Surfing

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The biggest news in surf media yesterday was that Surfline writer Lewis Samuels was cut from his paying gig at the website. Last night Surfline’s Editorial Director Dave Gilovich and Editor Marcus Sanders responded in a post on Surfline.

Like many blogs, surf-related and otherwise, PostSurf quickly became an Op/Ed platform. And unfortunately, it soon became apparent that the site did not possess the standard of journalism that our readers demand from Surfline and that we believe is so important to uphold. . . .Since his blog first appeared online, there have been at least two cases where Lewis has published false information and misrepresented the facts. Quite simply, this is not something we can be associated with in any way. . . .We recognize that the writing on Lewis’ site is completely his business, and he can post whatever he wants, whether we or anyone else agrees with what he has to say or how he says it. . . . But as time passed and the site continued to feature content that was patently inaccurate — and often inflammatory — we had to ask ourselves: Do we want someone writing for Surfline who has taken these kinds of liberties?

Inaccurate? Apparently, Surfline ad sales people don’t literally drag their tongues on the scrotums of its advertisers. Then again, there was that amazing piece of investigatory journalism on Dave Eggers . . .

[Link: Surfline]

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When we read Lewis Samuels’ little post about Billabong CEO Paul Naude getting barreled while the surf industry collapses around us we chuckled to ourselves at how much fun biting the hand stories are to write. It always reminds us of that old 70s T-shirt with the mouse causually, defiantly flipping off the incoming hawk.

According to his blog, Post Surf, Lewis felt the talons on Friday March 20, 2009 when he was fired by Surfline.

So the word came down from the higher-ups at Surfline that my signed contract for 2009 was no longer being honored. They specifically cited two incidents that led to my termination.

1) My Transworld post, in which I mocked one of their competitors for catering to advertisers, but in fairness noted “I get paid to write for Surfline, a website that also licks advertisers’ balls, part of the machine.”

2) The “Corporate Rage” post, in which I mused that in light of recent incidents like the AIG scandal, “perhaps this is the wrong time for any CEO to publicize 100 Tavarua tubes.”

I also want to clear up one point: Many people will falsely surmise that Billabong and/or their CEO put pressure on Surfline, and this led to me being fired. Surfline made it clear to me that this is not the case. In fact, they claimed that no advertisers have contacted them with anything except positive feedback about PostSurf. . . So… As to any lingering questions concerning whether Surfline licks advertisers’ balls or not — I think we’ve pretty much cleared that one up.

Right. Thanks for clearing that up. We never would have surmised anything of the sort because we know that the action sports industry loves great, honest writing and they always have.

Surfline’s EVP Dave Gilovich doesn’t see it in exactly the same terms as Lewis. “I wouldn’t say we “fired” him,” Gilovich said. “He wrote stories for Surfline; from now on we’ll be looking for others to pen those articles for us.”

[Link: Post Surf]

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Surf writer Nick Carroll’s new two-part documentary on surfing in Australia Bombora hits Australia’s ABC1 next Thursday. Before it airs The Australian discussed surfing and what it means to Australia comparing Carroll’s doco to fiction writer Tim Winton’s must-read coming of age surfing novel Breathe.

Bombora, a documentary about the history of surfing in Australia, is no exception. It’s not just the history of a subculture but an ambitious argument that surfing is the ultimate embodiment of Australiana. “It’s impossible to imagine what Australia would be like without surfing,” surfer and author Tim Winton says in the introduction to the first of the two episodes. . . . That’s a big claim, but the documentary, driven by the encyclopedic and analytical mind of veteran surf journalist Nick Carroll, makes a convincing case: the original European settlers revelled in Australia’s warm water, which allowed them to do things they’d never imagined; as the country urbanised, it turned its back on the bush and made the beach its playground; surfers emerged to epitomise the young nation’s culture, especially after youthful rebellion became such a ubiquitous rite of passage, and their larrikin spirit was transformed into a multibillion-dollar fashion industry that “would one day outsell the high fashion houses of Europe”.

Being fans of Nick Carroll and Tim Winton we believe both are adding art to the world through surfing and we’re looking forward to seeing Bombora just as soon as it comes out on DVD (hint, hint, Nick).

[Link: The Australian]

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