What the heck is Surf 100?
Review by Ding Alley
By the time this review comes out, the recent W.A version of Surf 100 will have already slipped into recent history – even typing notes up on a ‘live’ pay-per-view product feels kinda redundant.
But there’s every chance Surf 100 is gonna be a Thing, so if you’re curious about the nature of this Thing, and wondering whether or not to shell out for future such Things, or indeed if this Thing is going to become THE Thing, do read on.
Though Surf 100 raises many questions only the future can answer, there’s one thing we CAN be sure of: the crew at the Woz are watching this like a hawk – a myopic, tone-deaf hawk with thalidomide talons – but a hawk nonetheless.
OK, so Surf 100, or at least this WA iteration, is structured as such: four surfers undertake a 100-minute session – broadcast in real time with a Woz-scale armory of camera angles and replays etc, with the surfers mic’d up for banter etc, and the lineup still populated by punters.
It’s at the limits of Ding Alley’s cognitive powers to understand, let alone articulate it, but friday’s broadcast is ‘live’, even though the 100-minute session was shot back in early August.
That session featured four W.A stalwarts: Jay Davies, Kael Walsh, Jacob Willcox and Jack Robinson at six-to-eight foot North Point. Kinda pumping but with lulls, and with most of the hardcore N.P crew fortuitously up north, our stars had pretty much the pick of the sets.
Nine filmers and two audio guys captured the session, and a 100% real-time-chronological document of those 100 minutes was assembled. This was then broadcast on Friday with ‘live’ commentary by the team of Sal Masekela and fellow ‘thought leaders’ (Stab’s term, not mine) Yadin Nicol and the cherubic Dane Reynolds.
And though Dane’s commentary wordcount is about a tenth of his counterparts, his endorsement of the Surf 100 deal is a big plus, obviously, for the perceived legitimacy of the whole endeavour. Not just for the acolytes out there in paywall land, but also, if you’re say, a famous surfer on the fence about participating and Dane R calls you, it’s perhaps hard to say no.
Yadin Nicol, being equal parts West Australian and Californian, provides most of the verbiage, and with those prodigious choppers and Auseppo hybrid dialect, he could well play a young Greg Norman, were a biopic of that golfing icon to be made, and Yadin wanted try his hand at the whole thespian thing.
So, we’ve got four surfers looking for two scoring rides, three thought-leaders (how I detest that term) holding court, and common folk like you and I encouraged to hand over 14.99 USD (bang on a Lobby AUD) to view the event live on the interwebs, and – if we care to – score our heroes’ rides out of 100.
Even though the branding and self-references are minimal in Surf 100, this is a Stab venture, employing typical Stab creativity and innovation to separate us from our hard earned coin.
I’ve always viewed myself as too plain to buy into Stab’s whole schtick, but the potency of its founding DNA – Derek Rielly and Sam Mac leveraging the learnings and frustrations of their respective mag-employee histories into Their Own Deal – echoes decades down the line, with Impresario Sam Mac still deftly conjuring away.
You-Know-What-19 throwing the Woz under a bus this year has opened a giant window of opportunity to re-imagine the Surf Comp experience, and Surf 100 – while not a lay down misere – gets the job done, and when you consider the admirable smarts and sweat bringing it to life, you have to give it it’s due.
OK, so without lapsing into a sad ol’ blow by blow recap, here’s some rapid-fire notes on the broadcast:
The commentary studio is as makeshift as contest director Chris Binns’ Covid beard is sturdy. Speaking of Binnsie, his fingerprints are all over the talent profiles and analysis of North Point. Binnsie’s as personable and savvy a graduate of the surf mag nursery as you can get, and his editorial-honed curiosity makes him a great interviewer and narrative engineer.
Proceedings get off to a slow start, with zero waves ridden in the first ten minutes of the session. Time, then, to throw to a profile on Jay Davies, which in turn sets Sal Masekala to fanning his face with his hand while declaring the depth of his attraction to the noted power surfer.
It doesn’t take long, however, for the engaging aspects of Surf 100 to come to the fore.
Firstly, there’s the fact that this is, in many ways, a free surfing session, but one that’s forensically documented. This means that any moments of serendipity, happenstance or drama are captured unharmed and bottled intact for our enjoyment – the audio ‘wiretap’ dialogue among the surfers as first real set approaches is truly a goosebump moment and authentic in a way the Woz, for all its resources and bluster and repeated attempts, has yet to achieve.
Other moments of near-magic: a twelve year old grom sharing a ride on a mid-range bomb with Jacob Willcox, then undercalling the swell size like a pre-pubescent Baz Cornell back on the beach five minutes later; Jack Robbo speculating on ‘buying’ a set wave from local charger Ollie for 300 bucks; (indeed, local charger Ollie nabbing THE wave of the session); the drone angle showing the nuance of lineup positioning; our surf heroes demonstrating respect for the concept of taking turns and, gloriously, Jacob Willcox’s creative and clinical tube stance adjustments. Every bit the savant that fella.
Some misfires are to be expected: where the lineup audio wiretap takes us along for a sometimes thrilling ride, the booth guys are seemingly uninterested in engaging the punters; I’m sure it’s more lack of skill on their part, rather than the too-cool-for-youse it appears to be. Again, I’m too old and fusty for the whole Stab schtick, so I have NO idea what to make of Stab fella Michael Ciaramella’s shirtless pieces to camera, other than to see it as part of the weird narcissistic smarm that makes up the more odious facet of the Stab mix. Keep in mind that your correspondent is definitely too unhip for this personal repulsion to count for much.
Also as mentioned before, Stab’s brand presence (MC’s soliloquies aside) is very discrete in Surf 100. There’s no advertising either, and seeing as there are no coincidences in the world of Sam Mac, we can deduce that these iterations of Surf 100 are very much a careful proof of concept phase, possibly with a view to selling the package when it gets traction.
Even the surfers in the lineup sound savvy to the commercial agenda of the thing, with one competitor mentioning ‘chasing Brazillian pay per views’ in a lull towards the end
And though the show winds down awkwardly with Sal returning to his pet topic of Jay Davies’ musculature, It’s hard to deny a great deal of smart creative thinking has gone into Surf 100. All the values of good surf media: curiosity, rigour, storytelling and creativity are in play. Even the punter-scoring interface is well considered, tested and bug free..
Clocking in at over two hours, however, my interest in Surf 100 runs out of puff by the time commentators and contestants convene for their Zoom meeting to announce the winner (Jack Robinson). So I pick up the phone to yak with director Binnsie as he embarks on (by-all-accounts heroic) post-contest beers.
Binnsie tells me a few things:
By the time North Point was go, it was the third or fourth attempt to run it. They’d been staking out Gas Bay because the original concept was based on scoring both a left and a right – until they realised that multidirectional requirement was severely compromising the options. “North Point was our big learning, so to speak. It didn’t matter if it was just one way.”
The beauty of this concept is you don’t need infrastructure: “Soon as it’s live you need a broadcast truck at very least. This ‘augmented live’ way, you have a light footprint – the only infrastructure we brought to North Point was a flag – oh and Snake (Jake Paterson) brought a camp chair. That was it.”
The Surf 100 crew aren’t afraid to at least dream of a roster of low-impact high-return transmissions. As Binnsie reckons, “Like, what’s to stop us taking Occy and Curren back to Bells?”
I leave Binnsie to his well-deserved lager frenzy and consider the implications of Surf 100.
It’s telling that The Woz had given Surf 100 a decent promo push on its site and socials – and with the tectonic plates of global sports consumption shifting, bucks for broadcast rights coming to an end, and ad revenue hurtling off a cliff – you’d have to think the Woz is paying more than a passing interest in how the next iteration of Surf 100 plays out and pays out.
// DING ALLEY
Comments
Intriguing concept. I won’t be forking out however. There’s plenty of great free content on YouTube so I’ll stick to that. It’s a tough nut to crack this pro-surfing thing. If they can’t even get the core audience up for it then they’re pretty much shit outta luck.
Can’t blame them for trying something different though. I sincerely hope to be proven wrong some day.
I'd watch it but wouldn't pay for it. Wonder if they'll show it free at a later date. They usually do with all their other concepts.
Solitude...slippery teaser wraps up Surf 100 well enough...
Surf 100 Beach Flag + Shirtless man + Cheap Office fit out c/o Ding Alley.
$TAB Stompin' Ground ...say, didn't we once revere them NSR Things...[SOLD]
I came this close to hitting pay, but backed out, thinking there would be a freebie posted up later for tight cunts.
I watched. Good surfing , great waves. Not remotely worth $20 .
The $300 offered to a bloke for a set wave was a bit off when it first happened and went downhill fast with relentless repetition.
The concept is good but very worrying when you know that greed will push events like this into previously low key waves . Jay Davies even said he was reluctant to hold it out North Point as it doesn’t need the spotlight.
The pros get what’s at stake , they just don’t care. Throw in the idolators of Mammon at the WSL and you can easily imagine them blowing out any spot on the face of the Earth now they realise they’re not constrained by bums on seats and live internet feed.
Give it a miss. Let pro surfing die. Unfortunately I’m a fool for good surfing and will usually accept a bait. Eight comps a year : Pipe , Snapper , Chopes , Somewhere in Brazil , Lowers , JBay , France and Ulus. One comp in each continent at a pre- ruined location , one surfer from each continent voted into contention by their peers in a first past the post 1-10 nomination.
Job done.
‘Jay Davies even said he was reluctant’.............yet he still did it.
Nice one DSDS with your "idolators of Mammon (worshipers of riches) at the WSL". Well done Brother with the Holy Bible reference Matthew 6:24.
God Bless you
Yeah pros take what they want and don't care about anyone else. But wait till they retire, start a surf school, or a groms training camp and pester your local beach twice a week with blatant disregard. Then you'de be wishing they were back on tour.
Google 'Pumping North Point W.A' or 'Jack Robinson Big Tubes' etc etc and you'll get plenty of youtube fodder for free.
Surfing's tripping if it thinks it can be like boxing and actually charge us to watch world class surfers in great waves. That market's already saturated with free content so they're flogging the proverbial dead horse.
Until 'surf 100' is free I won't see a minute of it.
Maybe when they realise there's a better of making money out of it they'll stop giving it away for free ... a bit like a few girls I know
Got a look at this last night. I liked it a lot. More sets would have upped the entertainment value somewhat, but the guys miked up in the lineup plus a relatively unintrusive commentary team saved it from being a chore to sit through. Imagine Turpel and Pottz trying to fill up that dead air. The horror. Dane could have been hit with a cattle prod a few times though.
The surfing was pretty great, and you can tell nobody was taking it too seriously. Jack Robbo was fully aware that it was his job to give the public their money's worth judging by a couple of things he said and taking waves he didn't need.
Stick to big name breaks and this format is a keeper if you ask me. And nobody ever will.
Pro surfing wants to roll out the UFC model of pay-per-view, the ultimate surfer...
yep.
I didn't even know this was on.
I reckon i'd pay to watch especially in marquee waves but the crew above and the review itself raise some pretty legitimate concerns.
I payed and enjoyed. Luckily just had some money come in and it’s a wave I love.
Probably won’t pay for another comp however I love surf films and will always pay for the psychic migrations, strange rumblings, Zone Fequencies. Just pure stoke for art surfing and music.
Paid for it because I sent them an email for the first one saying 15 USD is beyond my scomo surf team wage and got a free viewing code, so thought paying for this one would be the right thing to do. Was good viewing, but wont be forking out 15 USD again
Paying to watch people suf is a very hard pass from me. Got to be honest, can't understand the mindset of the people above in the comments that did pay.
Recently I had a visit to the big smoke ( for around here ) and they were showing a 40 year old Star Wars movie for $17.50 per adult. $20 for a couple of hours of WA lords getting pitted off their dial whilst Dane Reynolds talks us through it with his honest and insightful perspective didn’t sound too harsh. I just enjoy Dane’s critiques of surfing and surfers. Go watch him describe sharing a recreational lineup with Fanning and Jordy and how they’re like full Vikings whilst he struggles to impose himself and his commercial imperative on the crowd. Name me another Best Surfer in the World candidate who is that candid and grounded.
Or you could have got a 4 pack * of Balter for the same price.
* What the fuck is a 4 pack all about ?
Yeah still not getting it. I don't know why would care what Dane Reynolds thinks about anything. Maybe I'm a bit jaded living on the Gold Coast? I would pay for the star wars anniversary thing before this.
I think you’ve got to realise that the $20 constitutes my entire entertainment spend for a week at least. Including alcohol. Living the monk lifestyle by choice means it’s no real drama to spontaneously throw down a lobster on the chance of a couple of hours enjoyment.
Wouldn’t do so again though. Not sure what exactly I was expecting but it was still a let down.
Ha! Did Balter virtually start this 4 pack BS? Maybe Pirate Life? Massive joke that everyone has bought into. How did we all let them get away with it?
Understood. I think the last few months have solidified my opinion that I couldn't care if competitive surfing didn't exist anymore.
It's a way of charging you for a six pack but making you think you're cool at the same time for not buying what everyone else does- a six pack.
Touché
A 4 pack is a way to get pints in cans.
If the WSL are considering a broader PPV strategy (and, they absolutely should be), then this event would have to be the perfect litmus test.
They ironed out the bugs during the first Surf 100 event at Trestles, and the concept has had a couple of months to circulate amongst pro surfing fans, so it wasn't 'new' the next time around. And there was a shitload of pre-event promo, especially by the WSL, across their website, social media accounts and email lists (OT, it's the first time I've seen the WSL give a solid push to a non-commercial partner).
Surf 100 at North Point had an A-grade location with excellent waves, a great cast of surfers (though lacking a celebrity that might bring extra non-surf eyeballs), and a reputable production team. And at least one household name in the commentary booth (not sure if Sal is well known outside of the US). So, they've ticked every box.
And by shifting the 'live' aspect of the broadcast they've also nixed a common technical bug: live broadcasts at remote locations are much more expensive to produce, and are prone to streaming outages, which ain't a great look for paying customers.
So, Stab have really thought this out well... good on 'em.
More importantly, with no surf webcasts this year, surely supply-and-demand would tilt in favour of the average surfer chipping in some coin, to see what it's about?
I mean, had it been any other ordinary year, Chopes would have finished up two weeks prior, we'd have been midway through the Surf Ranch event, and the Quik Pro France would have been kicking off in another fortnight. So it's harder to get people to pay for something that's being regularly pushed in front of them for free.
But during Covid-19? Why not. US$15 is a little steep for an hour and a half of action, but there should have been enough curious punters willing to give it a crack.
So... what constitutes a successful event? Sam Mac's pre-event article on Stab noted 1,600 payers (worldwide) for Trestles, plus another 1,600 free tickets (OT.. really? Did they individually respond to one thousand six hundred email requests for a free ticket?). 1,600 paying punters might sound OK, but it's a tiny fraction of various claimed audiences (Stab and WSL). Ticket sales would have not even paid a third of the reported production costs.
It's hard to find comparative benchmarks for PPV events (most data is commercially sensitive) but in May this year, UFC 249 reportedly had more than 700,000 PPV sales on ESPN+ in the US alone. Apparently Conor McGregor’s return to UFC 246 in January did over 1 million sales.
So, I reckon for the WSL to have considered Surf 100 successful, they'd want to have had 10,000 payers to cover costs. Ideally, closer to 25,000 to make it a commercially viable project.
Of course, one-off events are different to an annual schedule, and production costs sky-rocket once you factor in the enormous travel expenses, but you've gotta start somewhere.
So, how big is the potential audience?
Three years ago, WSL claimed that in addition to its website and Apps, "more than 13.9 million people watched a World Surf League event on Facebook in 2017". Also, WSL claimed last year there were "370 million people across the world interested in surfing and more than 40 million active surfers". Yes, we've looked into these kinds of claims before.
In any case, surely 25,000 paying surfers worldwide, from the WSL's millions, isn't too much to ask?
I just can't see PPV ever working. I can't think of 25 people I know would pay to watch a surfing comp, let alone 25,000. I love AFL and Port Adelaide, but if I can't watch it on my iPad which has free footy cause of my Telstra Sim card, I won't watch it and certainly won't pay for a subscription. Anything I can cut from my budget in these uncertain times is gone. I think I'm in the majority, not the minority? And Australia has done a lot better than most countries.
Ben what do you think it’s worth to produce? 50k?
Hard to say. It'd be possible to do a budget version for much less that $50K but there would be significant compromises. Conversely, some high end production companies wouldn't get out of bed for less than a couple of hundred grand.
At the end of the day it's gotta make financial sense and I reckon the current balance is pretty good.
Top UFC event PPV buys and revenue earned:
13. UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez - 1,050,000 buys - $45 million
12. UFC 114: Rampage vs. Evans - 1,050,000 buys - $51 million
11. UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz II - 1,050,000 buys - $53 million
9. UFC 207: Nunes vs. Rousey - 1,100,000 buys - $60 million
9. UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm - 1,100,000 buys - $60 million
8. UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin - 1,160,000 buys - $55 million
7. UFC 200: Tate vs. Nunes - 1,200,000 buys - $71 million
6. UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor - 1,300,000 buys - $83 million
5. UFC 194: Aldo vs. McGregor - 1,400,000 buys - $80 million
4. UFC 196: McGregor vs. Diaz - 1,500,000 buys - $80 million
3. UFC 100: Lesnar vs. Mir II - 1,600,000 buys - $82 million
2. UFC 202: Diaz vs. McGregor II - 1,650,000 buys - $90 million
1. UFC 229: Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor - 2,400,000 buys - $180 million
That's some big numbers.
I guess the main difference in this context between the UFC and surfing is the only time you get to watch your favourite UFC contracted fighters in action is in a UFC event. So the UFC has a complete monopoly over its fighters. And the fighters "free-fighting" (as in free-surfing) and training is typically in gyms behind closed doors, with snippets "leaked" to the public in lead-up video series like Embedded (which I find really interesting to watch) to generate interest in the upcoming event.
But it goes without saying that with surfing, I can stroll on down to say Snapper and catch some of my favourite surfers in action for free and there's lots of surf vids and other alternative "screen" content of them, much of it for free.
Maybe for the PPV concept to work for surfing, or at least have the chance at throwing big numbers, the WSL might need a more "exclusive" and monopoly-like model over the surfers, like the UFC has over its fighters: have the best surfers in the world exclusively contracted to the WSL and only the WSL is legally allowed to produce and sell video footage of them surfing for instance in surfing events like Surf 100, so that's the only way the public would legally be able to see these surfers in action competing "on screen"?
$15 per pint in Sydney...
I gather most good surfers won't be bothered to pay (twice) because of what GSCO said about 'strolling down to Snapper and having a chat and a surf with your favorite all star team surfer'.
If they get some babes involved and for $15 you get the opportunity to mingle and play die with lady luck, then maybe, just maybe I'd pay the $15.?
Thinking again, I can see how the $15 could be an easy purchase for a pub in a surf zone. Pay the bucks, put the zombies in front of the tellie and fill em' full of beer and nuts and TAB ads..
I'd pay to watch Tom Curren, Luke Egan, Occy, Slater (on a board longer than 6'0"), Margo, Parko, Knox, etc doing their thing in prime locations...
This concept isn't new - Jack McCoy's Challenges were epic!
Sign me up
Egan? strange.
spend yah coin seeing one of the coffey sisters bike rack
holy moly that's actually a thing. These girls have their own independent business model, looks to be an absolute winner too
Yeah that’s an interesting one. Pretty stunning though I reckon they have had a fair bit of body tuning.
I paid and watched it, same price as a movie but watching 'live' surf at a beautiful spot with great surfers. As mentioned above, not far off the price of a pint in Sydney. Watching those few big sets roll in from those angels was awesome. I played it later on on Sunday night with a few beers. Only negative was how much Dane didn't want to be there. At interesting locations and pumping surf it seems like an epic idea - And they have to charge something to make it worthwhile I guess.
Maybe this less-serious version of pro surfing is a good time to test out performance enhancing drugs on the contestants, with interesting outcomes for the audience: see what happens when sure-footed pro's go wild on drugs! The electric acid test could be turned simply into 'the acid test' -contestants patting white sharks and staring at rocks on the shoreline, unable to control their bowel movements. Now that's entertainment!
I think you might be on to something there A.A!
Especially if Turpel, Pottz and Strides were on the same enhancement program.
I, too, would definitely be inclined to shell out a lobby for this.
Current exchange rate says a 'lobby' is about $20.80.
But.. I haven't heard the term before. What's the historical colloquialism?
Lobby = lobster = presumably derived from the red color of the 20 dollar note. First attributed to Winston Churchill, famously quoted as saying “A young man may experience no greater joy than the discovery of a forgotten lobby in his jeans pocket while passing a kebab van in Broadbeach at four in the morning.”
Mate! A lobby! A lobster! 20 buck note. Lobster coloured. Yafuggunstrayanorwot?
Well.. now I've sufficiently embarrased my South Oz heritage, I'll retreat back to the forecasting bench.
But, only if you can tell me if you know what 'fritz' is.
A cartoon cat, and a Tumbleweed song.
Allow me to rejoin the fray.
Tight and shiny.
Question for ya Ben:
If you bought something that only cost 1 lobby but you only had
A: a grey nurse or B: a pineapple
How much change would you get back respectively?
I'd have two bob.
No! Make that half a fiddly.
Hang on! I'd end up with a deep sea diver.
Wait up! Probably a rooboy.
How did I go?
I don't think I've been more entertained by a derailed thread.
Geezus! Most unattractive looking bung ever!
Ive been away from SA i forgot about fritz! The butcher always giving you a couple of slices when your a grom shopping with your mum.
jeez Thermal.
FYI
$5 Stuart Diver (fiver)
$10 Chris McKenna (tenna)
$20 lobster
$50 pineapple
$100 was grey nurse, now "Hunge"
Parmi = SA, Palmer =east coast.
Fark.
I thought I was across most of it - Barry Croker, Harold Holt, Pat Malone etc.
I'm gonna take some time out and reskill.
Half a fiddly?
I'm scared to ask.
Would Gary G know?
Maybe he's had half a fiddly with that tight and shiny fritz?
Yikes, didn't think of that when I posted.
Anyway, according to the website below: Ten Shillings: Ten Bob, Half a Quid, a Teddy or Half a Fiddly (derived from the one pound slang).
https://www.noteworthy-collectibles.com/blog/ever-colourful-australian-c...
Haha I only come here for the education, and entertainment :)
Lobster ??? They are fucking crayfish in Australia anyways red back for a twenty in WA ,pineapple for a fifty and a Bradman for a hungy , parmi goes without saying .
TBH (and I'm only gonna sound more stupid) but I initially thought 'lobby' may have been some kind of weird cricket reference. As in, lob the ball, which then scores a, erm... ah shit, I don't even know where I'm going with this. Shoulda quit while I'm ahead.
A tenner is known as a ‘blue swimmer’.
i like my fritz smily
Must be a WA thing definitely not in Vic.
My scoring didn't work. Tried lappie and phone. Still happy with $20 for these blokes having a crack at a new format!
WSL is now damaged viewing.
A few tweaks and they’d land 100*
For now, 93.
Lobster well spent.
*100 minutes should start when the first surfer catches a wave.” — attribution maybe Dane?
Mighta hadda butcher’s at this if hadda hadda bit o’ Laurie Nash in the sky rocket.
For me to watch sport and get engaged tho there’s gotta be something to play for. These things seem like a friendly in soccer, an exhibition tennis match or one of those pre-season things the AFL mocks up as content filler for TV.
Nothing really on the line.
The Woz has got the World Title to play for and for me, in a sporting and competitive sense, that means a lot.
ps For a lesson in rhyming slang I reckon you can’t beat Terence Stamp in The Limey,
"Mighta hadda butcher’s at this if hadda hadda bit o’ Laurie Nash in the sky rocket."
This made my day. The double 'hadda' is the icing on the cake.
Keeping rhyming slang alive. My Dad would be proud. Half the time I couldn’t work out what he was on about.
Gary came for the bung fritz
also a tuna for a fifty.
yellowfin tuna, short: tuna.
Sometime during the pandemic the verb 'to learn' became redundant and mutated into a noun.
My own learning is that vomit inducing corporate clichés have a growth factor much greater than 1. Way more virulent than COVID 19. One had hoped the surf sector possessed natural antibodies that would trigger an immune response, but alas, no.
Surf 100 now represents best practice in the surf related content space, so we can assure ourselves that Binnsie will learn many a learning going forward.
If the Wozzle can value-add by actioning some learnings gleaned from this paradigm shift and raise the bar on its core competencies, then it's a win-win for all stakeholders.
Hey Roker. I take responsibility for that horrible word in the article. Binnsie actually used the 'L' word ironically when we were yakking, but I dropped the ball translating that into context. Binnsie's a v good cliche avoider. Nonetheless, thanks for circling back with your input, and going forward I'll be sure to action this learning and pivot appropriately.
Thanks for the clarification Gra. Think I missed the 'ahem' implied in the 'so to speak' there.
This kook apologises unconditionally to Binnsie for the slanderous mischaracterisation contained in the offending post and withdraws any suggestion that Binnsie has in this context or on any past occasion used any form of language that may be broadly defined as a corporate cliché.
Despite all evidence in Ding Alley's typically entertaining review suggesting that Binnsie is not the type of bloke that leaves much to chance, this kook wishes him good fortune and continued success with Surf 100.
Peak learning for me is that I should probably give trying to be a smart-arse on the internet the arse.
Powerful teachable moments everywhere Roker! But don't give up being an internet smart-arse mate – it's Ding Alley's stock in trade and we're all in this together.
Well, they ran it up the flagpole and saw who saluted.
Good luck to ‘em.
All this talk of cash.. I reckon if they start pushing gambling they will get the audience. Can’t think of any other reason to watch UFC or horse racing etc.. and that works.
Not my thing, just an observation.
Easy to overlook the crafty nature of a delayed live World telecast Comp.
Pretty sure you don't need to inform the council + save on Event fees / Licencing.
No enviro NP/MP Plan or Covid Plan & Medicos or Lifeguards.
Kinda like a Flashmob in the Mall > is not really busking...just ruined it, didn't I.
Very canny to reply..."What event...do you see an event ...can't help ya mate!"
Say for example there were nippers in the footage then SLSA would censor it.
Possibly the same for Rescue or Police etc... other than that... it cuts red tape.
NSR committee may wish to double think if this bastard act opens a can of worms.
WA Boomerang Resort Surf Camp may equally exploit NSR as their Play Thing.
Would Stab contribute part of exploited windfall to defend NSR from whiteshoes?
https://preservegnarabup.org.au/
tbb likes punk & this seems like wild fun on the surface.
Just saying that WA NSR needs protecting more than trashing at this very hour!
An old Punk may be right in thinking that NSR just got trashed..in hour of need!
Goldie Punk reminds same US outfit just cashed in on swellnet GC WSR tragedy!
Stab needs a truck load more Love & Local Respect for Oz Surf Reserves.
Stab had opportunity to herald WA plight to world instead of exploiting WA NSR.
Don't be surprised if Whiteshoes example this lack of respect from Surfing world.
Agree with your thinking tbb, though I don't think there was any windfall out of this particular venture, more likely a hefty loss. But 'going forward' (as they say), it'd be great if you knew that a percentage of your pay-per-view bucks were going towards some kind of care and custodianship of the spot that's being surfed.