Surfers (pictured) doing surfing tourism. Photo: Surf
School
Surfing tourism market forecasted to
explode to $12 billion in five years!
By Chas Smith
Invest today!
Once upon a time (six years ago), a terrible
cough/sore throat combination swept the globe and forced people to
get healthy, isolated outdoor exercise. As playing horseshoes and
hopscotch required partners, surfing quite naturally became the
obvious activity and millions upon millions of enthusiasts were
born.
These adult learners, many vulnerable, purchased boards and
wetsuits, leashes and wax and sent the surf hard-good market
booming. Ding repair operations did brisk business as well as no
one knew the rules nor cared to learn. There they paddled out, en
masse, near their homes, socially distanced but one in spirit.
It appears, though, that they might be wanting a touch more
social distance as new economic analysis has forecasted the surfing
tourism market to explode in girth through the decade.
Currently valued at $9.58 billion, surfing tourism will blast to
$12.31 billion by 2028. That is a 6.5% compound annual growth rate
for the junior economists out there.
Gains will be spread
across “Surf Schools And Lessons, Surf Camps And
Retreats, Surf Resorts And Accommodations, Surf Tours And
Expeditions, Equipment Rentals And Sales” and include
“LineUpEXplorers GmbH, The Perfect Wave Travel, Channel Islands
Surfboards Inc., Body Glove International LLC, World Surfaris Pty
Ltd, Firewire Surfboards LLC, Costa Rica Surf Travel Company,
Wavehunters Surf Travel Pty Ltd, Waterways Surf Adventures, Nomad
Surfers, Atoll Travel, The Ocean Spell Surf Travel, True Blue
Travel, BruSurf Inc., Great Ocean Road Surf Tours, INTRO Travel Pty
Ltd, Mojosurf Pty Ltd, Go Overseas Inc., Driftwood Mentawai Surf
Travel, Surf and Sun.”
Champagne corks being popped in Kelly Slater’s Thai surfboard
factory today.
With this entirely bullish outlook, are you considering quitting
your current job and hopping into the surfing tourism industry?
Remember when bitcoin was at $27,000 and you were tempted to buy
in?
Go with your gut this time.
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Interview: Jed Smith on Tulsi Gabbard’s
switcharoo to Donald Trump
By Derek Rielly
"You’ve got Tulsi, ex-Democrat, Elon, ex-Democrat,
Joe Rogan, ex-Democrat, Robert F Kennedy Jr, ex-Democrat, Donald
Trump, ex-Democrat…the Republican Party is run by old school
Democrats!"
In 2019, Ain’t That Swell podcasters, Jed Smith and
Vaughan Blakey, spent forty-five minutes on a Skype call to the
then wanna-be democratic nominee for the presidential
race, Tulsi Gabbard
Vaughan woke up one morning to a DM from Tulsi, a surfer,
saying.“Hey guys, love the show, love to come on sometime.”
Vaughan’s nostrils, you’ll remember, were almost fatally
distended by the presidential perfume.
Tulsi performed well on the show, she referenced other episodes
of Ain’t That Swell and patiently remained silent as the
broadcast was diverted by Jed Smith on his many wonderful little
rants.
But fast-forward five years and Tulsi is the new Director of
National Intelligence under Republican President Donald Trump. It
was a hell of a switcharoo and one I knew my ol pal Jed Smith would
have an opinion on.
So I call up Jed, thirty-seven now and living a thousand clicks
away from his Bondi neighbourhood. I figure he’ll hit me with some
socialist and wildly anti-capitalist bullshit, which I’ll secretly
enjoy and mostly agree with, and tell me Tulsi’s a turncoat, a
sell-out etc.
He don’t.
“I’m loving her,” he says in the same recognisable Australian
drawl that brings in tens of thousands of listeners to his and
Vaughan’s podcast. “She’s exactly the same person. It’s so
interesting, man. You’ve got Tulsi, ex-Democrat, Elon, ex-Democrat,
Joe Rogan, ex-Democrat, Robert F Kennedy Jr, ex-Democrat, Donald
Trump, ex-Democrat…the Republican Party is run by old school
Democrats! A vote for change is a vote for the Republican Party
which is run by old school left-wing people.”
Jed says Tulsi hits all the points you should care about, like
the looming spectre of nuclear war.
“She’s anti that shit. She’s been calling out the threat of a
nuclear war for years and years. That’s her main thing, stopping
America’s imperialist interventions abroad. She wants to quell the
fucking threat of nuclear war. What could be wrong with that? I
don’t give a fuck if she’s wearing a red hat or a blue hat. I don’t
want the world to go up in smoke. She’s a veteran and when you’re
part of that military culture, a shit kicker, it’s a brutal
truth-telling culture, same as the bottom end of the working class.
You call a spade a spade and the fact she’s in the Republican
Party, well, that’s fucking epic. The Democrats black-balled her.
They weren’t going to give her shit and they shut out Bernie
Sanders. The Democratic Party is a write off. You’re mad to have
any faith in ‘em.
We talk a little about why Hillary Clinton claimed Tulsi was a
Russian asset. Jed says it’s ‘cause Clinton’s a stooge of the
fabled military industrial complex; I think it’s ‘cause Tulsi, hot
as fuck, a little colour in her skin, smarter, a vet, a woman, was
stealing nasty old cuckquean’s thunder.
I tell him, you should get Tulsi back on Ain’t That
Swell. Director of National Intelligence v Jed and Vaughan.
Tell me that won’t get the needle firing north.
“I should hit her up again but I don’t like my chances. She’s
one of the biggest hitters in the world, one of the most famous
people in the world. Mate, it was crazy when she was on the show.
Forty minutes. She cut deep, straight to the bone. Didn’t shy away
from anything. And we get blowback from people when they listen to
that interview now. Messages saying, how can you support her? I’m,
like, what do you mean? What is your problem with her? We get these
die-hard Californian Democrats telling us we can’t support her. We
hate you. You’re out of the club.”
Ol Jedaum sighs the sigh of a man, a good man, a surfer and not
the new sort that has little crumblings of baby powder in his
underarms from his anti-rash regimes.
“The culture wars are so nauseating. So spun. You know, it’s so
simple. Most people want dignity for the poor and an end to
poverty. Fundamental common sense shit. Decent housing. Good
quality food not full of poison and plastic and fucking vaccines
that aren’t going to fuck us all it. It’s all pretty fucking
reasonable. Who fucking wouldn’t want that?”
Jed pauses.
“Fuck!”
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John Milius (center) sharing opinions. Photo courtesy
Encyclopedia of Surfing
Surf cult Big Wednesday director John
Milius unloads on anyone who dared vote for Kamala Harris
By Chas Smith
"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.
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.
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Kai Mckenzie ain't hobbled by his missing rear stilt,
regarded as crucial by most surfers.
See Kai Mckenzie’s triumphant return to
stand-up surfing after losing leg to Great White shark
By Derek Rielly
“We back bitches!”
Yeah, you know the story by now, but here’s a little
recap if you’re coming in late.
Bonny Hills shredder Kai Mckenzie, part of that sexy Rage gang
of underground surfers who don’t fit the mould of, say, a Hurley or
Billabong surfer, was hit by a ten-foot Great White while surfing a
break wall in Port Macquarie, back in July.
His leg was miraculously washed ashore shortly after the attack
where it was packed on ice, chucked on the car ferry that takes you
back across the Hastings River and rushed, complete with cop escort
to Port Macquarie Base Hozzy in the hope it could be
reattached.
Spoiler alert: It couldn’t.
But Kai Mckenzie ain’t weeping in bed and lamenting his
misfortune.
And, earlier today, on a late spring day so perfect it feels
blessed by the gods, Kai rode his first waves, stand up, minus what
most of us would regard as the crucial rear stilt.
