It’s the Swell of the Season at Padang Padang
Anybody hear or say the following phrase as often as I did this week?: We’re on the wrong side of the globe right now. Ya, if you’re not swimming in the Indian Ocean lately, you are missing out. That’s all there is to it. What started out with some monsters smashing into West Oz has swept east for barrel after tropical damn barrel for an entire week now. And it’s all been the same swell, which is still roaring on into the Pacific as we speak. It won’t be as heavy once it makes its way to the Americas, but who cares? It’s about time the rest of us get some of this southern hemi heaven. But in the meantime, here are my highlights from a week spent waiting for my crack at the end of this swell…
Video of the week:
Did you see enough footage from Indo this week? I didn’t either. My original VOW pick was going to be a nice little run from Padang Padang. There were a lot more barrels in that video. And there was a lot more claiming. But honestly, none of them were worthy of their own clip quite like this one. Dude couldn’t even just give it a standard solitary fist pump. He went full Arsenio Hall before even making it out.
From The Tour:
Who do you have? Crunch time.
The start of J-Bay puts us over the halfway point of the 2015 Tour. Adriano De Souza looked like he could’ve been running away with it all when the WSL left Australia, but back to back 13’s–even if they stand as his throw aways when it was all said and done–only opened the door for everybody else. And my-oh-my that gap closed fast. The top-5 are separated by less than 5,000 points, so this year is still up for grabs. Hell, Owen Wright leap frogged from outside that top-5 to within 2,000 points of De Souza. The goofyfooter finished 3rd at J-Bay last year, and while I’m not exactly picking him to win at Supertubes, I will point out that he’s averaging a higher contest placing (5th) halfway through the year, which already has him in better position than 2011, the year he finished second to Kelly. If a 13th on the Gold Coast and his 9th in West Oz are the lowest he places all year, this could be a boat race (as in, he’s going to smoke the field en route to his first title). But like my dad always says: “If my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle.”
Is it finally Owen’s year? Photo: ASP/Kirstin
What’s Bowing My Mind:
The Inertia’s Facebook went a little crazy last week over its new profile picture. The United States of America just became the 21st country on the planet to recognize same-sex marriages, and plenty of people didn’t like seeing a surf publication showing its support of that moment. Now, The Inertia’s Facebook feed is a pretty regular melting pot of snarky remarks, so I can’t say I was surprised. And I’m not going to use this moment to inject my feelings on same-sex marriage, but I will take the time to speak on a common sentiment I saw in the comments section of that photo:
“Stick to surfing.”
I don’t buy that. In fact, I think it’s bull. Nobody else sits down with professional surfers to ask “what’s the key to happiness.” Nobody else is making fun of the annoyances we put each other through in pursuit of getting a wave or two to ourselves. Nobody else sets out to share with the world how and why some surfers are among the bravest, the most creative, the raddest, or just all around best humans on the planet. And I think surfing is better for it. The Inertia was created to offer a place where thoughtful people, who just happen to all love surfing, can share ideas. And I think that only happens once we start looking at the world outside of our next wave. Because if you only surf because it’s your “escape” from the rest of the world, then you’re forgetting one absolute fact: that world is still waiting for you when you step back on land.
