Tubular Swells

That was a great film. I remember sitting in grom- like awe of the pictures flashing on a    makeshift screen in Braunton village hall with about 70 other surfers screaming and hooting at every barrel and big wave take-off. This was back in the seventies when surf news filtered through to the north Devon community months later than the actual event took place. Surfer and Surfing magazine were published in California and we didn’t get to hear about the in and outs Hawaiian season until the summer, maybe six months after but at least it gave some time to put things into perspective.

Compare that to these days, news is instant and even daily newspapers are behind with events (so much so that they don’t carry much news any more just gossip and celebrity wank). I even heard on the radio yesterday, an interview with a woman in Christchurch who was trapped underneath her desk waiting for rescuers to arrive. It felt uncomfortable and slightly voyeuristic but compulsive listening. (Afterwards I wondered if the woman deliberately phoned up the radio station to have her 15 minutes or were there some other circumstances that she was on the radio seemingly minutes away from her demise?).

Anyway, with instant news comes instant judgements and that was the case with the now infamous incident on one of Australia most famous and crowded beaches, which has certainly divided opinions. The story is still unfolding as to what went down in the “Burleigh brawl”, no doubt the facts will eventually surface,  no-one for example has eluded to what actually happened to spark the chain of events off and who said what to who. Until then people, it’s half a story with some pretty ugly photos and vid but until we know everything (if you’re still that interested) we can’t we make judgements –  especially not ones based on our own pre-conceived prejudices and dogmatic agendas.

In time I reckon it will just be another incident in a long line (reported and not) of how ugly surfing can get in crowds, and how this reflects not just of modern surfing and us but on society itself.

Finally the new Carve is on the shelves this week packed with some gorgeous photos too,  inspired by this I went for another wander but only found these old rusty tubes from a ship wreck and an amazing ‘chain soup’. Click on the images for a larger picture.