Wade In Micronesia, KP Resigns, and Let's Play Shark or Dolphin in Creed and Shaun Manners' New Clip

15 Feb 2019 1

Mike Jennings

Senior Writer

COASTALWATCH | THIS WEEK IN SURFING

Ten Things From Surfing & The Internet On The Week That Was February 15, 2019

1. Sweet Shaun Manners x Creed McTaggart, West Aus Movie

Here's a ten minute surf clip from two of the best young freesurfers in the country. West Aussies Creed McTagTag and Shaun Manofwar ride boards made by Shaun's old man (Matty Manners Surfboards). Cut to the likes of Dinosaur Jr and Galaxie 500, it's a good time.

P.S. 3.07 and 3.12, shark or dolphin? Erghhhh.

2. Kieren Perrow is no longer the WSL Commish!

To be honest, I never really understood what a commissioner of a sports league is. I'm Australian. I'm an Australian sports fan. We don't have league commissioners. It's a very American sounding thing borrowed from the NFL and NBA, inserted into the WSL at the inception of the new world of pro surfing back in 2013 or whenever that was. KP, fresh from a Pipe Masters title and retirement, and being known as the smartest pro surfer around, took the role at the dawn of the WSL, and showed us that it seemed essentially to be the role of the guy who makes the call – like Jake Paterson would for the Quiksilver Pro and Damien Hardman would for the Rip Curl Pro – and for that he was perfect and awesome. But not only did he seem a great person for this role – his measured and articulate presence a welcome steady hand when they'd cross to him on the broadcast – he was also really important in making sure that the no.1 governing sports body still had some semblance of non-American feel.

Think back to when the WSL began, remember the commentary team? Pat Parnell and Ross Williams. Joe Turpel and Martin Potter. Ronnie Blakey was nowhere to be seen. Potts, while not American, seems more a hybrid of every country, repping South Africa, England and Australia all at once. Who represented us? KP (and Jessi Miley-Dyer) was the only thing that kept us Aus surfing fans from feeling completely disconnected from the powers at the top. He was instrumental in the WSL not failing in its sink or swim early years. At least that's how I feel about it.

KP is stepping down because the role is reportedly evolving to the title of "SVP, Tours & Head of Competition", and it will need to be based out in LA. Endless Summer II star, former CT surfer, and big dog at Hurley, Pat O'Connell will be taking it.

It's interesting. Such an important part of the machine driving and representing our competitive surf culture will be based more permanently out of Los Angeles, with presumably grand goals of trying to build a fandom for the WSL like other mainstream (read: American) sports. I wonder if they'll be tuning in to the Australian Boardriders Battle this weekend. Where grassroots level surf culture, half a century old, will combine with world class modern surfing for an enthralling and impassioned spectacle. The event is under the WSL banner now, but LA seems a world away from it, and further than it did a couple of days ago.

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Today Commissioner Kieren Perrow announced he is stepping down to take on a supporting role at the WSL which will leverage his decades of experience in evolving and championing the technical aspects of the sport. . "I've been a part of professional surfing my entire life, and I never imagined it would get to the level it’s at today,” Perrow said. “To be able to live out my dream on tour as a competitor, while also being a surfer rep and board member, was a massive high point in my career. However, getting to transition into my role as Commissioner and foster new talent and development pathways for surfers, has been even more rewarding. I'm really proud of my team and the WSL for all we have achieved together. With the role now needing to be based in Los Angeles, I’m taking this opportunity to step down and spend more time in Australia with my family, while continuing to be a part of professional surfing in a more focused capacity." . Pat O’Connell, former WSL CT competitor and current VP of Sports Marketing at Hurley, will succeed Perrow in the newly titled WSL role of SVP, Tours & Head of Competition, overseeing the Commissioner’s Office roles and responsibilities. O’Connell will be based out of WSL Headquarters in Los Angeles, California. . "Words can't describe the amount of respect I have for the WSL, Kieren and his team,” O’Connell said. “From competitor to surfer rep to board member to commissioner, he really has given his all for surfing to get it to where it is today and I couldn't be more thankful. It’s super hard to leave my family at Hurley as it’s been such a huge part of my life for more than 15 years. I’ve had an incredible experience at Hurley, but I'm beyond excited for the opportunity to lead the competitive aspects of surfing and further elevate the sport. I believe in the WSL, I believe in what it can be, and I'm stoked." . Full story through the link our bio.

A post shared by World Surf League (@wsl) on Feb 11, 2019 at 2:26pm PST

3. Speaking of California, Chippa went There

Ya boy Chippa Wilson does Chippa Wilson surfing (very good) with Nate Tyler and Colin Moran in the Golden State (I googled California nicknames). In this video, Chippa has grown a beard, which is nice, and the end-credits are soundtracked by a Nintendo Gameboy Pokemon game, which is also nice. Nice!

4. Kai Hing On The Gold Coast

Laybacks, airs and bouncy beachbreak end-sections in some short and sharp grovelling in the sun. The epitome of summer shredding on the Gold Coast by Kai Hing. Isn't it great that the less-than-2-minute-surf-clip sill exists? Less vlogs, more this, please.

5. Mason Ho Goes Assymetrical

Like my new-wave indie tryhard haircut circa 2007-2014, Mason Ho has gone assymetrical. He rides a ...Lost board with two rear Mayhem quad fins on the toe side and two Mark Richards twin trailer fins on the heel side. Looks pretty neat.

6. Wade Goodall In Micronesia For Channel Islands

Wade Goodall is one of the last of the good guys. You know those guys who when you roll into a party, and you're kind of feeling a little bit apprehensive, and then you see that that guy is there, they make you think, "Oh sick, that guy is here, I love that guy, this is gonna be sweet as!" That's what Wade Goodall is to surfing clips, I reckon. Here he is surfing for Channel Islands with Alex Gray in an "artsy independent film", which means it'll be a little bit out of focus and feature challenging music that you'd never listen to in any other context. Alright!

7. The Coffin Brothers Get Pumping Rocky Point

Parker and Conner keep rolling with their YouTube surf-vlog series Your Weekly Tube. In this episode they go surfing. Do some cooking. Go surfing again. Crazy. Out of all the surf content put out this week, this is definitely some of it.

8. Oh Man, That is a lot of Whitewater on the Head

One one of the biggest days of the year so far at Nazare, Portugal just last week: Toby Cunningham surfs a wave, falls in a seemingly inconsequential spot, then cops a million waves made up of a millon feet of whitewater on the head. It sucks. He's in good spirits though, the lunatic.

9. Mark Mathews Likes Small Barrels Too

It's really great to see this guy getting tubed again after recovering from suh serious injuries. It's also really great to see that he's human, and and can enjoy a sweet little Greenmount tube like the rest of us!

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Sneaky lil Greeny session a few weeks ago. I lost this camera on my last wave and some legend found it down at Kirra and went out of her way to get a hold of me and return it! @goproanz @redbullau

A post shared by Mark Mathews Surf (@markmathewssurf) on Feb 14, 2019 at 4:35pm PST

10. 20 Minute Maassen Film (not really surf)

Morgan Maassen is one of the best photographer/filmmakers to come out of surfing in the last decade. Out of the blue this week he dropped a 20 minute high end, atmospheric piece called Fissures. It's not really surf, but it does feature some world class ocean cinematography. If you feel like blissing out for 20, hit play. It's lovely.