He fell in love with this Sport of Kings when his wife gave him a wetsuit that acted like a suit of armour protecting him from his fear of water.

The sun dimmed, lightly, this afternoon, the summer air chilled just a touch, as news dropped that the World Surf League announced that Chief Executive Officer Erik Logan had “departed” the company “effective immediately.”

ELo, as he was affectionately called by young and old, came to surfing via Oprah Winfrey to head the newly formed WSL Studios. He was a bubbly Oklahoman, filled with stoke and positivity. He had learned to surf as a vulnerable adult. Fallen in love with this Sport of Kings when his then-wife had given him a wetsuit that acted like a suit of armour, protecting him from his fear of water.

It did not protect him from the quick shuttering of the studios but rising tides float all Sooner Boomers and Logan was immediately given the big boss’s chair.

CEO.

There were steps and missteps… and missteps. Ultimate Surfers and Bailey Ladders. Logan kept a glowing face on it all. Every abject failure a vector of synergies.

A spoonful of sugar.

He increasing turned to social media, taking surf fans “behind the scenes,” inviting popular young surfers to “take your shirt off.”

At the end, was it this all too public positioning that brought him so harshly low? While he was in Brazil for the Vivo Rio Pro?

His dismissal was brutal. No “parted ways.” No “thanks for service.”

Just done and I, for one, am sad.

For Erik Logan was a jester like none before him. He began his career, you may know, as a furry mascot for a local radio station. An entertainer underneath it all and he entertained me all day every day.

Pricelessly hilarious.

I know nothing of this new CEO Emily Hofer though assure you, faithful friend, that I will pursue my rigorous brand of surf journalism in pursuit of her story.

But I will do it without joy, for mighty Erik Logan has struck out.

More as the story develops!

Goodbye Elo and thanks for the laughs.

The rumours of WSL CEO Erik Logan’s tenure coming to an end had been circulating for months. The despair in meetings, the tears, a replacement being openly discussed. 

“Santa Monica is a troubled realm,” said our source. 

The straw that broke the ol camel’s back, likely, the mutiny of the sport’s three Brazilian world champs over judging criteria at the Surf Ranch Pro and Logan’s response.

As JP Currie wrote in an open letter to Logan,

I wish to address your recent letter, written in response to the judging criticisms from Surf Ranch. 

Once again, you respond to criticism of the WSL (from your athletes, no less, your most valuable commodity) with a tone that lies somewhere between a dictator and a domestic abuser.

“It is an important reminder to us all that words have consequence,” you write.

Let’s ignore the poor sentence construction for the moment and focus on the sentiment. Words do have consequences, Mr Logan, they absolutely do. And of course you well know this, because when you’re not wielding corporate psychobabble like a weapon, you’re spinning language into something so inconsequential it might as well be gossamer on a breeze.

I would suggest the words of your athletes are not just words in the way you understand them. Rather, it’s their voices, and you might do well to listen to them.

(Read in full here.)

Now, in a brusque sorta press release from the WSL and just loosed to the press and WSL athletes, it writes:

“Today, the World Surf League (WSL) announced that CEO Erik Logan has departed the company, effective immediately. As the WSL begins the process of identifying a new CEO, Emily Hofer, WSL’s Chief People and Purpose Officer, and Bob Kane, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer, will jointly lead the company and continue to drive the WSL’s mission to showcase the world’s best surfers on the world’s best waves as the global home of competitive surfing.”

More soon,.