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It was going to be interesting to see how Billabong would continue to afford their stacked roster when it included CT surfers Ethan Ewing, Italo Ferreira, Ryan Callinan, Seth Moniz and now former member Griffin Colapinto. This level of elite talent, plus legends Occy & Parko taking the new gen on surf trips, didn’t seem from the outside to be a sustainable business model in the current surf industry.
However, the content Billabong has been releasing in recent times has to be commended. In their new clip ‘ Interlusion’, Parko was given captain duties on a boat trip to the Mentawai Island’s. It was perfect Indo conditions for the former world champ and a surf crew featuring Creed McTaggart, Eithan Osbornse, Jai Glindeman, Dakoda Walters and Kian Martin. The boys matched-up the perfect waves with their own distinct surfing, which was all extremely high-level. All surfers gave the Mentawai barrels the tube riding it deserved. Parko claimed that the week of surfing in the Ment’s with the younger lads was the best surf trip of his life. That says a lot for someone who’s travelled worldwide and surfed with some of the best.
Other than Parko drawing your attention in the clip with his irrefutable smooth style, Eithan Osbourne’s surfing stole the show. Eithan has to be considered one of the best aerialists in the world right now. The air he landed at the 4 min 30 sec mark was like Kelly’s at Bells on steroids. It could be in the discussion as maybe the most critical air-rev ever.
While Billabong would be on a high with how well ‘Interlusion’ has been received from the surfing community. One of their biggest stars, Griffin Colapinto, shocked the surfing world after leaving Billabong to join rival surf brand Quicksilver. It hasn’t been confirmed whether Griffin was released or their contract was up.
Griffin has been with Billabong since he was 12-year-old and this week as a 24-year-old man decided to make a switch to surf brand rival Quicksilver. America’s best-ranked pro surfer joins a squad that includes his biggest competitive rival, Kanoa Igarashi, and the likes of Ezekiel Lau and Mikey Wright. Quicky did have some cash to splash after they recently parted ways with long-time team rider Leonardo Fiorvanti.
Quicksilver’s new team rider shared these words in his Instagram posts today.
“I would be lying if I said it wasn’t hard to leave Billabong . These guys really did a lot for my career as a pro surfer. I’d say the 2 biggest were being able to stay at the Billabong house in Hawaii and the Bloodlines program they have, bringing the young kids around the world to get experience at the best locations like, Tahiti, South Africa, Indonesia, and Hawaii. They had amazing celebrations for the guys that Qualified for the World tour and made you feel very loved. I had a comment on Stab yesterday saying they weren’t letting me be myself. I think that comment was mis interpreted a little bit. Just to clarify, they let me be very much myself in a lot of ways. It was really only one thing I was referring to and that was the hats, wetsuits, and board shorts they had the guys wearing on tour, they were choosing for us. So other than that I loved everything about Billabong . This is just me being straight up honest and in the hopes that everyone in this industry can push each other every day and all rise together. Thank you again to Billabong for all the support over the past 12 years!”
BTW: For those wondering about the release of the anticipated Trilogy sequel featuring Griffin, Seth Moniz and Ethan Ewing, it’s rumoured the surf film will be out soon despite Griff leaving the Bong.
