Recently enough hail accumulated in Huntington Beach to make the area around the pier look like New England; a few days later there was a mid-summer strength south swell and the Wedge roared to life a few months early; the newly, ridiculously named WSL started off on the Gold Coast in Australia, only to delay for two weeks due to lack of surf, during which reigning world champion Gabriel Medina criticized the league’s commissioner, lost an early round heat due to an interference call, and then dropped the f-bomb on a live webcast; Mason Ho signed with Rip Curl; and Filipe Toledo bested Ausi native Julian Wilson to finally end the Quik Pro. It’s been eventful. Strap in, this is going to be a long one.
Huntington Beach—Winter Wonderland
Snow-like conditions, due to pea-sized balls of hail or not, is a big deal in southern California. The city and social media nearly imploded. I’d like to say “literally imploded,” but I don’t want to get harassed by the new wave of grammar evangelists who will yell at everyone misusing the word, but don’t know the proper use of “there,” “their,” and “they’re” themselves. So I refrain. But Huntington Beach, and those from cities nearby, went ballistic. I gotta say, it was pretty epic. As a native New Englander who transplanted myself out here seven years ago, it was fun to see such a rare occurrence and the spectacle which ensued, while at the same time hypocritically making fun of people for freaking out over a little bit of frozen water—despite the rarity of such an event.
Two day’s later a south-swell snuck around New Zealand, marched it’s way unobstructed across the Pacific Ocean, and awoke California’s traditional summer surf breaks during a winter that might as well be summer—excluding the freak “snow” storm in HB (global warming what?). Many of my most well know and widely published images have come from the Wedge in Newport Beach. Officially winter or not, I hauled my ass out of bed before sunrise (an ordinarily herculean task), and spent the better part of two days photographing some of my favorite surfers at my favorite, mutant shorebreak.
A new season starts under a new name
We all rejoiced as the new pro tour was set to start off at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast of Australia. At the same time we collectively continued to sneer at the new World Surf League (WSL), which replaced the previous Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP). –What’s the deal with that?
Yeah, most people outside of surfing never had a clue what ASP stood for, but do you expect them to know what WSL does? Let’s not kid ourselves here. I can understand not wanting to be yet another of 200-someodd organizations using PSA as an acronym, but WSL doesn’t quite roll of the tongue.
In reality it’s the same organization run by the same people as it has been the past few years, just with a shiny new name. Only, they skimped on the logo. Damn, what’s with that logo? The ASP had a fantastic logo, only to replace it a short time ago with a piece of crap some executive must’ve drawn in a strategy meeting late one night. The WSL in all its wisdom decided to go with this “new and better” logo, just replacing the three-letter acronym at the bottom. Genius.
However this is the same organization that will soon be charging the millions of surf fans to watch live contest broadcasts. Undoubtedly people will pay, because who the hell can afford to travel the world from Australia, to Brazil, Fiji, South Africa, Tahiti, California, France, Portugal, and then Hawaii? If you want to watch one of these contests, 99% of the fans out there are going to need to watch it online.
As the ASP, they worked hard building a webcast and fan base. Unfortunately now that they have, the rebranded, more corporate WSL is saying thank you for building our value to sponsors by telling the surf world we can now pay them our hard earned money for our support and dedication.
Let’s not forget this is all from an organization who tries to restrict your right to take photos of the events held on public beaches, and uses photos without permission or compensation. It’s apparently all about the money, and hording that money at the top, because they sure don’t seem to care about those of us trying to just keep our businesses solvent while doing what we love.
A champion is crowned, then creates a media frenzy
Before the competitive surf season officially kicked off at Snapper, Brazilian Gabriel Medina was officially crowned the reigning World Champion, trophy and all. The contest started with much celebration and anticipation, then the waves stopped. The contest soon followed. Nearly two weeks went by without contestable waves.
After extending the official waiting period, time once again ran out and waves or no, the contest had to run. With conditions significantly less than perfect, frustrations were understandable high. Then things came to a head.
Yes the waves sucked. Yes the crowds were huge. Yes it was the first CT event of the year. And yes, Medina won this event last year. When Micro took off toward the end of their heat on a shitty, waist high wave, Media did his best to bail out the back/through the foam ball. Did they hit? I don’t think so, but Micro fell as a result, while holding priority.
Looked like Micro took a page from soccer (sorry, ¡fuball!) and flopped. It worked. Medina gets the interference call, and just like that the defending Quik Pro champ/current world champ was eliminated. That’s a big deal.
Medina was understandably pissed. The interference alone would’ve been enough to talk about, but then Medina vented on the live webcast. He hammered WSL Commissioner Kieren Perrow for the way the contest was run, and the days chosen to surf. He claimed confusion over a new adaption to the priority rule (put in place to prevent the priority holder from forcing his direct competitor off the wave when he has no intention of actually catching that wave, because who want’s to see contestable waves roll by un-ridden?). Most of all as he was telling Pete Mel and the world that he won’t put up with Micro yelling obscenities at him any more, he let the f-bomb (not his sponsor’s wetsuit) fly. Combine that all together, and we finally got some excitement during this contest!
Yet everyone loves a winner and a well-surfed heat. Filipe Toledo shone through the early rounds, and despite long delays and the multi-colored orgy of downers surrounding the contest, won in a spectacular fashion over Ausi Julian Wilson. Hooray.
Mason Ho
I’ve written enough, and maybe people don’t think with everything that’s gone on recently this is big news, but Mason Ho recently signed with Rip Curl, and I think this is big news.
I’ve had the opportunity to meet Mason a few times over the years, and he’s just an awesome guy. He comes from an absolute legendary Hawaiian surf family, yet has made his own name for himself as a phenomenal surfer and all around good guy. …Lost has been great for him over the years, but it’s exciting to see what’s to come with one of the most major companies in the surf world holding that prime position on his board’s nose.
Plus, I just wanted another excuse to share this epic photo of Mason from the historic Hurricane Marie swell in Newport Beach, CA.
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