The Weekly Bugle
Into The Weeds of the World’s Surfing Week.
Bondi’s best-ever wave, the WSL’s controversial “call”, ding fixing, old age and an orca attacks.
The Pipe Pro Call Controversy: It’s On The Surfers
The WSL, yet again, came under heavy fire for its failure to run the Pipe Pro on Tuesday. The surf was huge but mixed up, and as they kept putting the competition on hold, the social media pot filled with footage of incredible freesurfing waves getting ridden. An early Italo bomb had fans salivating for live competitive action. They were soon spitting chips when it was called off.
Having been a participant in those calls to run or not at other CT events, I do have a little sympathy for the Wozzle. What is never mentioned is that competitors have designated Surfers' Reps, who are heavily involved in the decision of whether to run or not with the contest director. And what the surfers hate most, is not so much the heavy conditions (though some do), but marginal ones, where luck becomes the dominant factor.
The WSL got all the heat for calling it off (knowing it would be half the size the next day), but I’m tipping the surfers had a lot of say in it. And sure, when we see some incredible waves being ridden all day, effectively a highlight reel, you can see why the fans get upset. For me, this wave of Liam O’Brien was perhaps the pick of the lay day. Uhm, maybe they should have run…
Best Bondi Wave Ever Ridden
A huge, out-of-season winter-like south swell slammed into Sydney. In 30-degree weather, huge sun-lashed crowds lined North Bondi to watch as its big wave reef, Ben Buckler, turned on. As with Bondi in general, appearances can be deceiving. The wave holds serious size, but absolutely no shape, but its rarity and location to the world’s most famous beach always draws a wild crowd. It was however this wave, ridden by local artist and fins-free exponent Cam Scott, that I reckon might be the best wave ever surfed at Bondi. Not a particularly high bar, but worth a look as he spins from Buckler to Icebergs.
Surfing Fox Takes On Orca In Norway
I covered this in my other post on the Surf Bugle, and although the footage is slightly grainy, you sense the jeopardy as my mate Seamus Fox almost gets mown down by a killer whale when surfing near Ålesund on Norway’s mid-west coast. It’s the fifth time in recent years at this wave that an orca has come close to attacking a surfer, before pulling out at the last second. For the full story check here
Who’d Have Thought Fixing Dings Would Be So Meditative?
This dude had me with his @thelordofthedings moniker, but his posts are strangely meditative. In his posts, the simple act of repairing a surfboard always has a happy ending (unlike all of my attempts) and the editing is always bang on. Strangely seductive…
Ageless Youth
Dean Dampney is an underground big-wave surfer, award-winning photographer and author of a new surf book The Ocean Diviners. I enjoyed the Ulladulla-based surfer's latest well-written Insta missive on his latest attempt to wrangle a wave at big-wave bombie near his home (on that same rare summer macking south swell).
“It all felt like a confusing array of mixed signals and emotions but something in me, now well into my fifth decade (of ageless youth), needed to know that I can still face the scary as fuck unknown, with the right equipment, mindset, and preparation, and come what may, know that I gave it everything.”
There’s a lesson in there, somewhere. Though Deano, why didn’t you pull in?
It really is, and I don’t know why?
The ding repair video is very satisfying to watch