A boy from New Jersey and his dream.

Movie star handsome Ben Gravy is nothing if not historic. The 35-year-old, whose real surname is Graeff, cleaned himself up after a bout with addiction and became an VAL icon. His open demeanor, rugged smile and “you-can-do-it-too” approach to life inspires almost excessively. Gravy, who often makes his art upon a soft-topped board, has done basically everything. Surfed all fifty of the United States, palled around with Jamie O’Brien and became married on the beach.

Ben Gravy

Though it seems as if he has climbed all of surfing’s mountain, save Jaws, Maverick’s, Nazaré etc., there is a “major surfing milestone” yet unticked.

7 seas in 7 days

You read that correctly. Gravy is in the middle of a historic attempt of surfing all seven of the seas in the span of seven days. But, without looking, can you name them all?

Well done.

The New Jersey native started in Japan, where he surfed a pool then, according to breathless reporting:

He then will surf the Indian Ocean in Bali and Indonesia; the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean) in Melbourne, Australia; the South Pacific in Sydney, Australia; the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston, Texas; the Atlantic Ocean in Atlantic City on November 4; and, finally, the Arctic Ocean in Norway on November 6.

“On October 31, we are gonna be setting out on the one of the biggest missions, journeys, projects, I’ve ever done: 7 Seas in 7 Days, where we’re gonna be surfing seven different oceans around the world in seven days,” Ben Gravy tautologically declared.

But if Jules Verne was still walking amongst us, do you think he would be following along? Penning a masterpiece on the adventure?

For the dream.

It must be assumed that the Sami up there in Norway are preparing a ticker tape parade for Nov. 6th.

Ollu lihkku! Don vuitet!

The mystery brunette sharing Matthew Perry's last public lunch at Hotel Bel-Air represents The Claw.

The new of Matthew Perry’s shock death is still reverberating through the surf community. The 54-year-old actor was found “unconscious in a stand-alone jacuzzi” on October 28th after he had played a pickleball game. His assistant, out running errands at the time, returned to the nightmare and immediately contacted the authorities. It was, unfortunately, too late.

The aforementioned surf community had been, weeks prior, rage filled at Perry after he had denigrated Keanu Reeves, long considered the greatest surf actor of all time thanks to turns as Ted Logan and Johnny Utah. “Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?” he wrote in his best-selling memoir.

Thankfully, the Friends’ star quickly apologized, declaring, “It was a mean thing to do. I pulled his name because I live on the same street. I’ve apologized publicly to him. Any future versions of the book will not have his name in it.”

Surf fans, forced to live in a World Surf League, are unaccustomed to anyone taking accountability. We all, immediately, re-fell in love with the man who brought us Chandler Bing.

Matthew Perry Surf Forever

Interest in Perry’s last moments, anyhow, has reached fever pitch. He was out to lunch at the picturesque Hotel Bel-Air with a mystery brunette hours before his passing. The last public photographs of him, in fact.

Her identity shrouded in secrecy until, hours ago, revealed.

Athenna Crosby, a 25-year-old model and entertainment reporter according to the New York Post, took to Instagram to declare:

I am so devastated from his death but felt it was in poor taste to talk about it publicly as the attention should not be on me but rather on him and his legacy and he was an extremely private person and I always respected that in our friendship. But indeed, we were friends and I was one of the last people to speak to him and see him before he passed.

Beautiful words but also, as is most elements in this tragic story, surf adjacent.

Alongside being a model and entertainment reporter, Crosby is a “Monster Girl.” But you have certainly been to an extreme sport event in the last year or such. The energy drink made famous by Bobby Martinez and Dane Reynolds is still very much in the action game. The “claw” mostly sponsors our BMX bicycle rider and motocross brothers but also, I think, the current surf world champion Filipe Toledo.

Scantily clad “Monster Girls” are a mainstay at events that actually draw a crowd and I, once, had the pleasure of meeting their madam.

All to say, if you have an extra large can of hype in your fridge, please retrieve it and poor some out now.

If not, hit your nearest gas station.

It’s the right thing to do.

The 34-year-old was in the Central American nation for a surf contest as he attempted to punch his ticket to Tahiti for the 2024 Games.

Tragic word has trickled out of El Salvador that the Ecuadorian Olympic surf hopeful Israel Barona Matute has suddenly died. The 34-year-old was in the Central American nation for a surf contest as he attempted to punch his ticket to Tahiti for the 2024 Games. Barona, a lantern-jawed regular foot, was a mainstay of the Ecuadorian team. He had won many national competitions, represented Ecuador at the World Surfing Games and also regularly competed on the World Surf League’s Qualifying Series.

Barona’s sister, Dominic, represented Ecuador at the Tokyo 2020 Games and also at the recently-wrapped 2023 Pan American Games.

The Ecuadorian Olympic Committee released a statement reading, “The Olympic Movement extends its heartfelt condolences to the Barona Matute family, following the death of the great athlete of Team Ecuador Surf, Israel Barona Matute. Rest in peace, champion…”

No cause of death given.