Photo: WSL (edited)
“Man, Julian’s really been f***ing me,” exclaims 32-year-old Californian Brody Chase. His first year as a full time professional fantasy surf competitor apparently isn’t going too well.
After the Encinitas native won his fantasy surfer office pool in the 2018 season, he found himself at a crossroads. He was offered a promotion at work — a middle management position — but his heart told him fantasy surfing deserved more of his time and focus. He rejected the pay raise and increased status and asked for a part-time position instead so he could follow the 2019 CT full time. It’s an unprecedented move — one that probably isn’t financially viable — but Chase is wagering his life savings and hopes and dreams on it nonetheless.
Ironically, Chase had refused to participate in the company’s year-long fantasy pool for several years before being coaxed into coughing up the $10 buy-in before the 2018 Quik Pro Gold Coast.
“He used to call us all nerds, losers, and kooks around the office,” says former coworker James Kukmeier. “He hated that we talked about our lineups all the time during lunch breaks. Claimed he’d never join a fantasy surf league but then he changed his tune when we decided to make it a winner-take-all money pool.”
Unbeknownst to his coworkers, Chase had been in recovery from a gambling addiction. After three months away from the race tracks and Las Vegas sports books, Chase reasoned that fantasy sports within the confines of his 9-to-5 didn’t really qualify as “gambling.” Nonetheless, he rode his Julian Wilson pick to a win in the year’s first event and found himself bit by the gambling bug all over again. He was soon placing bets with coworkers on individual heats, on top of running multiple fantasy surf teams across several leagues, and always with money riding on the action.
“I made $500 from one of our interns alone,” Chase recalls. “Every comp I gave him 5-1 odds on Kelly against the field. Idiot took Kelly every time.” The unassuming intern never realized anything was afoul when Slater only competed in three events all year.
Chase ran a number of under-the-table bets, scams, and leagues like this through the 2018 Pipe Masters but of all his accomplishments, winning the office money pool was what really inspired him to make a life-changing decision. In fact, that pool is the only reason he didn’t quit his job outright, instead opting for the part-time position and keeping him eligible for the $10 buy-in league. The money pool had been a fantasy “keeper league,” in which competitors draft athletes among themselves to start the season and keep them throughout the entire year. While everybody was clawing to get John John, Kelly, and Medina going into 2018, Chase took Julian Wilson.
Wilson ended second overall, his fourth top ten finish in a row and built a foundation for Chase’s ensuing fantasy surfer success. It motivated him to make his previously untapped fantasy surf genius (in his mind) a full-time job. By leaving his shift manager position and moving into his mother’s condo, Chase cleared up enough time in his daily schedule to monitor forecasts, watch every WSL broadcast, and mine the internet for insider info on WSL competitors. He tried investing the money he’d saved on rent in some big payout bets at various Las Vegas sports books only to find out that Vegas books don’t take bets on World Surf League contests.
“I get most of my insider alerts on Reddit message boards. Always some solid gems of knowledge in that community.”
But sadly, Brody Chase’s devotion to Julian Wilson has more or less torpedoed his 2019.
“The guy’s sharing a spot in the rankings right now with Peterson friggin’ Crisanto,” Chase screams, beginning to turn red. “The guy WON on the Gold Coast last year and he gets booted by Reef Heazlewood in Round 3 this year??”
With a little more than three events into the 2019 Championship Tour season, Chase has lost half of his savings and according to his mother, “will be out on his ass if he doesn’t start contributing some rent by J-Bay.” If nothing else, Brody Chase’s story can serve as a cautionary tale for other aspiring full-time fantasy surf managers.
