Nick Carroll, a writer who surfs well, gives his take on Dirk Ziff’s wave pond in a really, really long story on BeachGrit.com. Deja vu. As much as we love Nick, and cherish his contributions to surfing lit, we again didn’t read the entire story, however, we don’t think he mentioned William Finnegan nor The New Yorker magazine. He did however offer up an epic butter-em-up-then-poop-on-their-plate overview of the place in the last few paragraphs. Here it is:
You ride waves, but that’s it. . . And ultimately, this is dissatisfying. The WSL Surf Ranch is an ideal venue for major pro surfing competition. It’s an epic showcase for pros, and a theme park for good surfers. It’s almost impossibly original, and fun as hell. I’m flabbergasted by what Kelly has done up there at Lemoore; at some moments I think maybe it outdoes all his world championships. After all, people won world titles before him, and they continue to do so since; none, however have built anything like this. . . But as a surf experience, it just doesn’t hit the spot.
We’re assuming you can learn how Nick arrived at this conclusion by reading the entire piece.
Writer and former pro surfer Jamie Brisick has a story in The New Yorker, sadly, he had to lose his home to the Malibu fire to make it happen. In his Personal History story A Surfer’s Perspective on Malibu In Flames he explains what it was like to go back in during the evacuation to check on things. Here’s a piece.
The homes leading up to mine were gone, and so were the homes across the street. I pulled into the gravel driveway and got out of my car. The burning smell was like a punch in the face. There was nothing left of the front house, a ranch-style home where my neighbors—a husband, wife, twin thirteen-year-old daughters, and two loud dogs—had lived. I followed the winding concrete footpath back to my guesthouse. It used to be shaded by a canopy of trees, but the trees were no longer. Ditto the surfboard rack that held a half-dozen prized boards. I’d never seen a burned surfboard before. The foam had disintegrated, but the fibreglass husks remained. They resembled shed skin, or cocoons.
For the rest of his story, please click the link. Brisick’s perspective has much more to do with his being a great writer, than it does with being a surfer, but those East Coasties seem to have a thing for surfers who can write.
It’s been a pretty big media week for Westbeach and Lululemon founder Chip Wilson. First, he was featured in the Talk of the Town section of The New Yorker magazine regarding the launch of his wife and son’s new clothing line (and retail stores) Kit & Ace, and then yesterday (February 2, 2015) he was profiled in The New York Times.
More than once, the way Wilson spoke reminded me of the airhead fashion model Ben Stiller plays in “Zoolander.” But for all his off-putting and impolitic utterances (in a blog post about Lululemon’s origins, he infamously linked the use of birth control to rising divorce rates, and claimed this led to his future market), he has a kind of genius for forecasting trends and assessing the human impulses — vanity, insecurity, the yearning for perfection — that make people pay more for something they could buy much cheaper elsewhere.
Yep, the same old Chip we remember from back in the snowboard days. It’s good to see someone stick to their opinions and become action sports single most successful billionaire at the same time. There are lessons to be learned here somewhere.
As if this whole TEN sale couldn’t get any stranger, a deeper dive into the backstory reveals a The New York Times story from March 2018 that hints at where the money used by American Media to purchase the TEN action sports properties (among other things) may have come from. . . Saudi Arabia.
The intersection of the tabloid publisher [David Pecker, pictured right with The Donald] with the Saudis, enhanced by the White House visit, is a previously untold chapter in the long, symbiotic relationship between the president and Mr. Pecker, which was forged in the 1990s. At the time, Mr. Trump was celebrating a real estate comeback after his casino bankruptcies and was both the subject and the source of much gossip in New York.
One action sports executive wonders if this all might be part of a plan to use actions sports as a way to improve the public’s perceptions of a county that, in addition to various human rights violations, has allegedly murdered at least one journalist:
Sports have been an increasingly viable way for despots to soften their image and market a national brand (Russia/Sochi; Qatar/World Cup; Saudi Arabia/PGA events). . .Doesn’t seem a crazy reach that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, et al. would have interest in creating action/participant sports events, promoting tourism, etc. And these would be cheap and effective markets for this purpose. . . It all does line up: money gets laundered, Pecker gets ass saved, Saudi’s get backdoor to Trump administration, and a bunch of cheap sports/travel media properties run influence campaigns.
Is this really why American Media had interest in a few small circ. action sporting brands? Click the link to read the rest of the story.
New Yorker Magazine writer Malcolm Gladwell popularized the theory that anyone can become world class at anything if they dedicate 10,000 hours to practicing. While we don’t necessarily believe that, it was cool to check out what Mike Boyd could learn in just under six hours. It gives us hope on some flip tricks of our own, but most importantly, it means that the only thing standing between you and an SLS Final are a few thousand hours.
So you’re staying you didn’t get invited to billionaire Ron Burkle’s Bevery Hills mansion last weekend (October 7, 2012) to hang out with celebrities, rockstars, Shaun White and Tony Hawk as part of the Stand Up For Skateparks fund raiser? We didn’t either, but Tony raised a bunch of money for the Tony Hawk Foundations apparently, and it went a little like this.
The final between Kelly Slater and Owen Wright was the perfect ending to an amazing week at the Quiksilver Pro New York. The waves were a miracle, the surfing was devine, and Owen Wright found redemption (and $300,000 in cash) in his second consecutive final with the 10-time World Champion.
On the podium Wright was understandably thankful:
I’m just lapping it up right now,” Wright said. “I’ve always wanted to be in Final with Kelly (Slater) and last week at Teahupo’o was great. I think Kelly is ready for payback already. Thank you Long Beach, how good is this? Look at these waves! Thanks to Quiksilver, we’ve been looked after all week and they made it really easy for us and thanks for the $300,000. Thanks to my coach Dean Davies, it’s been up and down and we’ve worked towards a win and it means a lot. Thanks to my friends and family at home. I’ve been getting messages from them and my Dad, I wish he was here, but another day. Thanks heaps, I really appreciate the support.”
New York proved it has waves equal to any in the world and the fans may just be the best on the tour. For the official word from the ASP follow the jump. [click to continue…]
This morning we sent out a mildly insulting tweet to let our followers know that the Quiksilver Pro New York had indeed kicked off with round one action. We mentioned that the waves were what “one would expect in New York.”
We were kind of expecting some of our East Coast followers to be pissed. But no. As only New Yorkers can do they fell all over themselves explaining how todays waves were really good and that it’s normally much, much worse. @philoSURFical went as far as calling us “wave spoiled cupcakes.” Okay, NYC surfers. You win. You have the worst waves in the world.
Luckily for all of us, this week has been blessed by Hurricane Katia (which is backing off a little, but still a Category 3) meaning the waves will likely be truly world class great for the finals later in the week.
Brooke Geery gets right to the questions all of us have about what’s going on at the Kass brother’s glove company in YoBeat’s Hump Day Interview with Grenade CEO Joseph Condorelli.
After all, Joseph is an outsider. A loud-mouthed New Yorker who came from a business background, having never set foot on a snowboard, to run a snowboard company that at the time, was on the brink of disaster. And even though he supposedly didn’t know what a “beanie” was, he’s worked day and night for two solid years to keep the company afloat and thriving. Yeah, it’s not the same Grenade we all hung out at, now it’s a growing company that might actually be around for years to come. Love him or hate him, this is Joseph’s side of the story.
We knew there had to be someone running things behind the camo curtain.
