Those fucking retards at the New York Times were kinda cute when they screwed up every other article on surfing. But this time, the sensationalists over there keep trying to connect localism with the Bird Rock Bandits killing of Emery Kauanui Jr.

The first incident is in an otherwise well written article on the case. The writer had quotes from Tim Bessell and Richard Kenvin. She seemed on it, then she went over to Fox news to write the rest of it:

Violence had long been a part of the local culture at Windansea; one group, the Windansea Surf Rats, had for decades used physical violence to intimidate outsiders and tagged the group’s initials in surf wax on the sidewalk near the beach.

She couldn’t find a connection stronger than that because localism isn’t about beating someone to a death. It’s rarely even a fist fight. It’s telling them to go home. It’s paddling their carburetor out into the lineup and dropping it. It’s wax on windshields. I’m not condoning it, I’m just stating what it is.

In the rest of the article, she offers no thread of connection between the event and localism, other than the fact that Emery was a surfer. If he played hockey, and La Jolla was a hockey town, would she have written about fights in the rink?

The second instance appears in a freaking fashion article of all things:

“Although little about localism or surf territorialism is new, the public was mostly unaware of how violent the battles fought between locals and outsiders over popular breaks have sometimes become… …the well-publicized San Diego murder trial of one such alleged surf gang”.

Surf Gang? How many of them actually surfed? They played football, they spent more time on MySpace and in bars drinking than in the water. They were not a surf gang.

The NYTimes are using Emery Kauanui Jr.’s death to ramp up page views, and thus ad dollars through sensationalist tactics and shoddy journalism. The reality is any attempt to draw a line between some jocks with gang aspirations and surfing is just plain incorrect.

NYTimes, I hope you can find a big enough pry bar to get your writers heads out of your collective ass.

Found in a thread on MetaFilter about the Central California Salmon collapse.

“[once upon a time there were] cod shoals “so thick by the shore that we hardly have been able to row a boat through them.” There were six- and seven-foot-long codfish weighing as much as 200 pounds. There were great banks of oysters as large as shoes. At low tide, children were sent to the shore to collect 10-, 15-, even 20-pound lobsters with hand rakes for use as bait or pig feed. Eight- to 12-foot sturgeon choked New England rivers, and salmon packed streams from the Hudson River to Hudson’s Bay. Herring, squid and capelin (a small open-water fish seven inches long) spawning runs were so gigantic they astonished observers for more than four centuries”

It’s been a while since we had a shit storm here on 70. That’s a good thing, but it can get a little boring right? So to alleviate the midweek blues, I’d like you all to blast away at this statement:

Despite the propaganda-ish tone of the slideshow, it looks like Surfline’s goodwill tour to Barra really paid off for the locals. The cash it generated paved a road to the local church and finished up the town clinic. Having a clinic allowed the Mexican government to start sending a doctor to the town and it looks like they even got the new doc a spiffy typewriter.

Maybe if all the people on the internet who are bitching and doing nothing to help would have donated some funds, the town could have gotten all that good stuff without the drama! Alas, the internet is full of haters.

Tell everyone what you think with this totally unbiased poll!

Heh.

Surfer Mag BB boss Scott Bass is no longer the moderator.

Frankly I’m surprised he lasted as long he did among the aynonomous pageantry of faggotry that is the main forum. (No offense to any gay visitors, it just had this ring to it I couldn’t resist.) I predict the next guy will be an underpaid patsy to the man. He’ll have half the surf knowledge, 1/16th the layback snap, and a quiver containing only thrusters. He’ll never be able to pull off a live podcast and he’ll crack under the pressure of moderating the erBB like a finbox that’s been landed on by a left ass cheek.

In the lastest effort to secure the future of hand crafted surfboards, a San Clemente shaper Byrondesign has penned a well crafted response to the latest issue of Surfer Mag. In it, he calls out Al Merrick, Matt Biolas, Timmy Patterson, JC and others for giving the finger to the industry that gave them what they have.

The basic tenets of surfing: talent rules the lineup and revere thy shaper are failing due to the soccerification of surfing. Serious waves are clogged with beginners who think the lineup should be like any other rule enforced sporting field and boards should be bought at the Sports Authority. The only thing we have going for us is a small, but growing movement founded by guys like the Popout Bandit and The Godfather who reminds us that The Kids Are Alright and that Surfer Labor should be respected.

Update: Soccer is great, I play all the time. Beginners are great too. They just need to tap into the decades of culture (and magic within) vs. expecting it to fit their previous experiences, then everyone will be stoked!

The last two are pretty funny, because it’s obvious Nathan isn’t riding a popout in a popout ad. You can tell because whoever photoshopped the F4 on the photo forgot to remove the shapers sig and dims. Via JP.

I love surf forecast websites. I check them all the time. I use them to plan the weeks meetings around swell, tide and wind conditions. I check the cams for a general direction to travel in and even to see how specific spots are breaking. I figure the big name spots are going to be crowded no matter what web cam or surf report is covering them and I deal with it. I even support them to some degree, in that I view their ads.

Friday morning however, one report company crossed the line. Surfshot.com went out of it’s way to call out a little known reef I surf a few minutes walk from one of the breaks they report on daily. Apparently this has been going on for a while now, as Surfshot is starting to mention all kinds of out of the way breaks in San Diego. When a friend enlightened us to this latest transgression, everyone at the glassy, roping break voiced their anger. It’s the kind of bad will toward a company that starts with one person and spreads to others, and Surfshot needs to realize it.

The idea that any company would sell out a break that may be surfed by tons of people, but is truly frequented by a only handful of regulars, is inconceivable. How exactly does the grom that gets paid 8 bucks an hour to take those photos decide to go out of his way to mention the spot? How does the guy that publishes the report not think to himself, “self, I should really leave that bit of the report out”. How does the owner of the company not have a set of rules about which kind of breaks can be reported, and which ones can’t?

Surfshot… display amazing surfing in your mag, employ surfers, provide a service to local businesses. Make all the money you can. But please, have a conscious about your surf reports. It’s the one thing you do that affects us immediately, every single day and without leaving us any choice in the matter.