A wave like this is bound to cause a little trouble. Photo: Matt Dunbar
A few months ago we discovered one of those videos that stops you in your tracks. It was (is) totally, wholly arresting. In the clip, produced by Iwa Izydora, Eddie Rothman demands that the ASP provide larger representation for local Hawaiians in Pipeline Masters. Demand might actually be too soft of a characterization.
We’re holding onto it. We’re not letting go. They wanted to cut us down to two people from Hawaii…You threw a fucking punch and you don’t want to fight now? Fuck you…Who are you to impose your will over here?
Message delivered. Loud and clear.
But during the course of a conversation with Dave Prodan, ASP VP of Communications, about the swirl of energy surrounding the looming World Title race and the first potential Brazilian World Champion, talk of that confrontational video inevitably surfaced, and the tape (with permission) started running.
So can we talk a bit about the video released earlier this year directed at the ASP? It ultimately focused on the local representation at Pipe Masters.
There are discussions that happen every year, at every event, wherever we go with the focus of ensuring the very best surfing is happening, and that the very best surfing is determining the world’s best and the World Champion. This year’s decision to create the Men’s Pipe Invitational, to seed it with 32 Pipe specialists with $100K prize purse, and include it as part of the event and webcast and treat it as the world-class competition that it is – I think that was the result of discussions with the local community, and I think that’s it.
At the end of the day, the sport’s responsibility is to uphold standard practices at all of the world class spots we go to around the globe – whether that’s Australia or Brazil or Tahiti or South Africa, America, Europe, Fiji, and absolutely Hawaii. Hawaii has been part of professional surfing since its inception. It’s produced some of our most celebrated champions, and that’s something we continually want to foster and we want to make sure the career pathway from the junior level through the QS level through the CT level is really strong, and to do that, the surfers and the Commissioner’s Office, and the administration believe there have to be standard practices and consistency.
Do you feel the tension here on the North Shore? Eddie’s tape is a difficult thing to ignore. There’s an undeniable physicality to it. How does the ASP respond to a message like that?
We just really view it as part of the ongoing discussion with the local community – and one that’s been going on for decades, really. The surfers have all gotten together. They’ve spoken with the local surfers over here and the local community. When we see the Men’s Pipe Invitational go off in really solid waves and be treated like a world-class event with a real prize purse, I think everyone’s going to be really pleased.
Do you feel like it’s getting better? I’ve heard rumors swirling of some sort of lawsuit?
I haven’t heard of anything like that, but there are always rumors. The reality is, again, we treat it as part of the ongoing discussion with the community. At the end of the day, we just want to see the very best surfers surfing at Pipe and deciding the World Title.
I think the Pipe Invitational is going to be really interesting. I’m pretty pumped that we’re going to hold it on the first swell that we get in the window, and I’m pumped it’s going to be webcasted.
I was just going through the field this morning, and it is a Who’s Who of Pipe Specialists. It’s going to be really cool to see how they really set the tone for the week. There’s ample swell this week and next week. You couldn’t have scripted a better finish to the year in determining the World Title and the qualifiers for 2015 and the Vans Triple Crown.
Well, I agree with that. And in a lot of ways, this first year of the rebrand couldn’t have gone much better – wave-wise and beyond. But to Eddie’s point – this issue isn’t exclusive to Hawaii. To a certain degree, there are all of these insanely wave-rich communities that we visit that have ridiculous talent levels but don’t have proportional representation in professional surfing. Consider Costa Rica or Latin America. It’s unpacking how they represent themselves in professional surfing. In a broader sense, it’s about reconciling that disparity.
Sure. And that’s a larger issue that speaks to the fact that surfing’s a pretty young sport and there are developing communities around the world with a lot of potential talent. And with the ASP soon-to-be WSL, part of the task is creating reasonable, appropriate, and encouraging career pathways in those regions.
Latin America, in my perspective, is a hugely untapped region in terms of creating a viable tour, and it starts with development programs. You know, Brazil has been part of professional surfing since its inception. The country has, within the last twenty years – and probably before that, regarded professional surfing as a legitimate professional sport within the country with football and Olympic sports. They’ve injected a significant amount of financing into not only sponsoring athletes, but also creating a significant junior program, a significant Qualifying Series, and I think that’s really developed what we’ve seen as the current Brazilian guard. We’ve seen the numbers jump at the elite level of competition of Brazilians on tour. And not only the numbers jump, but also their performances. We may see the first Brazilian world champion this year.
I think it starts with the region. It starts with the ASP (the WSL) working in that region to create those programs. And Hawaii is the birthplace of professional surfing. It should have a very strong junior program, Qualifying program and CT program for all the islands. The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing is one of sport’s most anticipated and exciting event series every year. The organizers have done a fantastic job with it and I think it sets the tone for creating a strong schedule of supporting programs in the region as well. I think when you have that in place, sponsorship of local athletes, development programs in the amateur ranks follow suit. But across the board you have to have a buy-in on consistency in ensuring that these development programs and career pathways are the very best ones in place to ensure that the best surfers in the world – while some regions may be stronger than others right now – but the best surfers in the world are getting to the elite level and competing for the World Title and surfing their best to get there. And there are a lot of variables, dynamic, and uncontrolled en route to achieving that, but I’d argue that the guys and girls we have on tour this year are the very best surfers on the planet, and the surfing that we’re seeing in competition as opposed to maybe ten or fifteen years ago is the very best surfing happening at that time anywhere in the world, and it’s happening in the live arena.
Fifteen years ago, you’d watch surf videos and think, “Man. That’s unbelievable. That’s the best surfing I’ve ever seen.” Today, you think that when you’re watching guys and girls in singlets in the live arena. We’re seeing barrier-breaking performances basically event to event, and I think that’s a very cool thing in deciding a World Champion.