Opinion: Evolution or Revolution? Jamie Currie On Natural Selection Surf
How exactly will Natural Selection 'reinvent' pro surfing, asks BeachGrit's finest.
The news that Natural Selection will expand to include mountain biking, skiing and surfing was delivered by a glitzy trailer of the type we’re accustomed to by now from Travis Rice films, anything associated with Red Bull, or Transformers movies.
In summary:
Epic verbiage. Moody synths. Extreme close-ups of eyeballs, snowflakes, water droplets, etc. Smash cuts and drum beats. Time lapses of weather. Splashing, wooshing, rumbling. Heavy breathing.
The script:
(Ellipsis denotes dramatic pauses.)
“There exists a certain type of person…who plays with forces beyond their control…they test the endurance of the human spirit…they seek the edge of human potential…and they triumph…when they connect…with my power…”
Full screen shot of earth from space.
(EARTH IS THE NARRATOR!?)
“This is not an extreme sport…this is peak existence…this is not a death wish…it’s a commitment to living…this is natural selection…the next evolution.”
Then, curiously, a text instruction:
“DON’T FORGET TO BREATHE”
(You know, just as a reminder, in case we’d forgotten. Or we’re so overawed by the trailer that we’d lost control of our basic faculties.)
So far, so Hollywood.
But also exactly what AI might produce with the prompt: “make me a trailer in the style of Red Bull.”
There’s nothing wrong with it. I’m sure lots of clever, creative, well-funded, well-caffeinated people spent lots of time on it. It’ll pique interest and prick hairs for most people. Myself included. We’re only human. (Sub-standard humans, obviously. But don’t let that put you off.)
However, this isn’t a critique of the trailer, but rather a question of surfing’s place in the fold of action sports entertainment, and its suitability as a competitive sport.
You see, I’ve watched a lot of professional surfing. As tour reporter for Beachgrit, I spend untold (and largely unsociable) hours and days watching WSL events.
It’s not a glamorous gig. The problems with surfing as competition are many. It takes too long. It lives and dies by the vagaries of weather. The judging criteria is entirely subjective. It’s not relatable to a general audience.
Most importantly: the majority of surfers, millions worldwide, couldn’t care less about it, because it conveys nothing of their surf experience.
Competition is for sport. Something with players or teams. Clear winners and losers. Static, predictable playing surfaces. Objective performance criteria. Marked lines, goalposts, targets, scoreboards.
Surfing is a pastime. Perhaps a lifestyle choice. I won’t embellish it as art, but I wouldn’t scoff at that definition either.
Natural Selection evolved from a feeling that snowboarding competitions didn’t reflect the culture. We could debate whether organised competition can ever embody a culture, but if you believe it can, there’s certainly a case for change in surfing. The ISA (International Surfing Association) is recognised by the Olympic committee as surfing’s governing body, but it is the more glamorous WSL (World Surf League) that Natural Selection hopes to challenge.
And there is a lot to take on here. The WSL veers wildly from bumbling failure to Orwellian dystopia: sponsorships from brands that make ladders and noodles; wilful ignorance of controversies, athletes’ voices and judging cock-ups; elite-level greenwashing; tone-deaf corporate flim-flam; mysterious disappearances of CEOs; mysterious presences of the likes of Kaipo Guerrero.
All of which equates to a product which can be borderline unwatchable, and most certainly does not represent “surf culture”. (Whatever that is.)
Clearly, Natural Selection thinks it can do better. But it’s a bold, and perhaps flawed assertion. It’s also a poisoned chalice. The list of ASP and WSL executives who’ve supped from it hopefully then wilted away is testament to that.
There IS a hardcore fanbase for pro surfing. But we’re talking tiny numbers. Four digits, at best. So the goal in a newly imagined surfing competition must be to reach beyond this, to make it watchable for the action sports fan at large, and maybe even more mainstream sports fans.
So with all that in mind, how exactly WILL Natural Selection reinvent pro surfing?
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Beyond the trailer, information is thin on the ground. I’ve heard eight men and four women (so much for gender parity). I’ve heard a tropical Pacific location. According to NS, Nathan Florence and Rob Machado will be involved in advisory roles.
But what can they do to make it fresh? And is there just too much nuance in surfing to convey on screen? Sure, drones and GoPros have made some inroads, but nothing really comes close to the reality.
Surfing is one of those things that often feels better than it looks. Like eating chicken wings. Or raving. Or sex. It’s a lot more fun to do than it is to watch. Of course it’s a tantalising commodity. But I’d predict this latest RedBullification will be another failed attempt to transform abstract pleasure into engaging viewing.
Snowboarding and mountain biking have the advantage in that most people have ridden a bike or experienced heights. Everyone can marvel at massive jumps or high speed. Airs in surfing will always look mundane in comparison. Surfing might feel faster than other things, but there’s no way of communicating that to a viewer.
Case in point: my dad, who’s just turned eighty, likes to cycle a ten-mile road loop from his house. He does it in wellies and ski gloves and refuses to wear a helmet, so he’s not exactly a cyclist. He was, however, a trawlerman and sailor all his life, so he knows a thing or two about the sea. You’d think, then, that surfing would hold some appeal. But he can’t even feign interest in a WSL heat.
Yet I remember one Christmas showing him a Danny MacAskill clip. You’d think I’d parted the Irish Sea and shown him where all the langoustine were hiding. For the next six months or so it was his go-to topic of conversation. The poor postie probably had to watch it a couple of times a week.
Surfing’s not an easy thing to understand. Only a surfer knows the feeling, went the old Billabong tag line. They’re still right.
And the problem is not just that surfing is difficult to contextualise for a general audience. The problem is that even for a highly educated one it’s often just…dull.
Worse: it can be irritating. A concept best understood by the German neologism “gluckschmerz” - the feeling of pain on account of someone else’s pleasure. Watching people get good waves in exotic locations will do that to you.
Consider how much of surfing is simply waiting. Waiting for winds, for swell, for tides. Waiting in the line-up. Waiting for crowds to thin. Waiting for a good one. Waiting in airports, in traffic, on ferries. Waiting at your desk in cloying agony, knowing that even if everything aligns for your few precious weekends or holidays, you’ll still need to wait.
For an example of how painfully inadequate competitive surfing can be, consider the Olympics. In round three we witnessed peak Teahupo’o, and in Gabriel Medina we saw absolute mastery. It was the moment that led to That Photo. It was a day of competition when we should’ve been handing out gold medals, world titles, knighthoods, Blue Peter badges…the lot.
But of course we didn’t. Competition rolled on to the next day, and the next. The waves got smaller, then they disappeared. Medina couldn’t even catch one for long, yawning stretches. Competitors scraped the Teahupo’o line-up for dribbly one-footers. Then they handed out medals. It was shambolic, humiliating. I felt embarrassed for the men and women forced to compete in conditions that made their sport look ridiculous.
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None of this is revelatory. The problems with surfing competitions are well established. The term “rebel tour” will be bandied around, just as was when Derek Hynd tried to take pro surfing to the Outer Hebrides, holding a test event with an eclectic group of surfers. Or when Kelly Slater et al stirred rumours of a breakaway tour which never materialised.
But surfing hasn’t been rebellious for decades. OG surf brands compete for hanger space in TK Maxx. Prince Harry and Lewis Hamilton could log more tube time in a fortnight than you might in five years, simply because they can afford it.
A true rebel tour would dirty things up a bit. Make surfing more grimy, not more polished. Surfing needs tension to be a compelling sport. Take it somewhere we’ve never seen. Ideally somewhere cold, remote and hostile. Everyone can understand the cold. Tropical waves will never be as intimidating as dark, freezing ones. Take the athletes and crew out of their comfort zone and you have ready made tension.
Pick surfers for quality of character above talent. Surfers who aren’t afraid to ruffle feathers. People who want to win. Otherwise we’re just watching a bunch of bros on a surf trip. We need rivalries.
(And, I hate to say it, but there’s nothing that would appeal to a wider audience more than the possibility of a few big fish in the line-up. Natural Selection, indeed.)
It’ll take more than flashy trailers and format changes to evolve surfing into a sport more people want to watch.
How should Natural Selection shake up surfing? Let me know what you think of Jamie’s take:
Jesus. Maybe we should call time on pro surfing. The narrative never changes. There is no insight into who these overly managed athletes are. I'm just over it all. If you're looking for less surf/mountain porn and more long read format then I highly recommend The Alpinist. Now that's a good film. Ticks all the boxes. Maybe competing just sucks.