Peter Mel and the Big Wave Brotherhood, technical gremlins and some really dirty water.
21/01/2013
Who Blew Up?
Peter Mel. After years of being at the top rung of the sport of big wave surfing it was really cool to see the humble and personable Peter Mel take out The Maverick’s title.
All the finalists of the Mavericks invitational. There is something so incredibly cool about the brotherhood of big wave surfing. Perhaps when you face death together it changes your perspective? Not that the waves in this years event were death defying by any means, but because of and not in spite of that the guys got together in the final and decided to split the prize money. This is a cool tradition that seems to be creeping into the big wave competitive scene when the waves are either very inconsistent or not big enough to make it a real Big Wave Event and really is a lesson to the rest of the sport of surfing about humility and sharing which is only made more poignant by how hard these guys charge when the waves are pumping.
Go Pro. These guys took a big chance in assuming the title sponsorship role of the Maverick’s event. Last week we made a comment on the site about how Go Pro was one of the biggest revolutions of modern surfing. Apart from pumping cash into the sport of big wave surfing, the creative angles that were delivered for our viewing pleasure and interest were amazing. We definitely want to see more of this!
Who Blew it?
The Wave Forecasters for the Mavericks event. Ouch! There will always be the risk of being skunked when you run a surfing event, especially one that requires really big waves to run. Led on by the wave forecasters we all thought and believed it would be so much bigger than it was, hence the disappointment when Sunday dawned to a Mavericks lineup yawning as it woke from a distant slumber, rather than roaring to life. That said credit must go to the organisers for running the event and getting a result. At the end of the day we’ve all been skunked by believing in the charts and that my friends is the nature of surfing.
The Mavericks Invitational Webcast. No doubt all these things will be improved as time moves on, but it was really frustrating logging onto the site and not being able to access the live feed. Credit must go to Red Bull TV for their coverage of the event.
The City of Durban. On Saturday morning Durban surfers at North Beach were horrified by the smell coming out of the storm drain at North Beach and being pumped directly into the bowl. The smell was so bad that Neville the car guard above Durban Surf Lifesaving club had to move from his normal spot under the tree. Come on guys, stop running and hiding. Take responsibility for this and sort this out!
Got something to say? Then leave a comment!
Posted by Zot on the 21/01/2013 09:32
Still a lingering odour this morning!!!
Posted by jamii on the 21/01/2013 09:33
Watching the Mav's contest, was a uber let down after all the hype... apart form the surf being a little below expected the delivery of the live feed was very disappointing, host site bombs, repeating feed, no scores, no confirmation of semis or final draw....all a little hush hush and not what to expect from 2 very big brands with cash and technology.
The tradition of splitting the pot is great, but as Ian Armstrong infamously remonstrated at one of the Dungeons prize givings and had a good point, perhaps the "athletes" (commentators keep this lingo going through one the feed) should receive an appearance fee as they do put themselves in serious danger with little sponsorship (for most) to really make a career out of it!
PS. did learn how to stop a live feed from continuously breaking, right click on a feed, click settings and set adobe to maxium...!
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