Caroline Marks poses for SI and, right, wins Olympic Gold in Tahiti.
Caroline Marks poses for SI and, right, wins Olympic Gold in Tahiti.

Olympic Gold medallist surfer Caroline Marks “sizzles” in second Sports Illustrated bikini shoot

"Sports Illustrated really celebrates all diverse body types and that was my favourite part about it."

The Olympic gold medallist Caroline Marks has marked a return to the glossy pages of Sports Illustrated with her second bikini shoot, described by the magazine as “sizzling”. 

The magazine sent out a teaser shot of the half-Greek 2023 world champ from Boca Raton, Florida, wearing an on-trend black string bikini, sun-kissed tresses blown off her face by either a stiff wind or some sort of portable outdoor fan. 

“Though we’ll have to wait to see the full results of Marks’s photo shoot today, we are thrilled to share the first look, seeing the surfer posing on the beach wearing a black string two-piece,” wrote SI. “A spin on the classic bikini, the suit features crisscross neckline straps on top and double strings on the bottom. Marks was glowing, with the water behind her signaling that she was totally in her element. Her blonde hair blew in the ocean breeze and her glam was kept simple to showcase her natural beauty. Complete with a Floridian tan, Marks looked so stunning.”

A who’s who of surfing, including pint-sized tour veteran Kalani Robb, dived beneath SI’s Instagram post to celebrate the milestone.

USA Surfing wrote: Oh my goodness. Beautiful, powerful and amazing inside and out. ❤️

Caroline Marks for SI
Caroline Marks lights up SI’s IG account.

Just after turning eighteen four years ago, Marks debuted in Sports Illustrated telling its readers,

“The whole crew I was working with, everyone was so positive. I felt really comfortable and confident and, you know, I had just turned 18, so for me, that was like a really big deal of like kind of showing more of my body and being around like a bigger production. Obviously, Sports Illustrated is a very big brand, so for me, the comfortability factor was huge and I think Sports Illustrated really celebrates all diverse body types and that was my favourite part about it. Still to this day it is one of my favourite shoots and it’s really cool to have all the photos still and just have those memories.”

 

Load Comments

Lady Diana (left) and her young surfing prince.
Lady Diana (left) and her young surfing prince.

Researchers finally stumble upon origins of Princes William and Harry’s surfing love!

"We've finally solved one of life's most confounding mysteries..."

Cathedral bells are chiming across the United Kingdom, this morning, after researchers made a profound breakthrough overnight. For decades, now, the greatest minds in England, North Ireland, Scotland and Wales have puzzled over how the young royals, Princes William and Harry, fell in love with surfing. Their House of Windsor has placed five backsides on the throne, George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II and Charles III.

None notable wave sliders.

And yet William, next in line for the crown, has enjoyed both the boogie life and the longerboard life for years, surfing in Wales, England and Scotland, three of his four holdings. Harry, though currently banished, was just snapped getting placed into a Kelly Slater barrel by none other than Raimana Van Bastolear.

From whence did this “need for speed,” to quote California surfing royalty Matt Archbold, come?

New analysis suggests from the late great Queen of Hearts, Princess Diana herself.

Per the Daily Mail think-piece, Lady Diana, “…took her mind off her separation from Charles in 1993 on the sandy beaches of Nevis in the Caribbean. She took William and Harry, then aged ten and eight, bodyboarding and her friend Catherine Soames joined them. The pictures (of the surfing-adjacent) hit the front pages in the UK and when Diana returned home, she said: ‘That was the best holiday I’ve ever had.'”

And thus the hook was set. William described a Scottish surfing session from some 20 years ago whilst he was at university, declaring, “It was a bit like putting your head in a freezer when you went underwater, but the wetsuit I’ve got is pretty good. I couldn’t feel my hands for about half an hour. After a while they get so numb. There’s no noise. It’s just you breathing. You’re in a different world with the fish.”

Harry, of course, in Lemoore with the aforementioned Van Bastolear solemnly stating, “In Tahiti, we still call you Prince Harry. But at Surf Ranch, it’s my brother.”

Further scrutiny reveals that King Charles surfed Cornwall in 1973 but that was before either of his sons were born so doesn’t count.

And there we have it. One of life’s more confounding mysteries likely solved.

Huzzah.

Load Comments

Thoughts and prayers for surf star Kai Lenny after near-fatal collision with foil board

The brush with death comes less than one year after he was hospitalised following a helmet-crushing wipeout at Pipeline.

One week of American euphoria following the fairytale election of a devil-may-care, dare-to-dream businessman to the highest office in the land was almost squashed earlier today when the country’s most beloved surfer, Kai Lenny, nearly died in a foil-boarding accident.

Lenny, who is thirty two and with lips as red as if he’d just applied a fresh coat of pomegranate lipstick, was surfing his foil-board in Maui when he “wiped out” after a back-flip attempt and the board’s hydro-foil slashed his chest, dagger style, and perilously close to his heart.

“It got a little spicy and I foiled myself across my chest,” Kai Lenny explained in a video posted to YouTube. “I really wanted to land a backflip. And I had this perfect section, so I threw the backflip and I sort of missed the grab.

The near-fatal collision comes less than one year after the was hospitalised after a wipeout that destroyed his helmet during the Backdoor Shootout, becoming Pipeline’s sixth high-profile scalp for the winter.

The world’s best surfers were quick to acknowledge how his life might’ve drastically zigged if Kai Lenny didn’t have the polycarbonate shell on his head.

“The helmet,” wrote Jack Robinson, punctuating the profundity with two sets of prayer hands.

Kai Lenny posted a photograph of his brain being examined by the noted medico Dr Jason Keifer at Brain Health Hawaii.

“Since my head injury at PIPELINE on January 4th, I’ve been doing everything I can to get back on the horse and become better than I was.

Some time ago now, Kai Lenny appeared on the very occasional podcast Dirty Water where, over the course of ninety minutes, we listened to exciting stories about foiling with a trillionaire, Twiggy Baker fighting off a shark at Jaws and big-wavers threatening to beat hell out of each other in heats, T-boning a twelve-foot tiger shark fishermen called God on his windsurfer when he was thirteen and so on.

Load Comments

Surf fans across the political spectrum gouge eyeballs out with plastic spoons after The Inertia unveils its “Winter Surf Gift” guide!

But a silver lining?

The political left and right may be extremely far apart, these days, across all subsets very much including surf. Already prone to tribalism, surfers fight, fight, fight over board volume and stance throughout the day. Throwing the recent presidential election into the mix and a landslide victory by Donald Trump leading directly to even greater divisions.

Shortboarders from Huntington sneering at longboarders from Capo Beach and screaming at them to “go back to Mexico.” Similar things happening in Florida except instead of Mexico, longboarders are being told to go back to Puerto Rico.

Dark days ahead. The end of even the flimsiest concept of a “surf world?”

Enter The Inertia.

The “definitive voice of surfing and the outdoors” took the moment to release its “winter gear guide” beginning thusly:

It’s that time of year again. The water is getting colder, the waves are getting bigger, and it’s just about time to dig those booties and hooded fullsuit out of the closet where they’ve been hibernating for the summer. In winter, surfing changes from a carefree sun-soaked activity to a ritualistic and gear-heavy affair, all in the name of staying warm.

The gear:

Shortboarders and longboarders, Shredders for Harris and Barrel Hounds for Trump, goofies and regulars each holding each other’s hair back as they take turns vomiting due the sheer sartorial assault.

Unified.

Load Comments

Maui surfer butchered by tiger shark released from hospital as gofundme hits $100k

"While this was a horrific accident, Kenji is super motivated to get back into the ocean he loves."

Almost two weeks back now, November 1 if you want some rare precision, the Maui surfer Kenji Nonka, a perpetually optimistic sixty one year old, was hit by a tiger shark during his usual morning surf.

By the time Maui police, firefighters and first responders arrived at the scene at Sand Piles, part of  Waiehu Beach Park there, Kenji was on the beach, one leg completely severed just below the knee.

Shades of the “tough as nails” Kai Mckenzie etc.

In an eerie coincidence, it was twenty one years, almost to the very day, since Bethany Hamilton lost her arm after being was hit by a Tiger shark. Hamilton had even posted a warning to surfers on the same day as Kenji’s advising increased shark activity in October.

“I call October Sharktober, especially out here in Hawaii as a surfer,” wrote Bethany. “Sharks are just way more active and it’s known that they’re migrating and getting ready to give birth. And Tiger sharks in particular are migrating and getting ready to give birth.”

After a little tidying up of the stump, Kenji Nonka is back home, face wrapped in his usual smiles.

“We are overjoyed to share that Kenji has been discharged from the hospital today and is back home!!! Kenji and Tomoko both want to express their deepest gratitude for all the love, aloha and donations they have received across the island and beyond. While this was a horrific accident, Kenji is still the brightest beacon of light and hope, and is super motivated to begin the rehab and recovery process to get back into the ocean he loves.”

He’s chasing one hundred gees on his gofundme and is at 97k or so. If you got a spare three chuck it in the bowl. Biggest donor so far has thrown in $10,000.

Load Comments