What will the pro tour look like in five years? Fred Pawle asks who will be dominating, what waves they’ll be riding, and whether Nike or even Hollister (what, you’ve never heard of them?) will drop in on the surf industry when the sport takes off again.
Which Generation Text surfer will be world champ in five years time?
ASP president Rabit Bartholomew OAM: The three guys who will be really on top of things would be Dane Reynolds, Jordy Smith and Julian Wilson. They are the leaders of a generation that are going to be doing amazing things. Dane said a prophetic thing recently, that in a few years time having a basic aerial repertoire won’t be enough. Others? Dusty Payne, Owen Wright, Torrey Meister.
Torrey Meister, 20:
I’m trying to create new moves and flips. Everyone’s
doing them. Dane’s getting pretty close to a 720.
What’s your next big move? I don’t know. I just
try to copy Dane. He’s so nuts.
Julian Wilson, 20: Solid top-to-bottom surfers will still be in the mix,
but if you want to be in the top ten, you’re going to
have to be able to consistently do cool airs. No-grab
airs are never going to go out of fashion. They are
always going to be the hardest.
Jordy Smith, 20:I don’t think airs will ever go out of fashion. I’m
going towards big airs that are more like a
combination, like a straight air into a reverse. The
future is in more combos. Like rodeos? Yeah. It’s
just a matter of time before they start doing them
confidently in contests. Who’s going to blow up?
Dion Agius. He’s got some crazy things, doing a lot
of spins and stuff. He gets a lot of height.
Yadin Nicol, 23: You have to be a machine to want to be in the top
five. I’m not sure if anyone around or below my age
group has the desire to focus on that 100 per cent. I
think my age group is a little more spoilt. (But)
Dusty Payne is pretty bullshit.
Dusty Payne, 19: There’s so many good surfers out there, but your
biggest rival is always yourself. What moves? Just
the basics: snaps, cutbacks, airs, reverses. Solid,
consistent surfing with flair.
Torrey Meister: I’m not going to go full bore (competing) for a couple
of years. I don’t want to get burnt out. I want to
work on my surfing. That’s the way Dane did it. He
just went on surf trips, and everyone got to know
who Dane was. Then he qualified in only one year.
That’s the route that everyone is trying to take.
Koa Smith, 13: Every time I go to California I pay a visit to every
magazine - Surfer, Surfing and Transworld. So if I
get a good shot, they’ll be like, “oh let’s use that
because he’s friendly, not just a random guy.” What
moves? Everybody’s going to be doing what Dane
and Jordy are doing. It’s going to be all about flips.
Julian Wilson: You never know with those little grommets. Give
Koa a couple of years. He’s got a lot of potential. Who
else? Adriano will be up there. Jeremy (Flores) will
probably still be around. He’s only my age.
Mitch Coleborn, 21: The new format is going to force everyone to surf in
shittier conditions. Some of the top guys are going to
be over it. If everyone is going to be doing the QS to
try to get on the CT, who is there for photographers
to shoot? The guys who are strictly free surfers are
going to kill it, and the guys who are doing the tour
aren’t going get anywhere. (But) fuck, I love
competing. Ultimately I want to make the CT and
be in contention for a title.
What locations would you like the tour to go to?
Mitch Coleborn: Maybe more remote places where there’s not as
many people around, like Macaronis, where
everyone can be there for the comp and there’s no
party. That’s where you’d see the best surfing go
down.
Julian Wilson: Of course Mitch would say that.
He’s a goofy-footer.
Yadin Nicol: The Mentawais is pretty hard because it would
have to be a floating comp. That would be pretty
amazing but unrealistic.
Jordy Smith: That would be insane. Macaronis is a world-class
wave. If that happens it would be awesome.
Dusty Payne
Macaronis would be sick. But where’s everybody
gonna stay - on boats?
Rabbit: You can’t go past waves like Teahupoo and Pipe as
well, and aerial surfing is not going to take over
those places. It would be fantastic to see G-Land
come back on the radar. It’s a fantastic venue.
Macaronis? In a limited field you could do a boattrip-
style event. That’s a possibility down the track.
I’ve always been open to something like that.
Will the tour be more nationalistic?
Rabbit: There will be at some point in the near future a Davis Cup style set-up. When? Top secret. It would be based on all the top nations. Five years ago you might have had one European team. Now France could put up a team. Portugal could. Germany could put up a team! It’s awesome what is happening out there. You would expect the very best of the best. You’ve seen guys going back and surfing for their countries in the ISA. They put on their national colours, and they grow two foot taller.
Mitch Coleborn: That’d be sick. Australia would have a decent team, too. The top five in the world are usually all Aussies and then Slater. Surfing for your country at that level would be sick. You’d get some good support.
Julian Wilson: It’d be cool to be picked. I’ve surfed in the ISA. That
was always super fun. The passion is sick. Our team
would be like Parko and those guys. It would be
really cool.
Dusty Payne: I’d be stoked to be a part of a Hawaiian team. We
could take out the Aussies, and the South Africans!
Haha! I’m standing next to Jordy now. But all the
events would need to be in Hawaii. Haha!
Jordy Smith: That sounds like a good thing. It’d be sick, huh? I did
it in the ISA. Makes you feel epic, surfing it up for
your country.
When the shaken global economy settles, the wolves that emerge intact will be looking for bargains. Surfing might just be one of them. Already, three outsiders (Nike, Red Bull and Hollister) are shaking up the industry. A major corporate blue over our sport is brewing. Will we be the winners?
ASP CEO, Brodie Carr: People from three global surf labels came up to me at
Cabo San Lucas (at the Surf Industry Manufacturers
Association annual conference, in May) and
asked me what Nike was up to. I told them that
Nike wants to get involved in surfing the right
way. They want to give back.
Marketing analyst , Abram Sauer: Probably the most outright and unapologetic (not to
mention successful) brand to embrace ambush
marketing is Nike. If you are a major footwear
producer, Nike has ambushed you: Converse in Los
Angeles in 1984; Reebok in Atlanta in 1996; adidas
on just about every continent in every two or fouryear
competition. Strategically avoiding sponsoring
events and thus exposing itself to its own tactics,
Nike instead sponsors teams or individuals.
Rip Curl global marketing
manager, Neil Ridgway: I’d love Nike to take one of the men’s or women’s
world tour licences. If you’re going to be in pro
surfing, pony up like we do with $2.5 million per
event and back the Dream Tour and the sport. Why
shouldn’t they or Red Bull put their hand in their
pocket too? A few days later, Hurley, which is
owned by Nike, takes the licence for the WCT
event at Trestles from Boost. I call Ridgway back
to see if this is what he meant about Nike
supporting the tour. I don’t see the Hurley licence
as a Nike licence. Sure they are Nike-owned and in
the back end they will reap benefits of the Nike
machine, but to the consumer and the surfer, Hurley
is Hurley. There are still other ASP licences on the
table. Why can’t Nike 6.0 or Red Bull put up $2.5
million for a world-class event? Some people will
say I’m crazy for encouraging them, but I think they
should, and their presence can only benefit us at a
mainstream level. In fact, why don’t they put $10
million up for naming rights of the tour? I’d
welcome them at the table.
Chris Mater, head of sports
marketing USA, Red Bull: We have pretty specific criteria for what maes a Red
Bull event. We have a saying here: if someone else
could do it, then we shouldn’t. Maybe one day we
will buy a licence for am event if the right
opportunity was available, but $2.5 million isn’t
cheap. We love surfing and it’s a great fit for Red
Bull but we’re not a surf company so it is not an
automatic must-do. We have options. We can look at
other swports. Also, we support some of the best
athletes in the surfing world like Mick Fanning,
and run events like Red Bull Big Wave Africa and
Red Bull Junior Surf Masters. In short, there are
lots of ways you can talk to surfers without doing it
through the pro tour.
Hurley marketing and team
manager , Pat O’Connell: Nike is super serious about the action sports world.
They are bright, unbelievably smart people. There is
a rhyme and a reason behind the decisions they
make. They don’t make just one-off decisions.
Nat Young , Nike 6.0’s most
successful surfer:
Nike 6.0 are super cool. There’s no-one over 21 (on
the team). They are slowly working their way into
the surf industry.
Koa Smith ,
also sponsored by Nike 6.0: It’s super fun to be a part of Nike. Nike are like part
of every sport and I guess they’re more experienced.
Companies like Nike that are going into the surfing
industry are probably going to take it over.
Pat O’Connell: Nike is doing the right things. Ultimately they will
change surfing. People will have a positive
relationship with Nike. Nike has a big vision. I’d
like to see Nike bring surfing out of the bubble a
bit.
Matt Keen , head of marketing ,
Quiksilver Australia: Whilst Nike is a great sporting brand, they will
never have the true credibility and heritage of great
surfing brands like Quiksilver. This credibility has
been born from years of genuinely supporting and
developing the industry – it’s our heart and soul.
Nike do their thing well, and so do we – that’s why
we don’t sell runners.
Jordy Smith (for whose endorsement Nike was bidding
before he signed to O’Neill): A lot of people were telling me, “Nike is going to
change the surf industry, you gotta go with them”,
but it’s got to do with support, and Nike didn’t have
any support at the time. For instance, going to
Hawaii, you’d be pretty much on your own, whereas
O’Neill are here. And O’Neill is pretty much one of
the first surf companies ever, so that was pretty cool.
In 2000, clothing giant Abercrombie & Fitch, of Ohio, started its “surfwear” chain, Hollister. It now has 450 stores across America, mostly in the Midwest, and is planning to open shops in London. Hollister does not advertise in surf mags, or sponsor pro surfers or events.
SIMA president Sean Smith:
Hollister is a California lifestyle brand. And it’s
nationwide. They have done a phenomenal job.
Their product is really good. Good quality. Decent
pricing. There are kids shopping who literally
believe Hollister is a legitimate surf brand. Hollister
are smart. They’ve hired designers from the surf
industry. The big surf brands have a problem with
Hollister.
Pat O’Connell: The people who shop at Hollister feel that it’s real.
They probably can’t tell the difference. To me, as a
purist, that’s pretty sad. But I’m also the ultimate
optimist. I see these big corporations opening up
opportunities for us. If we just went along and
companies like Nike and Hollister weren’t interested
in our space, our space wouldn’t be a healthy place. I
don’t look at it as a negative thing. All that other
stuff is just competition, and the customer is the
winner.
Brodie Carr: I’ve never had any conversations with Hollister.
The brands that built the ASP are pretty committed
to their core. Hollister don’t make wetsuits.
Sales asistant at Hollister’s Orange County store, when asked by me if the surfboards on display behind the counter are for sale: (Trying not to laugh) Ah, no.
In 2007, Hurley released the Phantom boardshort, made of super lightweight material. It was developed by Nike. Will it produce a better wetsuit next?
Neil Ridgway: Nike could come along and make a half-decent
westuit. I’m sure they could. But will core surfers
trust them more than they trust us with their
wetsuits, after we’ve got 40 years of tradition and
heritage, and we are an authentic surf company?
No. At the end of the day we think surfers are
going to trust us, so I’m not that concerned. It’s like
Salomon did with surfboards – they brought all
that technology with them but surfers didn’t trust
them in the end and they are gone. We’ve been
glassing blanks since 1969.
Sean Smith: Nike as a single company is bigger than our entire
industry put together. All 200 of our members, if
you put all their gross US sales together, they are
still dwarfed by Nike. Our studies show we are
$US7.5 billion. (Nike’s US sales are about $US9
billion.)
Pat O’Connell: Nike and Hurley are definitely giving wetsuits
attention. We’ve had some pretty bright people
trying to understand just what a wetsuit does.
Changing it, however, is a lot of trial and error. It
could be a new material, or a new cut. It’s a big
endeavour.
Neil Ridgway: In five or 10 years, Nike might go, “this is really not
worth the effort”. They can make so much more
money out of mass-participation sports and so much
more money out of selling shoes. We don’t make
surfing products and then one day go, “shit, why
don’t we make golf clubs or buy a tennis company?”
We could probably make a great golf club, but fuck
why would we? It’s always going to be worth it for
us to look after surfers and the tour and the ocean.
Surfing is at the heart of the surf companies so we
will always be there. Surfing is all we do.
Posts: 2
Reply #2 on : Mon February 16, 2009, 18:29:42