With the Pipeline contest due to start in just 10 days time, almost all of the pro’s are here now. That means that almost all of the photographers, videographers, journo’s and two bit hangers on are here too - and that includes the surfer chick groupies.
The beaches from Haleiwa to V-Land are full of bikini betties engaged in a competition of their own, and it works kind of like this: Find a place where pro surfers will notice you, don your tiniest bikini – in some cases mere fragments of cloth – and strut seductively back and forth. Lay out your towel – even if it’s raining - and lie on it for up to 10 hours at a time. If all goes well you will be invited up to someone’s house, where you might just hook up with a pro. The pro with the highest seed wins… or something like that.
The surf industry representatives have arrived too. The houses on the beachfront at Backdoor - previously the exclusive domain of the pro’s and their mates - are now groaning with the added weight of MD’s, team managers and CEO’s. Behind closed doors brands are discussing their strategies, their team riders and their futures in these uncertain times - and the mood is fairly grim amongst the big boys.
At least one major brand seems to be hitting the skids in the near future, and a lot of teams are being cut back. Surfing’s unprecedented Blue Crush and Slater fuelled boom of the 2000’s is forecast to be on a severe decline worldwide, and the brands are bracing themselves.
At the same time as all of this is going down, we are into the second leg of the Vans Triple Crown, a surfing series that claims “We are to surfing what Wimbledon is to tennis, or the Masters is to golf.” I always thought that that was just bullshit, but it’s the truth.
The Van’s Triple Crown is undoubtedly the pinnacle of competitive surfing: The world’s best surfers competing for the livelihoods against each other and against the giant, shifting peaks of Haleiwa, Sunset and Pipe, being watched by their employers… and the groupies.
And the pressure is telling.
The atmosphere at Backdoor and Off The Wall is all just work, work, work with the pro’s going through the motions of just doing their jobs to keep their sponsors: getting barrelled, boosting airs and getting as much media attention as possible.
Meanwhile all the fun right now is off the beaten track, at the waves that don’t make hero’s and don’t make the covers. There you’ll find those who come to Hawaii to share the warm water, golden sunsets and long beaches. There you’ll find the other surfers, getting some surf and sun on the small days. For them, surfing is a lifestyle, not a job, and man are they having fun on the North Shore.
