Do you think Medina left on happy terms or did Rip Curl make him such a crummy offer he had no choice but to tell 'em to go to hell?
Sometimes you just can’t win for losing, as Rosie Perez famously said in White Men Can’t Jump, although I was always fond of Brooklyn’s finest dragging Woody into bed while howling screw me billy, screw me. Etc.
Anyway, Rip Curl, once one of the great surf companies although it ain’t controversial to say it ain’t so much anymore, steered through waters hot and cold by that great double team Doug Warbrick and Brian Singer for fifty or so years before finally selling the company to Kathmandu for $350 six or so years ago, can’t seem to turn a trick.
A pivot to the transgender market, despite being right on the zeitgeist, surprisingly failed, boycotts called, high-profile anti-T gals in sports raging against the Curl; its first female CEO, the lovely Brooke Farris, who led the pivot quit; and, now, it’s most storied surfer still competing, the triple world champ and Olympic bronze medallist Gabriel Medina has also quit.
Gabriel Medina, a man of thirty-two who has magnificently squared brawny shoulders, eyes shining with a light so vivid they can blind a mortal man and teeth that are bared with an unslaked fury when he doesn’t approve of a judging decision, has been sponsored by Rip Curl since 2009, back when Kelly Slater predicted the kid would win ten crowns.
Now, after seventeen years, three titles, eighteen tour victories and that Olympic brown, Medina has dumped Rip Curl and will be steering his ship, one presumes, into more lucrative ports.
RIP CURL ANNOUNCES MEDINA’S DEPARTURE ON INSTAGRAM
In a surprisingly brief, curt you might say, post on Instagram Rip Curl wrote: Obrigado @gabrielmedina for an incredible 17 years together living #TheSearch. Your contribution to not only surfing as a whole but our brand and community is unforgettable. We wish you all the best. #VaiMedina
Not a whole lot of action in the comments, surprisingly, Fanning was in there with a brief note, thanks for the laughs etc, but I think the most telling was this: I don’t like him, but he was the face of the brand. You’re going to weaken a lot in America.
Nothing happening over on Gabriel Medina’s Instagram, not even an equally curt thanks for the millions and so on.
Given all these things, do you think Gabriel Medina left on happy terms, after seventeen years let’s call it a day or, and this is my theory, did Rip Curl make the Brazilian such a crummy offer he had no choice but to tell ’em to go to hell?
On that track, is any surfer, in the current climate, worth a million-dollar contract? Or did that ship sail along with Mick, Taj and Joel?
the reality is the surf industry p*ssed its money up the wall trying to control the value chain, and expanding outside its core market. on top of all of this the companies were often misguided by corporate hacks who took them public, levered up and bled the companies dry with stock options etc. and at the very core, most of them make garbage product. at least rip curl and oneill still make pretty decent suits. the woketard thing was also a total disaster and led to them backflipping and sponsoring steph in a deal that ive heard is 7m for 7 yrs? which is great for her considering she sits in the channel at 4 ft reefbreaks and caity, molly, sierra (not on tour yet) and erin are going to smoke her this year i suspect.
I was enjoying this read until the wanker at large chimed in.
does anybody in business care about anybody under 25……follow the money demographic and see why TC is still revered!
So how many other private equity-infiltrated “surf brands” are looking at Rip Curl in admiration and with jealousy, asking themselves in the boardroom, “how can we be free of our guy like Rip Curl just pulled off?”
What the most stylish and best rail surfer in the world is forgettable?You seppos are off chops ay. I honestly reckon cuz Strayans grow up in decent waves we just absolutely love stylish, powerful rail surfers like Joel and Ethan where as you seppos grow up in soft weak burgers so just love watching cunts doing jumps and surfing pools
im australian. i agree. ethan has flawless technique. but its not exciting. i dont know why. its too flawless. this is why surfing is so hard to judge isnt it. i take your points though which are also pretty valid.
Sasha was in G-Land in a G-String 2025. You cannot unsee that……..
Did you photo?
Is that hottie Sasha still ripping the curl?
Oh wait til you see what Sasha’s been up to!
Ooooh now I’m excited, I love a catch up on our favorite tranny
Not my…favourite…T-Girl. So many to choose from now!
Now there’s room on the team and budget for Luana to get the lucrative deal she deserves.
Hopefully Gillette will step up $$$. More armpit shaving & ball waxing Ads….
Rip Curl should go all in on the over 50 crowd and push Tom Curren retro for the next decade. Or not. Surf industry for the youth is dead. Florence Marinex is a laxative brand. John named his son Darwin. Pau
I think the hotshot pro surfer bailing/not bailing thing is kind of a red herring. The issues faced by Rip Curl are a lot bigger than whether or not Gabriel is willing to sit on his contract. The company did really well out of the pandemic and levered that into the Kathmandu sale, but the cat’s been out of the bag on supply chains etc for years, allowing heaps of smaller, more nimble surf retailers to eat away at its core foundation. They’re doing what they can to cement that foundation with things like the Eddie etc, but that sort of thing does not translate directly into sales (even though the merch seems to be doing OK, it’s mostly tourist dollars in Hawaii). Let’s see if they can do what Quik and Billabong couldn’t — reverse the long term decline of the big brand.
What’s real interesting is the effective disappearance of very good small, and yeah nimble, brands like Project Blank, driven off the cliff by Rip Curl and co discounting so damn hard, selling top-tier suits for half the usual tariff.
thats all they’re worth- their suits went to shitt.
Not particularly durable no. But for one glorious season etc.
Yes well we all know where discounting takes ya.
To SurfStitch!
worse…….to Boardriders …..venture capital….. it’s now a company that is a shell of great brands gone mad!
Wasn’t the Eddie a Quik contest?
Quiksilver’s commitment to the event and everything associated with it fell in a heap a coupla years after the 2016 comp. The corporate structure that allowed Quik to sign off on a global commitment like the Eddie was gone by then along with the will to back something so unpredictable and complex. The Aikau family/Foundation went hunting for other backers but for a whole host of reasons nobody came to the party. Ironically this made the incredible 2023 Eddie — without corporate sponsorship, Clyde and Liam McNamara were able to re-set the foundations of the event, inviting women for the first time along with a whole pack of younger and lesser known young chargers. The result, the biggest surf ever seen and that amazing win for Luke Shepo. I’ll never forget that day, it was like a club contest in Valhalla.
what’s amazing is the big $’s dried up , and left a vacuum for the “Eddie” to be reinvented…and it has and seems better for all the locals and stilll the most prized surf Comp in the World.
This years opening ceremony felt more down to Earth without all the old baggage?
More genuine
There is most likely a lesson in there waiting to be unpicked.
I had a job once where I called in sick all the time. I got the boot too. Probably hangin around mega ballers telling him he was worth more than he is getting. Surfing isn’t football or F1 unfortunately for him.
No mystery with the new guys. Constant content in your face. No originality and if they try its full cringe. Plus they always say never meet your heros. Now you basically do every day with social media. Same goes for actors. Timothy kardashian chalemet got nothin on Hackman, Redford, Daniel Day Lewis… and never will.
this take may be enpointe. oversaturation. very interesting.
And who else smart was team Florence to embark and start X…fresh.
just married off my eldest daughter, no budget left for surf gear in this century , but cheers and happy new year to all the gritters, you all made 2025 36% more interesting , each in your own special way – raise a glass for each other tonight, life is short , brutal and hard, and only the special few can appreciate simple gifts like loving takedowns of ks11.
Pull an Alana Blanchard and just charge 50k or whatever per post. Doing that 3-5x a week will pull in more than what any endemic brand could pay him.
Who would have ever thought Gabs would grow up to be an individualistic star rebel? I’m liking it.
Given his larger than life status at home and popularity abroad, he shouldn’t be representing a brand. He should be starting his own brand.
He’s had a couple cracks at starting his own businesses and they went bust due to family troubles.
The new kid’s brand seems like it’s finding it hard to get any traction, social-wise at least.
Bexy, now’s your chance! Offer him permanent lodging as part of your pitch, and all the shaving in the shower with which he needs help!
Florence gonna go big in Brazil, med and yago getting a slice of the company?
Surfing is a very small sport in case any of you didn’t realise.
Oh brother, tell me about it…