"It seems the WSL has its own little club of bullshit as usual. They hated him winning that thing guaranteed."
One of my kids asked a real good question the other day while daddy sank into his new Ligne Roset Togo corner piece, the fabric is that classic sandy coloured uede, a spur of the moment throw-a-lowball-offer-at-a-seller followed by panic when daddy gotta front up three gees.
“What’s worth more,” said kid, “a world surfing title or an Olympic gold medal?”
Brothers, I didn’t need to think. At least, not when the ghosts of Filipe Toledo’s two world title, scooped out of the mud of two-foot Trestles, are fresh in our heads. Johnny’s three titles are legit as hell, but nothing cuts through like Olympic Gold.
So when Liam McNamara, famous for his “deep and fearless, if ungainly, attack at Pipeline” and for getting belted on the beach by softly spoken Californian Jeff Booth at the 1992 Pipe Masters, suggested it made a helluva lot of sense for Kauli Vaast to be gifted a wildcard onto the 2025 tour, well, he got plenty of agreement from some of the sport’s heavy shooters.
All right, so as I sit here today, I was thinking about Kauli Vaast winning the gold medal,” says McNamara. “Okay, so in order to qualify for the Olympics, you have to be one of the top surfers on the WCT or top surfers on the ISA. What about when you win the gold medal? Don’t you think it would be right for the WSL to allocate a wild card to the male and female champion if they weren’t already on tour? WCT Tour for 2025. This should be a rule. If you agree with this, share this video. WCT Tour for 2025. This should be a rule. If you agree with this, share this video.”
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Plenty of agreements from tour surfers, coaches and commentators, Yago Dora, Bede Durbidge, Strider, as well as former tour surfer Jeremy Flores as well as Backdoor Shootout and Da Haui founder Fast Eddie Rothman, daddy to Koa and Makua.
Jez Flores: Yes for sure. We’ve been on to it (making a petition). As you know, unfortunately we’ve seen this bullshit over and over again. We keep on pushing
Bede: Definitely makes sense. Biggest sporting event in the world then still not on tour. It would be hard for the punters to work out if they don’t understand surfing.
Yago: Cool idea.
And Fast Eddie: This is a no brainer guaranteed he should get a wild card, but it seems the WSL has its own little club of bullshit as usual. They hated him winning that thing guaranteed.
Makes sense to me, but so does draining a bank account for a chair I could’ve scooped up for a third of the price from one of those pirate websites.
And you?
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He will qualify anyway at some point, he’s actually good in all conditions. Watch the Q sometime
Fuck off, no way cunt
Thought this was going to be the over due story about said gold medalist caught on camera assaulting a teen vlogger at that baguette fest?
ooh tell us more??
Those baguettes can be very dangerous..
If Italo didn’t deserve a wildcard than Vaast certainly doesn’t!
Liam and Kamalei Alexander should start a pod cast
Totally makes sense when you say it like that.
WsL sets its own rules , that’s the privilege of being a private entity, if you don’t like it , then buy them out or shut up its as simple as that. Don’t forget if they gave the winner of a TV reality show a wildcard they can do what heck they want.
I’m sure Vaast is quite content with his lot out there in a vast ocean of nothingness with one wave that suits him. And an Olympic Gold medal. It’s a silly season story which no one actually gives two hoots about.
Definitely is not. He’s grinding it out on the challenger series atm.
He was ripping the French beachies this week at the Quik fest thingy…
So here I am grinding it out on the CS with an Olympic Gold medal on my mantelpiece. Every picture tells a story.
It ain’t called the wooz for nothing …….
Giddy wild qualifying !
If you keep out of the sun for a bit till your skin colour matches your corner piece, you could play some great nude pranks on visitors.
Only if the curtains match the drapes
I’d assume Derek has stripped the carpet back to hard wood
Polished often
Kelly has a deck of wild cards and could give him one, if he remembers, after golfing and possibly naming his first born son. Maybe not he’s kinda busy…. Gold medals are so yesterday…. I wonder how Kalani and that kid are doing? Oh well it’s T-time, to bad they didn’t make the cut again. Forrrrrrre!….
Which pirate website?
Cut the tour to 16 fuck the wildcards and run only when it’s pumping. If it don’t pump we don’t run. Move on to the next. There, I fixed it. Blows me away that people can’t see that the bar needs to be raised for qualification not lowered. Anytime you got half the field at times not carrying a major sponsor and supporting their own way on the road there is a major problem. If the individual athletes sponsors can’t see a ROI how could you possibly justify allowing more athletes onto the tour. How many more years will events begin or end on either side of the pumping day in order to get the zeke lau vs Keanu asing type heats out of the way.
Keanu Asing, CT champ!
Seems like a great year to trim the fat https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Amen!
Guy got gifted the Olympics at his home break , don’t see him winning anywhere else (maybe pipeline).
Thats a whole lotta money for a wrinkly giant scrotum.
Looks comfortable though. Opium den type furniture.
And some online description of it was ‘loveseat’, which i suppose adds to the allure.
Oh and season wildcards are stupid.
Would make more sense than the usual bs reasons they give wildcards or refrain from doing so
My parents bought the Togo (dark blue, five elements) in 1975, my siblings and I had a lot of fun running and jumping on the thing. When they changed their furniture I got hold of it , got married, had kids. I got rid of the last completely worn out element in 2005. Thirty years for a sofa, not a bad investment…
Get the feeling that when some fly-boy pumps his way to gold at 1ft Huntington in 2028 the call won’t be made for a CT wildcard.
H.B. has provided many worthy champions. Taj, Andy, Sunny, Beschen, Machado, Slater, Occ, Curren…the cream rises despite the venue. Cleland included.
True, but worthy champions and worthy waves are two different things.
Yeah, kill a battlers dreams for s0me cunt who surfs chopes a thousand times a year.
The guy coming 11th surfing crap Beach breaks on the CS is the other option
Or sally fitz!
ha story ….Boothy got called out by Liam in the water , he then fronted liam on the beach where Liam shit himself and threatened boothy that the boys will get him…being Marvin Foster and darick D…….I actually took boothy around to see uncle Marvin and darrick, and called out Liam…Da Boys then went and visited Liam and explained to him that man on man ( Thanks PD ) back ya mouth up and don’t use other people to sort ya shit!
Shouldn’t he have just pulled the visor down on his helmet and let Jeff break his hand?
the funniest thing is Boothy had no idea how to fight , but still stood his ground….
another story …the Great Dane and I were surfing backdoor pretty crowded , when Dane takes off and this booger buckwheat drops in hits Dane……..fuck Dane cracked his gath helmet…..lickins !!
you talk with Double D lately?
nah trying to get back but been trying to get a visa ….we still chat on IG..
I chatted with him a few months ago.
Sounded in good spirits, but….that’s Darrick.
Hope you can make it back this winter.
Your knowledge is Gold! Thank You
so true, love it