WSL attempting to slither into Lennox Head
Sounds like it’s a done deal on the grit
not quite but very close.
extraordinary council meeting today at 4pm.
Petition here if anyone wants to sign,
http://chng.it/wft695j4
Do council seem to be on the side of lining their pockets, or keeping the locals happy?
it's a such a shitshow that council haven't even seen a detailed proposal.
they are scrambling.
will know more after extraordinary council meeting today.
WSL Oz gazumped at (at least) two other locations they'd been grooming since November last year due to a nearby COVID outbreak for one, and temporary border restrictions at another. Rumours of one or two other locations also on the radar but no proof. At any rate, Lennox is a last roll of the dice hence minimum time for Council due diligence etc.
Sounds like shitshow's the right word FR. Surprised they've tried tbh - seems to have pretty bloddy clear for a long time that you mob don't want a comp up there.
Stu, so (NW?) WA (border) and maybe my neck of the woods (covid)?
Half right, Pops, and potentially fully correct, though as yet unconfirmed.
Oz may be a saviour for the CT owing to our COVID response, however, aside from existing CT locations, the Woz will find it hard to expand here in Oz.
Australia has a different surf culture to many countries that the Woz does business in. We've an older demographic which means that, unlike newer surfing countries, we're less eager to promote our waves, and we're more circumspect about Wozzle boosterism.
Compare that to 80s Australia when we couldn't get enough of pro surfing.
We're also more savvy about media influence, which is why the BWT could waltz into Punta De Lobos and set up tents but they got run out of Streaky Bay. Same as any big swell in Hawaii and California gets the social media rubdown but a big swell in SW Vicco or the South Oz desert breaks in silence.
Local crews protect them from stray cameras, and they'll do the same when the Woz beats at the door with a proposal.
Thing is, the Lennox proposal isn't a one off. Andrew Stark is a workhorse and a networker nonpareil, similar proposals and approaches happen all the time but very rarely does word get out before a decision is made.
Wonder if the Vic gov is not willing to lose anymore votes over an international event while Aussies are still stuck OS? Bells being the 1st Aus stop means more plane loads of entitled pricks flying in from all over the world into Melbourne hotels just like the Aus Open, PR nightmare for the gov
Stu, were the Northern Beaches one of the original (gazumped) locations?
If the comp does happen at Lennox locals should all just go out and surf the point during the comp. Fuck em.
Why don’t the WSL just piss off to Yeppoon and use surf lakes , it would be good promotion for surf lakes who are thinking about eventually opening their prototype to the public . Leave country towns alone , the Lennox Byron area is already getting over exposed that’s to Thor and his Hollywood mates moving in . My boss lives at south golden beach ( ocean shore ) and strong rumours de caprio has brought into his street , nothing under 1.4 million in his street at the moment ( crazy price’s )and some rich euro chick has brought 5 hectares at New Brighton adjoining the lake and building a 16 million $ mansion. Surf contests in wave parks leaves us alone and we have enough club contests as it is .
Oh wozzle...... you sly old dog, trying to sneak in through the back door. Give em the boot I say. Cause a scene. Good luck in the meeting this afternoon!
Give em The Pass & make them surf on rental longboards.....
Just get a couple of Lennox locals to sacrifice themselves by getting infected, cough up a few Covid lung oysters and that'll clear the Wozzle out of town quick smart.
Feels like that's the only thing that'll halt it.
It's in the hands of bureaucracy, which filters out all emotive baggage, irrespective of how important it is to us, and reduces what should be a complex matter to a collection of dry, methodical dot points.
One by one the Wozzle will tick them off. Placate the council with assurances.
And once they have the Council has no recourse to reject it.
A COVID case, however, changes everything.
Someone needs to get infected and streak through the middle of the contest superstructure like a jihad suicide bomber . Coughing amd sneezing instead of the explosive vest.
Huey Akbar !
Fluffy the Mayor still feeding locals to the sharks...First great whites...Then WSL's.
Why not the SA pro held at pumping Dribbleton??
Maybe the chicken run. ? Give the sharks a feed
Could Lennox be the ones to sink the WSL once and for all?
Give it to ‘em Leba!
Can you imagine the Stab style ‘no contest’ blowing out near by spots.
Why not just have a triple crown: ‘Ox, Iluka and Angaz?
If it actually happens just paddle out en masse and burn every competitor every wave.
I'm with Mozzie. No one will bother coming to Dribs.
Word on Beachgrit is that the council voted it down. Interesting* that the WSL wants exclusive access to Lennox / Boulders / sharpes during Easter. Crew aren’t even allowed on the headland.
So Tourism NSW plans to advertise Lennox by kicking every cnt out at the 2nd busiest tourist time of the year despite tourists booking holidays there months ago. It’d be a classically funny shit show of it wasn’t a disturbingly accurate synecdoche of the way Australia is run by a corrupted and incompetent melange of public and private industry fckstix.
*Fckn outrageous.
While were waiting on Ox news - heres some... bye bye Tomo and welcome Aloha
Council voted down proposal 8-2.
amazing turnout at council from people.
Yew !
Excellent. Why do I get the feeling it’ll run anyway ?
The cowboy responsible for trying to ram this event up the dates of the local community needs to be dragged naked and backwards through the cactus by his horse .
Unconfirmed reports after meeting WSL has withdrawn the proposal.
Amazingly, despite the almost unprecedented situation of the WSL melting down before our eyes in real time there's an almost total surf media blackout.
Nothing on Swellnet, CW, STAB, Seppo sites. One old story on Tracks.
Of course the WSL has no update on their own website. Nothing.
Bizarre.
Almost incomprehensible how ineptly and incompetently, not to say deceitfully they have tried to go about this.
Now, what about Aureus?
Edit: Awesome news but that Aureus story link seems pretty fucked.
WSL need to do real homework & planning ….there are great sand banks & usually great Easter surf on less crowded parts of the east coast NSW. …(ffs)....some ECNSW areas need the tourism $ after bushfires, floods and Covid setbacks in 2020.
WSL could of at least read the Swellnet guide in Oz …
."Surfers etiquette: if you're travelling here to surf, please respect the locals"
or concepts from USA
Farm Aid started by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp in 1985 to keep family farmers on the land and has worked since then to make sure everyone has access to good food from family farmers
I’m not surprised that Swellnet ain’t over it cause they are definitely not invited into the WSL big tent but i reckon it says a bit about the old boy’s school surf journos who’ve kept mighty quiet during proceedings. Might not have looked to good if they’d come out in support of the wrong horse in the race . Either way they spun it - for or against -they were going to upset someone they need to have onside whether that was the WSL or the general surfing population whose had a gut full of the WSL flea trying to steer the surf culture dog.
P.S. Goodonya for standing up BenH….hope ya sharing early barrels with Al
Wonder if the dirty fcks will just turn their eyes back to NW WA ?
PS Kudos Freeride. Well done mate.
Yeah good stuff to the Leba crew. Hope you’ve pulled it off.
If I recall correctly, a recent forum thread has Doug Warbrick talking about ‘ringing a bell this year’........doesn’t sound likely.
Surely this shit show can’t keep going?
i would be surprised if they are not making a series of phone calls as we speak to other council areas. They will be trying to get in somewhere.
What a clusterfark. I'd hate to see how they make enemies.
It will be interesting to see the local FB pages going troppo tomorrow at the thought of Bells not happening.
10 points to the locals etc for organising the clean up set.
The council here in Augusta Margaret River has also voted down wsl applications and overreach in the past only to be overruled by State Government (Tourism WA).
Turns out the WSL does follow a script and that script is Glengarry Glen Ross.
Unfortunately I still think the WSL cck smokers will scheme their way over the line somehow. I hope not.
They’re a bit of a disgrace the wsl these days aren’t they. Might be time to just wrap the whole show up, have a spell and come back with a new rejuvenated format in a few years time.
In the words of Rodney Rude, FUCK YA’S!
What were they thinking...well not much as it seems ,seems like a panic reaction to try and flex a bit of muscle.... any way well done to the crew up Ballina/Lennox,just goes to show people power is still alive and well....
Wonder if they will try snapper.....or take it to sydney.
The WSL have been about as open with information on this as they are in telling us what the call for the day is during an event.
Doubt any heads will roll at the Woz. Just doing what Dirk tells them to do. Does seem an odd way to organise an elite sport competition though. How did it run as the ASP? Were the execs accountable to a board? To the surfers as members? Wonder what the latter think? Guess we won’t find out. Lest the largesse cease.
Here's a video of the Ballina meeting for anyone interested.
Andrew Stark at the 13 minute mark. What a fkn weasel.
https://attend-apac.broadcast.skype.com/en-US/57644f34-60a9-4215-9c0b-c6...
Wow! He’s just come in and basically told the region how it is and how they are going to do it.
So Leba boardriders all for it eh? Seems strange to me that council given full swerve in favour of a bit of a chat with the local amateur sports club.
Land council for it too?
My particular favourite quote from Stark:
‘We will HEAVILY promote the destination’
Seems like only people who will benefit are the pro surfers, WSL and a potentially Leba boardriders by the sounds (whether financially or through a wildcard or two)
I'm not sure about this statement by the bird... "WSL need to do real homework & planning ….there are great sand banks & usually great Easter surf on less crowded parts of the east coast NSW. …"
Do you think less crowded parts of the east coast want the WSL?
The reaction might seem less as there are less people effected but for those effected the reaction may still be strong.
Anyways Lennox is the discussion ATM.
What planet are these people from?....just expect the big boys to come to town and tell everyone which way to jump.....wonder how the many pros that live in the area view this......i mean really they are part of the problem,sell the local out for money?
Mr Ziff - the universe or karma or something is not on your side. It was a bad business concept in the first place even if the planets lined up perfectly. Now it is a shocker.
Cloudbreak???? And a namechange- the Waterlogged Soggy Lounge- just need a big mofo desk! https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-04/fiji-urges-aus-government-help-cy...
Just reading on another surf website about the wsl making a grab for another iconic Australian surf spot as part of this years Australia leg, Lenny the Ox about to be subjected to the use and abuse that a major contest brings with it.
Is this rumour ? Is this event to replace Bells (date range looks to be the same)?
If so get organised surfers of the north coast, the damage a contest like this will do to your already crowded lineups will continue long after the wsl recyclable plates and straws have blown into the bush.