Khai Cowley killed by a Great White shark while surfing at Ethels on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula.
Khai Cowley killed by a Great White shark while surfing at Ethels on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula.

Australia reeling after teenage surfer Khai Cowley killed in yet another Great White attack as expert warns, “It’s going to get worse”

“The show is over in South Australia. The population of sharks is growing steadily and rapidly.” 

A teenage surfer from South Australia, Khai Cowley, is dead after being attacked by a Great White shark while surfing at Ethels on the state’s Yorke Peninsula a little after one pm yesterday. 

Khai Cowley, a popular fifteen year old who had recently been awarded the “most outstanding grom performer” at his boardriders club, was killed after his leg was bitten off by the Great White. 

As is the norm these days, a hero made sure the boy wasn’t abandoned in his fight.

“The shark took his leg and so another local guy ran out, jumped on his board and paddled out to help him,” a witness told the Adelaide Advertiser. “The shark was circling them as the guy pulled the boy out of the water. There was a lot of bood. He brought him to shore but I think it was too late by then.”

His horrified dad watched from the beach as paramedics tried too save the kid.

After news of his death became known, locals drew large love heart shapes in the sand. 

“They’re (the family) very well known in the surf community, which just makes this news so much more tragic,” Port Noarlunga local Luke Winter The Advertiser. 

Two months ago, 55-year-old surfer Tod Gendle was killed and disappeared by a fifteen-foot Great White at Granites, twenty clicks out of Streaky Bay, South Australia, seven hundred clicks north-west of Adelaide. 

Earlier in the year, and just a hundred clicks south, local school teacher Simon Baccanello was killed by a Great White while surfing at Walkers Rocks in Elliston.

A brave soul, Baccanello warned others to split as the shark started swimming towards him telling terrified kids in the lineup, “Don’t worry, get yourself to shore”.

A local expert, who keeps his name outta these things ‘cause the don’t-hurt-the-sharks-yay-Palestine brigade is gonna light him up and he doesn’t need the headache, says this is only the beginning. 

He points to the end of the large mesh gill net fishery, closed for over ten years now, and the protection of the Great White as the culprits. 

“It’s going to get worse,” he says. “The show is over in  South Australia. The population of sharks is growing steadily and rapidly.” 

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California surfer (pictured) losing faulty mind.

California surfers lose faulty minds as massive swell event arrives!

Giant waves from golden tip to tail!

It’s heeeeeeeeeeeeeere. The promised “swell event” has arrived to California, the entire state from Imperial Beach all the way up to Pacific Shores and my goodness, my gracious. Big and growing. Blacks is currently 8-10 (non-Hawaiian) and the rare Surfline purple for “good.” El Porto, a few hours north, is also 8-10 (still non-Hawaiian) though somehow shockingly walled and closing out. Thoughts and prayers, in any case, to our dear departed Erik Logan (RIP).

Rincon is 8-12, Steamer Lane is 20-25, Humboldt Harbor is 30-35 (all non-Hawaiian) and has such a thing ever happened? Pounding surf from golden tip to tail?

The aforementioned Surfline is using language like “heavy” and “know your limits.”

Weather service meteorologist Nicole Sarment one-upped the subscription service by declaring, “We really want to hammer home that beaches will be very dangerous. People should really not even go.”

But California surfers are not known to listen to reason.

So… where are you going? Silver Strand? It is currently 5-7 (obviously non-Hawaiian) but watch out. The locals are still surly.

Mavericks? It’s 15-20 (Hawaiian) with Condors likely out and about.

El Porto? You already know what’s happening there what with the shocking walling and closing out.

No matter where you paddle, you really can’t go wrong (unless El Porto).

Or are you the sort of California surfer that might sit this one out?

A sudden and so unfortunate tweaked neck oh rats?

Well, weather service meteorologist Nicole Sarment approves of that lack of spine.

Know your limits.

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Lexus sponsors PIpe Pro, replacing John John Florence's Florence Marine X.
John John Florence and Kelly Slater, inset, pray, one day, they might own a Lexus, the new title sponsor of the Pipe Pro.

Lexus replaces Florence Marine X and Vissla as naming sponsor of upcoming Pipe Pro!

Inside a Lexus the driver becomes a privileged creature, protected from all evil.

When the wandering mind turns to surf cars, the Gen Xer might think of VW Kombis, the Millennial a Subaru Forester, Z’s a Sprinter.

What doesn’t come to mind is the Japanese luxury vehicle maker Lexus, maker of the most envied motor cars in the world, a byword for luxury and reliability and quality. 

Inside, the driver becomes a privileged creature, protected from all evil. So smooth the Lexus driver can shake his cocaine from a glassine bag into water in a bent spoon without spilling a drop. Filtering the liquid into a syringe through a cotton ball is equally simple. 

It’s no surprise, therefore, that your ol pal DR pilots a Lexus.

In my case, it was the Lexus of a local surgeon, pearlescent white, spare tyre never ravaged, seats as plump and unscathed as the day it landed in its crate from Japan. A mechanic sent to examine its entrails reported, breathlessly, that he’d told the owner it mustn’t under any circumstances be sold at the price for which it was offered. 

The owner then called, talked about regret, but said he could let it go if I might peel off another five hundred. Doctors, eh? 

Anyway, the Pipe Pro, which was gonna be the Florence Marine X/Vissla Pipe Pro, replacing Billabong as the marquee sponsor, has just been renamed the Lexus Pipe Pro.

Lexus Pipe Pro
Lexus Pipe Pro poster

As Chas Smith wrote when news broke of the John John/Vissla sponsorship,

Florence Marine X and Vissla are both as core as core can be. Opposite of “Authentic” which owns every other surf brand and now means “inauthentic.” The surf fan can hope they will infuse some much needed juice into the broadcast and give us a Pipe we can all be proud of.

“Pipe has been my backyard and favorite wave for as long as I have been surfing. I’ve grown up watching and dreaming of being in these contests,” Johny said at the time. “And then one day I was in them, surfing with the same surfers I looked up to as a kid. To be able to support the event now is a dream come true.”

Play a game with me?

What brought on the switcharoo?

Did John John’s masters get cold feet?

Did Lexus make the WSL an offer too good to refuse?

Was Florence Marine X/Vissla a symbolic sorta sponsor, offering cred, but no cash? A placeholder? 

The Lexus Pipe Pro brings back wonderful memories to the older surf fan who remembers when the Japanese department store Marui sponsored the event, the winner being crowned with a sorta Samurai hat with horns. 

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Logan (pictured) leading. Photo: Instagram
Logan (pictured) leading. Photo: Instagram

Surf fans abandoned as “rudderless” World Surf League heads into new year without CEO!

Surf fans, beleaguered, need a shepherd.

Oh to be a surf fan in these dark days. The 2024 World Surf League Championship Tour is but one month away from its kick-off there at the Pro Pipeline and we, each of us, should be thrilled with this imminent return. Repurposing our advent calendars to count down the days. Having trouble sleeping etc.

Except doesn’t it feel that the thrill is gone? That the World Surf League, itself, has even lost interest in being the “global home of surfing?”

To whit, I have not received any exciting updates about the upcoming season other than an extremely bland Challenger Series schedule drop. More importantly, the World Surf League, recently moved into a bleak El Segundo veterinarian office from its once proud Santa Monica home as yet to replace its ruthlessly beheaded CEO.

But who could forget Erik Logan and his run as Chief of Executives. Brought over from Oprah Winfrey to head the newly formed WSL Studios, the Oklahoman with a magical wetsuit of armor did so magnificently bad that it was shuttered before producing anything save a Billy Kemper mini documentary. Logan was quickly promoted to the top slot where he proceeded to bully beloved surfers and smarm the the selfie stick.

After a fated trip to Brazil, though, he was fired in the most terse press release ever.

Mystery still surrounding.

That was over six months ago. The World Surf League initially replaced him with Chief People and Purpose Officer and Bob Kane, its Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer. A “major cleanup on aisle five” move according to Jen See.

The two, still, holding the reins. No inspirational hirings for the head office even as the tour gets ready to kick off once again.

What do you imagine is the reason behind this holdup? Too many qualified candidates angling for the job requiring much interview and many vetting?

Professional surfing’s owner Dirk Ziff pondering a go, himself?

Other?

Surf fans, beleaguered, need a shepherd.

Help!

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Koa Rothman fourth major to be savaged by Banzai Pipeline this month

Another one bites the reef.

Anyone who has ever had the good fortune of pilgrimaging to Oahu’s North Shore in order to stand on Ehukai’s sands and gaze at the Banzai Pipeline has, certainly, been filled with a sense of awe and wonder. The most famous wave in the world lives up to its billing. All the power of the Ocean Pacific, the fury, crawling for miles in order to meet that reef, stand tall and explode, shaking the earth, sending plumes to pressurized mist into the tropical air.

Or, as poetically stated in the award-nominated Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell:

Pipeline is it. Pipeline is the only thing and it matters not which country, which state, or which island a surfer is from, he comes to Pipeline as soon as he is able. This is partly because of the way Pipeline breaks, perfectly and very close to shore making it scenically dynamic. Partly because it has claimed more lives than any other wave and has the mystique of a beautiful killer. Partly because it is the most holy admixture of science and magic. Everything surfing means is wrapped up in Pipeline.

Those brave enough to paddle into her maw might just maybe etch their names alongside Gerry Lopez, Michael Ho, Andy Irons, Jamie O’Brien and heroes who have come before. They might also catch a thorough hiding. Both, in fact, likely scenarios.

“You must pay to play,” as the adage goes, and, this December Pipeline has upped the price of admission.

Yesterday, extremely experienced local, and son of legendary strongman Eddie Rothman, posted a picture of his bloody face to Instagram after kissing the aforementioned lava rock making him the fourth major this month. You’ll recall João Chianca was dragged from the water, unconscious, around Pipe Masters time.

Tahitian charger Eimeo Czermak was injured during the event, hoping that he’ll be able to walk again.

Eli Olsen down hard too, Peruvian hotshot Joaquin Del Castillo suffering multiple hip fractures after a catastrophic wipeout latest and now Koa Rothman.

Why the spate of misfortune?

Overcrowding at the shiniest jewel of the Triple Crown?

El Niño?

Whatever the cause, I’m stunned that bodies aren’t broken out there every single day. Wishing speedy recoveries to all brought low.

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