PHOTOS of a greedy world champ and his clown mate Bottle
Well there's no doubt that is a display of poor form.
Why wait for the safety 'net' to display your thoughts though?
You should have made it clear with a short 30m paddle deeper and a quick conversation informing the perpetrators, in no uncertain terms of their wrong doing..... basically to 'pull their f....ing head in'. If need be. Plus the fact that is illegal and dangerous.
It is the photog's/media/money that drive this sort of behavior.
There has been some very good points put forward. Most importantly the control of this behavior is through the right channels being the Maritime Safety Authority in your state. Get the vessels rego details and report it! They will be fined and remember they are doing it to make money. When they start losing money for it. They will stop.
The short term fix, punch to the head/smack on the bum! Though very satisfying at the time, is just that. We need to take the toys from them.
Maybe we need some kind of surf judiciary like the NRL has, so that these boofheads can be held accountable for their off field behavior.
Here's a thought. When the magazine article comes out with the pictures of Mick and bottle making dicks of themselves, if the photos are incriminating send the article to the marine board or whoever and they can take it from there, let them hang themselves.
Reply to Rosco,
Mate good call, Luke Egan is a champion bloke! I had the good fortune of meeting him and Matt Hoy another great dude up near a back beach near Foster quit a few years back now, they spent the arvo calling us into some bomb sets, even encourage my mate who was a begginer into some sets.
Fanning an Co need a smack in the head, why did no one stand up to them. come to Narra boys and no matter who you are be rude and well knock ya block off.
shame in some areas surfing is not fun, when we all should enjoy the surf and have a laugh.
Cheers and enjoy your next surf!!!
Well comrades, after looking at all the comments on this thread it’s clear that the tow in saga of “Mick and Bottle” and their collective disregard for ordinary surf mortals has become a lightening rod for the wider dissent that is quietly eating away at the sprockets, cogs and wiring of the commercial surf industry megalith like a deep space alien’s acid blood.
I reckon right now, the bottled up discontent is a bit like a small smoldering fire among the dodgy electrical wiring and unused toilet roles, in the broom closet up there on the 85th floor of that big new sky scrapper in downtown Dubai. All it needs is some dope to just crack the door just a tiny bit, let in a bit of oxygen, and POOF, “one flash and your ash”!
Anyway I’ve scoured my rapidly diminishing brain cells for a historic parallel that might provide a bit of guidance on what grizzly end awaits the Big Three’s cash bag Zeppelin when the gas cells finally blow and the control wires part their last strands.
Then suddenly it hit me like Tsunami on the Clarence River Bar – The Iranian Revolution! The fall of the Shar and the rise of the Aytollah!
I was gripped by the thought that we’re headed for a complete spiritual and religious transition, a conversion from Surf Capitalism to Surf Theocracy!
I knew there was only one person who could give me the right guidance I needed on such a vast historic paradigm. So I picked up the phone and punched in the number for the Lakemba Mosque.
“The Sheik” picked up on the second ring and after some brief salutations I mapped out my problem to him.
He just laughed and said he had seen all this coming a long time ago. He’d even dropped his subscription to Tracks after it ditched the tabloid format and hit the $3.00 mark, “and well the Cronulla riots just topped it off” he reckoned.
He said that a theological revolution was probably needed in order to boot the money men out of the Temple of the Celestial Surf Garden. He reckoned that in any good revolution the best way to bring everything back into the right perspective is to issue a few Fatwa’s and clean up the non believers.
Then, blow me down if he didn’t say, ”I’m happy to sort this out for you jokers, no worries. Just hang on a minute”. He put down the phone and there was some muttered incantations, then some high pitched jabbering in Farsi.
As I listened there was a combination of clicking, an electrical hum and static which I took to be an ASIO listening device. Then he came back on the line again and said, “She’s all fixed, I’ve sent word to “Huey” and ordered a “drop in Fatwa” on Mick and Bottle, so she’s all a goer, now go forth and spread the word.
So there you have it viewers, the first shot of the revolution has now been fired and the "First Drop in Fatwa" is in place. So if I were you I’d put on my tin helmet and tighten my jock strap, cause I reckon we’re all in for a savage ride down the pipe.
crikey fergus, what was that about?
KEEP this thread alive!
Hey Stu,
Pretty big thread on here, no comment from you?
Nah, none from me. Seems to be motoring along just fine...
Got my thoughts on such issues though, don't worry about that.
I would be cautious, however, of info spread across the net and getting caught up in an internet mob raising their pitchforks in anger.
Got my thoughts on such issues though, don't worry about that.
I would be cautious, however, of info spread across the net and getting caught up in an internet mob raising their pitchforks in anger.
By: "stunet"
Not too many pitchforks.
I'm torn between a confrontation in the water which is typically won by the biggest and the meanest..... not always the one in the right.
Or..... airing it publicly in what ever form is available such as here on swellnet.
16 000 people have at least viewed it, most would have read some of it, most would have had/formed some opinion and looking at responses here, agreed with the original point.
Let keep the momentum and maybe just maybe claim back a little bit of the integrity of this activity.
Sorry about that. A bit of a rush of blood to the head there. Too much religious ferver. I've had a couple of Bex now and feel much better!
Fergus did you make sure that Goodvibes recieved the fatwa? This could be a job for the Pig Of Steel.
Easy solution , which I know has been pointed out already ....DONT BUY RIP CURL, BILLABONG, RUSTY,QUIKSILVER AND DONT DRINK FUCKIN REDBULL (what the fuck has redbull got to do with surfing?). That is the only way the everyday common surfer can make a collective impact on the state of todays surf situation. The end result of years of collective boycotting of the major surf brands ?? Less money in the sport = fewer sponsored riders = less competition with lower prize pools = diminished media interest in the sport = less people taking up the sport due to lack of exposure = fewer people in the line up as surfings popularity dwindles away and ends up on the shelf next to the rollerblades. You would be surprised how fast your spending could make a difference. SUPPORT LOCAL BRANDS MADE AND OWNED IN AUSTRALIA !!
PS. It is only in relatively recent history that pro surfers would be even able to afford Jetskis ! Ripcurl wont be forking out for jetskis once there shrinking profits become a reality ! Make you dollars count.
And start telling people how much surfing sux !! Encourage your friends to take up tennis or indoor soccer instead. I'll be doing my part
Sounds good Gooch, only one thing to add , don,t buy boards of guys that give them away to pro,s and wannabe,s. It,s bound to be cheaper anyway.
While you can, buy boards off the old guard who are still handshaping them and have decades of experience. We are soon to lose a generation of shapers that have seen most of the evolution in the modern surfboard.
e wrote:SUPPORT LOCAL BRANDS MADE AND OWNED IN AUSTRALIA !!
But I like some of the stuff from overseas. Some are more ethical and enviro friendly than local goods too, even when you fly them in. Don't make me buy crap Australian stuff just because it's Australian :-(
oops forgot to spell check,
cliff are you seriuos,australian crap, you are a tool, invented all the good stuff, um er the short board revolution and the thruster to name a few, and the rest blah blah blah
Settle Mr Patriot ;-) It's all good. I have a southern cross tattoo too. I know, Australia is THE BEST maaaaaate.
Oh, and what would an Australian spellcheck be like ...
Hey gromfull I don't think Australia can claim to be the only influence in modern surfboard design. Wasn't Greenough from USA?
Anyway I think Clif is on the money as usual
I agree with Flow, the only reason Australia has ANY claim to the 'shortboard revolution' was because the US gave us George Greenough.
such interesting reading. so many opinions.
So many topics raised (ettiquette, commercialism, boycotts, aggression, localism, innovation). maybe its worth starting a new thread for some of them.
I'm just glad its generally too cold and far away for these guys to get here.
Luckily the best breaks here are point breaks, where you couldn't whip in on a jet ski anyway.
Have to say that I am totally against using jet skis anywhere near a break that it is possible to paddle onto. But if they want to go ride some far off ocean reef that otherwise is impossible to surf, then good on them. Thats what pushing the boundaries is all about.
If you want to boycot the major labels, there are plenty of new independant brands out there. For the most part they are just as good if not better quality. Trouble is its not that easy to find them. the well established stores just wont stock them as they are already tied up with the major labels.
I am involved with 1 of these new brands(no free plugs, as I don't want to get kicked off the site), and in my experience, you have to sell them on the web or get them into new stores (generally owned/run by young guys/girls).
If you want to find new brands, search the web and lookout for new stores. It can be a bit of work but you will probably end up with a good wetsuit, surfboard, boardies at about 1/2 the price of the big brands.
Very sorry guys, I'm gettin a little tired of hearing how some boards are "Eco friendly" etc. so I'm gunna have a little rant. No matter what you make them out of, all surfboards are no where near environmentally friendly! Resins, foams, rubber wetsuits, board shorts, they're all made from chemi's. Even the stuff they soak the yarn in to make the fibreglass cloth stick to the resin is bad. Even if you made a timber board with no chemi's at all it would still be bad. AND the overseas factories that a surprisingly large amount of name brand boards and pretty much all the clothing are made in are nothing short of fucked up, there are no ethics and no concerns about the environment, only the money matters.
Personally I wouldn't buy a board from anyone I cant go and talk to so I always buy locally. Different strokes for different blokes.
Thanks I feel better.
Hi everybody, first time post on this GREAT new Swellnet site...
Just to get this thread back on track (and also to tie in on the comments about shapers and brand names), it's not only pros or world champs that have inflated egos and no regard for everyone else in the water.
Me and 2 other mates regularly surfed south straddy, usually sticking to the northern end of the beach to avoid the crowds (and the associated agro) and often ended up surfing with the same crew of older guys. We always had great times with this regular crew, no hassles, no agro, heaps of waves for everyone.
One morning on a small to medium sized day (with the usual crew on the usual peak) we see a Jet Ski come flying towards us, these 2 f...wits start whipping into the peak we are sitting on. Driving straight at us, whipping through the middle of the pack then driving the ski over the top of everyone to go and pick up the surfer and tow him back out. They even hit one of my mates with the ski as he came up from duck diving a set…. As expected the whole crew blew up, telling then where they could stick their jet ski and pointing out that there was a whole f…ing beach further north with no surfers for them to use. They went and played around on the empty waves for while then came back, anchored the ski and proceeded to paddle in and sit inside everyone.
The guy that had been getting towed paddled over to me to tell me about all the fun they’d been having whipping into these little peaks. What a real f…wit, it was us he had just been running over….
Then one of my mates realised who he was, it was one of the Gold coast’s “BIG NAME” shapers. And to make it worse my mate was riding one of his boards….
I live in a hut on top of a rock, so maybe some of you blokes from town could compile a registrar of no name brands that we could support.I don,t really care how much they make ,I,ll pay so long as ther,re not sponsoring a whole big top full of trained circus monkeys.
Well, it's been announced in tracks"TOW IN SURFING IS DEAD" will someone please pass that on to Mick and Bottle.
PHOTO LINK ON PAGE 15.
Ever think you are being fed the spin..... "what a top bloke" etc etc etc
About two weeks ago ago went for the late arvo surf at one of the locals. Paddle out into the line up and who should be gracing us with their presence but Mick Fanning and Jay Bottle Thonpson.
Now the surf was fair to good and would have been great, it was just quite inconsistent and most sets had only on wave. Offshore shoulder high and barreling.
Probably ten guys out sitting waiting for the sets. The in between waves just did not break.
Now our two legends decide they are a bit more important than anyone else and start towing in. Yes shoulder high with a crew out and they start towing through the pack. And they took every wave that came through.
As soon as they flicked off, immediate pick up and straight out the back sitting 30 mtrs out and slightly inside. Sure enough next set and they take that one too. I was out there for an hour and and the only waves that anyone else rode were on the rare occasions that a two wave set came through.
From what I believe "towing" when there are surfers in the water is illegal. But regardless that is just plain greed and contemp for every other surfer in the water.
We get fed a lot of b.s. in the media. "Top bloke" Mick, nice aussie bloke "bottle". I've always been sceptical of these claims and seeing these two in action was just reduced their credibility to zero.
I saw on Mick Fanning's twitter page later that he talks about surfing one spot in the morning and whip in's at this spot in the afternoon right next to the photo of his dopey smiling face. It could have spewed. He forgets to mention that he burnt every other surfer in the water that day.
If you know these two clowns please let them know that they are no better or more important than anyone else. They are not better humans, they have no additional rights and could they please deflate their egos and bring their over inflated self importance in check.