"I’m sorry but a 12 year old out there in these conditions, why? To prove what?"
Tim Bonython is the universally known, and respected, surf filmmaker who does not miss a big swell almost anywhere in the world. His moving pictures stake awe, and fear, into hearts around the globe. Men and women skiding down great watery mountains, Davey Jones, ever frustrated with the invention of inflatable vests, waiting impatiently below.
Well, a day out at Nazare turned quite harrowing and especially for a young boy, the Belgian Kamiel Deraeve. But let’s allow Bonython to pick the story up here…
What a crazy situation it was as 12 year old @kamielderaeve fell on a wave right in front of us. Then got dragged in towards the rocks. @tocardosoo went to pick him up after getting the biggest flogging. Kamiel missed the pick up (not quite gabbing the sled) and then went on to get 5 bombs on the head and tells us he’s glad he went through it. But as Garrett @mcnamara_s says if you don’t enjoy it, then maybe you need to pack it in and do something else. I don’t think Kamiel enjoyed it but he definitely learned a lot from the experience. This kid has it. It just goes to show you how quick things change when your out there. PS you can see us flying over the back of the wave.. me @ivo_cacao @theseamountains
Impressive, no? Not according online mommies who raged at the abject recklessness of it all.
The actor Francisco Froes leading the charge with…”Until the day he doesn’t make it. What happens if the kid doesn’t make the next pick up? I’m sorry but a 12 year old out there in these conditions, why? To prove what? What happens to the parents if this kid dies out there?”
Followed by…
“Who are the parents who allow a 12 year old to go out with such waves? I am no surfer, but I take it that to deal with such waves it’s not only a matter of skill, but also of experience. And at that age you can’t have too much of it…”
“Gee, somebody thought that was a good idea? Who towed him in? I’m sure he’ll be back. Love the jet ski guys!! Great skills and bravery.”
“Totally not agree with this!!!!!”
“Seems like an unnecessary risk of multiple lives.”
“To me that looks insane sorry.”
“12 years ??? Fuck it… He doesn’t have the strength and lungs for this… Experience has nothing to do with age but muscle capacity.”
Etc.
But where do you find yourself in the debate? Team Vaya Con Dios or Team Mommy?
Please weigh in with personal stories and examples.
Flem or Walloon?
He should be in a chimney somewhere not clogging up the line-up
Haha goes to show like we always said tow surfing is for old kooks that can’t paddle anymore and moms n kids that couldn’t paddle in the first place.
Eurotrash kooks cant be tamed
Dont forget victorian era , kiddies used to work in factories and as chimminy sweeps , sex workers even and nothing went wrong …
This is what you get when child-bearing digital nomads relocate from landlocked belgium to live the post-covid euro Californian dream. Just toss their kid into the wild. Get to show their friends some rad pics of their son. Big wave soccer moms’n’dads.
Kid should be at school and back in fucking belgium.
What the fuck you talkin’ ’bout Willis ?
One thing that gets my goat is so-called surfers who know nothing about geography, and therfore, weather.
Where are you from to have such a sheltered worldview ?
Here’s some samples of Belgium…
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
It has 65km of coast
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
And cops swell straight down the North Sea from the Arctic
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Better than ya average SoCal or Florida day, and definitely better than Pipe right now…
I’m portuguese 🤷♂️
Sorry Beef couldn’t care less about waves in belgium or its coastline. They can stay there if it’s that wonderful.
Hhmmmm, a Portugeezer who went to an English/American school (going by the way you write) but neglected to take any geography classes or even look at a map of a Europe (where you’re apparently from) to get a clue of what’s on your Euro doorstep.
Odd.
I sure hope you never travel with such a hick attitude…
P.S.
I first surfed Portual in 1989, and as it’s the antipode to my own home I’d studied maps of it (and all Europe) for years to have an idea of where to go etc.
Surfed all the known, plus many unknown spots, even got 2-3 × OH up the beach at Nazare a few times.
Last time there was 1991.
I especially liked the way you could take 24 empty beer bottles tback to the shops and get 6 full ones for free, plus great grilled seafood.
Ha – nice try, Hannibal Lecter. Don’t rush into conclusions.
I actually dig geography, and whilst not an epidemiologist, have spent more than a few hours on wannasurf looking at weird places with novelty waves – much like those. Whatever.
Do you want to know what’s on my doorstep? An avalanche of wealthy expats pricing me out, all wanting a piece of once-cheap real estate, sun and surf. So yeah, they can all fuck off back to Belgium, france, USA, russia, ukraine (yes i know there’s waves on all of them).
https://www.theguardian.com…
A few hrs on wannasurf is for ghey little kids
Get real topographical maps and ocean charts, then study them for hours a day for years.
Igarashi is as much of a Portugeezer as you going by your written language.
You probably are Igarashi or his boyfriend.
When I was there (winters only) they were all country yokels and fishermen with no English education at all.
Barely any local surfers, possibly none.
Bugger all sun with cold grey water, and half the coast was covered in oily sludge.
You must be from south of Lisbon, the softy ghey bit.
Go back to school.
I dont care what’s on your doorstep, but don’t bother coming to the south Pacific, it’s too landlocked…
I sense a cage match coming up between you two…or at least a few too many beers to settle this rage! I’ll buy!
I’m just surprised that an apparent Continental European with a good command of the English language doesn’t even know that one of his nearby countries isn’t landlocked.
Very surprised.
It’s no different to a Californian, Floridian or Oklahoman thinking Guatemala is landlocked.
Global geography, weather and wave action are all intertwined…
Aaaanddd just one last thing
For the record, ‘landlocked’ was used as a derisive term, on a plain simple internet rant. Not to be taken as a geographical fact (like, say, how to measure a coastline, that old conundrum). Don’t believe everything you read online.
My last thing for the record is that I’m shocked that you’re Portuguese, as your writing is better than most Aussies and Americans.
Far better than the English and waaay ahead of the Scottish.
And as far as getting crowded out by foreign blow-in buyers goes, that’s a global problem unfortunately, I’ve always lived about an hour inland of the surf (which made me extra keen as a youngster), probably always will, those damn rich people have always robbed the best bits, everywhere…
Beef, don’t want no beef with you, i appreciate your FTL sidebusiness and believe we all share some common ground on sarcasm and waves – the reason we ended up here.
But i’m getting some strange Brokeback Mountain vibes from the last comment, it’s not really my thing so i’ll leave it at there.
By the way i’m 99% sure i’ll never set foot in NZ unfortunately. The world’s a big place, and time and money do not abound at my end.
THIS is why I’m only a tourist when surfing the French coast or in Spain. Can I come surf in Portugal if I promise to not buy a place there?
Lol – you get the idea. Probably the only situation i’m happy to dish out the angry local card. Chances are if you’re down here with some cash on the side, you’ll buy some anyway.
HOWEVER make sure you post your visa application to [email protected] with your feral cold-water credentials and chart reading qualifications. You may be turned down.
I’ll never own property in Europe unless Trump kicks me out of the US BUT I will drink great beer and eat some of the best food in the world while in San Sebastian.
Exactly. Now kids have to wait until they turn 18 before they join the military and get buggered by the rank and file. Nobody thinks about the kids anymore. Disgustin.
Parents? When we were 12 (1982) we were hitchhiking to the beach on Oahu and paddling out in whatever was on offer.
Back then it was only $100,000, some wine and a Marvin Gaye record to replace a kid.
Now, it’s like $1m, wine is more expensive than ever and you’d need a Spotify subscription because everyone lost or gave away their records.
All of the pearl clutching makes sense. Unless the father realised that this particular juice wasn’t worth the squeeze and wanted off of the “kid” train.
child prodigies usually stall at some point. I of course knew that as a child and decided to get good at my thing later in life
the kind of wise foresight only a child prodigy could have
you get me
Call me horrible but we used to place bets on whether child prodigies would find the ultimate success, burnout or find drugs at a world class level. The latter option seemed to prevail more frequently due to the obnoxious parents ruining their kids…
… to be featured on the new hit show, “Are You Ballsier than a 6th Grader??!!”
Make it happen! Parents will happily risk their kid’s life for 15 minutes of fame!
My kid surfed Waimea and Pipeline on the same day with the Lightni’ Bolt I bought from HIC in the summer. filmed it too.
Many are the spoiled little brats who should be forced to tow-in to big waves. Sink or swim, kids.
Kid seems to know what he’s doing in the ocean so why not. All the mommy’s have no idea what his skill level or waterman capabilities are. That said, sure seems from the camera angle like a terrible part of Nazare to tow someone into regardless of who they are.
Is it possible to be a waterman at 12 years old?
Worst punishment ever for not cleaning your room.
His parents should ground him.
I drowned and was resuscitated at age 5, so I’d say that it’s never too early to let your kid drown. Builds character.
Prepare them for drowning in debt.
it has given me an edge over most other millennials in that regard
Wow! Please tell us more.
… and taxes!!
Really? Please tell us more.
Unfortunately the first part never happened to you and now we have to hear from you daily.
I’d actually like to know a bit more about you though. Things like what favela you live in. What shop makes the best acai bowls. Whether you cried like a baby when your team lost to a bunch of Croatians during the last world cup. Whether you own your own surfboard or just have to share one with 5 other guys who can’t afford a board either.
THIS is why I spend too much time on BG. Who needs drugs to escape reality when we have BG?
accurate, but you also owe me a “fingertips got cut off at age 5” story.
It is a rather unsexy story while surrounded by the ultimate badasses. My parents had a Saturday afternoon party with other fighter pilots and myself and another kid were putting a chain back on the sprocket of a large trike. As I was putting the chain on the sprocket the kid started peddling and three of my fingertips were caught between the chain and the sprocket so I ripped my fingers away and the tips stayed with the bike. My dad ran up, grabbed me and the fingertips and off we went to the emergency room. The doc asked me if I wanted to watch him sew the fingertips back on so I did. When we returned to the party I received a round of applause from the pilots and felt like a true badass…
a Top Gun upbringing indeed.
Ya it just seemed normal as a kid but now I look back on those Vietnam era badasses and I am in awe. They were a different breed of quiet confidence. My father went to the Air Force version of Top Gun, called Fighter Weapons School before going to Vietnam and never told us kids about as it wasn’t a big deal to him. I learned about this after he died in the 90s from one of his fighter pilot buddies who said he expected to be the best so it wasn’t a big deal for him.
Ok. Here we go…
I’m older than you. Right now there are around 15 boards in my yard. I have seen and surfed more perfect waves than you can even imagine. Are you obsessed with the favelas? Our houses are bigger and better than yours, be sure about that. And I’m not a dumb ass California guy who talks shit about brazzos without ever setting a foot here.What’s with the bashing of simple and poor people? They are also surf fans, bro. And a lot of them are Surfers. Surfing is Mainstream here. We have several world champs who are role models to the kids. But you can’t script this…. It was supposed to be the USA, according to the WSL gods. And guys like you. Not generalizing like you do, because I’m sure 80% of the surfers are cool guys… Also, you are annoying as hell, egomaniac, just keep quiet sometimes.
literally no one else in the rest of the world wants surfing to be mainstream outside of the WSL and some private equity holding companies that own all the formally major surf brands.
But if you want to act like surfing being mainstream in Brazil is some sort of accomplishment and not utterly clownish, I suppose you’re entitled to your own self delusion🤡
I said that’s how it is, not how I like. And I don’t like you
given how dumb I routinely make you look, I don’t blame you😂
Perhaps on occasion, but not this time.
Barton clearly outscored you in this exchange. I’d score it BL: 6.8 to CT: 5.3. The “and i dont like you” was a nice touch, like a floater on the close-out end section. I’m curious to know how the other judges scored it. 🤔
Floatergate 2–the Brazzoning
I want to learn more about this event as I cut three of my fingertips off at age 5 and watched the doc sew them back on.
suction valve grate at the bottom of backyard hot tub was broken. I dove to the bottom and it trapped my chest against the grate. Mother was gardening in the backyard and I would’ve stayed dead had my sibling not let her know I was in trouble.
PSA: there is no God and no afterlife—only a fade to black and then nothing.
Sounds like some divine intervention that brought you back, no?
pretty sure it was CPR that did that. but I don’t have a recollection, as I was a bit dead at the time
touche!
Wild story and that escape from death surely left a meaningful mark on your psyche. BUT the PSA only serves to support my long held atheist views on the afterlife…will I be right or wrong is the only Q I have left to answer!
Is it possible for nothing to exist though?
Sounds like heaven