being aware

[headmount]

You hear the word respect very often these days and it has almost lost its meaning but for many it means being aware of your surroundings... like going into grizzly bear country, or backcountry on a fresh deep powder day. 

In surfing the ante goes up the bigger the waves get and the consequences for mistakes can be dire.  The issue of SUP versus prone and getting along with each other in a crowded line-up has been discussed in this forum many times.  So I thought I'd show the confrontation of a tow-in surfer, Dave Wassel, a fairly well known big wave rider  and a bodyboarder, John Duval at a wave of consequence in Tahiti.  You hear the word haole here in Hawaii quite often and sometimes it can just mean a white person, but if you really press locals around here they would say it's someone who is oblivious and unaware.  Being a good surfer just isn't enough to pass the test.


This first video was made by Wassel, while he sharpens his fish knives in a very unsubtle way.  He speaks even toned and describes the wave and how he would have made it, if the bodyboarder hadn't dropped in on him.    What he doesn't say is how he used a jet-ski to catch the wave in a line-up chock full of locals that had been out there before he arrived.  What he also doesn't say is how his jet-ski team declined to give aid to the disabled bodyboarder after both riders had eaten shit on the wave.  Why he made this video is beyond me but the response has been almost universally negative in Wassel's direction.  Of course the local boys in Tahiti saw his vid and the subtext with the knives.  They weren't pleased.  This second video is their response.  The quote from the John Duval, "I never dropped in on anyone. That day was too much for me. I dropped on him just to make a statement because he didn't show respect to us", says Duval.

http://indosurflife.com/2013/09/dave-wassel-vs-bodyboarder-round-2/     scroll down to vid with guy (john Duval, the bodyboarder) grabbing the shark.  These guys know subtext as well.

[TDoc]

Saw this earlier in the week.

Wassel on most fronts seems like an ok guy and is a lifeguard (so giving back on some level), but he seems to have gotten caught up in his own ego while the Tahitian Duval seems pretty much over it. He did what he did & he'll do it again if lines are crossed...and rightly so.

The fact the ski driver left him adrift is beyond me. Especially given Wassel's profession...I don't know what to think about that beyond a serious error in judgement.

A lot of the comments I read in various threads seem to be spot on as regards what would happen if an outsider pulled the same bs in Hawaii...it would not go well.

Doc

[starman]

I liked Wassel's line at the END of the interview; "I'm not going to say much"

The attitude, the casual way his driver left the John Duval to fend for himself and possibly drown is all to common.

[Admin]

You hear the word respect very often these days and it has almost lost its meaning

So true.  This classic is still the best when it comes to "RESPECT".  Apologies for the hijack, just one interesting point within another.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si9fVd5-7fo

[surfinJ]

Thanks Headmount, glad I didn't miss that video from the Tahitians.
Powerful message of a key to a good life.

The attitude of the visitors was one of complete disrespect.

Any wave rider seeing the backdoor snake maneuver should cringe.

[lucabrasi]

Ok, so Mr. Wassell goes to another country far away, does laps getting himself towed into a local wave where the locals seem to blatantly disapprove of tow in, gets dropped in on and then puts out a video like that? Haole?
A big publication picks the video up?  They don't know the whole story?
"This dude dropped in on me, I will make a video talking about it holding a big knife."

Is that how it goes? Did I miss something?

I hope they didn't leave him out floating around.

I do like this comment tho:
"Kudos to John for taking one for the team and making a statement!"

[pdxmike]

Headmount--this is all out of my realm, but it does seem like you laid it out pretty well.  I really don't know what the point of the first video was either, other than a poorly-disguised attack--and if I wasn't sure about that, the knives remove any doubt. 

I just went through an experience where I was "set up" at a meeting--entire meeting held to discredit me.  It backfired badly.  The fake "I'm-calm-and-objective" attitude combined with the obvious "I'm-not-threatening-anyone--I--just--happen--to--have--these--knives--with--me"  posturing looks very familiar after that---and very pathetic. 

[Tom]

I have a hard time believing that surfers can ride waves like those, they are pushing limits. But what is more unbelievable to me is that they would do something to endanger their selves  and others to make a statement. I,m not taking a position, I,m just amazed.

[spookini]

Tom, maybe you should think about the law of unintended consequences.  They may be endangering themselves and others in waves... but perhaps that means they are unavailable to engage in even more destructive pursuits.  For example, mass shootings.  I'm just sayin'.

 

(Admin:  Thanks for posting "Kooks!" again!!  I first saw that on the 'Zone, and was looking for it awhile back, couldn't find it..  Gotta bookmark it for sure now.  It's a total classic.  That and "the Shaper"  ).

[headmount]

I have a hard time believing that surfers can ride waves like those, they are pushing limits. But what is more unbelievable to me is that they would do something to endanger their selves  and others to make a statement. I,m not taking a position, I,m just amazed.

Yeah that blew my mind as well.  Maybe the bodyboarder entertained a notion that he might make the wave while stuffing the tow-in guy, who knows?   But what are you going to do?  Small town place like that and some out-of-town guy comes in with the motorized deal and takes over the spot.  You can't stop the jet-ski and have a conversation.  Everything is obvious.  So the kid did what he thought he needed to do to make a point. 

I've been out solo at an outer reef spot, surfing and had skis not only come uncomfortably close but also churn up the surface so that an already critical drop is made almost impossible with the speed bumps created.  They zip way outside and you really can't work things out with them.  It's a maddening situation and I can see how the young kid did what he did.

When I first viewed Wassel's vid, it appeared to me like a blatant drop in and thought he had been burned.  Didn't know a ski was involved.  But then I scrolled down to the comments and saw there was much more to the story than he portrayed in his video with all the startling omissions.   

An aside of this story is that you never know what baggage a place and its locals have and blundering in without connecting could really be disastrous for your health.  Those Tahitians look like they'll carve up the next guy who even remotely screws up.  A cautionary tale for those traveling for surf.

[Celeste]

I did not watch all of the second vid, so I did not see all the Tahitians responses, so I don't know if every one feels the same, but I found it really refreshing how the complaints and bad vibes were directed at individuals and not groups of individuals.  No one said tow-in's were bad, or that out of towners were bad.  So refreshing after hearing so much "sup's suck" drivel.  In fact it seemed to me John only had animosity towards the ski driver, and lets face it without the express consent of the driver Wassel could not have disrupted the lineup the way he did.

As for what John was thinking, seems to me a frustration driven action, make his feelings know to someone he had no other way to communicate with

[SURFnTURF]

When I surfed my kayak a lot, I was glad SUP came along to take some of the stink eye off of me (ok,  mabey they were just rolled eyes in the parking lot, but you get the idea).                  Where I surf,  the kite surfers  could steal all the good waves, but IME have backed off when a surfer makes the drop.   Ya Gotta give respect to get it.
   BTW, took my surf kayak out last week for the first time in forever and ha a blast!

[supthecreek]

Drama in every lineup... but the scale involved here is monumental.

Taking the issue out of it... and just looking at John's situation by itself is heart stopping.

Serious frustration to cause that commitment.

[AM9K]

Two wrongs don't make a right.  That being said, the knives are being played up more than they deserve to be.  IMHO.

[Admin]

The story here is the continued branding and promotion of conflict by the surf industry.  Conflict sells.  Even if it sucks all of the beauty, comraderie and fun out of surfing.  This is nothing more than an ugly sales pitch.  These are far from off the cuff how I feel videos.  We are being sold to.