Jonty Rhodes, Fly Boy

I found this great article on Jonty Rhodes, famous South African cricketer on wavescape.co.za

Jonty took up surfing after he retired from cricket in 2004. Read what he has to say on his surfing experiences in India, Durban and Cape Town.

Click here to read the full article:  Jonty Rhodes, Fly Boy

Download the New Quiksilver Movie

Download Moments 2, Quiksilver’s new short film that delves into the individuality of our global surf team. Go from urban sprawl to island perfection with jeremy, have fun and sip coconuts with Dane, see what dreams are made of with the 11X World Champ and get lost in the timeless groove of Ando. Though each rider’s style in unique, the film captures moments in time of their common bond…Surfing.

Download to your desktop/laptop:http://on.fb.me/Le3ZlU

Greg Noll "Biggest Wave Ever" Myth Debunked!!??

I came across this video regarding Greg Noll and his infamous wave, the author disputes the actual size of the wave by claiming he was there and took some photo's...... Apart from the fact that nothing actually makes sense in what the guy says, I actually wonder if anyone cares. Think about it, the boards they where riding in those days, no leash..... just man and ocean.... Even if it was "just" a 20ft wave, man! Greg had balls....

Third Reef Pipeline - 1964

the real big wednesday(outside pipeline)very rare clip

a new bird of prey....

With the submarine in Hout Bay being exposed as a fake, why not share with us your best photoshop photos regarding ocean life and marine conservation? :) Or have you seen a good photoshop job somewhere which you would like to share? Just remember to keep the theme: oceans and marine environment! :)

The above was received via our good friends at the Sea Shepherd South Africa. 

Surfing and the gainfully employed...

To me there is nothing worse than being at work and I know the surf is firing.

Like today, motoring out the driveway on my way to work I quickly glance at the surf. It’s glassy, no wind and in the 3–4 ft range, absolutely perfect conditions for the lagoon mouth.  My first re-action is to ponder the idea of phoning in sick, what excuse can I give???  But then I remember it's Friday, there are deadlines and other gremlins that need attention at work. So not turning up for work is out of the question. 

So of course, the whole time while I’m driving into work I’m thinking about the surf and that got me onto the relationship between working and surfing. As a surfer we all want to get into the water on a day like today. Regardless of your level of surfing - whether you are a Kelly Slater, an underground charger or just a weekend warrior like me, all you want to do is get your board and get out there. 

But for many of us working is the only (legal) way to get the money needed to fund our surfing lifestyle. Not that surfing as a lifestyle is expensive; it’s all the other things in our modern society that go with living that is draining our precious funds on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis. I don’t want to go into all the various things like food, housing, clothing, petrol etc.  That all adds up - but the fact of the matter is we need these things to live / function / survive and without it we won’t be able to surf.  Not in the long term anyway.

The equation for me is simply no work = no surfing 

So, working is the only way to buy new boards, wetsuits or even just a bar of wax. Then the next thought though my salt ridden brain is simply “What if I can get a job in the surf industry?” Will that be a win win situation for me??       

Table Mountain View

Table Mountain

ESPN Rates Surfing the 23rd Toughest Sport

I recently came across this interesting article on surfscience.com, and it really made me think about the perception people have about surfing and my conclusion was purely - If you don't surf, you will never understand surfing.

Like the Billabong slogan states "Only a surfer knows the feeling"

Below is the actual article:

ESPN did a poll on which sports are considered pound for pound the toughest sports in the world.  It was decided by a panel of “sports scientists” from the United States Olympic Committee.

 

They consist of 8 panelist all ranging from Dr. Janet Starkes, a Professor in Kinesiology at McMaster University to Brian Jordan, a two sport athlete who played in Major League Baseball for the Texas Rangers and in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons.  They rated 60 sports using 10 criteria.

1. Boxing                                                                    
2. Ice Hockey
3. Football
4. Basketball
5. Wrestling
6. Martial Arts
7. Tennis
8. Gymnastics
9. Baseball/Softball
10. Soccer
11. Skiing: Alpine
12. Water Polo
13. Rugby
14. Lacrosse
15. Rodeo: Steer Wrestling
16. Track and Field: Pole Vault
17. Field Hockey
18. Speed Skating
19. Figure Skating
20. Cycling: Distance
21. Volleyball
22. Racquetball/Squash
23. Surfing
24. Fencing
25. Skiing: Freestyle
26. Team Handball
27. Cycling: Sprints
28. Bobsledding/Luge
29. Ski Jumping
30. Badminton
31. Skiing: Nordic
32. Auto Racing
33. Track and Field: High Jump
34. Track and Field: Long, Triple jumps
35. Diving
36. Swimming (all strokes): Distance
37. Skateboarding
38. Track and Field: Sprints
39. Rowing
40. Rodeo: Calf Roping
41. Track and Field: Distance
42. Rodeo: Bull/Bareback/Bronc Riding
43. Track and Field: Middle Distance
44. Weight-Lifting
45. Swimming (all strokes): Sprints
46. Water Skiing
47. Table Tennis
48. Track and Field: Weights
49. Canoe/Kayak
50. Horse Racing
51. Golf
52. Cheerleading
53. Roller Skating
54. Equestrian
55. Archery
56. Curling
57. Bowling
58. Shooting
59. Billiards
60. Fishing

According to 8 "sports scientist," boxing is the No. 1 sport and fishing is ranked No. 60. Although that may seem reasonable, where does Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) rank? Brutal physical fights where two athletes get caged into a ring using a wide array of discipline and physical skills seems deserving of credit. Well known fights brought to you by MMA fight leagues such as Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is not rated in the top 60, or recognized as a sport.

ESPN recognizes fishing, billiards, shooting, weight-lifting, auto racing and equestrian as worthy sports to be considered amongst the 60 toughest. When consider equestrian as the 53rd toughest sport, perhaps they may be the horses as the athletes.

So where does our beloved sport, surfing, rank amongst the top 60? It is considered the 23rd toughest sport of all. At first glance, without much thought, that may seem like a reasonable ranking. That is until looking closely at the other sports ranked ahead. Surprisingly, surfing is ranked behind sports like tennis, baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, cycling, volleyball, and racquetball.  

Suppose these 8 panelists have the benefit of the doubt and assume they’ve all picked up a surfboard at least once in their lifetime and attempted to surf.  Lets suppose they paddled out, got into a wave and stood up a minimum of one time.  Perhaps one of these judges surfs on a regular basis.  That being said, surfing got the following scores on the ten criteria from a scale of 1-10 according to ESPN's poll:

Sports difficulty criteria:

1. Endurance = 4.63
2. Strength = 5.00
3. Power = 4.13
4. Speed = 4.25
5. Agility = 6.63
6. Flexibility = 5.50
7. Nerve = 8.25
8. Durability = 5.50
9. Hand-Eye Coordination = 4.38
10. Analytic Aptitude = 4.88

As expected, surfing received low scores on endurance, power, strength, speed, and hand-eye coordination. Some can argue that the best surfers are power surfers and speed is an important element to surfing well. However, it's unlikely the best surfers in the world would match up with such athletes as football players in terms of these criterias. 

Not surprisingly, surfing ranked high in “nerve," which was rated high with an 8.25 out of 10 score.  Again, perhaps one of those ESPN sports panelist surf on a regular basis and has dropped into a double overhead wave. 

An argument can be made that surfing deserves more respect when it comes to “analytic aptitude." Experienced surfers know that making reads and adjustments can make a big difference in your surfing ability especially when it comes to competition.  Everything from reading the waves, making adjustments, finding the sweet spots, and competing against other surfers should all tie into “analytic aptitude." 

The problem behind this rating is that it does not take into account surfing’s most difficult elements.  In order to give a fair assessment of surfing's difficult challenges, consideration has to be given to the following criteria:

Learning Curve

While some sports can be learned or played within the first day or hours, some sports require an athlete to put in months or even years to get acclimated. Most experienced surfers will agree that surfing has the longest learning curve of any sports. I’d expect surfing to rank high in this category whereas sports like cycling or racquetball should rank lower as it takes a much shorter time to learn.

Environment

Like many extreme sports, surfing has arguably the most dynamic environment. It is a skill of constant adjustments and a game of making the most out of what is given. Unlike other sports where you are competing against other people and the environment is constant, surfing has an added element where you compete against Mother Nature. In this case, Mother Nature is constantly moving.  

Balance

Surprisingly this is not among the list of criteria by which a tough sport is measured. If strength, speed, agility and flexibility are considered, why not balance?  If it was, surfing should rank high in this category as well.   

According to ESPN, baseball is ranked 14 spots ahead of surfing at #9. 

"The first time I've ever picked up a bat and baseball, I was hitting, catching and throwing the ball within a few hours," said Riley Stevens, an experienced surfer and baseball player. "The first time, I picked up a surfboard and got into the water, I couldn't even get past the break and in the line up. It took me three long sessions to ride my first wave."

ESPN could argue that although it might be easy to pick up a baseball and bat and learn how to hit pretty quickly, doing it on at a higher level when a ball is thrown towards you at 90 mph is a whole different matter.

"Okay, so there is a lot more hand eye coordination involved when swinging at a 90 mph fast ball than paddling a board," Stevens said. "I get that. How about this for consideration? What about dropping into Teahupoo on a heavy double overhead wave that is fast, steep, barreling and closing out quick? Call me crazy but I think the latter would be harder. Yes, that’s comparing apples to oranges but in either case, it demonstrates the toughest aspects of each sport. We are talking about the so called toughest sport in the world after all."

Many surfers can be in agreement to some of ESPN's top ranked sports.

I can see how ESPN ranks sports such as boxing, ice hockey, wrestling or water polo highly due to the physical demands," Stevens said. "I can even see how they can possibly rank rodeo steer wrestling above surfing. That just simply takes a lot of balls."

Many sports enthusiast can be appalled with ranking badminton in the top 30. That is the sport where one swings a miniature sized racket to hit a shuttlecock, a feathered projectile.

"Are you kidding? Badminton!" Stevens said. "That shouldn’t even be on the same page as surfing.  In fact, badminton shouldn't even touch this chart with a ten foot pole."