179 - Spit! October 28, 2020

David and Scott discuss the massive swell’s bombarding Europe and why the world’s best won’t be riding them, why figure skating is more sporting than surfing, and why we all need to embrace our innate hypocrisy. Enjoy!

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LA NINA!

JORDY’S NOT-SO-POIGNANT INSIGHTS INTO COMPETITIVE SURFING

TOM BUTLER’S GRIPE ABOUT UNDERPAY

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Big winter swells are here and i’m being asked what my plans are for the season ahead. Right now i’m not planning to chase any swells abroad and have decided to decline my invite for the Nazare event. I’m taking a needed break from chasing Europe’s biggest storms. Aged 31 i’m completely content with my achievements but kind of burnt out from trying to monetise my sport. Being a professional athlete can be a very selfish pursuit to reach to a high level. Big wave surfing is a contact sport with consequences, there is no getting around that. So pre season, life long preparation is essential to be comfortable in the mix and stand a chance on the biggest days. With a young son my energy and time has to go to my family right now. Stripping back the pressure of being ready to perform in big waves and simplifying my life, working on goals closer to home has made me really happy these last 6 months. Of course having Ziggy to squeeze on the regular makes me so happy it feels like I’ve dropped down a 60 ft wave most days. Fact is, not that many big wave surfers globally are getting close to the level of financial backing needed to keep our sport safe. For me more time has been spent behind a laptop screen than actually surfing. Commercialising myself as an athlete took all the fun out of what I was doing. When you commit to a sport like big wave surfing and make the sacrifices and investment that are needed, you hope you can win titles and receive the recognition your performance deserves, not speaking just for myself I feel a lot of the surfers who have entered the @wsl awards and big wave comps feel the same. To make the sport even happen though some wild calls are made that probably are wrong decisions but probably the right decision in a business sense, most of the time at the expense of the athletes. Take last years Nazare challenge, event staff completely pulled the wool over the athletes eyes. They said, “this is year 0 lets work together and build this event into something huge and profitable for all involved,” then to have @redbull as a headline sponsor and to keep it quiet until the competition day. Collecting my rash vest.. *continued in comments
A post shared by T O M B U T L E R (@tommybutts) on Oct 25, 2020 at 2:07pm PDT