SE WIND 10 KT...BACKING TO E IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 12 SECONDS THEN 8 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.
Kimo Hollinger on early contests:
The kids started paddling out with numbers on their bodies. Numbers! It was incongruous to the point of being blasphemous. I wondered about myself. I had been a contestant and a judge in a few of those contests when it all seemed innocent and fun. But it never is. The system is like an octopus with long legs and suckers that envelop you and suck you down. The free and easy surfer, with his ability to communicate so personally and intensely with his God, is conned into playing the plastic numbers game with the squares, losing his freedom, his identity, and his vitality, becoming a virtual prostitute. And what is even worse, the surfers fall for it. I felt sick.
Although I don't suffer physical sickness at experiencing a surf contest, they are among my least favorite events in surfing. I attended one surf contest in my life (Stone Steps Invitationals don't count!) at Huntington with the final heat being Occy vs. Curren...Tom won. You couldn't really see much, the waves were crappy, it was crowded and I was bored...I went down the beach and surfed.
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3 comments:
You're speaking to my heart!!!
Thank you.
I've never made an effort to see a surf contest but did catch a final heat once at Lower Trestles after surfing nearby. The waves were glassy, peeling, and head and a half high. It was between Kelly Slater and some other pro who was obviously good enough to advance to that point. But watching Slater dominate was truly a spectacle. He was amazing.
I hung out with Cheyne Horan at a crappy event at Casino Pier, Seaside Heights, NJ in the 80's.
Well, actually we just nodded to each other.
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