The end of the Erin Brooks-sparked Canadian surfing dynasty?
Days ago, we all shared the joy felt by our maple leaf’d brothers and sisters after Erin Brooks became the first Canadian to win the World Surf League’s coveted Rookie of the Year honors. Today, we share the hopelessness as she might be the last great white northerner to ever do it.
Those who want to practice the Sport of Kings along the same shores that birthed the greatest professional surfer to ever live, one Kelly Slater, are now avoiding, taking their talents and loonies to places where Slater did not sprout.
Yes, Florida is in a massive slump with beach business, including surf shops, down a whopping 30% this summer.
Kirsten Smail, a marine educator for Dolphin Quest, told the local ABC affiliate, “Spring Break, really never happened for us, and then the summer swing, never happened for us. It’s a ghost town.”
Angela Wilson from Mad Beach Watersports confirmed the almost unbelievable 30% number.
Amber Simmons, General Manager at Pirates Pub & Grub, added, “It’s the slowest year we’ve had since 2020.
While economists debate certain points, all agree that the shrinking Canadian is mostly to blame.
Yahoo Finance reports, “The number of Canadians taking road trips across the U.S. border dropped 37% year-over-year in July, according to Statistics Canada. Air travel was down 26% over the same period. This was the seventh consecutive month of declining tourism from Canada.”
The end of the Erin Brooks-sparked Canadian surfing dynasty?
Let’s hope not.
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Resident of Brevard county since 1971. Sounds like a less crowded lineup. I’m all in for that. Either surf or grub for money…both ways won’t work. Yeah I’m 74 years old and these days spend most of my time in CR. Cheers
https://media4.giphy.com/me…
Lets be real here folks. Nobody likes Canadian tourists. Nobody!
Now get me a HamSammish.
Chas you guys need to friend Gary Elkerton on FB, he’s dropping truth bombs on pro surfing. Get him in the right mood and grace us with his presence.
and ask him about hiring JBG to beat up TC??
Holy crap!
truth is a strange word these days….but be careful what you wish for especially skeletons in the closet,LOL!
I mean bashing nick isn’t so bad but bashing a guy who’s 5 foot 4 is a bit much!
it was an attempt to win a world title……….in defense of Elko he was reamed in Hawaii….and should have a lest won 1 x title…problem was Tom was a golden child/bambie…….JBG couldn’t do it and …here we are
Is this the time jbg pulled his leg rope the day his sister passed away??
nah,,he actually went and saw JBG to get him to beat up Tom so Tom couldn’t surf.
I admire Gary in a lot of ways but ultimately he’s just a dopey queenslander who could surf good. Very low act.
I would have picked up his midget older brother and used him to beat TC around the head.
great bargains on JDM fishing tackle!
Numbers are down across the board. People are confused,and Canadio-States relations at all time lows. I know I wanted to do a Snow trip to some states mountains this year but have heard some horror stories about Immigration locking up people on the spot with no reason and sending Aussies home – deported too so can’t go back ever. Fuck that noise.
Take my tourist money Asia & Europe.
The Canadians love my trashy little beach town for whatever reason, and while they’re usually thick as thieves this time of year, there’s definitely still a good amount of them around, locally. Seems to be less so tho, in their other favorite haunts along the coast here..
*not Florida , Canada adjacent
Im not even Canadian and yet i hope to avoid Florida until well beyond
my dying day
As a good friend who lives there said :”Its the kind of place where you can pretty much always expect to see a fight at the gas station “
This is true.
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For anyone reading this that’s a member of The Surfers Journal please beware…I opened up the newest copy using their suggested method of opening (on the packaging) and got a papercut on my thumb. It’s bleeding and it stings. They don’t have a Yelp page so this blog is the closest thing.
thoughts and prayers!
Thanks. I’m not going to sue. I’m not McDonalds hot coffee lap lady.
FWIW
She had second degree burns on her labia.
And she had every right to sue. She settled for 600K+ and deserved way more. Lakey Peterson has sworn to silence on the issue.
Sounds like another ailment that Dr Huli’s proven and patented 2 ball concoction would clear up. Apply liberally twice a day.
I’ll use Neosporin, thanks for the recommendation though. It still stings.
I can see that Big Pharma has got you in its grip.
It works!
what’s the difference between a canoe and a Canadian?
Caone’s tip. ~ Sam Georges waiter
They are the worst
Trump is the neighbor that has problems with his neighbors to the left and problems with his neighbors on the right….remind you of anyone Chas?
Wait……… that sounds like……….this guy!
Hahaha
…..good one
How about an article on Virginia Beach having waves for the first time in surf contest history.
What side of Florida is that on?
me and the detail orientated artiste always knew kelly was a goofy
Fluid, per spilled tea.
Well nobody wants to take the chance of ending up in Alligator Alcatraz – this is what happens when dictators are in charge. Not shocking at all.
How do you define a dictator? Do they squash free speech, take away your rights while violating constitutionally protected spending of tax payer dollars?
If they’re wrapped up in good ol fashioned nationalist jingoism and a great deal of me, me, me chest beating. Add on a touch of military utilisation against the local population under the guise of security and bingo – then yep. You’ve pretty much nailed the definition!
Is that similar to government funded(NGOs) urban terrorism masquerading as BLM and Antifa? Seems like we have problems emanating from both sides of the aisle that only serve to benefit the political elite…again from both sides of the aisle. Now forgive me for my lack of trust directed at both sides of the aisle due being raised by a Vietnam era fighter pilot who experienced senseless death for political power in Vietnam.
Alligator Alcatraz literally means Alligator Pelican.
Dumbass floridians. No one is afraid of a flying pelican alligator
or you could put it this way….every 1% drop in international visitor spending costs the USA $1.8 b…so for the first 1/2 of 2025 international tourism dropped 22.5%…….add that to the tariff tax, increasing inflation and a growing unemployment level….all seems to be going well in MAGA land and King TACO!
What do you expect when you elect someone who is a weak man’s idea of strength, a poor man’s idea of rich, and a dumb man’s idea of smart?
You forgot his short fingers and iridescent skin tone…but his was perfect.
Twice!!
From a pure economics standpoint, as I’m generally agnostic on politics, the US savings on theft of services from the departure of many undocumented workers will overcome the lost loonies. THIS while the loonies are still coming to the evil US for medical tourism. And I’ve witnessed the benefits of easier dinner reservations in Orange County so we have that going for us on the left coast.
“Pure economics”?
Versus impure or fuzzy math economics
Like dirt pimpin’?
Among other proclivities than some struggle with.
Mortgage and Mortician, similar, yet only a few letters off.
therein lies the problem….from a pure economics standpoint…..the USA economy which is based on statistics, as are all our economies, there’s no where to hide …unless you start falsifying the stats which is already happening……..so how many jobs are really being lost, how much investment in the future of USA’s manufacturing , and the undocumented workers did contribute…..
ready for some stats…..ondocumented workers in the USA….2022….
$97 b in total taxes…in 40 out of 50 states immigrants paid higher taxes than the top 1%……
5% of the workforce in the USA are undocumented workers…….1 in 7 construction workers. 1 in 8 agricultural workers, 1 in 14 hospital workers
$82 b spent by undocumented workers, mostly mexicans…..housing/food/transport etc..
If ya deported all the undocumented workers this would shrink the economy by 1.1 – 1.7 trillion $’s pa….
So yeah…..medical tourism….the USA has the most expensive in the world
You forgot about the statistic whereby a significant portion of undocumented are paid 1099 wages that of course are never taxed. That is a cottage industry in and of itself. Then there are the undocumented who are paid via checks that are cashed at the bank teller window and again are never taxed. Next, you have significant Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid fraud perpetrated by the undocumented. I’ll end with the NGOs that fund rent for the undocumented in affordable housing that receives fancy tax breaks via the LURA. The NGO funding comes from taxpayer revenue that circumvents Constitutional guardrails. Now think about the stealth double taxation US taxpayers incur for the above that somewhat serves to keep wages low but at what indirect cost to US taxpayers?
The aforementioned paired with $37trillion in debt service tells me we have a spending problem caused and allowed by both sides of tbe aisle.
So what is your solution Brutus?
I don’t think there is a solution anymore……we are all watching as the Global Community fights over resources which are dwindling rather quickly…..now the interest on your $37T debts is higher than the USA military budget and ever increasing……the USA’s month of July was another bad month as debt went up 20% compared to previous year…so the system is broken and we are about to find out ….the biggest fraud is the rich are not paying their taxes, and us plebs just keep surviving, but at a decreasing rate in our lifestyle……lets watch it play out!
Typically the rich live off of dividends, taxed at 15-20%, and K-1 favorable income/distributions from real estate and operating companies. The real estate income offers certain tax advantaged deductions while operating company distributions offer other beneficial write-offs such as depreciation. So their ability to limit taxes versus others is where the real disparity occurs.
As hard as they’re trying to pin this on Canadian’s hurt feelings, Canada’s weakening currency and economy while Florida has become significantly more expensive as of late probably has more to do with the slowdown.
Leess maplecels in Florida is a good thing anyways, the state is more than full.
It’s not Canada’s hurt feelings – it’s a well-earned visceral hatred for the regime occupying the White House. I wouldn’t want to visit the US either.
Where do you wanna go?
1994
Like I said, hurt feelings.
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