DOWN THE LINE Surf Talk Radio

November 20, 2011 –  surfing, surfing news, surfing industry, surf – Live every sunday on XTRASPORTS 1360AM IN SAN DIEGO ; internet Xtrasports1360.com ; or iTunes podcast download keyword search “down the line surf”

GMAC’s World Record Proclamation w/ XXL Director Bill Sharp

GMAC’S wave could be 90 feet. It could be 100 feet. I hope it measures 99 feet. I don’t care. I’m not questioning the size. What I’m questioning is the process.
Which organization or authority validates such a claim? Is it the Guinness people? Or XXL? YouTube? Is it George Downing or George Will? Perhaps Jane Kachmer?
This week we talk with Bill Sharp, Director of Billabong’s XXL Global Big Waves Awards Director. There’s been much internet chatter about Garrett McNamara’s huge wave and self-proclaimed world record.

Here are some other “Worlds Biggest Wave” – there’s more than one! Who knew?

Top 5 Stories:
1) Aussie News article:  http://www.swellnet.com.au/news/2651-kelly-slater-almost-sunk-in-wave-pool-wrangle
2) Please support your favorite flag:  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/patriotism-flagging-at-surf-contests/story-e6frg7mf-1226197716298
3) Hawaiian Happenings: Rumor floating on Twitter from Shea Lopez that ASP will do away with the mid-year reshuffle of pro surfers; Flat on the North  Shore so far…REEF HAWAIIAN PRO AT Haleiwa – no waves showing up at Haleiwa. They need west swell. Minor norths rolling in.
4) ASP drops Rip Curl Pro Search from 2012 ASP World Tour schedule
5)

ERMA EBERLY
We are raising money to pay for Tom Eberly’s wife’s cancer operation.
Erma Eberly Dangla is the mother of three daughters, Rebeca (23), Erin (17) and Tara (15), and is the force behind Tom Eberly’s Nicasurf International Surf Tours. La jefa. We are raising money to pay for Erma’s cancer operation to save her. Please Help us by donating anything you can spare through our paypal account – sean@sanjuansurf.com – all will help and will go straight to the cause. She needs to have an operation now and we are a little bit short, so please help!
Website     http://www.nicasurfinternational.com/

I never mention charities on the air unless I have given and I have given generously. I want you too as well, but only within your means.

Help Matt Warshaw get the Encyclopedia of Surfing on line by donating to the KickStarter Cause. Link below:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1391193483/encyclopedia-of-surfing?ref=live

We interview Bill Sharp this morning. Give a listen!

Do yourself a favor, go check out BillabongXXL.com website. Bring along a sandwich and a cold beverage and schedule yourself two hours to digest it all– the waves, not the meal. There is plenty to sink your teeth into.

Do your best to determine the winner of four categories: Ride of the Year, the Best Paddle-in Wave, The Best Tube Ride, and the Biggest Wave. These clips below are just a small smattering of what you’ll see. And with last weeks Mavericks event providing some of the largest and heaviest waves of the year, well, the judges have their hands full.

Is this the year that all four categories are won by the same surfer on the same wave? Could a paddle-in surfer claim Biggest Wave over some of the tow-in stuff at Peahi? Hell yeah!!

Massive Waves and Chaos at Mavericks Surf Contest:

This week we interview Drew Kampion who authored the World Surfing Reserves Manifesto (see below):

“If surfers won’t save the world, who will? Obama? The G20? The United Nations?

Is there some other global network of alert, persistent, environmentally-aware individuals who are similarly trained in the art of navigating variables, overcoming adversity, and appreciating the rarities of perfection? Who else will do the work? Who else will hold up the vision?

It’s pretty ironic. Surfing is all about getting away from the constraints of society – escaping the usual manmade rules, breaking free and committing to the rule of natural law – the physics of wave form and the glide.

Surfers are a nomadic sort of tribe, conversant with the wild, in touch with the natural world at a time when the natural world is increasingly remote from most people on the planet.

Surfers are like the canaries in the coal mine … reporting back from the shores and coastal edges, where so many of the changes and impacts of unsustainable growth and pollution and climate change are focused. Surfers are in a position to sense and experience the urgency, and to thereby stake a claim on the possible in the face of the so-called inevitable.

Since it’s a universe of waves – waves of all scales and materials – surfers are uniquely positioned to understand how they work and to know how to ride them … because the principles inherent in all waves are the same.

The World Surfing Reserves (WSR) movement is just another wave. Each WSR is a Trojan horse, conceived in cooperation and with appropriate enthusiasm, but harboring powerful, unseen, and unanticipated effects. The WSR that is fully embraced and actualized at the local, national, and global levels – where it becomes an asset not merely for surfers and beach-lovers, but for the bioregional community of which it is a part – will bring value and better quality of life to the whole.

In enshrining these surf spots the program will be enhancing and, in a sense, enshrining their surf-oriented communities, too – affirming what has great value in that place. A WSR is a celebration of place.

The bubble provided by the WSR designation should act like a semi-permeable membrane, enabling certain kinds of activities and sustainable developments while resisting the intrusion of others (like landfills, mining operations, trawlers, and the grosser monoliths of unchecked development). The simple existence of the WSR acts as a tactical wedge that inserts itself into every future discussion concerning the fate and destiny of the reserve area.

A WSR models a kind of environmental synergy, integrating the principles of preservation with sustainable use … with stewardship and cultural celebration. A WSR provides a nexus for rallying and focusing energy and assets on ensuring that a particular coastal area will be permanently vested with intrinsic importance – an importance that local surfers and others already understand but may not be able to communicate.

The WSR designation is this communication. This plaque, this installation, this monument that dedicates the WSR communicates a cohesive valuation forward through time – says that these people, representing a broad local, regional, national, and global community of like-minded individuals hereby value this place – right here – and declare the intention of holding this place sacred for as long as the waves break and the tides cycle. In other words, each small monument is a symbol for the greater monument that is each surf spot and its enshrined environment, dedicated forward for the common benefit and for the enjoyment and appreciation of present and future generations.

Each WSR is a microcosm – a meeting of land and sea selected for the unique and salutary nature of its waves and natural setting. The dedication of each WSR seeks the protection of this microcosm, this coastal zone of waves and habitat, from wanton destruction and exploitation through the positive force of appreciation and valuation. As a force of inception, it’s worth mentioning that the WSR enterprise is in keeping with the initial impulse of John Kelly, who created SAVE OUR SURF (the ancestor of all surf-related environmental organizations) in the early 1960s, and the result is over a hundred Hawaiian beaches and surf breaks saved that would have been lost but aren’t. That’s the power of an idea.

The Save The Waves crew picked up where John Kelly left off. Founded on work with International Surf Spot Protection and modeled on the vision of Brad Farmer and the National Surfing Reserve program in Australia, the concept of World Surfing Reserves draws inspiration from Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard, who asked: “Why not have surf breaks – famous, great breaks like Jeffrey’s Bay, Rincon and Malibu – as [UNESCO] World Heritage Sites, so that the whole world sees their value and wants to protect them?”

Creating World Surfing Reserves may not in itself save the world, but it’s a step in that direction. A World Surfing Reserve is like a world park, but with more dynamic local interaction. A WSR is a sort of coastal appreciation zone, and it’s an opportunity zone … and a possibility zone, which happens to be on the coast, in a place where surf culture has taken root.

Undertaking the creation of a WSR – to enshrine a wave and its environs – is to set in motion a medium of communication for disparate parties that might not otherwise become engaged. And once communication begins, who knows where it will lead?

This enshrinement is a kind of protection, but it is not a sure one. Over time threats will come, one by one, to all of the world’s great surf spots, and over time, again and again, they will be compromised. And in the end, the enshrinements we make now and in future years may be the deciding factor that saves a beach or a surf spot or a park … or just a jewel of the natural world.

World Surfing Reserves is about surfers saving the world, one wave at a time, and while it may not guarantee that a beach or a wave will be saved, it does enshrine the global community’s demand that it must be.” – Drew Kampion, WSR Vision Council, January 2010

Holy crap! This footage is of all time Mundaka on Oct 21, 2009. Some stellar rides, plus I witnessed more claims than at a Brazilian Insurance agency.

This is such epic Mundaka that 1) I’m obviously jealous; and 2) I’m also stoked for them, because most of us know how it is to get your home spot ALL TIME!

We (Bassy and Baldy) will talk about this epic session and the happenings in Portugal. Plus tons more insider stuff.

JEFF CLARK FORCED OUT AT MAVERICKS?!

DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST:
June 28th Show- Grant Washburn, Garrett McNamara Discuss Mavs Contest w/o Jeff Clark, Baldy joins the fun; James Pribram in Chicago, Pat O’Connell Hall of Famer; Top 5 Stories; Trivia Blitz; Fact or Fiction; tons more……

Big firm litigator-turned-sports entrepreneur Keir J. Beadling is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mavericks Surf Ventures, Inc. In this role, Keir oversees the world-famous Mavericks Surf Contest® and Mavericks™ brand. It appears Beadling maneuvered to have Mavericks legend Jeff Clark removed from the Mavericks Surf Contest. A marketing move akin to kicking Eddie Aikau out of the Quiksilver in honor of Eddie Aikau. However problematic Clark was to Beadling’s efforts to run the event, (rumor is that Beadling wanted to run it this year and Clark would not green light the contest because the surf wasn’t big enough), you simply DO NOT remove him from the event. Marketing suicide. A grass roots boycott is already taking shape on Facebook, and it will be very interesting to see how how the surfers themselves, the Evan Slater’s and Grant Baker’s of the world, handle this situation.

Jeff Clark’s blog: “Over the past several years, it has been obvious that my vision and priorities are not in line with those of Mavericks Surf Ventures. I have had in the past, and continue to have, strong differences of opinion with the present CEO and Board about the direction, image and priorities of the company and the contest.

The press release issued by Mavericks Surf Ventures this week stating that I ‘stepped down’ and I am ‘passing the torch to the next generation’ is wrong. The reality is that I was ousted as Contest Director by the current CEO.

I must also note that, while the company’s news release states that this year’s contest will be held to celebrate ‘the 35th anniversary of Jeff Clark’s first session at the now world-famous break,’ the 35th anniversary is actually next season, in 2010-11. I will not allow the company to use my accomplishment as a marketing tactic.

Effective today, I have resigned from the Board of Directors of Mavericks Surf Ventures.

My vision for the Mavericks Surf Contest has been unwavering: it is about the family of big wave surfers, the spirit of the ocean, and this amazing wave. I never wanted that to be compromised for the sake of money or marketing opportunities. I think that focus is obvious to anyone who knows me or who has seen my priorities over the years.

Mavericks has been an integral part of my personal and professional life for more than 30 years, and I hope that it continues to be a part of both in the future.

I wake up looking at Mavericks, and I have watched and surfed those waves most of my life. I started the contest 10 years ago, and I can say one thing for sure: Mavericks is Mavericks. The waves will come – or not – when they will.

The one thing I would truly regret would be to see a committee deciding, based on sponsorship money and media opportunities, when the best day to run the contest would be, and have it turn into just another 10 foot swell with a lot of hype and not a lot of substance. Any true Mavericks surfer wants and deserves a real test of ability.

I wish everyone well, knowing that Mavericks will always take care of itself.

I wish I could say more at this time, but I have had limited time to absorb these changes and will have more to say about this situation as things become clearer.”