007 - The Grit! September 21, 2017

Jon Pyzel is getting bumped back to next week so that we can recap the historic day that was “The Test” at Kelly Slater’s Wave Ranch. In this episode of The Grit! David and Chas discuss the emergence of elitism to surfing, the WSL’s policy to bar media from the event, surf journalists needing to actually become journalists, whether the wave itself is actually boring, and whether this is the cornerstone of the impending apocalypse. Oh, and we end with “Barrel or Nah” and Chas fills us in on the atrocities currently taking place at his favorite surf destination, Yemen. Take the candy!

Special thanks to the Surfrider Foundation for providing our home studio. Support Surfrider here and follow them @Surfrider

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THE LOGO OF THE APOCALYPSE?

THE FORMAT

THE POOL

Of course we brought a drone. See our stories for a link to our rolling blog. Video: @mattkurvin
A post shared by Stab Magazine (@stab) on Sep 19, 2017 at 3:35pm PDT

HEY VIEWER, PICK YOUR OWN VIEWING EXPERIENCE

The experience was streamed from dozens of different accounts, seemingly from anyone and everyone who was in attendance. Viewers didn’t have 1 ongoing live stream, but were able to follow various parts of the event by bouncing from one social account to the next.

This just happened ? @john_john_florence @kswaveco #TheTest
A post shared by World Surf League (@wsl) on Sep 19, 2017 at 2:03pm PDT

Wake up call
A post shared by Hobo (@thesurfinghobo) on Sep 19, 2017 at 8:22am PDT

Here is the video I took the previous post photo from… Frame grabs off the iPhone video ??????… #life #surfing @kswaveco @mfanno @lifeproof @ripcurl_aus @ripcurl_usa @raimanaworld #thankskelly
A post shared by Strider Rasberry Wasilewski (@stridersworld) on Sep 21, 2017 at 7:22am PDT

WELCOME TO THE COUNTRY CLUB, NOW GO TO HELL

A wall (and gate) separated the haves from the have-nots. Does this signal a future where only the wealthy can play? If so, does that diminish our seaward experience?