Sharks, cyclone swells, Noosa crowds, barrels on borrowed boards, an introduction to Eric Geiselman, Tracks’ clip of the week, Pipe bombs and everything else that has been #trending this week in surfing.
Sharks attack the NSW north coast
This week’s #trending starts off on a sad note. Unfortunately, sharks have been the flavour of the week. On Monday morning, 41-year-old Tadashi Nakahara was fatally wounded by a shark at Shelly Beach in Ballina. One day earlier, Jabez Reitman somehow survived a shark digging its teeth into his back. Extraordinarily, Reitman claims that he was charged by a four-meter tiger shark two weeks earlier. He credits his shark repellent wristband with scaring off the predator. He forgot to wear his wristband when the shark bit him in the back. Not a bad little advertisement for electromagnetic shark repellent technology, do I see a royalty check on its way?
Julian Wilson wrestles with the home crowd
Jules stayed at home throughout Queensland’s recent Tropical Cyclone Ola swell and scored at Noosa. While his surfing was on point as always, the most impressive (or depressing) part of this video is the gigantic Noosa crowd… on a weekday. Here are two videos of Jules tearing and one which truly shows the manic crowd. The first wave of the third clip is a highlight. Julian burns a stand up bodyboarder. Check the bodyboarder’s face. Julian goes on to thread the thing and flip the bird to a clubby.
Alex Laurel drops a great clip, without the tools to do so
Things were lined up perfectly for Alex Laurel and his crew. The swell was solid, the winds were offshore and there were zero crowds. Unfortunately, they had no boards. Their quivers got lost in transit. Luckily, the boys were able to borrow some dusty, old, dirty boards from their host. As Laurel puts it: “Imagine a rally driver borrowing a car sitting in a garage for years with old Gaz in it, Marc Lacomare and Benjamin Sanchis dealt with that”.
Eric Geiselman’s Vissla introduction
East coast surfer Eric Geiselman recently joined Vissla and what better way to introduce one of the best freesurfers in the world than through this clip. So much skatey, surfy good times. The highlight for me: “Pretty much all of my friends have been bit by a shark,” he says. If that’s true it takes some balls to keep surfing in cold, onshore conditions on your own.
Tracks’ Clip of the Week – Brad Norris is a Madman
This clip speaks for itself. Brad Norris has lost his mind. These violent, heaving slabs are what he loves. The highlight: pause at 0:59. Yep, that black spot in the lip is his body getting viciously tossed over the falls.
More Pipe Bombs
Pipeline, Pipeline and more Pipeline. That’s what dominates webclips at this time of year. If you can handle seeing more dudes getting barfed out of big barrels, you’d better watch this. Keep an eye out for the seedy ‘behind the bushes’ shot at 1:29.
Jeremy Flores is Pipe Master
We sometimes forget that Jeremy Flores won the most prestigious event on the surfing calendar way back in 2010. Here’s a quick reminder as to why he’s such a dominant force at Pipe.
