"He thought the concept of Kamala Harris being president… he has a very over-the-top way of putting things…"

There are only a small handful of films with a surfing subject matter that can be considered “cult.” The Endless Summer, North Shore and Big Wednesday and that is maybe all. The latter, a sort of rambling late-1970s homage to Malibu, follows three friends as they attempt to dodge service in Vietnam whilst surfing and malingering on the beach. A decade, or such, later they are reunited for a super swell and, if I recall, they are all vaguely bummed that the best of life has passed them by.

Its director, John Milius, was moved to the beach at 14 and called surfing his “religion” he would go on to write the screenplay for Apocalypse Now before co-writing and directing Big Wednesday, following that with Conan the Barbarian and Red Dawn in 1984 which, 40 years later, brings us to Milius today who happens to be overjoyed that there was no proverbial red dawn in these United States.

Milius’ daughter, Amanda, described her father as Donald Trump patient zero, telling Fox, “My dad’s been a Trump guy, honestly, since 2014. My dad has been on Team Trump since, like, the moment you could be.”

Though the Academy Award-nominated auteur suffered a major stroke in 2010, he maintained enough fire in his belly to loathe Democrats. “He hated (Harris)!” Amanda continued, “I mean, he was just laughing at the idea of it. He just thought it was ridiculous. He thought the concept of Kamala Harris being president… he has a very over-the-top way of putting things… but he basically said that anyone who would consider voting for her for president was just an idiot. He’s like, ‘There’s no – there’s no way this can be serious.’ Like, it was just as unserious as Joe Biden. It was the whole thing was unserious. He had, I think, a bit more vitriol for Hillary [Clinton] because, you know, she’d been around longer and he’d had more time to form opinions about her. But he was not impressed, I guess we can say that.”

Fun.

Did you maintain that much political vitriol in your guts?

Me?

Well, I don’t wanna be a star. Have my picture in magazines, have a bunch of kids looking up to me. I’m a drunk, a screw up. I just surf ’cause its good to go out and ride with your friends.

I don’t even have that anymore.

Aço Azul.

The World Surf League’s 2025 Championship Tour is still months away from getting underway, though as Thanksgiving approaches in the United States, surf fans are starting to feel the first rushes of thrill. Our heroes and heroines have spent the offseason going on surf trips, possibly searching for missing spines and in the case of Brazil’s Italo Ferreira, undergoing a remarkable transformation.

The gold medal winning goofy foot has always been exceedingly handsome but new snaps, posted to social media, put him in a whole new Boy Band-adjacent category.

Pure gorgeous.

Ferreira, who we last saw roaring from fifth place to second on World Surf League Finals Day at Lower Trestles, must certainly have other tour beauties on notice. It won’t be good enough to simply have a Jack Robinson-esque jaw line or rugged Ryan Callinan-ish appeal.

No.

In order to turn heads, the package must approach tip-top male super model.

Now that the challenge has been laid, do you think any tour surfer will attempt his own glow up or do you think they will collectively cede the ground to really, really, really, ridiculously good looking Ferreira?

Joe Turpel should, at the very least, try.

"It's a yucky place..."

North America, stretching from Panama all the way up to Kaffeklubben Island, is as diverse a continent as any of the seven. Snow-capped mountains, rolling deserts and tens of thousands of miles of coastline. The weight placed upon the shoulders of the World Travel Awards’ judges this year, sitting in front of postcards from Waikiki, Cape Cod and Myrtle Beach and needing to pick a winner, extremely great.

Surfers, generally migratory, have long appreciated the World Travel Rewards “stablished in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.”

Very helpful for surfers planning that next shred-cation, or at least very helpful until this year when Santa Monica was named North America’s Leading Beach Destination.

The Los Angeles-adjacent homeless camp, featuring sewage-y water, consistent 2-foot closeouts and the stink of progressive policy gone wrong, beat out Vancouver Island, Maui and last year’s winner Miami Beach to take home the hardware.

Clearwater Beach, in Florida, was also beaten out.

I once went to Clearwater Beach during a tour of Florida for Surfing Magazine. The town is basically owned by Scientology and I tried to go have lunch in the Flag Service building but was blocked by guards then chased by twenty-year-olds wearing khaki pants and light blue polo shirts back to my car. It was a weird scene but the khaki/light blue was the part I found the strangest, for some reason. It lacked… le style.

Back to Santa Monica, though. Are you a fan or disgusted and consternated by its selection?

More as the story develops.