“At the apex of WSL gimmicky and actually quite demeaning.”
Six months ago, the relatively unfancied Australia Callum Robson rode the first perfect wave of the season at the Portugal CT event.
In his heart-pounding report from the day our tour correspondent JP Currie wrote,
Robson, who turns twenty-three in one week, finished the event in third place and the year at twentieth overall on the tour ratings.
As reward for his perfect ride, Robson was awarded a Yeti cooler, a generous gift, although it was quickly slammed by the Grammy-nominated DJ and former pro surfer FISHER.
The thirty-six-year-old who was nominated for Best Dance Recording category at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards for the nipple-twisting hit “Losing It” hit out at the WSL for giving any surfer who scores a ten-point ride in the season a Yeti cooler or in Australian parlance, an esky.
Yeti signed a three-year deal with the WSL in January, the brand hosting “on-site activations, including Hydration Stations, Activation Coolers, and branded event bottles, at select competitions, in addition to a branded-content series exploring the iconic locations on the WSL CT and Challenger Series featuring YETI ambassadors John Florence and Stephanie Gilmore.
“A ten-point ride and you get a fucking esky! Unbelievable. Mate, what about a thousand bucks, just thousand bucks. Are you kidding? You used to get a Nixon watch worth ten-grand for a ten, now you get a fucking esky! Wow!”
As JP Currie wrote,
“It was the first ten of the year, and the best wave we would see all day by some margin. The Yeti cooler he gets as a reward won’t just be a fucker to lug back on the plane, and the apex of cheesy WSL gimmickry, but is actually quite demeaning in the context of that wave.”
At the time, I noted that if the gifted Yeti was the famous 82-gallon Tundra 350, it had a retail value of $1300.
Now, it can be revealed Robson was given the much cheaper Tundra 110 Hard Cooler, retail around half that.
We know this because surf fans can buy this significant piece of history after Robson’s girlfriend Mayha Nowlan listed the prize on Facebook Marketplace for $550. It’s been kicking around online for two weeks already so maybe you can ask Mayha or Callum to sharpen their pencils on the ticket price.
It is brand new and the vendors request cash only. Pick up in Tweed Heads, a five-minute drive from Snapper Rocks.