Within the surfing industry and in our magazines, who are the real “puppetmasters”? To that end, has your next board project been shaped by the waves, or is it mostly the result of someone else`s influence?
Within the surfing industry and in our magazines, who are the real > “puppetmasters”? To that end, has your next board project been > shaped by the waves, or is it mostly the result of someone else`s > influence? I’m in a crappy mood, and I shouldn’t have read this. Oh well. I’ll take the bait. Ther real puppetmasters are the sportswear/surfwear companies. Ever notice how there aren’t any butt-ugly major pro surfers? That’s because the fashion rag trade needs attractive people, so they sponsor them and send them on trips which allow their surfing to improve in leaps and bounds…unlike the homely surfer footing his or her own bill, slogging through crowded surf zones and foggy contest weekends on the three coasts of the U.S. I don’t know what happens in South Africa, and Australia really has a different mindset of their own. I’m not saying the top people can’t surf, just that the more attractive have an advantage in getting the breaks, and in 2002 it takes these breaks (frequent major travel plus some mentoring by top-echelon surfers) to progress to world class. Being or becoming a great surfer is a necessary component, but it isn’t about surfing…it’s about selling product. As for projects being shaped by the waves or other influences, well, it’s always a mix. The more urban an area one surfs, the more the other influences have to count. Get away from the magazines and “industry” and the waves rise to become at least a 60% influence. Stay in the fold and at best it’s 40%. That cracking sound you hear in the distance isn’t always a new swell. It might be the sound of surfing breaking apart; perhaps dividing like cells to grow on their own, perhaps just disintegrating.