Logan's Run
Not that anyone engaged with the rich tapestry of their own life should really give a shit about who helms the WSL, but we should have seen it coming anyway.
“It” being, as we all know, the elevation of former Mouseketeer Erik Logan to Top Cheese at the Wozzle, as outgoing CEO Sophie Goldschmidt updates her SEEK profile and stares into space for a bit.
The rise of this one-time Countdown host has occurred in lockstep with the build-up of “content” on the WSL platforms. You know the gear: the Brilliant Corners, the PURE, the Rising Tides, the Sound Waves, the ECO schtick, the earnest podcasts, the relentless #instappropriation of anyone’s good stuff.
Permit us to speculate on the sequence of events that might have led to this glorious state of affairs:
At some stage it must have been agreed – possibly during that memorable 13-minute Simpson V Andre lull of 2015 – that the spectacle of competition alone may not be enough to win over the masses, no matter how furiously or often Turps would pull the talkie-doll string on Pottz’s back.
If backs of heads staring out to the horizon won’t do the trick, surely back stories would win hearts and minds, the thinking went.
When excavation of the athletes’ rich inner lives turned up fuck-all, the decision to look beyond the pro-bubble – to become the storyteller of all things surfing – was sown.
Five years on, the Wozzle identifies itself more as Media Company first, Competitive Surfing Organisation next, with grinning former X-Factor contestant Logan perched atop it.
Dunno what you reckon, but IMO the Wozzle Studios’ how-good-is-surfing output is dishwater most of the time. It’s well-resourced, well-executed and all, but it never quite catches you off guard the way a story’s supposed to.
And so: Surfing is good, especially for poor dark-skinned people; on the balance of things, it’s healthier to go for a surf than, say, be in a gang doing crime stuff; young girls are excited to surf with their heroines, and look at how sweet the heroines are to the kidlets because – get this – they can remember being young themselves!; see the surf star picking plastic off the beach; see the army vet/famous DJ/philanthropic comedienne/F1 driver/headless spastic kiddie* getting a sweet ride at the surf ranch.
All fair enough I suppose. But how-good-is… gets irritating real quick, as we know.
The irony here, of course, is that we’re unworthy of the WSL’s extraordinary efforts when it comes to the matter of putting on and presenting a surfing contest.
Forget the Brilliant Corners, put aside your beef with the commentary, throw down your Eliminate-The-Non-Elimination-Round placard and think instead of the technical professionalism and teamwork that lies behind those three-or-four replay angles. Think of the military-grade logistics of getting those events in and out of town, the never ending challenges the ever-changing elements must throw up.
You’d have to think stuff happens every single day on those comps that could derail the show, and every day some champion holds it all together with gaffer tape and bubble wrap.
But in the Wozzle’s quest to own the storytelling space, (to give us all warm ‘n’ fuzzies in the hope that somehow this will translate into ... whatever it is they’re hoping to happen …) they’re undermining the stories they share so capably.
I mean, just off the top of my head, if I think back to the Triple Crown, I can remember heaps of great stuff: seeing Slater on his guts in a Haleiwa trough, thinking that the old boy wasn’t gonna get to his feet, then emitting an audible groan at that rail turn that snuck him into the quarters. I remember being spellbound by a lot of the surfing through the Sunset Comp: Ethan Ewing’s full-rail carves out of the lip and back into the big leagues; Robbo turning the break into something else; kinda hoping Zeke would pull it out of the hat but resenting him for all the times he let me down on Fantasy Surfer; marvelling at how hard the smiling Saffirs charge; being stoked there was gonna be another Aussie to root for in Morgan Cibilic.
(A quick aside – of the human interest stories, the most compelling for mine was on the sand at Pipe: Rosie patiently waiting to interview Italo in the frenzy of his world title moment. For about two seconds, the possibility of Italo tearfully porking his missus then and there – and Rosie becoming unwitting adult-movie boom operator rather than interviewer – became all too real.)
These were stories I constructed myself, from the material provided by incredible surfers simply trying to surf better than each other. Which in itself is pointless. But for reasons I can’t explain, I don’t tire of it. I’m completely engaged and it’s a credit to the WSL that it’s beamed to me so well and for free.
Try to feed me some side content about how surfing is a magic force for good, however, and I’ll run screaming from the contrivance.
Anyway, it’s a long way from repeated American Idol auditions to running the Wozzle. Let’s hope Logan rides more waves, watches more heats, and surprises us.
*Quote from Captain Goodvibes circa ‘81
Ding Alley is two mates: cartoonist Dave McArthur and writer Gra Murdoch. They may be the most successful Surf Media team ever to come out of Footscray TAFE.
Comments
Totally agree.
I’m eternally impressed with the sheer efficiency of the way the Wozzle manages to spend the taxpayer’s dollar when they’re in WA . The way they write checks with money diverted from funding hospitals for the locals, whose graft is skimmed and used to employ crew who are capable of engineering those camera angles .
Such talent !
The single consolation from Dirk Ziff trying to dominate and own the entire surfing world like a silver spooned Emperor Palpatine, is the knowledge that he is bleeding money in the attempt , and that we still manage to somehow skim free content whilst his Elite Economic Stormtroopers struggle year after year to put an optimistic spin on their red inked bottom line.
Elo can paint the town beige with his relentless corporate rhetoric, nothing is changing the fact that an avaricious billionaire is haemorrhaging the money he can never have enough of and in the meantime us surfers get free content.
Ziff is getting grifted by every surfer in the world. We will never monetise your shitty tone deaf content and you’ll never turn a profit with your attempts to exploit the world of surf....how’s that sound ?
Yeah....that sounds pretty bloody good to me, Blowin!
It must be awesome to have so much coin that you can piss such a substantial amount up against the wall and not even miss it.......
Cheques....
"another Aussie to root for"
Oh the irony in that language. Oblivious or trolling?
"We will never monetise your shitty tone deaf content and you’ll never turn a profit with your attempts to exploit the world of surf. "
Here here.
Whole show can disappear up its own arse - creepy bleached-teethed salesmen, nothing but wolves and vultures
I think these boys are writing for the wrong biggest little surf website in the whole wide world
I'd mug an old lady in the street for those teeth though.
damn red cordial as a kid.
LOL, they all holiday in Mex and have the teeth shaved and paved in white resin.
Dental holidays.
Mugging an old lady would be preferable to munching on Oprah’s carpet.
haha
You possess an earthy charm FR.
His are all probably dentures anyway, a childhood on the pipe I'm willing to bet.
Going the growl on Oprah?
The wozzle could learn a lot from snaketales
"no matter how furiously or often Turps would pull the talkie-doll string on Pottz’s back"
Someone buy these Footscray TAFE boys a beer!!!!
Lordy...I think I just snorted as I laughed.
“…the possibility of Italo tearfully porking his missus then and there – and Rosie becoming unwitting adult-movie boom operator…”
They sold out for the big $ and still claim to be struggling. Big fail all around.
Great surfing prevails even with only 1 camera angle.
It's a big club and us surfers ain't in it.
Anyone want to compile a list of other Aussies to root for?
Does Margot Robbie count?
Margot Robbie is Top 5 of my favourite women ever . So is Jamie Pressley.
Unfortunately....I think that they’re actually the same woman.
Top 3 for me re MR.
I just finished watching I,Tonya on Netty.
What a talent.
Yes MR counts, I've always considered Isabel Lucas to be truly beautiful. Although it was scary when she turned into an assassin-robot in a love scene.
Back to the increasing use of American terminology in Australia, this nice song will help you all stop doing it, my buddies:
I've encountered at least three kids at uni in the last few years who talk with American accents, and they've never been out of Australia.
Went to the Stanthorpe rodeo a few years ago, Australian country and western singers singing about Australian in Americaneese.
Throw in the hats and shirts and belt buckles and it was a pretty weird night.
"It was a transformational experience for me"
"The wetsuit felt like a suit of armour"
What a fucking bellend.
I don't understand why the whole world doesn't run a mile from people like this when they start vomiting such transparent garbage.
My guess has always been that Americans have been brainwashed since birth and have no bullshit detector.
Sidestepping Elo and Wozzle for a moment...
'Bell end' is a such a good idiom, and The Uplifting Bell Ends has gotta be one of the best band names ever.
Always loved the combination of Machine Gun Fellatio and The Vice Grip Pussies. Sounds like a hell of a night out/in.
and in and out and in and out again
Logan (surf nickname grogan has a ring to it) has i am afraid to say picked up SUP riding quite well for a late comer to surfing. But end of praise...
- if he gets ziffy to build 500 quality artificial reefs around the world substantially increasing the net surf supply in the world he will be doing something positive for the surfing masses
- if he just strives to increase demand for a scarce resource as is currently the case he will be a blight on the sport.
I drove a long way to surf a crowded 4 foot righthander the other day. Spot could handle maybe 6 people and be fun - not a crowd if 16 and growing every minute. It pissed me off. No end of wsl feel good video crap can compensate for that reality.
Listening to the big cheese talk shows where the old septic tank yank term of endearment hails from .
This next year is going to be Very Interesting.............
Watched 30 secs of that ......that hollywood crap......put him back in his box and send him back to Barbie.
I can tell within 10 seconds......no within 1 second, whether a film or tele show has been made by a surfer, could be a jolting line of dialogue, hackneyed references to the weather or "nature", or even just the way the muscled up star holds his board that sets my antennae twitching.
I'll bet Erik Logan's don't
Fucking great read!
...the possibility of Italo tearfully porking his missus then and there... Hahahaha
I really enjoyed a lot of the sound waves,
For me personally as an adult with responsibilities.. I struggle to find time to watch surf contests extensively as I did ten or even 15 years ago.
I tuned in for pipe, some of Portugal, and a few others, its just that I find the format too long /
They seem to spend the most time and best swell in the two opening rounds.
Then they usually finish in mediocre waves or use the overlapping heat thingy.
Though the real crux is quite simply if the waves are good ,stuff the contest for I am going surfing rather than watching it !
Sound Waves works for sure, Heat Analyzer is a blessing too for catching up hey. The Woz does lots of stuff really well.
They have the building blocks for an epic sports franchise.... but no idea how to do it
I've said it before and I'm going to say it again now; The WSL can learn a lot from the cricket, commentary and the broadcast style.
It embraces the gentle pace of the sport, it has real characters and arguments live, it is authentic. The speech is quiet and in rhythm with the game and then HOWZAAATTTT???!!!! the sportsman have given them something to scream about. I feel the manufactured extreme sports commentary is nauseating, for us and the new watchers.
Absolutely, and the pan around the scenery they do beyond the oval is like the overviews of the lineup by drone. The pitch/lineup gets explained - lots of similarity.
hear hear
And it's history. Cricket (and football) embrace their history...classic matches...moments....players...the commentary team. WSL...is Pottz and 81 Bells and that's it.
good points, but there is more shit commentary than good in cricket unfortunately. but yeah - good parallels
+1
“My guess has always been that Americans have been brainwashed since birth and have no bullshit detector.”
Hence the term ‘Seppos’ or ‘Septics’…..short for septic tank
Yeah, nah. I think it has something to do with an outbreak of septicemia when American soldiers were here during WW2.
It's wild, they're the most credulous bunch of fuckers you'll ever meet.
*Quote from Captain Goodvibes circa ‘81
Doesn’t make it acceptable to me, sorry.
"Doesn’t make it acceptable to me, sorry"
Fixed it for you.
Fair enough. Thankfully the headless won’t see it
Erik could sit front and center on the main float in madigra
"mardi gras"
Your welcome
A SUP float at "Mardi gras".
Any chance we could get an actual surfer to run the show??
Is this a pitch Gra? ;)
I’ll be rooting for him (not)
What exactly is WSL’s specific set of goals?
You can wrap it up anyway you like and many have tried, but if most of us (dedicated surfers) can’t sit through more than an hour of a comp, wouldn’t travel to watch it live, sure as hell would not buy any of their merch than what hope do they have?
I doubt Davo from Darwin, Da-Xie from
Beijing or Dwayne from
Dallas aren’t suddenly going to develop a new obsession with surfing and all it is.
The hypocrisy and jealousy behind the comments here is palpable. Swellnet devotes more space to WSL events than any other media I'm guessing. Taking pot shots at people in powerful positions is pretty easy from behind a keyboard.
I'm sure there would be a long line of eager opinionators given the chance of a meet and greet with Eric the Supper and his merry band of board members.
much better to suck corporate dick eh Rexy?
Jealous of what?
ELO is the one who should be jealous, and I suspect on some level he might be.
I feel like more than 90% of SN’s content is not related to the WSL.
I think people are just commenting on the juxtaposition of what many feel surfing is about vs what the WSL is trying to sell / exploit / jam down people’s throats.
But as some have said before, pretty epic content given its all free
So the WSL morphs into a challenger for Red Bull in the competition to release the best content.
And then what ?
Red Bull isn’t making money from its content. It’s a dedicated loss under the banner of advertising for their actual product....Red Bull. They never intended to make profit by selling the content.
So , if there’s no money in content and it’s just a loss leader for product, what exactly is WSL’s product ?
Wave pools which aren’t selling right now despite having first mover advantage ? Wait till the global wave pool glut of 2022 and see how their economically unviable product works.*
And therein lies the gloriously insurmountable reality facing the Wicked Witch of surfing and his white-toothed flying monkeys.
*Assuming their tech doesn’t take a quantum leap towards wave rate increase. And assuming they don’t start buying out the competition around them.
Their product is the world championship, and fight to win it. Pure and simple. They own a surf league, nothing more. Make a product that is watchable and people will watch it. Make post- event 1 -3 hr digests that summarise they event with all the cut and thrust of the competition. Make stories about professional surfing, not instagrammers or lifestyle - they will get outcompeted on that front every day of the week by instagrammers and lifestyle shows. Better content = more eyeballs = more sponsorship (endemic or otherwise). The challenges with surfing is at the end of the day the scores are subjective, there is no big tech to talk about like in motor/yacht racing, and its not a tribal team sport.
Dose anybody feel sorry for the poor women who lost her job she will be remembered for equal prise money. I cant remember her name. Yeh who cares I cant remember any female contest O thats right I never watched any.
freeride, expect better of you my friend. Someone's gotta be at the top, not sure we have to suck their dick but probably no reason to character assassinate them either.
AndyM, as expected, no idea.
Says a lot about you that you would accept such blatant drivel without question.
Just another ball cupper.
Maybe make this bloke WSL’s President of Content, Media and Studios. That's entertainment worth paying for.
This was one of the greatest moments in pro surfing.
Isn't the real issue that the WSL, as the global owner of surfing, actually do not represent the majority of us?
From local board riders comes a good surfer, who progresses to the QS and eventually CT level. Great. An athlete and better surf than many of us. So what?
Most of us have surfed our entire life and are happy with our performance level.
Only a surfer knows the feeling, right?
So, why do we need, or even care about the wozzle, and who runs it, etc.?
It pays to know your enemy.
Where is the ELo X-factor video. I need to see this...
If they want to create interest stop trying to muzzle everyone and whitewash the character out of it.People want to see Kong pissed the fuck off because Curren smoked him again, they want to be a fly on the wall look at the next Occy have a mental breakdown. Imagine if Zeke blew the fuck up and called out Jack Robinson on the beach a punch on wouldn't of been front page news.
He probably didnt punch out Jack because Jack just signed with Volcom.
Logan's Run was great movie (and book). Didn't they all reach a certain age and get sucked up to the ceiling and explode? Maybe Sophie exploded?
I vote for a worldwide "drop in on the wozzle campaign" where we all target Logan, Potts, Turps, Kelly and other high profile WSL personalities with friendly shoulder hops so we can show them how much we enjoy their efforts to expand the numbers of surfers chasing a finite number of good surf spots.
Here you go Logan, coming to a beach near you...........
https://www.facebook.com/WSL/posts/10157131498467058?comment_id=45903782...
Without a hint of humour....that is truly Dirk Ziff and Elo’s wet dream.
More money !
.
Pfft, don't be so selfish Blowin.
It's our duty to see every major surf break become like that.
Noosa, Snapper and The Pass are almost already there.
Loved the article very interesting.
I think we are harsh on the wozzle. The viewing improvement is out of sight – my hand is up, I could watch it all day – they have a huge international audience with a myriad of audience-expectations to please – the “dishwater” may make the average Aussie / Seppo surfer groan – but appeal to the Latino or Japanese heart… there is no way to keep everyone happy.
I’d also be very happy to sling them a $50 to view, possibly removing all the ads – or whatnot.
That’s my 10 cents.
If you live in WA, QLD or Vicco you already are slinging them $50.
Taxpayers foot the bill for the contests in those states. And if you are a local in any of those locations you’re footing the bill by letting them take over your breaks for a few weeks and if you don’t like surfing in crowded surf then you’re footing the bill because increased crowds is an externalised cost to their business model.
Just like a tanning factory pumping chemicals into a river where the people downstream suffer or an aluminium smelter belching toxic gas into the air , the stated business model of the WSL is to increase market size ( surfers ).
Dirk Ziff does not wear this cost of his business....you do.
Yep the Wozzle is spending millions to detract from your surfing experience during contest periods obviously but also on a day to day basis. Even weirder they are losing money in doing so, and, to my mind, have no prospect of ever being profitable. Not that profitability = validation but at least that has some logic for all that effort and money.
I reckon ziffy wiffy should cut his Wozzle inheritance death spiral and do an Elon Musk and spend big dollars in a different self validation exercise, namely, sending an effigy of himself into outer space riding a surfboard to orbit endlessly around the solar system beaming back footage to earth of the occasional UFO. Maybe Turps and Pottz could be housed in a capsule in cool floral shirts alongside the space surfer filling every moment with commentary about getting progressive, air reverses and recalling back when Pottz won the title just for old times sake. A job for life and peace on earth.
That would be super cool and take pressure off a crowded surf seascape. Ultimately the reduction in greenhouse emissions from no Wozzle tour or associated millions of new (wozzle inspired) wanna be surfers driving around chasing waves would help good old planet earth. Greta would smile and millions of surfers would enjoy their sport a bit more.
Pottz ( 89 world champ ) : “ Back in my day , if you wanted to be shot into another orbit you just went to The Rock food with Hoyo. “
Well, at least they're continuing to invest heavily in quality content and products.
Such as this Instagram filter, which tells you which 2019 CT surfer you are.
https://www.facebook.com/WSL/videos/165501268036368/
The sport of kings. The Duke would be proud.
Hey Gra
Could you write a story on the surf camp in Nusa Tenggara ( not nihiwatu ) which was trying to claim exclusive access to the wave in front ?
I heard rumours that travelling surfers were threatened if they tried to surf the wave whilst not staying at the Aussie owned resort. It was in Sumbawa I think.
You should look into it !
It would make for interesting reading, it’s got all the right ingredients: Greed , neo-colonialism, disregard for the spirit of surfing and ....more greed !
The Duke would be proud !
You should use your skills in journalism to reveal the identities of the shitbags involved. Name and shame those cocksuckers , Gra !
No way! That is totally un-Australian!
It wasn't that spot in Sumbawa that has the White Horses living there, was it Blowin?
That sounds like it . Maybe I’ve been completely misinformed ?
Hopefully Gra can get to the bottom of it !
Hey Blowin. For sure it's an interesting story. And a similarly interesting, or confronting story (for me at least) is my place in all this. I don't know if this post here will go near to being adequate or whatever, or sound like a massive blameshifting exercise, but I'll just tap away and see how it goes.
Looking to that 'incident' at Tenggara Point Lodge. From what I was able to learn, that was a massive cock up and miscommunication by the onsite manager of the Lodge at the time – (A nice malay fella with a hotelier background who left the surf game not long thereafter.)
I commented to someone on FB at the time (in my role as Brand and Comms fella for Pegasus Lodges) that Pegasus and Tenggara were splittsville due to different values and this got me into an absolute, unforgettable world of hurt, (as they were still connected in a contractual detail way), and I had no right to announce that separation etc. Showed me for being the naive rookie I was. Fuck I got my arse handed to me. Bizarre to be right in the middle of it while working out of a spare bedroom in Wooloweyah.
In the interests of clarity, it should be stated that barring possibly one or two residual investors (former owners retaining a small, probs single figure % stake in Telo Island Lodge perhaps) both Pegasus and Tenggara are not Australian owned. And Pegasus and Tenggara are not connected.
I'd also state (for the record your honour) that as far as the perception of Pegasus being a big empire building machine goes, the Pegasus footprint in ALL of Indo extends to a total maxed out capacity of about 20 odd surfers at any one time, mostly averaging out at 16 in season. The equivalent of one and a half of the half dozen charter boats in the channel at Mishoes. For reasons of prudence or whatever, Pegasus has always been about small surfer numbers. There may be some other P operations opening up in the Pacific, but they will be small affairs.
OK, about the 'identities' etc, I can tell you that the owner of Tenggara puts a ton of his time and energy into The Innocence Project – a non profit that's exonerated over 350 wrongfully convicted people in the States, and I can tell you that the head guy at Pegasus is currently working his arse off – off season – on a Democrats nomination campaign to oust Trump from office later this year. And can tell you that he paid for advertising in White Horses out of his own pocket when his old partners refused to stump up the cash, because he believed in the mag and knew it was on a razors edge of survival back in the day.
Of course altruistic endeavours and a management cockup don't magically make everything cool. There's this whole vexed world of surf adventure tourism, even more vexed I suppose when it's exxy priced. (I do know that if I hadn't been doing work for 'em I'd never have been able to justify the coin for a trip.)
But I've done the 'trip reports' for Telo Lodge and Pinnacles North Telo for a few years now, and can tell you people get to surf their arses off for ten days and have a fucken awesome time, even though it's more and more busy up there yada yada yada. Can tell you that the guides are the best humans on the face of the earth, as are the locals who work the grounds and the boats, and their families. Fucking good people making a crust out of this thing. And when a homestay surfer hits the reef, they'll paddle over to a Pegasus or Lat Zero boat to get patched up. I do cringe when I see an inflatable pink flamingo pool toy in the swimming pool at Pinnacles stand out like a sore thumb – feels inappropriate to me when across the channel there's the classic humility of indo existence. It's a constant, fluid paradox hey.
And for me personally, there's another layer to all this. I got involved with Telo Lodge when it was built and owned by a few fellas, including one of my best mates who's been comrade collaborator and confidant for decades. The impact of all the stuff that's transpired since (out of respect for privacy I can't expand) on that friendship has been fucken hard on us both.
But yeah, for sure there's greed involved. As self-interest is involved in everything. No-one's in the game to lose money I don't think. And there's something (that I can't articulate) about the way Americans do business that can feel overbearing, though the reality is they're probs acting not that differently to a comparable Aussie set up.
I dunno. If there's a greedy cocksucker to be named and shamed here it's probably me. I worked on ASL mag ever since 1988. Designed layout after layout that made surfing look as beautiful as I possibly could. Looked at hundreds of thousands of slides on the lightbox and selected the shots that made surfing look amazing. Did dozens of travel issues, board test issues, designed ads for all sorts of clients looking to capitalise on surfing. Made a clip at Telo Lodge that ran on Surfline that helped draw the attention of visitors and money. Designed Longboarding mags, Bodyboarding mags, Deep, Skate mags, Chick surf mags. All commercial and profit driven. Started up White Horses mag to squeeze a few more moments out of the whole thing. Worked for Clarence Valley Council and did collateral that encouraged people to visit the beach, worked for Pegasus lodges and encouraged people of all sorts of surfing abilities and understanding of etiquette to buy a surf trip.
Have I helped surfing out by sharing stories and the beauty of it, added to people's understanding and appreciation, helped someone get the best wave of their life by letting 'em know about a lodge in Indo? Or have I been part of the ruin of surfing? Degrees of both without a doubt.
You might be right to dismiss me as being obfuscatory or whatever here Blowin, but I've just tried to give you a run down on what I know etc. I think we're different in our outlooks. You're pretty uncompromising and clear cut in your views of right 'n' wrong, and I tend to get tangled up in the grey areas and contexts or the backstory. So caught up in this, that I can't really argue single POV properly. I kinda envy you your certainty.
One last detail, and I don't know why it's important, but I'll never call myself a surf journalist. Journalists are out there on the ground, on the scene. I'm pretty agoraphobic, and so I'll always be removed. My gear is closer to school Creative Writing assignment territory than the J word I reckon.
Cheers.
Gra
Thanks for the considered reply. I appreciate that you’re revealing quite a bit about yourself and that fact alone makes you hard not to like.
You’ve made it plain that you’re not responsible for the reprehensible attitude on display at Tenggara which I’m stoked to hear.
Whilst a lot of the exposure of quieter spots may have occurred in your titles and the detrimentally exponential growth of surfing was driven by the bottom line , overall I’d say you’re a positive force in the Australian surfing culture. A lot of your output helped define my surfing life and I’m sure there’s thousands of Aussie surfers out there could say the same thing.
Thanks for the effort . Hope you get some nice waves , mate.
PS Sorry about the tardiness in replying. Been a bit cooked lately.
Best of luck.
Thanks mate. Do have to state again about Tenggara that far as I know that incident was a one-off onsite-management cock up. I don't think any claims to exclusivity are made. Those pesky trades are probably more of a deterrent than anything. I dunno. Anyway cobs, good to connect.
Tossers
Gra Murdoch -nice write
cheers to you.
Thanks Udo. Appreciate it mate.
Interesting article and opinions. Further to the cricket analogy above, it might make surf comps more interesting if they reduced the duration to one or two days max, rather than tens days or whatever they currently are. Purists like test match cricket, whereas most people find it boring and more people enjoy the one days or 20/20 because they are more entertaining. Perhaps Wozzle (or someone else) could bring back one day surf comps, four man heats, and even allow drop-ins with a marginal variation in wave scores for the each of the riders on the same wave e.g. -1 point off the surfers wave score for the surfer who dropped in, and +2 points added to the wave score of the surfer who was dropped in on (or whatever). To make sure someone surfed a wave in every set they could take a point off the highest scoring surfer at that stage of the heat if they all let a set through without catching a wave. Yes it sounds crazy but someone could create rules that encourage strategies, hassling and getting as many waves as possible. Its very removed from traditional surfing, and would challenge surfers to push the limits to outplay and out surf the others in the heat. If nothing else it would make watching the comps interesting. Watching the pro surfers exclusively surfing great waves is fantastic, but with all the waiting in wozzle comp and repetitive commentary it’s really boring.
Yer, yer, I know you hate the idea, but on days like today when it’s 40 degrees with fun waves and it’s super crowded, those were pretty much the rules of the game LOL