The surfers in the melee were identified yesterday. Screengrab: Sara Taylor//Instagram
You may have seen, on your daily internet perusals, footage of a surfer named Sara Taylor getting punched in the head in Bali. It was a surf fight that immediately set the internet aflame, with surfers from all over the world coming to her defense in comment sections. Promises to find the offender(s) were flung far and wide, and it appears that those promises have been kept. In an announcement on social media, Quebra Onda said that the brand had dropped JP Azevedo from its roster after he was identified by internet sleuths yesterday as the aggressor in the video.
“Quebra Onda, after learning of the regrettable facts that occurred, reiterate that we repudiate any and all types of violence, mainly against women,” the brand wrote on Instagram. “As this type of behavior is unacceptable, we inform you that we have taken the immediate decision to end our partnership with the athlete JP Azevedo.”
Judging from the footage, it’s a pretty egregious case of surf rage, but the strange thing is the punches weren’t thrown by the surfer who attempted to drop in on Taylor. After Adriano Portela attempted to drop in, only to be put in his place, Azevedo paddled over to Taylor, said a few angry words, then punched her in the head. Then the melee continued on the beach.
“After being dropped in on, on my first wave, the guy’s friend punched me in the head and then after being confronted about hitting me, he attacked Charlie on the beach for filming him,” Taylor wrote.
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As mentioned, a whole pile of pros jumped to her defense. “This is so disgusting and actually terrifying,” wrote Felicity Palmateer. “I hope you’re alright. Get these guys deported ASAP!”
Kelly Slater weighed in too, calling on his numerous friends in Bali to expose the offenders. He was far from the only one to voice his anger. “I’m sorry that happened to you guys!” wrote Filipe Toledo. “Hope you guys are ok! Don’t stress with people with this kind of energy! They don’t last long, life will come back to them ! But hey, if we can do whatever it is to find them we will!.”
While Azevedo simply deleted his Instagram account, Portela took the opportunity to apologize in a lengthy Instagram post.
“I have not hit our touched anyone. I spoke and acted with anger and disrespect. I’m deeply ashamed and sorry for how I acted. I got pushed out of the wave as you can see in the video posted. Unfortunately after that a punch was thrown in the water, however not by me and I was not involved in it happening. I continued surfing and noticed a fight between the girl who pushed me out of the wave, her girlfriend and my friend who threw the punch in the water. I swam out of the water to see what was happening and not fully understanding what had happened. I lost my temper and spoke with disrespect towards the girls and acted in a disgusting way that I’m very ashamed of. I have not touched or hit anyone inside or outside the water. The video is not in full and does not show everything that happened. My behavior was wrong and I should not have spoken to the girls the way I did. Things got heated and I lost my temper. Nothing will excuse or make that type of behavior right. I have reached out to the girls to apologize and try to make amends. Thank you and I’m sincerely sorry for what happened.”
While the offenders have been identified, it’s yet another example of surfers getting way too wound up about something as meaningless as a wave.
