangerous game they’re playing? Serious question.
The UFC provides health insurance that is better than all of the major four pro sports, which also does. I’m pretty sure Vans can afford a hospital stay.
reflects pretty poorly on endemic brands that they won’t cover medical expenses for chargers who are responsible for brand identity and ultimately dollars…
@vans @vanssurf should pay the bill.
Why does @vans not give this man proper health insurance or foot the bill? He put his life on the line and does a damn good job of promoting the brand.
And, pointedly,
So Corporate puppets who only care about revenue, profit, and increasing the stock price, encourage their contract surfers to engage in extremely life risking activities in order to acquire attention to sell product, yet when that surfer gets extremely hurt from doing those life risking activities, from their seat on their private plane, “Fuck you! You’re on your own.” is their response. Got it.
So far eight-and-a-half gees from the thirty needed has been raised.
Fuck insurance companies right in their greedy assholes
Fuck me! Being sponsored or a brand ambassador is not usually an employment contract. People need to be responsible for themselves. If you get free products and a bit of cash for doing something you enjoy it doesn’t mean the giver of the free product and cash is obligated to cover your medical. Tom knew or should have known the terms of the deal.
Next you will expect some poor shaper to pay every time a team rider hurts themself on a free board.
I like free products, free boards and cash. I don’t expect they come with free medical too.
the average surfer has no clue who this guy is…and hes a cocky cunt tbh
He knew the risks.
Hi global surf family , im so core i actually surf without any form of sponsorship , yesterday after a day frothing on 3 ft walls i sank a few coldies and drove my combie into a wombat , like totally fucked the front end , now im car less i really need help to fix up my ride and am reaching out to my global surf family to please dig deep and send me some cash , im hoping to raise 150 grand to not only fix up me car but also allow me to continue as a true core surfer , peace out shred lords.
There’s insurance and there’s insurance.
Example 1. There’s home insurance and then there’s home insurance when you are renting your house on air bnb, you pay more for a higher risk activity.
Example 2. I had to get life insurance when I took out a home loan years ago. The insurance broker was very thorough and one issue that came up was the fact that I am a regular spearfisher. The insurance covered me for “snorkeling” but it was made clear that the activity I am involved with (dive every week, frequently to 20 meters) was outside the scope of the policy.
The situation Tom is in sucks but either he hasn’t asked or been asked the right questions or his insurance company are breaching contract.
$1000 a month to call yourself a pro, have a few stickers on your board and justify thinking you can snake a pack of frothers for the best waves of a set… I’d pay vans $1000 a month to have that entitlement.
Chai-Heat-E_A_Ha-E
Tom who?
I do.
Skateboard accident in the late 70’s, chipped two teeth, root canals to fix something.
Neck injury and they xray my head and find that bone mass above the once broken teeth is receding, not enough to host implants. Surgery after surgery, I had teeth 18 months later at a cost of 24K out of pocket.
The dental “insurance” I had paid for 30 some years denied the procedures due to pre existing condition. Was then told to sue the dentist that did the original root canals (theory is he left air holes that grew over decades). Dentist is now dead, I had to pay full price.
Surfing for 3 hours last May and hiked back to my car, didn’t feel right and I drove home. Mrs checked my blood pressure, way too high, off to the ER. Regular tests, blood pressure meds, lecture, go home.
I have “platinum” insurance that costs me 940. a month. Good thing that.
Month later, the bills begin to arrive and that ER visit cost me 4400. out of pocket. ?!!!
I’m now on Affordable Care with no deductible. Thank you President Obama.
Pre existing conditions. Three words that altered the chances of millions getting their just recompense.
Jesus Christ. Yesterday was my last day of riding of the season. Day 100. I rode 100 days this season. Id be fucking embarrassed to beg for help from randoms on the internet if I got hurt. Seriously. This guy made a choice to go have fun, shit goes wrong and now he’s begging for help from randoms?
Fuck off
100 is a pretty solid number
Bit of an assumpion you’re making there.
Maybe this poor guy was stooged like you’re alluding to but maybe he just didn’t get the right cover.
Im not being an apologist when I say you can get cover for high risk professions or high risk activities. Ive got my own through ISOS, which covers international medivac. Its not cheap but if I get injured offshore theres a chopper coming for me and if necessary theres a jet chartered to fly me to singapore or wherever the best care happens to be.
Yeah its not cheap but thats not to say dangerous activities aren’t covered.
Agree with you …
Glad to see im not the only one taking issue with these post incident crowdfundings. Get bitten by a seal, house burns down, gets massive beatdown while surfing etc.
Though i have donated before in similar pledges closer to me, as i can do whatever the fuck i want with my money.
So whoever is close to him, namely his fucking sponsors, should step up and foot the bill.
And some surf journalist should expose the fact these guys are doing all this click-baiting content-generating death-defying stuff without proper insurance, probably because they can’t afford it , or maybe even because they can’t navigate an insurance policy, which is fucked up reading material for anyone really.
I have a hard time with stuff like this. Tom Lowe seems like a good guy, and I feel for him like I’d feel for anyone injured. But asking normal folks for money to foot his bills is way off.
He travels around the world to surf, something most of us would kill to do full time. If he gets paid a pittance from sponsors then that’s on him (and them). If he doesn’t have the right insurance then that’s definitely on him.
If I choose to go to Vegas, leaving my young family at home while I get fucked up for a few weeks, can I crowdfund when it all goes wrong?
You can try. Let us know how it goes 😂🤙
Couldn’t agree more. He’s choosing to do this. None of us are asking him to do so. But we’re being asked to contribute. If I got value from his putting his life on the line, I would contribute but I don’t get any value from it.
In fact, I’d prefer that most of the “professional” surfers stayed home. Would be more waves for others.
Seems like a nice guy though. Best of luck, sir.
Hell, we had to crowd fund Ronaldo Christieano, or whatever his name is / was, to do the Tour.
It’s a No Fear and Lowe thing.
Leaving the wife and kids for surfing on a saturday at a spot an hour away is a big enough ask… cant imagine what it takes to sell a Saturday surf in Tahit
yep. he got tattoed.
https://stabmag.com/wp-cont…
Surely a bit remiss of Tom not to have adequate cover given what he does as a profession. If Tom is not employed & sponsored by Vans it shouldn’t be their sponsibility to cover him as I guess Tom receives sponsorship & is not a Vans employee, this gives him the freedom to have additional sponsors. I wish Tom all the best & a speedy recovery
I reckon he probably spent 30K on tats, judging by what we can see of his paws.
I bet he loves unseasonal smashed avo too
get your shit together…
https://upload.wikimedia.or…
Dat Roger! You would of lost all your shit coin if you included me in the bunch. Last two pair of shoes purchased were New Balance.haven’t had a pair of vans on my feet since mentioned members only jackets were sold in the mall.
Oi Dezza
Stop saying he’s 29.
He’s actually 39, definitely getting on a bit to be taking such huge risks for zero monetary gain without permanent insurance (not just for travel) to cover all the worst possibilities, especially with a family.
Is it for fun ? Or the hero shot ?
And as far as calling ya kid Tigerlily, the only other bloke I’m aware of who had a daughter by that name came a cropper wanking himself to death hanging on the back of a Sydney hotel room door at a similar age.
Possibly bad luck associated with it, so you’d hope his wife isn’t as stupid as Hutchence’s was, or is she encouraging him to take stupid risks without backup bucks or insurance ?
Poor bugger, but criiiiiiikey mate, it just seems stupid…
need the hillbilly fuel…
https://www.worldsurfleague…
Indeed. 39.
I don’t trust anyone with enough time to actually go surfing at the age of 39.
Arsehole.
I reckon I should jump into a time machine and go back to when I was 27 and punch myself in the fuckin’ kisser for wasting my fuckin time surfing. Stupid cunt.
His fiance is a Kiwi, funnily enough.