“Someone thinking they are special in the line up and not taking turns shouldn’t be normalized either…”
Now, surfers are generally not agreeable sorts, able and willing to fight over any number of positions or opinions. What is the appropriate water temperature to shed neoprene, for example, or what constitutes an “egg” and what constitutes a “fun board.” The only areas of accord being the greatness of Trump’s wild tariffs and hating blatant drop-ins.
Well, count that last one right out.
The whole business broke right on down, surfers polarizing and pointing fingers, after a fellow named Hudson Church posting a clip to instagram captioned “the most burned i’ve ever been.” It featured him in running left tube, enjoying “the vision,” as Joe Turpel likes to say, before the sky falls directly on him in the form of a man named Ryan Bennett.
Church added “Old kook @rbnut609 dropped in and ruined one of the waves of the trip @kookofthedayog thankfully @nisohollywood told him off #surf #surfing” by way of explanation.
As most would predict, comments were, initially, pro-Church/anti-Bennett.
A sampling:
“Did he think you were going right?”
“One of those old guys who says he’s been going there longer and just thinks he’s up . Why are they everywhere?”
“That’s brutal. And while he’s in the barrel. No fight after?”
“Dang that’s messed up.”
Etc.
Enter Johnny Redstar. He was not quite convinced as to the black/white nature of the clip and asked, “Wonder if he was tired of people not taking turns?”
Johnny Lynch did not like that take, declaring, “No excuse for that. It shouldn’t be normalized to ruin someone‘s potential wave of their life.”
Redstar, undeterred, clapped back, “Someone thinking they are special in the line up and not taking turns shouldn’t be normalized either. Easy to do when there’s a camera rolling too. Not saying that happened here but there is often more to a story than the clip.”
Back and forth the debate raged. The “no-excuse” crowd battling the “other factors” crew.
Church, himself, even jumped back in, explaining that he had talked to Bennett and was told it was an accident based on Bennett having sore neck and inability to look.
Over to you, though. Are you a survival of the fittest sort or a “go along get along” bro?
Share.