Did you watch the first edition of NS Surf?
The 2nd ‘season’ is currently underway and will go Live next month, which means we have the full list of invitees, and a location.
Here’s a brief recap from last year, as well as a little preview of what’s to come.
Cheers.
Let’s say it’s Saturday morning. You rock up early to wherever you plan to surf and there is a small local contest happening out front. Waves look fun, and a couple of your friends that are in the event want you to enter, have some fun. $50 to get in, heck, one of them even says they’ll pay your entry fee..
why are you NOT entering the contest ?
(Funny answers good, but kind of seriously want to know why people don’t like to compete)
I had literally just wrote off Seth Moniz last week, on this platform nonetheless.
That’s okay, I’ll own it; I can take an L.
Seth went through a crazy murderers row of a draw to get this W. Massive, unruly conditions in the early days to pristine, nearly “perfect” End of the Road to close out the event, he dropped the highest Heat Total of his career and combo’ed long time best friend Griffin Colapinto in the Final for his maiden CT victory.
Here is a brief little wrap write up that I posted, if you’re interested.
https://hvoide.com/seth-moniz-wins-outerknown-tahiti-pro/
Impressive run, very well earned. Congratulations to Seth Moniz.
Was one of the most entertaining days of competitive surfing in recent memory. From 54 year old Slater combo’ing Medina, to Griffin surfing a nearly perfect heat, the Callum Robson/Jack Robinson priority drama - it was an insane day of surfing.
I wrote a thousand or so words about the day.
All photos are via the WSL.
Cheers
I’m still beating this horse because I really don’t think it’s fair these guys are stepping down and clearing house.
Total Prize $ to Men - $169,850
Total Prize $ to CT Men - $54,550
32%.
3 of the 4 semi finalists were on the CT.
I just don’t understand the point of having the Tiers if they are going to surf and rank against each other anyways.
I wrote another post about it, but this’ll be my last one. I don’t think my words are going to change anything (yet).
https://hvoide.com/dominating/
Hayden Rodgers should have been the winner..
EDITORS NOTE:
Just want to thank everyone who’s taken time to comment, engage, and converse. Whether agree, disagree, hate the opinion, whatever - I appreciate any kind of back and forth and just talking about new ideas and perspective. I love surfing and competitive surfing and am very passionate and it’s a great pleasure to rap with you all🤙
More competitive surfing stuff from yours truly.
Enter your Rick Kane jokes below. I know we’ve had comps in pools, but this is also a real thing now.
$20K prize pool across 8 divisions for their inaugural event at Alaia Bay (Switzerland) starting in just a few days.
https://hvoide.com/wave-pool-surf-tour/
More info if you are interested (you’re probably not).
80 surfers just travelled to Ballito, South Africa to compete for a $20K prize purse in the first Challenger Series event of the year (won by CT surfer Cole Houshmand).
They’ll be across the globe in Huntington Beach next week for event number two - the US Open.
Meanwhile, 8 surfers were hand selected to compete across the US in Stab100 for a $100K prize purse.
I wrote down a few thoughts about the state of competitive surfing, if you’re into that sort of thing.
I’ve been attempting to write the Official Unwritten Rulebook of Surfing, and I added another to the list today.
https://hvoide.com/rule-number-sixteen/
Do you have any Surf Rules that you strictly follow ?
Jacob ‘Zeke’ Szekely just won the 3rd Annual IForget Airshow in Huntington Beach.
Billabong dropped a new Team Movie ‘Merge’. It’s cool, but Movie Of The Year should go to ‘Ritualistic Tendencies’ right now.
The Challenger Series Season has just gotten underway, and, there is a new Wave Pool catching everyone’s attention.
Admittedly bad journalism, but maybe some headline type of stuff you may have missed recently.
Trying to get back on the horse.
Catch up on the Surf Scene Update⤵️
Thanks for the time and support.
I’ve lived my entire life in Southern California, been surfing for about 20 years, yet I’d never been down to The Wedge until Tuesday.
I wrote a little piece about my first experience down there.
https://hvoide.com/magic-buzz/
Photo of Tyler Gunter (@instagrom) taken by @ blake_shooots on IG (Blake Bernstein).
I’m wondering how much these Pre Event Surf clips are factoring into the scoring at the CT events, or even lower tiered events.
At El Salvador there have been huge losses early. 3 of the top 5 in the Men’s are out. At least 3 “event favorites” in Griffin, Filipe and Ethan Ewing are out.
Filipe posted a clip literally landing 3 airs on a wave before the event, so was his score line held back because judges knew his potential ?
Wrote a brief little piece asking this question, basically the same thing I’ve written here.
If interested
I’ve been doing a brief little Q&A style interview series with different surfers each week.
This is the 3rd edition, and the guest this week is a good one.
If you haven’t heard of this kid yet, maybe you should have. He’s quietly got a big role in the industry, and he also quietly rips.
Stoked to drop the 3rd edition of:
HELLO, MY NAME IS: LUKE WORSHAM
https://hvoide.com/hello-my-name-is-luke-worsham/
If you have any ideas of someone to interview, maybe a cool story to share or just an interesting person to hear from, please do send requests my way.
Or on here
Or on my website or wherever
Also just wanted to say that I really appreciate everyone’s support and feedback on here. Sincerely means a ton.
Last side note - I set up a new little subscribe page on my website and will be doing some giveaway stuff soon.
Surf shop tees, deck pads, leashes, just random gear to get out to people. If you’re interested it’s on the website top right corner.
Cheers
The event will start tomorrow. Waves are going to be good, and it’s been firing in the lead up.
This is my first run at a Power Rankings piece. I only did the Men’s side, My apologies. Didn’t realize it would take this long, and I’ll do better for the next event.
Maybe this can help your fantasy picks, give you some insight into the event, or just hold you over until the event begins.
I’m not going to spoil the winner here, but you do find out in the post below if you’re interested.
Since Stab dropped it publicly yesterday, and I also heard it on a podcast, figured it was okay for me to talk about it now.
A little opinion, a lot of questions⤵️
- the wave has a ton of potential, and the crowd was looked great. Hearing nothing but good things
- Italo’s airs the center of much debate, called “cheese whiz” indirectly by Runner Up Morgan Ciblic
- that “seal” attack was never fully confirmed. Through the grapevine, that photographer Ed Sloane was pulled fully underwater. Has to paddle to get back up. Could have been a ‘soft mouth shark’, whatever that is.
A little more on my website if interested
Contest, movies, air shows, you name it.
Quick little recap of some happenings in the Surf Scene.
Let me know if I missed something important.
Cheers.
Always with beautiful work, meaningful projects, and incredible surfing, Torren Martyn drops yet another Must-Watch Full Length Film.
Link to watch the film, and a brief recap here⤵️
Also no longer holding a stake in Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch.
Details are vague, but here is a post on what we do know.
Maybe one of the most high performance surf events in history?
Here is a recap of Finals Day from the Gold Coast Pro.
https://hvoide.com/ethan-ewing-and-stephanie-gilmore-win-bonsoy-gold-coast-pro/