“You cannot win like Yago Dora unless you have the foundational power you see in all the great surfers who win world titles."

In disappointingly small, but wildly pretty conditions, at Fiji’s Cloudbreak, world number one Yago Dora has being crowned world champ defeating Californian Griffin Colapinto in a relatively easy one-set victory.

In his first-ever appearance on Finals Day, Yago Dora, who is twenty-nine, left Colapinto, often described as a Gandhi or Teddy Roosevelt figure, electric with terror and squirming like a child bride naked under her robe.

“You cannot win and you don’t got get to number one and wearing that yellow jersey unless you have all those weapons, all those different variations, the foundational power you see in all the great surfers who win world titles,” the commentator, world number 17 and stilt cancer survivor Richie Lovett summed up.

Griffin Colapinto looped his turns around the throats of Italo Ferreira and Jordy Smith en route to the final but was finally garrotted by an aggressive Yago Dora, a victim, perhaps, of having to surf three high-intensity heats.

Surf fans were left perplexed in the dying minutes of the final when the broadcast went silent for indeterminable minutes and featured a static shot of bungalows built over a man-made lagoon, created by dynamiting the reef.

With twenty seconds left, and needing an almost perfect score, Colapinto suckered Yago Dora into blocking him on a wave, jumped off, scooped the wave behind with six seconds left and nearly threaded an inside tube to what would’ve been a miracle victory.

“The signs were all there for me,” said Yago Dora. “It didn’t matter who I surfed against.”

For all of us who have born with a little reverence for the things that are beautiful and and a little love for thing things that are terrible, we were thrilled with Yago Dora’s win, Griffin Colpinto’s desolation – coming so close etc, and the letdown of what could’ve been as purifying as a visit by the Holy Ghost himself.

Meanwhile, Caz Marks just in the water against Molly Picklum, heat two of the gals.

“The WSL has been coming to Fiji for close to 25 years and asking millions from our debt-stricken government.”

On the eve of what might turn into one of the greatest days ever in pro surfing, two Fijian-based groups, Fiji Surf Co and Bath Protector, have turned on the mighty surf contest administrator, which was once headed by Oprah Winfrey’s righthand man, labelling it “exploitative.”

The problem, in a nutshell, is that ever since the surf industry imploded and a hedge fund bought all the companies up there’s no rivalry between any of ’em and, therefore, no need to swing their dickies in the wind with big-money contests and sponsorships. And, as anyone who has ever chased a dollars knows, the most profligate spenders in the world are governments. Always a win-win. You get some publicity shots and local biz gets a temporary boost although when numbers are crunched the payback is rarely worth the investment.

Still, by that time your time in office is done and you’ve got the tanning reflector set up on the Amalfi Coast.

Now, tour operator Fiji Surf Co and Bati Protector, a sunscreen brand, have come together to protest their government giving their precious tax dollars to the billionaire-owned WSL.

Let’s read.

 

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FIJI’S SURF INJUSTICE “PAY TO PLAY” is real and relevant and we need to correct the wrongs and make them right.

The WSL Puppet show is back in Fiji and they are at the mercy of the ultimate Puppeteer Master aka kurukuru / cloudbreak … mother nature says waves you say go

WSL and other companies that come to Fiji need to understand that we are not like other counties- 95% of our ocean and land is owned by resource custodians who are the guardians and protectors. I speak on behalf of the voiceless resource owners because I am one … my forefathers were Bati War Chiefs – namely Ravato, that fought off invaders in this kurukuru reef area helping small villages like Nabila protect their ocean. Today we carry his legacy forward to do the same as he did for our current generations of Fijians and the generations to come. We will not bow down to outside intervention like some of our Pacifc Islands have been forced to sadly.

WSL previously ASP has been coming to Fiji for close to 25yrs asking Millions from our debt stricken Govt that is fighting many losing battles like 1 in 4 Fijians are below the poverty line … the Govt needs to put Fiji First and not your business here sorry. We give you one of the best waves on the planet thats made u look good all these years so we simply ask “Pay to Play” esp that you are making commercial gains with multi million dollar sponsors and broadcasting rights … thats being fair, direct and saying it how it is no BS.

DO WHATS RIGHT AND RESPECT OUR PEOPLE AND RESOURCES because when you are gone you can leave a trail of destruction for our people to clean up with all your false promises and exploitation. We are always here through the good and bad … u blow in and blow out like the wind.

Truth said WSL needs Fiji more than Fiji needs WSL … when Fjji is ON … the whole world comes to PLAY and PAY at their own expense with free marketing for Fjji … we dont need to give you Millions of our poor hard working tax payers money to market your own event so you can get rich off Fiji while the resource owners don’t get any money!

To all the wannabe locals, blow ins and ego tripping surfers … know your place

Comments are generally positive as you’d imagine with only a light pushback.

Do you think good thing, governments sponsoring surf contests or one of the more preposterous things you could ever imagine although not quite as left-field as the US gov spending twenty mill to create a version of Sesame Street for Iraqis?

"It stole the platelets and plasma straight out of my veins."

In his latest YouTube instalment, Nathan Florence, middle brother of the Florence all-boy triumvirate, has detailed his battle with an untreatable tropical disease that, while not often deadly, can leave its victim emaciated and weak for months afterwards.

After a dozen minutes surfing twelve-to-fifteen-foot South Pacific barrels in water so blue “there’s no depth perception” with fellow big-wavers Aaron Gold and Kohl Christensen, Nathan Florence talks of his subsequent battle with the mosquito-borne disease Dengue Fever

Crucially, Nathan Florence is filmed heading to ports unknown, likely Panama or Mexico, to buy plasma and platelets “that Dengue Fever stole from me. Stole it right out of my veins.”

Nathan Florence added, “I am extremely weak so need to recover but swells are building everywhere and Hurricane Erin has got me itching.”

As a US medico warned last year in the New York Times,

Despite my training in medicine, I was blindsided. Dengue, a mosquito-borne illness, is surging through Latin America and the Caribbean, including in Puerto Rico, where a public health emergency was declared last week. This year is likely to be the worst on record, in part because of El Niño-driven temperature spikes and extreme weather linked to climate change. As temperatures rise and precipitation patterns grow more erratic, the problem will get only worse.

There is no specific antiviral treatment for Dengue Fever, of course, treatment is about managing symptoms, easing the pain and preventing complications