Kelly went GOAT mode on thruster day, defeating former rival Rob Machado in the final leg of the invite-only event. There were no controversial high-fives in their match-up in 2022, with Slater getting in sync with the waves to win thruster day.
As competitive as these legends are, the event was more about surfing empty line-ups and catching up with old pals. The event meant a lot to Shane Dorian, who has shared a long and interesting history with the Momentum Gen crew.
“It was really fun to mix it up with the boys, to surf with guys like Rob and Kelly, probably the last heats I’ll ever have against those guys, super special to me on a personal level, just a lot of fun to be out there surfing against guys that are surfing at a really high level.”
Something that kept coming across my mind from watching the highlights of the event is that the Momentum Gen crew are all good examples of how fit you can be at 50 if you look after your health and not destroy the body and mind with society’s common degenerative vices. (I write this questioning if the 20 schooners I drank on Saturday night was really necessary).
Slater hinted that there should be more multi-board events in the future.
“The event this week, it’s a cool format, it’s something that maybe should be done more often, but it’s an homage kind of throw back to all the board designs that we’ve grown up on, the first hard board I ever surfed was a single fin.”
Maybe Kelly’s got some creative ideas in the pipeline and might start his own competition, just like LIV or Rory McIlroy and Tiger Wood’s new golf tournament.
Kelly does have a wave pool to experiment with. Watch out WSL…
Thruster’s final results Kelly Slater (USA) – 1st Rob Machado (USA) – 2nd Shane Dorian (USA) – 3rd Hussain “Iboo” Areef (MDV) – 3rd Ross Williams (USA) – 5th Taylor Knox (USA) – 5th
Kelly was victorious yesterday in the single fin competition, but it was the other cerebral bald guy that would win the twin-fin leg of the Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Championships.
“It felt really good to beat Kelly,” said Dorian. “It’s pretty obvious, but it’s really difficult to beat him. I’ve surfed against him a ton of times in my life and he usually gets me, so every time I can beat him, it’s a personal win for me.”
Dorian’s 8.07 in the final minutes would get him the nod against rival/ best friend Kelly in the semi’s. Clearly, Shane has recovered from his hectic knee injury while snowboarding with his son Jackson. The 50-year-old would go on to beat another friend and respected surf coach Ross Williams in the Twin-Fin Final.
“It feels really good to have made it through to the Final,” said Williams. “I pretty much consider myself an underdog so I’m trying my hardest to beat Kelly and Shane, Taylor (Knox), Rob (Machado) and Iboo (Areef). It’s a super good challenge and it’s so enjoyable.”
The Momentum Gen crew are all great role models for the sport, it is evident from their performances the last few days that they have all kept their health a top priority. The competitive fire is still very much alive at 50-years-old.
It’s thruster day next.
Twin Fin Division Results: Shane Dorian (USA) – 1st Ross Williams (USA) – 2nd Rob Machado (USA) – 3rd Kelly Slater (USA) – 3rd Taylor Knox (USA) – 5th Hussain “Iboo” Areef (MDV) – 5th
Punta De Lobos is Chile’s most famous wave and is regarded as one of the best left-hand points in the world. The most Western point of the beach can handle huge swells, such as the 20-foot waves coming through in this year’s ‘Lobos por Simpre Big Wave International’. Ramon Navarro and Katie McConnell were victors in this year’s event. Big-wave surfing’s upper class such as Lucas Chumbo, Greg Long and Natxo Gonzalez were in the mix gunning for the wave of the day.
A fun fact about Punta de Lobos is that the beach is now the seventh World Surfing Reserve. The local community, including event winner Ramon with surf brand Patagonia, a wealthy philanthropist, the Save The Waves foundation and many others contributed in purchasing the 4.5-acre iconic property that runs along the beach. This stopped the fear the local surfers had with with out-of-control developers that they’ve seen pollute coastlines and ruin surf breaks worldwide.
We’re glad the local surfing community got together so Chilean big-wave surfers will never have to worry about their next adrenalin fix and most importantly, keep Punta de Lobos pristine.
The story goes that surfer Tyler Atkins was ready to start shooting the film he’d written based on his own volatile upbringing in the late 80s. However, a few weeks before calling action he still didn’t have a male lead to play the role of Bosch, a young, single dad who farms dope, surfs and drives a kick-ass Eleanor Mustang (at leats for a little while). Somehow Tyler wrangled a meeting with a reluctant Luke Hemsworth who has a string of major TV and movie credits to his name. Tyler and Luke hit it off and a couple of weeks later Luke’s well-muscled frame was occupying the blue singlet that Bosch wears for much of the film. The fact that Luke had grown up surfing with his brothers and throws a mean hack was a major bonus.
Meanwhile, despite no previous acting experience, pro surfer Rasmus King, (younger brother of Kyuss) had been cast as Rockit, the long-haired, latchkey kid who is struggling at school but kills it in the surf.
Rasmus King
The plot kicks into gear when Bosch’s massive crop of weed is threatened and he is compromised by a dirty cop. As the heat turns up on Bosch’s operation, he and Rockit escape up the coast to Byron Bay – a couple of bandits on the run. Bosch sells it to Rockit as a ‘surfing holiday’. Rockit has no idea what his dad really does but he soon learns he must be a cunning co-conspirator in his Bosch’s efforts to avoid the cops.
As the manhunt drama plays out in the background the story merges into a coming of age film about Rockit’s struggle to navigate adolescence in a dysfunctional family, enjoy young love and make the leap to independence. Although Rasmus’s previous appearances were in strictly surf films, he proves himself to be something of a natural as an actor, delivering welcome shades of charisma, vulnerability and innocence to the character of Rockit.
Rasmus is slated for a number of other dramatic roles and may have to make a call between reading scripts and chasing the pro surfing dream, unless he figures out how to juggle both careers. Hemsworth also does a great job as the imperfect, roughly hewn dad who is doing his best to raise a young son. Savannah La Rain, who plays Rockit’s young girlfriend in a wonderfully innocent connection, also seems destined for greater things.
Rasmus King & Savannah La Rain
The movie is all shot on the north coast of NSW and surfers will enjoy picking the lineups where Bosch and Sprockit lay down trails. It’s one of the only feature films where the lead actors do all their own surfing (Simon Baker had Heath Joske stand in for the heaviest waves in ‘Breath’) and there’s no denying this makes things flow seamlessly. Nothing like seeing dad playfully burn his son on a couple of waves to deliver an invaluable degree of authenticity to the characters. Surf shooter, Shane Fletcher, does a great job of capturing the action and the film doesn’t overplay the surfing element with the lingo or the footage – a common mistake on the big screen. While it’s a humble-scale production, the surfing thread is handled far better than any of the Hollywood hack jobs.
Many will also find it refreshing that the drama all goes down in the late 80s early 90s, where mobile phones are blissfully absent and everyone from David Bowie to Dragon is playing loud as Bosch and Rockit roar around the coast, chasing waves and dodging cops in their classic 4wd.
Luke Hemsworth
Ultimately Bosch and Rockit is a highly-enjoyable film that feels more quintessentially Australian than a row of kookaburras on a hills hoist. As Tyler Atkins stated at the Q and A after the premiere, the film is essentially about the heavy consequences of the unconscious decisions that parents make. Few kids will have parents who farmed dope for a living but that doesn’t mean the movie won’t resonate with all families or force them to ask a few questions about their dynamics. In the end Bosch and Rockit offers what many of us want from a movie, entertainment laced with a deeper message, in this case that message is about family decisions, love and forgiveness. Go see it on the big screen.
Coco doesn’t mind the odd strike mission to Mexico. Salina Cruz is home to one of the finest right-hand points in the world. This spot is a part of Coco’s routine when she heads south and she makes the most of it with her sublime surfing.
We have missed watching Coco competing against the world’s best on the CT. The former Rookie Of The Year suffered a knee injury attempting air reverses at the WACO wave pool in 2019, which led her to lose a spot on tour. The 31-year-old is back on the re-qualification grind, saying in her WSL series COCO “that no one wants to end their career on an injury.”
In the meantime of trying to get back on tour, Coco and a few friends went on what looked like the ultimate summer surfing trip. Long right-hand points, barrels, laughs with friends and good vibes. The clip also features the shmick style of hybrid pro snowboarder and surfer Brock Crouch. Ivy Miller was on the trip as well and couldn’t help herself but put on a comedy show.
The 5’3 twinnie Coco rides in Mexico is the perfect match for the Hawaiian’s illustrious rail game. Apologies to the goofy footers. There isn’t one left ridden in the clip.
The path to enlightenment begins at the worlds deadliest wave. Gerry Lopez, Mr. Pipeline, is one of surfings most enigmatic heroes a Zen Buddhist on land who built his early career on aggressive surfing. Patagonia Film The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez directed by award-winning filmmaker Stacy Peralta follows one of the most influential surfers and surfboard shapers of all time as he brings surfing to new frontiers while pursuing stillness of body and mind.
In today’s fast paced surf media world hungry for clips of high voltage action from the sports biggest stars, the reality of the vast majority of surfers on earth is overlooked. The stoked legions of surfers, the common men and women, who live in a world of surf adventure as inspiring as any. Maybe even more inspiring considering the challenges they face. Those surfers willing to seek waves out on the edge, the un-sponsored surfers, doing it tough and imaginative on their own resources, their own dreams, their own money, outside the glare of social media, outside the glare of professionalism, outside even the need to perform at a world class level. And all on a wing and prayer. All for the simple adventure stoke that every surfer needs to quench. The finding of and the surfing of an empty seascape to share with a friend. A short board and red gun, a fistful of hard earned cash, a wrinkled map and an eager hope is all it takes. And so many do it this way, thousands and thousands of surfers, forming an honest and true reality of what the surfing experience to most of us is day after day. An act of surfing not to be seen, but experienced. Not to be produced, but lived.
Seeking to examine this world beyond the glitter, beyond the contests and ratings and glitzy promo’s, Russian surf Filmmaker Jenya Ivkov sought to examine the quieter moments of surf adventure. He found such an adventure and its two travelers in the minds of surfers lldar Bibaev and Kristyan Sterne. Who after much convincing allowed Ivkov to tag along while they lived the dream outside the boundaries in a time honored journey. Two surfers chasing the dream on no more than a rumor of perfect waves on a remote Indonesian island hell and gone from civilization. All the surfers asked was that Ivkov never reveal the new location and that they were not to be interviewed or filmed in “any false way”.
“I look at this short more as a meditation” says Ivkov, “a timeless Indonesian journey that so many normal surfers have taken over the decades. Not a cashed up surf star journey with an entourage of supporters for marketing. But a simple examination of that inquisitive drive we all feel to find our own surfing paradise, our own adventure, even if just for a short time. A time that will resonate in one’s soul for the rest of their lives. Even though this film asks whether or not we control our dreams, I think surfers are the best in the world when making this dream a reality”.
Which brings us to an ever more strident point, particularly after the Covid era. As a surfer, an everyday surfer, right here and right now, the greatest gift you can give yourself is a lifetime of adventures. And Indonesia is here waiting for you.
