The Weekly Bugle: Into The Weeds Of the Surfing Week
The Condor, Shark Bite Kits, a Surf Shack to die for, and, among other things, a 40-buck beer at Abu Dhabi. *Contains C-bombs
Good Cunt Of The Week: Pete “The Condor” Mel
One of my better ideas for the Surf Bugle was to have a weekly post simply titled “Good Cunts”. In it would just be a list of the good cunts in surfing I’ve met. Each week, I’d add another name. I haven’t got round to it yet, but I reckon it has legs. Anyway that list would include Peter “The Condor” Mel. I've worked with Pete on a few events commentating and he’s always been a legend. One professional and personal highlight was having him in the back of the hire car on the way back to the hotel singing our end-of-day anthem, “I’ve had an absolute cunt of a day” by Kevin Bloody Wilson. Ahh, good times. And the reason for this preamble? I saw this clip above and naturally thought of Pete. Having talked to him about his legendary wave at Mavericks in 2021, I’d imagine he wouldn’t show the hesitation of his namesake here going over the ledge. Either way, he’s a good cunt.
Worthy Cause of The Week: Shark Bite Kits
“People aren’t going to stop doing what they love, so we need something in place to become more prepared for attacks in the future,” said Danny Schouten. A friend of Kai McKenzie who lost his leg in a shark attack in Port Macquarie last year, the former lifeguard has formed the nonprofit initiative Community SBK (Shark Bite Kits). They are lightweight and durable kits designed to be used in the critical first few minutes after an accident. They had tourniquets, large dressings, a compression bandage, a thermal blanket, amputated parts bags, a whistle, gloves, and step-by-step shark bite management cards, detailing what to do and how to apply a tourniquet. Danny and his mates put them up at 10 beaches at home, and last weekend more were rolled out on the Pacific Palms stretch in NSW. There's a GoFundMe page which will help get these kits to as many beaches as possible.
Shack Of The Week: Alexis Dornier in Sumbawa
Architect Alexis Dornier is an architectural designer based in Bali whose houses are real estate porn. This “surf shack” though might be the most saliva-inducing of it all. And even if @jackjohns can make anything look amazing, this joint is off the scale.
T-Shirt Of The Week: Darth_Voter
The Surf Abu Dhabi Pro kicked off this week. Surfing-wise, the general response has been a collective ‘Meh’, with the wave seemingly a carbon (if you'll excuse the pun) copy of the Lemoore version, just with an added stiff, water-ruffling breeze. The lack of any air section too seems a massive oversight. Out of the water, issues on sportswashing and Tyler Wright’s homosexuality have been sidelined on air, but have rumbled on in the background. Darth_Voter seized on some of the discontent, and is selling tees with the slogan, “WSL Boycott…No Blood Money for your bullshit Abu Dhabi slavepool”. However, the angriest person in Abu Dhabi was a surf coach who reportedly paid 40 bucks for a Corona!
Turn Of The Week: Taro Watanabe:
Enough said. Shows over.