“According to Boycott Rip Curl this man is a
‘waterwoman’…reality is he’s just a mentally ill man making a
complete mockery of actual women and “The “community” is so
supportive that Rip Curl had to disable the comments!”
For context, Sasha Jane Lowerson is a talented strawberry blonde
goofyfooter of middle age who created history last year when she
added the Western Australian women’s longboard trophy to her
mantlepiece where it sits alongside the trophy she won when she was
still Ryan Egan.
Rip Curl had joined two other Australian swimsuit brands in a
pivot to the queer market describing their trans ambassador as,
“West Australian waterwoman who loves the freedom found in surfing,
disconnecting from the mainstream, and the feeling of dancing on
constantly changing waves… It’s a state of mind, always being ready
to try something new, curious to seek out knowledge and learn the
rules – and break them.”
Here, Chas Smith, who hates surfing, asks surfers to put aside
the trans debate and Boycott Rip Curl hashtag for a moment and
remember the truly oppressed, and sadly forgotten, victims of the
once great wetsuit company.
Boycott Rip Curl etc.
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Rumor: Celebrated surf show “Make or Break”
back for third season!
By Chas Smith
Big if true.
The wildest, and most unexpected, of rumors
floated across my astral plane today. So, there I was, early-ish
morning, knowing that the World Surf League season kick-off, the
Lexus Pipe Pro, was going to be called off because Kelly Slater
told me it would but addiction gonna addict so there I was.
Watching Yeti commercials.
And that’s when it happened. My phone sparked to life with a
message from an almost wholly reliable source declaring, “Heard
some hints that Box to Box is back filming Make or Break but not
for Apple TV.”
Wow and whoa.
But you certainly recall the behind-the-scenes streaming
program, from the geniuses behind Drive to Survive, that showcased
what happened when professional surfers stopped being polite and
started being real. Surfing’s best, and only, historian Matt
Warshaw declared it a “near-absolute triumph,” writing:
Zero chance the show will match Drive to Survive for viewer
share. But with Make or Break we nonetheless have something that
feels true to the sport (the tiny sliver of the sport that is
competitive surfing, anyway), while also having the potential to be
a modest hit in the general marketplace.
We have Tyler Wright and Gabe Medina, both of whom, to my
admittedly biased eye, are more compelling personalities than any
of the Drive to Survive gasoline alley hotshots.
We have women in general. Survive is a high-bred sausage
party.
We have sharks, and while I appreciate the drama an apex
predator brings to the table, I was both grateful and impressed
that the producers chose not to overplay the shark fatality just
prior to finals day at the 2020 Honolua Bay Maui Pro. The death was
instead presented, correctly, as a trigger for the WSL’s quick and
bold decision to move the event to Pipeline, where the women
competed for the first time.
The show went dark before
the Kelly Slater culling at Margaret River, but and
again, rumors suggest it is back. The question is where? The World
Surf League certainly has neither the money nor sense to air…
…oh, wait.
Days ago we learned that
ESPN+, lovingly called “The Ocho,” was set to air a
behind-the-scenes offering and might this be it?
If yes, a real fall from grace for Box to Box, which could not
lose just a few short years ago, now doing something that ocho and
a half people will see.
Erik Logan’s ghost reaching from beyond the grave and cursing
with hepatitis fingers.
More as the story develops.
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Meow!
Surfline cattily swats down Kelly Slater
forecast for Lexus Pipe Pro!
By Chas Smith
"Much better conditions compared to previous days,
but still not ideal."
Yesterday, the door officially opened on the
World Surf League’s 2024 Championship Tour. The Lexus Pipe Pro,
which kicks the season off, was not run, due poor conditions, but
surf fans were thrilled by the appearance of surf great Kelly Slater looking at the
models and declaring Wednesday would be an ideal day
featuring triple-overhead bombs and ideal winds.
While the 11x champion knows much about much, including
horticulture, cartography and Ayurvedic medicine, he likely knows
most about waves. His forecast included tidbits about swell
interval and what it meant plus why.
A glorious epistemology.
And yet not all parties were thrilled. Surfline is, you know,
the World Surf League’s official forecasting partner and the
Huntington Beach-based team was clearly peeved by having Slater do
its job. Today, in an act of cattiness not seen since Vanderpump
Rules, Surfline’s Jonathan Warren
declared:
SWELL/SURF: Fading shorter/mid-period WNW swell. Biggest
early, with double overhead+ sets still rolling in with fair+
consistency, occasionally bigger. Decreasing a notch or two into
the afternoon. This swell will remain broken up with shifty peaks,
especially as a new/secondary N-NNE swell builds in. Should see
opportunity at both Pipe and Backdoor throughout the day. Much
better conditions compared to previous days, but still not
ideal.
WIND: Light+ offshore easterly wind early to mid-morning,
becoming moderate from the ENE late morning into the
afternoon.
Decent conditions? Not ideal?
Meow!
Warren went on to share a fairly bleak outlook with “low
quality” surf malingering through the entire waiting period. Will
last year’s wave curse plague the World Surf League once again?
Or will Kelly magic reign?
Thoughts?
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Obsidian tsunamis exploding up and over
deathly shallow reef. No entry point. No exit, either. But there
are insane, mind-bending barrels to be had, somewhere in the
middle. And if there was anybody who could get into them, it would
be the brothers Florence.
New John John and Nathan Florence edit a
“Machiavellian play” on day one of Lexus Pipe Pro
By surf ads
The question John John asks us all: why shouldn’t
this be the life he leads? Hasn’t he done enough already?
I was cruising youtube early this morning to see if Pipe
had kicked off, when a new Nathan Florence video popped up
in my feed.
Only 24 minutes old. Less than 2000 views. For one of the
world’s most popular surf youtubers, this was primo content. As
fresh and immediate as if you were sitting next to Nathan Florence
himself while he uploaded it.
You gotta love it.
Remember when you’d wait months, even years to see
footage of your favourite surfers? Now it’s delivered fresh into
your tv or smartphone. For free. The day it happens. There’s no
finer endorsement of the connection and intimacy allowed by the
technological advantages of this internet age.
We should still burn it all down, of course.
It’s the classic double-edged sword. The Faustian pact we’ve
signed, sacrificing community and culture and art, in exchange for
access and sheer volume of content…
But that’s not the point I’m trying to make. I want to
talk about the Florences.
In that piece I wondered how he might raise the bar
again. Well here he is, with brother John John in tow, chasing down
a mutated, backless right reef slab somewhere in the Solomon
Islands.
Obsidian tsunamis exploding up and over deathly
shallow reef. No entry point. No exit, either. But there are
insane, mind-bending barrels to be had, somewhere in the
middle. And if there was anybody who could get into them, it would
be the brothers John John and Nathan Florence.
Essential, as my tabloid-courting mentor would
say.
But the story doesn’t end there. Could the timing of
this release be a Machiavellian play by the wildly talented duo? A
thinly veiled show of hand to the WSL – and the world – of
John John’s true intentions for his career?
Many have speculated on his increasingly tenuous link
to professional competitive surfing.The invite from brother Nate to
join him on the world slab tour.
Now we have the two of them dropping the most ultimate
of slab clips on day one of the pipe waiting period.
Ouch!
I won’t claim credit for the connection. It was
pointed out first by Aint That Swell.
It was a masterclass in the art of political
maneuvering, all in their own words. There were lies. Deception.
Backstabbing. Political plotting that would make Frank Underwood
look like an amateur.
Seemingly innocuous events being meticulously planned
and strategically executed to reveal the player’s true position,
only with the benefit of hindsight.
You’d be mad to think if there wasn’t some of that at
play here.
It would be classic JJF. Classy, dignified. He can
knowingly wash his hands of any direct claims of criticism towards
the current tour. But it’s just as powerful in what it’s not saying
as what it is.
The question he asks us all, without having to say a
word: why shouldn’t this be the life he leads? Hasn’t he done
enough already?
With Carissa and Steph already pulling their
respective pins, surely Jon Jon is laying the groundwork for his
own retirement call.
How long do you reckon he’s got left?
I’m calling retirement after winning Gold at the
Olympics, so make sure you use him in your Surfvival team early. At
least I think that’s how it works.
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Bethany Hamilton, former marquee surfer for Rip Curl,
reiterates her position on trans-gals in women's
sports.
Bethany Hamilton breaks silence on
transgender furore engulfing discount wetsuit brand Rip Curl
By Derek Rielly
“Male-bodied athletes should not be competing in
female sports. Period.”
(The story of how Mulvaney broke Budweiser, the beer of choice
for those who can’t decide between water and alcohol, is legend.
Bud sent Mulvaney a custom can with her face on it. This was part
of a campaign to celebrate her “365 days of womanhood.”Conservatives took to social
media to express their outrage. They were joined by a chorus of
voices who felt that Bud Light had betrayed their duty to be as
bland and inoffensive as possible.)
“Yes, #BoycottRipCurl has leaped past the numerical mark of
roughly 7000 tweets required for ‘trending’ with over 18,000, and
counting, the wetsuit and soft good manufacturer’s name in
lights.”
It had started to back off a little, as things do in this
fast-paced world, until Bethany Hamilton, the disabled girl dumped
by Rip Curl for the T-shredder Sasha Jane Lowerson, made a short
post on X rekindling the outrage.
“Male-bodied athletes should not be competing in female sports.
Period,” wrote Bethany.
The tweet was viewed boy 400k users, liked 13k times, reposted
1.6k times and hit an astonishing 532, and growing, comments.
Male-bodied athletes should not be competing
in female sports. Period.
“Your voice is important in surfing. Thank you from me,” wrote
the world champion surfer Ian Cairns, whose own fountain of
testosterone shows no sign of abating even in his seventh decade.
“But more importantly thank you from every little girl catching her
first wave. Pressure needs to land on @ISAsurfing and @wsl to
change their position on this issue. International Athletics is in
the Olympics but has a biological woman policy only.”
From others:
When men & boys are allowed to compete against women &
girls, it completely defeats the purpose of having female
categories. It’s cheating
What Rip Curl did to you, and who they replaced you with, is
despicable.
When a category was opened for people who identify as trans
to swim in, no one registered. It is about validation for these
men, it is about taking what is women’s. Human beings cannot change
sex, so everyone can follow the same rules and compete against
their sex. Men’s categories are usually open to all anyway, it is
just that due to the male advantage women are not a threat to them
in sports.
Interestingly, Bethany took a little heat herself for using the
words “Male-bodied” to describe men.
Why are you participating in the doublespeak language
takeover? Men should not be in womens sports. Women cannot become
men no matter what surgery or medications they take.
What is “male-bodied athletes”?
“Male” is fine.
I appreciate you using your large presence to speak out. But
What the hell is a “male-bodied” athlete? Don’t stutter. Just say
it.
Anti-trans gals in sports meme posted in light of
Rip Curl furore.
TBH, the whole invasion into women sports does not make
sense.
We, transwomen, spend a huge amount of efforts to become as
close to biological women as we can. It is a very difficult path
full of suffering. And then some of us attempt to grab a low
hanging fruit of winning against women in sports using our
advantage. a) It is a part of our male body past. We were trying to get
rid of it and now use it for benefits? b) We have chosen extremely difficult path and suddenly chose
to go an easy cheating way to victory?
Trans people should participate in either social sport
events, open category or our own categories. Invading female
category is the same as participating in a wrong weight category
for an advantage.
Very interesting, yes?
More importantly, anyone else get ’emselves a new Flash Bomb at
these wild new prices?
