In recent times, China has witnessed a series of campaigns aimed at persuading people to stop eating shark fin soup. So it is encouraging that, over the past year, shark fin consumption appears to have declined. But can the drop be attributed to marketing pressure or something else?
Australia's relationship with Indonesia has been characterised by long periods of indifference punctuated by occasional crises. The recent incident in which Australia has been caught spying highlights the lack of understanding that has characterised our politicians. What might this mean for travelling surfers?
The head of Quiksilver recently questioned whether the long-running brand should continue supporting the ASP. As ZoSea prepare to assume control of the World Tour this is the first sign of a fracture between the ASP and the surfing industry.
"He described watching radar images in the moments before Super Typhoon Haiyan reached land, saying “it has got to weaken, it has got to weaken”. Tragically it didn’t."
Just four months after his takeover attempt of Billabong failed, Paul Naude has unveiled his new brand. The unsuccessful takeover made Naude's position at Billabong untenable and it was widely known Naude was head hunting talent to join him in his new venture, the details of which had been secret until now.
Quick question: does anyone know who the current world amateur surfing champions are? I’m guessing no, even though one of them is an Aussie. What about the world amateur longboard champs?
Why don’t we know or even care about any of these champions?
If there's one thing you can count on in modern surfing, it's this: when big waves break the real turbulence hits, not at the moment of impact, but a few days afterward when the media steps into the fray.
Wildcards are a curious anomaly, their existence is partly to appease local surfing communities and partly a value add for the company ponying up the prizemoney.
Which is all well and good till they interfere with world title campaigns.
Obamacare will lead to less crowded surf...maybe.
In news that will delight grizzled surf purists the world over, the United States budget debacle may shutdown weather prediction services, including every automated surf forecast that relies on them.
It is hard to put a date on exactly when surfing allowed itself to become a milk cow for the entrepreneurial class. At some point the balance between the power of the corporations and the power of the surfing communities from which they sprang changed.