Last night, while perusing the most watched YouTube videos of the day on our iPhone we clicked on an interview with former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura on the Larry King Show. We’ll listen to pretty much anything Ventura says for three reasons: one, he a former pro wrestler, two, his Minnesota accent is one of the best on record, and three, he’s insane in a what that makes him seem perfectly sensible.
During the interview Larry asked Governor Ventura if he would “ever want to run for office again.” Ventura replied:
I’m enjoying attempting to become the best surfer that I can be in Baja Mexico. Always remember this. Surfing is a dedication and it’s a life dedication toi do it. If someone were that dedicated to religion would they call him a religious bum?
Larry then pointed out that Ventura is a “very big man” and asked if surfing was difficult?
“It’s harder,” he said. “But I want to get my weight down another 30 pounds, but let’s remember the greatest surfer in the world is Laird Hamilton and he is 6’3″ and a half and weights 230 pounds.”
As we don’t read print magazines all that much it took a while before we were able to check out the recent Sports Illustrated story on Kelly Slater by writer Gary Smith. Here is a piece:
Well, then … why did he ride the ocean? What was his purpose? The more he stared at the question, the more jumbled the answers grew, his whys like old clothes crammed in a drawer. They’d seemed to fit once, but the longer he looked at them now, the more holes and wrinkles he saw, the more whys he didn’t even recognize. Where the hell to begin?
It’s one of those stories where the writer tries a little too hard and ends up getting in the way. But it’s worth reading because it’s long and it’s about Kelly.
It’s difficult for us to talk any smack about any of this because some of these guys (way back in the day) helped make us think surfing was cool. Lewis Samuels, not surprisingly, has a little different take on the new autobiographical documentary Echo Beach.
The Echo Beach crew taught the brands that they didn’t need to sponsor and support the best surfers on earth. Instead, they could simply sponsor and support the best groms in Newport. Or, more specifically, the “most influential” groms within a 100-yard stretch of Newport. . . So without the Echo Beach Crew, I suppose Alex Knost would not be a surf star. Case closed.
Sure, but the best part for us was to finally place The Skateboard Mag’s Preston Murray in proper context.
Maverick’s founder Jeff Clark is reportedly on the mend after having his hip resurfaced with Titanium, according to a story in the San Jose Mercury News.
Fresh out of surgery, Clark is on the mend, taking it easy at his house overlooking the break at Maverick’s in Half Moon Bay. To keep himself occupied and focused on recovery, Clark has created a blog to document his healing process. The site, rebuildjeffclark.blogspot.com, contains up-to-date journal entries, photos, as well as a link to an animated depiction of his surgery, which takes viewers through the entire procedure step by step.
Not only that, the blog gives groms a sneak peak into their own futures and the reality that getting old sucks.
From our “there will never be a worse time to launch” files comes news that long-time surf industry soldier (and former Longboard Magazine sales lead) Mike Aguirre has launched a “new, fresh, now” surf magazine called morSURF.
“There are still lots of people who like to read stories and in-depth articles and who enjoy the quality of photography in print,” said Aguirre. “But for those surfers who want their information digitally, keeping the magazine viewable online is good PR and is also great for our advertisers because their links are active. We believe morSURF’s online presence will ultimately lead to increased sales and subscriptions of the printed publication.”
Spoken like a true print salesman. For those who love longboards, fish, hybrids, standup paddling and still read print magazines, morSURF could be the perfect media fix.
Mark Healey, Clay Marzo, Reef Mcintosh, and Wade Goodall are few of the big wave chargers who have advanced out of round three in the Air Tahiti Nui VonZipper Trials at Teahupoo. The action continues today with more of the round 3 action including Daddy Bruce Irons (pictured above) in his heat against Nick Vasicek, Heremoana Luciani, and Niuhi Marere.
The Billabong Pro Teahupoo waiting period begins May 9.
