DOWN THE LINE Surf Talk Radio

January 20, 2013 – SURFING NEWS — SURFING NEWS — MAVERICKS SURF CONTEST TODAY & MUCH MUCH MORE
w/ Scott Bass (surfer) and Jeff Baldwin (surfer)

The top story of the week has to be today’s Big Wave World Tour contest the Mavericks Invitational at Half Moon Bay.

SURF REPORT: ADAM WRIGHT SOLSPOT.COM
TP buoy is 3′@22 right now

SEGMENT BROUGHT TO YOU BY SURFING HERITAGE VINTAGE SURF AUCTION PRESENTED BY QUIKSILVER WATERMAN COLLECTION TAKING PLACE MAY 11 AT THE ORANGE COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS: GET TICKETS AND INFORMATION AT :

HTTP://THEVINTAGESURFAUCTION.COM

http://mavericksinvitational.com/

Contest organizers for the Mavericks Invitational 2012-2013 presented by GoPro, have confirmed that the world’s premier big wave surf contest will take place on Sunday, January 20, 2013 in Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay, CA.

“The waves are going to be insane, the weather is going to be beautiful, and the level of surfing will break new ground,” said Mavericks Invitational Contest Director Jeff Clark.

Who will win, what will the waves be like, how big, who will shine, who will wipe out?

All to be answered after the event, but what we do know is this:
1) Sunny and gorgeous with pristine conditions
2) buoys are 8′ at 19s this morning
3) Surfline reporting no Shane Dorian hurt back, No Kelly Slater, No Carlos Burle hurt shoulder

A San Francisco news source, The Inquisitor, reports that “it’s unclear why Slater is missing the event, but Slater faces a conflict with the Association of Surfing Professionals, governing body of the professional tour. Mavericks is not an ASP-sanctioned event, and as such, Slater could face being fined, losing points (in the tour standings) or having his seeding changed in ASP events if he competed at Mavericks.”

The paper reached out to Kelly Slater about his reason for pulling out, but the surf legend didn’t respond to the request. The paper tracked down another source who said Slater was disappointed to miss the tournament but relieved his spot will be filled by a dedicated Mavericks surfer. He’s only surfed there a handful of times.

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/488259/kelly-slater-out-of-mavericks-international-surf-contest-reason-unclear/#v0v7A5uTe7o42XdO.99

I watched the Mavs cam last night at Sunset and it was dreadfully inconsistent. Will the competitors have enough time?

You will see some carnage, as the long period swell will have people out of position, cold, tight, not warmed up, peaks hitting the reef and becoming steep quickly, surfers pushing each other into the bowl, the takeoff zone squeezed.

I anticipate a young guy winning, slightly smaller surf,

The Competitors

Matt Ambrose
Ryan Augenstein
Grant “Twiggy” Baker
Chris Bertish
Carlos Burle
Ken “Skindog” Collins
Shane Desmond
Shawn Dollar
Shane Dorian
Nathan Fletcher
Mark Healey
Rusty Long
Greg Long
Alex Martins
Peter Mel
Ryan Seelbach
Kelly Slater
Tyler Smith
Jamie Sterling
Anthony Tashnick
Grant Washburn
Dave Wassel
Ben Wilkinson
Zach Wormhoudt

THE ALTERNATES

1. Tyler Fox (Santa Cruz)
2. Josh Loya (Santa Cruz)
3. Colin Dwyer (Pacifica)
4. Nic Lamb (Santa Cruz)
5. Danilo Couto (Brazil)
6. Derek Dunfee (San Diego)

Contest organizers for the Mavericks Invitational 2012-2013 presented by GoPro, have confirmed that the world’s premier big wave surf contest will take place on Sunday, January 20, 2013 in Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay, CA.

“The waves are going to be insane, the weather is going to be beautiful, and the level of surfing will break new ground,” said Mavericks Invitational Contest Director Jeff Clark.

This is the first time in three years that contest-worthy waves are headed to the
legendary surf break. Stormsurf forecaster Mark Sponsler stated, “This is looking like the best opportunity we’ve had in quite a few years with great conditions for running the contest.”

“This swell is going to offer huge waves and possibly perfect conditions. This is a very powerful swell, and we will have dramatic conditions that will push the competitors to their limits. Sunday is going to beautiful and very scary at times. I look forward to seeing plenty of glory rides,” said competitor and surfers’ representative Shawn Dollar.

Top 5 Stories:

#1 Dorian and others surf massive Portugal Nazere, basically Blacks on steroids. Jan 11
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=x96S5F1oMRE

#2 VOLCOM PIPE PRO WQS 5STAR STARTS JAN 27 NEXT SUNDAY

#3 Surf Expo features more than 2,500 brands and 26,000 buyers, exhibitors and media
More than 26,000 buyers, exhibitors, and media took to the halls of Surf Expo January 10-12 in what was the largest show in the tradeshow’s 37 year history. More than 2,500 brands were represented in 250,000 gross square feet of exhibit space and buyers from 47 states and 49 countries not only found industry mainstays but also more than 217 brands new to the show.

#4 A surfer is recovering after he was attacked by a shark on the Big Island. Paul Santos, 43, was attacked by a 15-foot tiger shark about 200 yards off shore of Kiholo Bay. According to the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Santos was bit on the right forearm and sustained knee injuries.

A worker at the private home of Dr. Earl Bakken responded after hearing someone shout “911.” According to Dr. Bakken’s General Manager Adam Atwood, the staff isolated Santos’ injury, stabilized him, and waited 35 minutes for paramedics to arrive. Atwood says Santos punched the shark repeatedly until it let go, and then saw it jump completely out of the water.

Santos was taken to the hospital, but was later flown to Oahu for treatment. As of Thursday afternoon, hospital officials say Santos is in stable condition. According to Atwood, sharks and turtles are known to frequent the area.

#5 Insight, born on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia…taps back into our heritage to bring you Insight Surfboards by shaper Haydn Lewis. Haydn, taking to water at a young age, surfing some of Australia’s best points, started his career learning to shape under the watchful eye of his father. Then moving on to work for shapers such as Simon Anderson, Greg Webber, and Al Merrick. Experimenting with a range of short performance, alternative, and long boards, we’ve brought over a culmination of our favorites at the Insight LA store.

January 06, 2013 – SURFING NEWS — SURFING NEWS Jaimal Yogis – The Fear Project & MUCH MUCH MORE
w/ Scott Bass (surfer) and Jeff Baldwin (surfer)

Great Read The Fear Project Jaimal Yogis

Who among us has not been paralyzed by fear? In THE FEAR PROJECT, award-winning journalist and surfer Jaimal Yogis sets out to better understand fear – why does it so often dominate our lives, what makes it tick, and is there even a way to use it to our advantage? In the process, he plunges readers into white shark-infested waters, brings them along to surf 40+ foot waves in the dead of winter, and gives them access to some of the world’s best neuroscience labs, psychologists, and extreme athletes. In this entertaining, often laugh-out-loud narrative, Yogis also treats himself like a guinea pig for all of his research, pushing his own fears repeatedly to the limits—in his sport, in his life, and in love. Ultimately, Yogis shares with his readers the best strategies to emerge triumphant from even the most paralyzing of fears.

THE FEAR PROJECT gives readers insight into the following:

+ How fear evolved in the human brain

+ How to tell the difference between “good fear” and “bad fear”

+ How to use the latest neuroscience to transform fear memories

+ Why fear spreads between us

+ How to counteract fearful “group think”

+ How to turn fear into a performance enhancer — athletically and at work

First let me say that I applaud Jaimal Yogis for his great writing. This book is filled with sincerity, humility, and honesty. The Fear Project is an insightful, informative, and well written personal foray into fear: what it is, why it is, how it affects us through experience (his own and others) and using scientific investigation.

Jaimal:

The book’s genesis ? How did it come about? A certain fear overcame you, crippled you, and you journalistic tendency was to explore this fear?
A relationship? Fear?
Amygdala : how does fear physiologically manifests itself?

Fight or flight? Since day one we’ve had this innate ability to survive, but in todays world our fears seem somewhat trivial in the context of a T-Rex eating us for breakfast, but these rather mundane modern fears, say Fear of Commitment, still manifest themselves in the same way as the T Rex staring down on us.

To find out more about Fear: what it is, why it is, how it affects us, you did some participant observation studies, one was diving with Great White Sharks in the Farallons?
Talk a bit about this?

Meditation, why is it helpful in the context of fear?
Yes, meditation practitioners spike highly in stress or fear situations, but they return to baseline calm much faster.

Mavericks! OMG. Gnar Gnar. You’re going to face Mavs and the two decades of horror stories, shark attacks, three wave hold downs, deaths, cold water, rocks??

Fear increases your heart rate, you use more oxygen, not good for surfing or more specifically underwater hold downs.

A sports pyschologist suggested what? Writing down your fears?

Doc Renneker told you about hold downs and slowing down, can you explain that a little bit for us?

Surfing; we have a brilliant phrase “only a surfer knows the feeling”, yet try as they might, nary a surfer has been able to capture that feeling in words, or on film, or convey that special feeling we all get after we surf?
But I’m going to give you a shot, why do you think we feel so special, so alive, so full happiness, after we surf? Could it be that we have overcome some sense of fear? Or is it an addiction? Dopamine?

Amy? Spoiler alert? Are you still with her? Why no pullout centerfold? Is it because she reminds you of Doc Renneker? BTW: After reading about her, I think I’m in love with Amy too.

Some of the suggestions about alleviating fear, things like meditation, training under stress, visualization of success, I’ve created posters for my kids room that read, “meditate or fail”. “Visualize success or fail!”

What are your fears? I’m fearful of not providing for the family, for a full retirement?

November 18, 2012 — Surfing News : DANE REYNOLDS BIG MOVE REEF HAWAIIAN PRO – Scott Bass Host Surfer, Jeff Baldwin Host Surfer

SEGMENT 1: Segment Sponsor Quiksilver Waterman Collection is presenting next years’ Surfing Heritage Vintage Surf Auction presented by Quiksilver Waterman Collection which takes place May 11, 2013 in the brand new state-of-the-art building at the OC Fairgrounds called The HANGAR. Quiksilver Waterman Collection and their brand ambassadors on twitter Mark Healey @healeysurf, Shayne McIntyre @ShayneMcIntyre, Jamie Mitchell, Peter Mel @peter_mel, Mel Pu’u: Robby Naish

emails/news/notes:
Hi Bassy n Baldy,

Best wishes from Australia, love the show, I listen every week. my question is …… have you or Jeff had much exposure to the Von Sol boards and are they a fun replacement for a summer fish ?? Do they rip or is it just more of the same ?? Hope to hear back, sorry to disturb, please keep up the great work, best wishes to Jeff !!

PS It’s so refreshing to listen to a radio show by hosts who are really tuned into what we are as surfers and what we find interesting and important, it’s amazing how similar our thoughts are even though we are on the opposite side of the planet. It just goes to show that surfers are the same the world over – we all know that surfing is such a great lifestyle and your show really celebrates it, well done !!! Kind regards, Peter
____________________________

TOP 5 STORIES OF THE WEEK POWERED BY SURFERS VILLAGE:

#1 THE TURN
DANE REYNOLDS busts an acrobatic, mind bending turn, if you can call it that, during a rather ho hum heat at Haleiwa and immediately remings us all of what we are missing.
1) THE TURN: Biggest wave of the heat; head high wave. full speed, full rail, dual arm layback, fin bust, nose pick to half-rotate to whitewater chaos to recovery. Maybe that’s it. It wasn’t as clean as it could’ve (or should’ve) been? (Watch it above)

Will THE TURN, DR’s move at Haleiwa, hold a place in history like Tom Carroll’s The Snap at Pipeline? or no? email us: surftalksandiego AT gmail DOT com

2)The judging:
The wave was scored a 7.3; Dorian and Machado both would’ve given the wave a 10 or high 9. Do you trust their judgment? How can you not trust the judgement of Dorian and Machado? Machado was rightfully calling out the judges. Right or wrong, this is what color commentators need to do — be honest and forthcoming with their opinions. John McEnroe/Johnny Miller. This, as much as the Dane Reynolds turn – THE TURN, progresses the sport.

What if nobody in the commentating box had said anything? We, the audience, would be spewing.

What we were told during the webcast is that the judges can only see the replay in real time speed. They can watch the super slo-mo, but are not allowed to have super slo-mo sway their opinion/judement.

WTF? We’ll give you the evidence, but you are not allowed to use it. That seems a bit ass-backwards, no?

#2 REEF Hawaiian Pro

SLATER ADVANCE
SUNNY ADVANCES AND WINS CLASH OF LEGENDS
KOLOHE QUIETLY ALREADY IN THE ROUND OF 16
Nathan Hedge making a push to re-qualify
John John moves on

#3 I went surfing and saw a dinosaur
A group of surfers in Santa Cruz County, Calif. stumbled upon a surprise Thursday. Sticking out of a rocky outcrop that is usually covered by water, even at low tide, was a giant set of fossilized vertebrae.
One of the dumbfounded surfers snapped a photo of the six to eight feet of bones, which were sticking out from a rock formation at Pleasure Point, a world-renowned surfing destination (home to the surf legend Jack O’Neill) that is one of only four dedicated “World Surfing Reserves.”
The surfer, under the name Donkahones, posted his photo of the fossils to Reddit, the Internet message board, with the explanation that the group could see the bones because of an unusually low tide. The post was titled “So I went surfing and saw a dinosaur.”
Experts disagreed.
“It is not a dinosaur,” Gary Griggs, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the nearby University of California, Santa Cruz, told ABCnews.com. “The vertebrae are in what is called the Purisima formation, which is from the Pliocene, so they’re three to five million years old. Which is relatively young. This is from way after the dinosaurs.”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/11/surfers-find-giant-fossilized-back-bones/

#4 Nat Young heard he officially made the ASP World Tour on Friday, joining the ranks to the top 34 surfers in the world. But Young, 21, wasn’t celebrating. And he won’t until an ASP official delivers the news to him directly. Young, ranked No. 20 in the world, has reason for skepticism. Last year he thought he had done everything necessary to claim a World Tour spot, only to see it yanked away.

SURFING HERITAGE VINTAGE SURF AUCTION
We are producing a premier cultural event. More than an auction, a place for the relevant, the swank, & the surfing intelligentsia to gather in a celebration of craftsmanship, art, music, and surfing lore. The Surfing Heritage Vintage Surf Auction has a ten-year history in Hawaii and is for the first time ever being produced on the mainland USA in gorgeous Orange County California.

The theme of the auction is “California Gold” and the Surfing Heritage Foundation is focusing on just that, boards and memorabilia with California flair from the ’20s through the ’70s. We’re anticipating 50 unique & rare vintage surfboards for the live auction and at least 50 items for the silent auction.

Event Info
• 100 Live & Silent Auction items, unique & rare vintage surfboards by Lopez, Curren, Noll, Rawson, Hynson, Cole, Lis, Schroff, Frye, Velzy, Kivlin, Stussy, Harbour, Quigg & many others.
• Art from the ilk of Thomas Campbell, Matt Beard, Damian Fulton, Art Brewer & others
• Acoustic jazz by Neon Stiletto Groove & others
• California Gold vehicles including VW Bus, Porsche, Ford Galaxy, Hot Rods, El Caminos others, tbd
• VIP area for QWC ambassadors, legend shapers, cultural icons, gorgeous athleticas, honored guests
• Roadshow appraisals, vintage marketplace, California Gold timeline, autograph signing, short films
• Expected attendance 800 – 1200
• May 11, 2013; Auction preview begins noon; VIP cocktail reception 3-5pm; Live auction 6-9pm
• Benefiting the Surfing Heritage Foundation a non-profit 501c organization
• OC Fairgrounds – three conjoined buildings / 35K+ Square Feet

The Surfing Heritage Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, presenting and promoting surfing’s heritage for the appreciation and education of current and future generations; and to achieving our goal of surfing being more accurately understood, represented and enjoyed. Preservation. Presentation. Promotion.

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

surf news, surf industry, surfing insight

Oct 23, 2011 –

Bruce Irons talks about the massive beast at Teahupoo that took his board shorts. Bruce is getting better.

Surf News – Top 5 Stories of the Week Oct 23rd
:
#1 Kelly Slater’s Board in Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

KellySlater, 39, has helped progress surfing and represented the sport in a positive manner, and this week it was announced that the Floridian has donated one of his boards to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
“Over the past 20 years, his approach to surfing as a professional and dedicated philanthropist has changed how people surf and view the sport,” said Jane Rogers, curator at the museum, which collects and preserves items of American heritage to portray the American experience.The board is on display in the museum’s first-floor Artifact Walls exhibit.

Is there a better representation of and / or for surfing? Tom Blake paddleboard? A Simmons post WWII tech inspired foam n fiberglass?

#2 Slater wrap up 11th title @ Rip Curl Search – San Fran – they used Travelocity to SEARCH for this one.
From TransworldSURF:

“If this was any other event on the ASP schedule (Kelly’s won them all) it’d be hard to envision an early exit—but in San Francisco, at Ocean Beach, and without the use of Jet Ski assistance of any sort, the playing field may be leveled to the point that an early Slater loss is not entirely out of the question. Long shot, yes, but still possible. Man versus (hopefully) large Ocean Beach peaks might just make things interesting.”

#3 GW Shark hunt in West Oz as 3rd diver is taken out by 10′ great white; they are protected, but Oz govt issuing killing orders for what they feel is a rogue GWS that is responsible. a culling of GWS is not out of the picture.

Another surfer in NWest hit by massive GW Shark with photos of his …LOST Surfboard showing a gargantuan bite / Jaws mark.

#4 Twitter News/Faves: @Danes_neckbeard, @WhoisJOB, @Daynolds, some real ego clashing going on. During their best moments they are funny, insightful, stinging, at there worst they are haters, ignorant or trying to hard. Sort of like us on DTL radio? Internet everyone is a comedian or a hater or a know it all… or should I say “NOW” it all. So instantaneous, this web thingy.

#5 ISA World Masters Finals day in El Salvador with Sarlo O50, Curren, Hogan O45 in the Grand Finals. Does anyone care?

How often is it – in surfing or anything – you can truly say you’ve seen something you’ve never seen before and don’t expect to see again?

Early this morning – or late last night, depending on how you look at 2am – the reef begins to boom.

Almost imperceptible, ground-shaking impacts.

At the crack we get up, have coffee and walk down to check it.

Immediately you can see it’s BIG. Seawater has broken the berm protecting the lawns along the rim of the bay inside the pass; rocks and weed and bits of junk are scattered in unusual places.

TO READ MORE OF NICK CARROLL’S PIECE GO HERE:

http://tinyurl.com/3cr3bhq

The Maverick’s big-wave contest is moving forward as a democracy, without Jeff Clark. Everything is in place but the legendary surfer’s blessing, in the wake of a tempestuous summer behind the scenes.

At first, the 24 invited surfers wanted no part of an event that had banished Clark. “He’s still the man out there,” said Santa Cruz standout Peter Mel, “and he’s been a friend to all of us over the years.”

Eventually, said Mel, “We all realized how important this event is to us, how it’s one of the great surf contests in the world. We agreed that we had to keep it going, whether Jeff was in or not. And I think he understands that.”

CONTINUE READING BRUCE JENKINS: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/07/SP0U19J0IF.DTL

Grant Washburn is a surfer whose name is synonymous with big wave surfing and with Mavericks. Washburn has earned the respect of the entire Mavericks surfing community– mostly through unwavering dedication to the spot itself. With the recent news of Jeff Clark’s forced departure from the Mavericks Surf Contest, we thought it appropriate to check-in with Washburn and ask a few questions.

Mavericks will take care of itself.

First off, what was your reaction when you heard the news regarding Jeff Clark not being involved in the Mavericks contest?

I’m ignoring it. (laughs) No, I don’t know man, you know what, every year there is something going on there. We never know if they have a sponsor or if they have a company. It’s too early for anybody to actually know exactly what is going on.

As you mentioned, there’s a lot of politics that surrounds the Mavericks event, probably much more than we even know. Some well-known Mavericks surfers mentioned your name, as a guy that they look too for guidance. Basically, the surfers follow your lead.

You know, I follow their lead too. In the end it is up to the surfers to make it (the contest) respectable and worth doing. The company is going to do whatever it is they do, and Jeff is just Jeff, he’s had no control over a lot of the stuff anyway. For the last three or four years, he has had no managing control over it. He sometimes has his outbursts or whatever, but he has basically been under a gag order to not say anything because that’s the deal. From our point of view and for any big wave event, it’s about the spot and the ocean and the people. The company is trying to make money, obviously, everyone knows that. So it is just, how are we going to let them do that and where are we going to draw the line.

Well this event more than any other, Jeff Clark and his name tied to it tightly. Are they surfers going to unite, sort of Hui-up, and find out what Jeff wants them to do? Or are they going to say, ‘You know, it’s 30-foot, we’re going to surf the contest with or without Jeff’s blessing?”

Well in a way we sort of already have Hui’d up. Years back they company top loaded the prize. They didn’t tell anyone they were going to waive the appearance fee. All of us have real jobs, basically, we all have to work. When they waived the $1000 fee that we used to get just for showing up…you took the day off, maybe you flew over from Hawaii. They didn’t say anything to anybody, and all of the sudden the top prize was bigger than ever, but 18 guys got nothing. I was like, “Ah come on, you can’t do that.” They said, “Yeah it’s regrettable.” Well it’s not just regrettable, it’s unacceptable. So we did all get together and, this is a pretty disparate group, and we decided that they company is are going to do it like we discussed before, which is each guys gets something for showing up, but you don’t just give it all to the top guy. And that’s what we did. The next year we ended splitting the prize to the six guys in the final. That’s the vibe out there. When the company tries to come along and make the prize a big deal and make it the super bowl of surfing or whatever, that really turns off the surfers.

Are they surfers going to take off a year and rally around Jeff?

The thing is Jeff still owns a most of the company, so it is a really weird situation. To me it’s like look, I have lots of friends who surf Mavericks who would be happy if there wasn’t any event at all. They (event organizers) close down the spot and say only these few people can surf in it, and half of the guys aren’t from the local area, and that’s a pretty big deal. And what are we actually getting out of it? As far as the community and the greater surfing community, if there is no reward, it is not any fun. Nobody wants to do it that way. We will have to wait and see. It’s really a strange thing, to have the event run by somebody who … the politics can never get out of the way.

I’m of the opinion that politics are always going to a part of it on some level. That’s just human nature. I’m sure George Downing has his moments, and if Eddie Aikau were alive, perhaps there would be politics in that regard as well. It seems odd to take Jeff Clark away from the decision making process. Interestingly, Catherine Clark, Jeff’s ex-wife, is really the glue that has held this contest together, that’s what I’ve been told by surfers close to the situation. She is positioned with the marketing company, at least according to press reports.

Well I think it’s too soon to say that. I don’t know what the deal would be. They way they’ve always operated is week to week. The reason we’ve had the waiting period start in January is because they never have any sponsors, and never could hang on to any sponsors. They always say, “Yeah we are still doing it. It’ll be bigger than ever.” You know Catherine is kind of just along for the ride. She’s involved because she loves the guys and loves the place and loves the community and she always trying to give back. And as far as taking sides, he side is with that stuff. She is not with the company or with Jeff. She is the den mother. She has always run the behind the scenes stuff. When Quiksilver was running it, she helped out. But she is not a surfer and she would never call the swell or call the day. That’s what is weird about this news, who is going to be calling the day? Jeff, despite his flaws, is really, really great at calling Mavericks and knowing when it is going to be good. We wouldn’t have had some of those events if it weren’t for Jeff. Because nobody, not Sean Collins or Mark Sponsler would have ever called it on those days that Twiggy won or Greg Long won, and that’s because Jeff has that instinctive knowledge of the place, and without that you are going to have a lot less events.

Some might argue that you have that instinctive knowledge. It seems to me that the company will ask the surfers themselves to make the call, if, in fact the surfers agree to move forward with out Jeff Clark.

Yeah and it’s not like Jeff was pulling the trigger completely on his own. But he was always pulling the guys. Greg Long knows about as much about the ocean as anybody, even though he’s just a kid. For sure each of the surfers has the ability. There is a lot of pressure on making the call. It’s easy to sit back and go, “yeah we should do it” if you’re not the guy who has to take the fall if the waves are bad that day. That’s not an easy job and I don’t want to do it, and I don’t know anybody who does and, yeah, good luck (laughs).

Are there sponsors secured already, because according to what I’ve seen, I think they secured some sponsors?

Yeah, you know, I’ve learned not to pay attention to anything they say (laughs), those guys are rarely upfront about anything. I’m not involved with it, but yeah I think they have some money, they threw together a highlight show from last year. They have had money. I wasn’t involved with it I don’t know, It’s basically money rolled over from last year. It’s not new money. The think about Mavericks is that it is a fantastic place. It is obviously very marketable. And there is a lot of good energy that comes in, in the form of those sponsors and they really are supporting the place and the surfers. It is sort of the middleman that creates the politics.

Are the surfers over it? If it’s 30-foot let’s just go surfing.

I think we’ve been there before. There is no difference. We are prepared if there is a contest or no contest. We will be surfing. Look what happened in November last year. The guys couldn’t have been pushing it any harder. Twiggy was surfing harder and more intensely than he ever has. I don’t think anything that happens changes what happens out there. What’s become distressing to us is all that is humped onto this thing. It has to be done right. The mood of the place and the spirit of Jay Moriarty that’s what we have to be true too. When we start wandering away from that, and when you say to yourself, “What would Jay think of this?” That’s when you get kind of depressed about it. The guys are getting tired of it. Do it right or don’t do it. There is plenty of good media coverage with or without the contest. You are going to see pictures of the biggest waves. Mavericks will win awards, even on bad years, Mavericks won the biggest paddle award. That’s what is so cool about the place and the contest is sort of a sideshow.

The surfers, the heart of it all, the surfers just want the big waves, they don’t care. They just need a tent on the beach and they’ll score each other.

Yeah Matt Ambrose, one of my good friends was saying we should just have the Matt Ambrose Challenge. Ten bucks to anybody who gets the biggest wave.

Grant, thanks so much for the insight, we look forward to seeing how this affair plays out..

Right on Scott, have a good day.