PHOTOS of a greedy world champ and his clown mate Bottle

W-batt off and shawn...read the next issue of waves you pair of whingers

By: "jeff-schmucker"

I would expect you are a very popular man down the west coast of SA at the moment? :D

"jeff-schmucker" wrote:

W-batt off and shawn...read the next issue of waves you pair of whingers

By: "simsurf"

I would expect you are a very popular man down the west coast of SA at the moment? :D

How's Bali going Fanta?

Ever noticed in female surfing that if you,ve had an unfortunate encounter with the ugly stick and are a lesbian you,ll never be world champ?

By: "pablo"

Layne was hardly good looking and Steph is no glamor either, although she is easy going and a nice person.

I've been surfing Cooly for a loooong time and this year is the most organised I have ever seen the contest. Dbah has a massive tower put up already, not on the hop like other years. Snapper has multiple buildings and stands for the event. If the swell is there, it will be good to watch.

W-batt off and shawn...read the next issue of waves you pair of whingers

By: "jeff-schmucker"

Is that THE Schmucko the clown, how about giving us a few quotes from the bible to justify what you do. For those of you who havnt seen this peanut brain in action ,this guy makes mick and bottle look like real gentlemen,Ive seen him nearly running people over while he does tow ins through paddle in surfers, only stopping to give fire and brimstone quotes from the bible. I t happened to us last year, dangerous but somehow entertaining(unforgettable) "JEFF SCHMUCKER A TRUE SURFING NUTTER"

^^^^ read waves mag,what a laugh do you get a deal when you buy dolly as well !

"jeff-schmucker" wrote:

W-batt off and shawn...read the next issue of waves you pair of whingers

By: "shaun"

Is that THE Schmucko the clown, how about giving us a few quotes from the bible to justify what you do. For those of you who havnt seen this peanut brain in action ,this guy makes mick and bottle look like real gentlemen,Ive seen him nearly running people over while he does tow ins through paddle in surfers, only stopping to give fire and brimstone quotes from the bible. I t happened to us last year, dangerous but somehow entertaining(unforgettable) "JEFF SCHMUCKER A TRUE SURFING NUTTER"

and the lord commandeth "thoust shall expose SA surf spots to the whole world"? :D

"simsurf" wrote:

"jeff-schmucker" wrote:

W-batt off and shawn...read the next issue of waves you pair of whingers

By: "billvis"

I would expect you are a very popular man down the west coast of SA at the moment? :D

How's Bali going Fanta?

blah! keep having bad days with the camera..today started firing with pepin hendrik and jake patterson smashing waves and i had to take my gf to the airport...she said i could stay and shoot and she would catch a cab to the airport but i knew if i did that it would be the end of that relationship! haha..to top it off got a massage yesterday (a proper one not a happy ending!! lol) and she was coughing all over me and now i am sick as a dog!

oh yeah quik edit...without sounding like a suck-up if you have never seen pepin surf before you are missing out...

Yep, your right mate mick and his mate sound like they were carrying on like little turds! Next time try dropping in on them... chances are there won't be much protest. The average surfer is twice the size of these little pro hommos, so whats going to happen? If these little pork chops tryed that shit where i'm from it could quite easily end up being their last surf for a long time. Glad i don't have to deal with the Goldy circus!

"billvis" wrote:

"simsurf" wrote:

"jeff-schmucker" wrote:

W-batt off and shawn...read the next issue of waves you pair of whingers

By: "simsurf"

I would expect you are a very popular man down the west coast of SA at the moment? :D

How's Bali going Fanta?

blah! keep having bad days with the camera..today started firing with pepin hendrik and jake patterson smashing waves and i had to take my gf to the airport...she said i could stay and shoot and she would catch a cab to the airport but i knew if i did that it would be the end of that relationship! haha..to top it off got a massage yesterday (a proper one not a happy ending!! lol) and she was coughing all over me and now i am sick as a dog!

oh yeah quik edit...without sounding like a suck-up if you have never seen pepin surf before you are missing out...

Bugger Simon, my missus has been giving me major grief lately too.

Got to say this an interesting forum thus far. Bit intense lol.

Oh and I hope see some of your shots up soon.

Miles will get homesick for sure.

over here in sheep fucker land we sympathise with all the people hating on tow ponies who should know better, are you all going soft or what, tell them to fuck off or your guna see them on the beach for some biff , great idea for the paddle out , we got one happnin here for our asp event in april, they can take a large dump and eat it. we dont want no asp circus, weve been told they are hiring security to sort us out, so tune in to the sheilas tour in nz in april to see some class footage of blood on the beach, ther are some heavyweights around that are gunna school these security monkeys, these cocksmokers think they can just turn up and tell us to get out of the water, fat fuckin chance, make a stand or just keep getting bent over, cos you know the asp want to drive, man up in the anzac spirit, our soldiers didnt die fighting for freedom for nothing did they, go hard or go home and cry to ya missus, right now wheres that sheep gone ah fuck it this taxidermy roo will do

Some interesting stuff being said, my experience of pros in the water has been mixed, I came across this on coastalwatch - http://postsurf.com/ I have never heard of the guy and he since been shut-down for p!ssing off to many people in the surfing world with his commentary, I have posted some below:

"I think the only reason the honesty seemed refreshing to readers is because they're used to reading surf magazines that are 90% marketing drivel. The articles are aspirational at best, advertorial at worst. Everything is positive, and writers very rarely commit to an opinion. "
"Surfing has been commoditized. It's been sold like a product, and the people who sold surfing are ironically some of the people who loved it most. It's kind of a tragic story, really, going back to the guys like Bruce Brown and Hobie Alter. Bruce wanted to document the magic of surfing, so he made these movies. And guys like Hobie wanted better equipment, so they started making boards, and the boards and movies got better, and people wanted to buy them, so these guys turned their passions into businesses. That was the beginning of it.

Now surf brands are publicly traded companies. Their goal is profit, just like any other company. So it's not about surfing - it's about profiting off surfing. In order to make more profit, these companies have to do one of two things - encourage more people to surf, or encourage existing surfers to buy more products that they don't need. In my opinion, neither of these outcomes are remotely positive for surfing as a whole.
Do you really need this year's new high-tech boardshorts? Or new, tighter jeans? Surf media is largely a marketing tool controlled by the surf brands, whose only purpose is to convince you that if you love surfing, you need to buy their shit products."

Those few paragraphs tell the whole sorry story in a nutshell. It all started off innocently enough, but big money, and opportunism have eventually brought it all unstuck. The interests of main steam surfing and ordinary surfers have been ransomed by large public companies, wealthy individuals and a mindless marketing machine and media. The feedback here and elsewhere demonstrate how disillusioned people are becoming. Just as with a runaway stock market bubble we are starting to see the start of a serious correction.

Good to see the good old Sheep Shagger's leading the charge to reclaim the breaks in the name of Joe Average Surfer with the paddle out at ASP comp. Good on ya digger that's the old ANZAC spirit! Give us a yell if you need reinforcements and the true believers will all paddle over.

So what about the guy who got hit by a jetski, sorry I live under a rock I have never heard of a surfer being hit(to my amazment)

By: "shaun"

Sorry for the delay Shaun, Dave was hit by a runaway Jetski at a contest at Dbah about a year ago (Dave was a spectator on a SUP and way outside the comp area), smashed him up pretty bad (financially and physically), was in hospital for a lonnggggg time, like months! Ski rider was off duty QLD lifeguard working for the comp organisers and allegedly [and I say again ALLEGEDLY] lots was wrong, no legal right in water in NSW (comp or lifeguard), defective wrist safety strap, ski was defective etc etc etc. It was one of the big three that organised the comp but forget which one but now everyone's running for cover screaming "it wasn't me" with all sorts of legal complications and Dave is still in the shit!

To be honest I thought there would be big ramifications for all comps and especially jet skis over this but perhaps it will only come after the court action because it's going to be a doozy! Personally I hope Dave gets zillions cos he deserves it!

Ever noticed how ALL the 'world champions' are sponsored by one of 'the big three''?

This thread has been really entertaining to read.

All the problems come back to 'competitive surfing' and all the crap that goes with it.
competitive surfing breeds all the ego, anger and greed. It breeds 'the champs', the sponsors and the money.

It only breeds the money if their 'champ' is a good looking clean cut dude who is portrayed as some kind of hero. the magazines are good for getting that message out there. ALL The magazines are paid for by the big companies advertising, so, you wont see any negative stuff in there or the magazine would lose advertising dollars.

Competitive surfing is the problem.
That is why crew are thinking about paddling out at the quick pro, in protest to one of the biggest contests.

i am not sure how the judges, the establishment can sit there and say 'yep this guy is the champ he scored 15.23 and the other guy, he is the loser he scored 15.21'

SURELY they should re-run the heat when the scores are that close, it reeks of politics.

Thanks Walrus,poor bloke. You would think with all that money those big companys have they would just look after him, it would have to be cheaper than paying lawyers. Over the years Ive seen how these people work, Ive known a few of these contest directors personally and I also have friends in local council and Parks. I have seen personally and been told by the council and parks guys, the contest directors will blatently lie and enter into into agreements they know they wont/can't keep.Countless times they haven't paid bills citing blown out budgets as an excuse, then they go to state goverment to overide the council and parks to waive the payment so they can repeat the whole fiasco the next year. All you surfers reading this, don't listen to peanut brains like Schmuko the clown it's not whinging it's telling egotistical bullies like him his time is coming.You young crew make a fashion statement, make it uncool to wear surfgear, though thinking about it thats got fuck all chance of working cause grass roots surfers have always shunned surfwear for fashion sake, the monster has grown to big.Think I'll crawl back under my rock.

All the problems come back to 'competitive surfing' and all the crap that goes with it.
competitive surfing breeds all the ego, anger and greed. It breeds 'the champs', the sponsors and the money.

It only breeds the money if their 'champ' is a good looking clean cut dude who is portrayed as some kind of hero. the magazines are good for getting that message out there. ALL The magazines are paid for by the big companies advertising, so, you wont see any negative stuff in there or the magazine would lose advertising dollars.

Competitive surfing is the problem.
That is why crew are thinking about paddling out at the quick pro, in protest to one of the biggest contests.

By: "hodaddy"

are you a goddamn COMMUNIST hodaddy???

All the problems come back to 'competitive surfing' and all the crap that goes with it.
competitive surfing breeds all the ego, anger and greed. It breeds 'the champs', the sponsors and the money.

It only breeds the money if their 'champ' is a good looking clean cut dude who is portrayed as some kind of hero. the magazines are good for getting that message out there. ALL The magazines are paid for by the big companies advertising, so, you wont see any negative stuff in there or the magazine would lose advertising dollars.

Competitive surfing is the problem.
That is why crew are thinking about paddling out at the quick pro, in protest to one of the biggest contests.

By: "hodaddy"

I think this attitude hugely simplifies the problem.

There are many aspects to the issue, the most obvious to me is that competition and aggression are innately human traits. All of us are competitive, some people however, are talented and therefore find themselves in an environment where their skills can only be rewarded via competitive means. For some it's business, others academia, a 'fortunate' few surfing.

However, they shouldn't be castigated on that alone as they are simply expressing their humanity. I firmly believe that, given the opportunity, most people would do likewise. Only when their competitive urges impinge on the rights of others should they be criticized. Therefore, to attack 'competition' as the root cause is to misunderstand the problem altogether.

Another issue is that people look back upon the early 70's in Australia (and S California) as a period that should be held up as an idyll. I don't think it should, and I was there! Don't believe the nostalgic hype; all of the romanticism is coming from young people who feel they missed something and are now trying to recreate it. They are, in the process, distorting and misinterpreting the values and beliefs of the time.

the guy was hit by one of the water patrol skis at the quik pro, on one of the days they contested it at dbah, severely broken leg, high up around the hip.Very bad injury and would have taken ages for it to heal!The ski rider was NOT wearing his wrist safety strap, and the other issue is that this took place well outside the contest area.HEAVY!

here is how it works in the surf and has always worked this way.
The Best Surfer In The Lineup ALWAYS deserves the best waves! That is the nature of the beast known as surfing.
Now correct me if I am wrong, but isnt Mick Fanning world champion? That being the case, he deserves the best waves, no point in arguing and getting in a fuss about it. Suck it up and get over it. You pricks complaining deserve to be run over by the ski, get a life and get on with it.
Hats off to Fanning and Bottle for a great method to get more waves.

here is how it works in the surf and has always worked this way.
The Best Surfer In The Lineup ALWAYS deserves the best waves! That is the nature of the beast known as surfing.
Now correct me if I am wrong, but isnt Mick Fanning world champion? That being the case, he deserves the best waves, no point in arguing and getting in a fuss about it. Suck it up and get over it. You pricks complaining deserve to be run over by the ski, get a life and get on with it.
Hats off to Fanning and Bottle for a great method to get more waves.

By: "adam"

Not where I live dickhead, this has to be a wind up.

I agree with the post that says you shouldn't blame competition. Surfing's the same as rugby league, AFL, cricket, the winter olympics - the best rise to the top and pretty much all of us follow some kind of sport and like to watch the best compete.
Surfing does differ though in that there's a lack of control in the playing area. It's every man (and woman) for themselves especially at places like Snapper and d'bah. I'm actually amazed that they're aren't more injuries. Can't comment on the original post as I wasn't there but I've had my share of run-ins at Snapper over the years and yes, it was just as bad in the 70's. Not as crowded, but guys like MP, Rabbit and PT didn't like sharing they're waves either. Fact is, the better you are, the best position you're in and the more you get.
I wouldn't even bother paddling out at the contest. Just wait till they all piss off and get your share during winter when they're interstate or overseas. I always watch Bells and the other contests online. Watched the Pipe Masters etc on ESPN as well. Thought it was great.

I agree with the post that says you shouldn't blame competition. Surfing's the same as rugby league, AFL, cricket, the winter olympics - the best rise to the top and pretty much all of us follow some kind of sport and like to watch the best compete.
Surfing does differ though in that there's a lack of control in the playing area. It's every man (and woman) for themselves especially at places like Snapper and d'bah. I'm actually amazed that they're aren't more injuries. Can't comment on the original post as I wasn't there but I've had my share of run-ins at Snapper over the years and yes, it was just as bad in the 70's. Not as crowded, but guys like MP, Rabbit and PT didn't like sharing they're waves either. Fact is, the better you are, the best position you're in and the more you get.
I wouldn't even bother paddling out at the contest. Just wait till they all piss off and get your share during winter when they're interstate or overseas. I always watch Bells and the other contests online. Watched the Pipe Masters etc on ESPN as well. Thought it was great.

By: "greeny"

Surfing is not similar to these sports in any way, shape or form. The vast majority of surfers do not compete in any form at all, while any other sport you mention you are either training or doing it competitively. Surfing can survive without competiton but none of those other sports can. Your statement is wrong on so many levels. I am heading off for a recreational game of AFL....see anyhting wrong with that statement?

Where do you live Shaun? Cause it is like that the whole world over except for a few outposts like cactus. You just need to surf better if you want the pick of the waves. And no it wasnt a wind up at all, just simple facts that are the way they are.
Deal with it or go play another sport and stop whinging about competition surfing because without it surfing would stagnate.
Life sometimes sucks, like if Fanning and Bottle didn't get the shoot done theirs would have sucked on the day in mention. That's how they put food on their tables and support their families.
Tell me that in their position you would have acted any differently.
No-one owns the waves and no one polices them either, if we did have policing of the waves then we would all be in a better position to get more waves, but they don't so it is dog eat dog.
Watch how many waves you wouldnt get if the surf was policed, you wouldnt be allowed out on good days at good spots because you would just be wasting the good ones and they could be better surfed by better surfers.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Where do you live Shaun? Cause it is like that the whole world over except for a few outposts like cactus. You just need to surf better if you want the pick of the waves. And no it wasnt a wind up at all, just simple facts that are the way they are.
Deal with it or go play another sport and stop whinging about competition surfing because without it surfing would stagnate.
Life sometimes sucks, like if Fanning and Bottle didn't get the shoot done theirs would have sucked on the day in mention. That's how they put food on their tables and support their families.

Tell me that in their position you would have acted any differently.
No-one owns the waves and no one polices them either, if we did have policing of the waves then we would all be in a better position to get more waves, but they don't so it is dog eat dog.
Watch how many waves you wouldnt get if the surf was policed, you wouldnt be allowed out on good days at good spots because you would just be wasting the good ones and they could be better surfed by better surfers.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

By: "adam"

Tell us more Adam,Your putting up a very good argument against Mick and young Bottles behavior. I think you topped everyone in pointing out how self centered and selfish they are, yet you didn't realize it. I reckon that would be your so up yourself you think your one of them, you are soo funny. Have fun when you surf those outposts.

Read the first sentence again Simsurf. It states that in any sport, be it surfing, cricket or AFL, the best rise to the top. I was addressing the question of competition. And there's nothing wrong with your last statement. All those sports mentioned can be played at a social level, or just for enjoyment. Backyard cricket, kicking goals with a couple of mates at the park, bowling a few games alone. I went down the park for a recreational game of soccer with my son not long ago, mucking around kicking goals and the like. And we weren't competing with anyone.

i have lost at recreational cricket, tennis and golf.

never lost at surfing though.

If mighty Mick was playing recreational cricket against a little kid he'd probably get a six stitcher, come in from a full run off and bowl a beamer right at his scone.
Then he'd go back, purch on his swiss ball and wank himself while his headphones blast the soothing sounds of his own victory interviews...all complete with his predictable, regugitated vocabulary..."Amazing...fantastic...guys...blah blah blah.
I'm so glad I came through the mid eighted to mid ninties as a surf stoked grommet, the pro's back then at least had an individual personality,,,and didn't list their hobbies as "fitness"...(check out the asp site pro profiles it's at least 80% of them).

all you comp head lovers can go smoke each others poles, saying you need pros and a world tour to progress is just outright fuckin bullshit, where are all the modern moves coming from you tossers, answer =skateboarders, they dont need a world tour and a giant spanka thon world trip, they just skate do the od demo for the groms and are more than happy to share the park with everybody when they tour, the world tour sucks anus, pro skaters have a better handle on it, there aint no serious world chumps for sk8ing and bout time pro surfers on tour took their heads out of the ASP's datehole, get a grip you dingo felching nobs, baaaaaaaaa

What a brilliant thread to read - it has been keeping me entertained for over a week! It seems pretty obvious that Michael (or is that Eugene) and Mr Bottle were probably a little out of line, but I would like to hear what they have to say about the issue. Perhaps they thought that they were entertaining everyone in the line up, unaware that they were, in actual fact, giving everyone the shits. Did anyone in the line up that fateful day think to (politely) remind them that they were not acting in the spirit of surfing and possibly damaging their reputation by acting like tools? Having to compete with a pro surfer is not somehting that I have worry about down here in Victoria - seems the water is too cold for them when the waves are really pumping - i.e in the middle of winter, but I can imagine it would be very frustrating when most of us only get limited opportunities to surf good waves. Any chance of inviting one or both of them to post their point of view? I am sure that the swell net boys would know how to contact them. Great website - keep up the good work.

Competition is a great way for people with similar interests to have a get together at the beach. Now Pro surfing is just an extension of that, they all started at a local club level and extended it from there by being good at it. Surfing competitions keep a lot of grommets excited about surfing and keeps them away from the seedier side of the drug culture that used to be part of surfing. The sport has cleaned up a lot since the ultra professional era of the Hardmans, Carrols, Potters and the likes started to get big contracts. That has been the best thing to happen to surfing.
As for Fanning and Bottle, well they did it and now it is done. Shit happens.
Don't bag pro surfing and it's place in the surfing world without looking at the big picture, just makes you look like a narrow minded sook who will one day be complaining to the local authorities about the loud music being played down the street while you are trying to get to sleep at 8:30 in the evening after returning from bingo!
Pack of whinging babies on this post.

This thread delivers!

Hey Adam, I wouldn't call the people who dont agree with you narrow minded whingers,but that's your right of opinion and it's amusing. I would call you naive and misinformed, I would have thought that what goes on behind the scenes of pro surfing was the "seedier side of surfing". I don't think there has ever been any real push for drug testing, as half the tour would have to go into rehab.

Shaun, now who is the one who is misinformed?
Every competitor in the ISA world games is drug tested, the Junior worlds are drug tested and didn't Neco loose his spot on tour through failing a drug test?

OOOHH I'm sorry Adam I thought we were talking about professional surfers, they'd be in the ASP who don't do any drug testing, but maybe I'm wrong. I don't buy surf mags or follow who's winning the comp's. Maybe you should take a trip out to these outposts you mention, and check out the underground rippers, these guy's get more waves just like the pros but the don't snake any one or get towed in. They get waves cause the know how to read the ocean, a classic example is Ry Craike surfing his home break Jakes. He doesnt paddle inside all the time he can't, he'd have to climb over half a dozen other guys but anyone who has been in the water when he's surfing knows, waves come too him he just pulls them out of thin air. Take a trip to g-land I'm not sure if this guy is still there but I'd be pretty sure some of you guy's would have seen him, he was a surf guide there a couple of years ago. His name is Matt Dibble, young Adam would paddle past Matt and just write him off as an old overweight kook, I mean he's shaped like a barrel and in his early forties but those who have seen this guy know that it's like watching a surf movie live, my point is this guy and Ry get shitloads of waves without upseting anyone and there are heaps of guys around Australia who are red hot but dont feel the need to push other surfers out of the way and do a decent days work to put food on the table for there family. When I was you I had much the same attitude as you Adam cept I didn't idolise pro surfers I was in awe of there talent.One day in the mid 80's I was surfing a well known point just me and my mate, only 2ft and a fat balding old kook paddle out, we thought we were pretty hot so we didn't have share with him. There weren't enough waves we told him so, he didn't say anything just got a few scraps and went in.Next day it's 8ft and cooking, fat baldy paddles past say's hi and smiles, Gavin Rudholph blew me out with his surfing that day and taught me heaps. Pull ya head in Adam

Bilvis are you having me on? Layne and Steph not glamours! Just what kind of homo are you mate?.By the way is that a picture of you or your dog.I,d give you examples of what i mean,t
but i don,t think it would nice to mention names.

Shaun I live in an outpost, we have our share of hardcore surfers here and we also get a few pro's dropping past from time to time. I also travel to a lot of other outposts to surf, and yep Gland is one of them. I have never told anyone to go in and I dont go about burning people, I do cop a lot of burnings from our dose of blow-ins but it doesnt bother me because there is always going to be more waves, they keep on coming in month after month and year in and year out.
However when we do get pro surfers in our region I am more than happy to let them have waves and super stoked to see the level of performance that their surfing is at. You seem to be misreading what I have to say.
P.S. Neco Padaratz was banned from the ASP Professional Tour. So I was talking about pro surfing.

I saw a surf movie years ago called step into liquid where this jet ski was doing tow ins in small waves and I wondered then how long it would be before a bunches of kooks started doing this at my local break in small waves. To hear a world champ was the one is shocking news to say the least. My father, God bless his soul, moved our family to the coast to get my asthmatic brother better health and actively encouraged us to surf. In all seriousness I wonder if these jet ski boys stopped to ponder if chewing up thirty litres of petrol next to paddling surfers might trigger an asthma attack in one of them. Sadly my cousin the same age as my brother died from an asthma attack. I for one never want to see a jet ski in the line up no matter how big the surf is.
On a lighter note the day W-bat posted this was the day of monster paddle in comp was on at Mavricks with some of the finest big wave paddle in surfing ever. If you really want to be inspired to stick with paddle in surfing then check out the photos at www.billabongxxl.com/monster-paddle/index.html
Perhaps Mick could redeem himself and show us what a great surfer can do and win this competition next year. Good luck! from Jrock

New forum with the worlds longest thread....I missed the discussion where Layne and Steph's looks became topic but Pablo, Christ O' mighty son, if you think they're hot you must of went to school in boys town. WOOF!

Looks like he's been doing it all over the country - check out the 29th of January for some photos.

http://www.epicswells.com/

Aw, they've gotta put food on the table.

Goofy,lay off the porno,s before your eyes are completly destroyed. Judging by your thread a bit of school would,nt hurt either.
Ps I,am 50yrs old ,if you really want to call me son go ahead but you,d want be a real old c#$%#.

Lewis Samuels says it all at postsurf.com. Commercial surfing in their never ending search for expanding markets have given us nothing but contests and crowds of self obsessed dickheads. I remember when all the boys were raving about going to Japan to make money . What did we end up with? An invasion of new surfers. Great! .Last trip to west Java i find myself surounded by guys from country,s, like Poland and Russia! Now on the news i hear some wanker is over in China to teach them how to surf. What next India!
I know it was done in good faith at the time, but maybe teaching the Indo,s to surf wasn,t such a good idea. Been over there lately ? I think the corporations benefited more than the average surfer. Lets face it the worlds breaks are finite.

Great Leapin Jesus I leave the thread to go off into the ever lovin wilderness for a few days of quite waves and I come back to find all this serious thinking has taken place! Well first to address Pablo's thoughts. For a start Pablo old Son, and I can call you that because I am indeed a very crusty old %#@t, I agree with you and Mr Samual's sage assessment about commercialism in surfing. You may of course have already gathered this from my fierce surmons and pronouncements on the subject.

But on reading further it appears our correspondent Adam, or one of the other disciples of the gifted and elite has raised a valid point, and that is that surf competitions are like NRL or AFL, and comp surfing is the gladiatorial knock down drag em out sport of the elite. And when the Elite are in the water the innocent recreational surfer needs to just stay clear lest he/she risk becoming just one more collatoral damage statistic on the ledger of the big game. Well to my mind Adam or his fellow traveller pretty has much sumed up the current situation. But I got to thinking that maybe the big men of commercial surfing need to actually go and stage their megadeath struggles in a suitable gladiatorial arena worthy of their superior talents and groaning egos. Just like their fellow competitors in other sports. That way the rest of us majority could just get on with our fun without the hype, the comps and the champs, and folks like Adam could live their lives vicariously, 24/7 through their hero's victories. After all when your having a quite game of touch fotty with your mates, you wouldn't want big Wally Lewis stampeding down the paddock after you.

Add to this that BIG THREE have got plenty of mega bucks to construct any amount artificial wave arenas to further their competition zeal. Places where the sky will always be blue, the swell always on and the winds perfect off shore, just like true surf champs deserve. Then the rest of us can be left to get on with ordinary life, dealing with the vagaries of mortal weather and surf, and the ever perpetual slop and on shores. Not a bad deal if you ask me!

Great Leapin Jesus I leave the thread to go off into the ever lovin wilderness for a few days of quite waves and I come back to find all this serious thinking has taken place! Well first to address Pablo's thoughts. For a start Pablo old Son, and I can call you that because I am indeed a very crusty old %#@t, I agree with you and Mr Samual's sage assessment about commercialism in surfing. You may of course have already gathered this from my fierce surmons and pronouncements on the subject.

But on reading further it appears our correspondent Adam, or one of the other disciples of the gifted and elite has raised a valid point, and that is that surf competitions are like NRL or AFL, and comp surfing is the gladiatorial knock down drag em out sport of the elite. And when the Elite are in the water the innocent recreational surfer needs to just stay clear lest he/she risk becoming just one more collatoral damage statistic on the ledger of the big game. Well to my mind Adam or his fellow traveller pretty has much sumed up the current situation. But I got to thinking that maybe the big men of commercial surfing need to actually go and stage their megadeath struggles in a suitable gladiatorial arena worthy of their superior talents and groaning egos. Just like their fellow competitors in other sports. That way the rest of us majority could just get on with our fun without the hype, the comps and the champs, and folks like Adam could live their lives vicariously, 24/7 through their hero's victories. After all when your having a quite game of touch fotty with your mates, you wouldn't want big Wally Lewis stampeding down the paddock after you.

Add to this that BIG THREE have got plenty of mega bucks to construct any amount artificial wave arenas to further their competition zeal. Places where the sky will always be blue, the swell always on and the winds perfect off shore, just like true surf champs deserve. Then the rest of us can be left to get on with ordinary life, dealing with the vagaries of mortal weather and surf, and the ever perpetual slop and on shores. Not a bad deal if you ask me!

By: "fergus-mcdingo"

YES

that is highly insightful post from Fergus McDingo, love your work.

Dont read the mags, dont buy their gear or wear their products.
Let the pros push the boundaries of the "sport".
Respect others and enjoy the simple act of surfing.

They're just like the advertising gimmicks in that episode of the Simpsons that came to life and tried to kill everyone....They only exist if you let them, "just don't look, just don't look"...