Never. It's my real job.Oh Bobby B.... it never ends.
I'll clarify my position for a moment to our out of country guests. This is an in-house issue strictly addressing the shortcoming of the US KneeBoarding populce. Please be patient as we're having a very progressive moment right here. This dialogue is good for everyone. Optimally it can help shape the international conglomerate as well.
Yur Chicken Super EQ!
Just thought you would want to open yur eyes a little wider and experience something beyond words is all. I'll give yur slot to MR since yur not interested. Last time I rode my spoon was about 15 years ago. I've ridden two of Terry's on three occasions. On one of those occasions that spoon made you guys look pretty weak in your own event. Soo big guy....it's been proven recently that they aren't the disfunctional relics you proselytize them to be. But then how can you really speak from both sides of the parabola having never kicked one out your own bad self? I can still Blast circles around ya on a foam core in Surf of Consequence....and now I'm gonna do it with Hart in squgglebutt surf using Red's Tahiti stick too....just to prove a point.
Actually though, I do completely understand ya Eddie boy, more than you give credit for. I see both sides clearly, just find it hard to agree with your selective shortsightedness is all.....I'm old and unfortunately have seen a lot more. It's the big black hole of 40 years post GG that should be brought to light, for us....for them...for everyone. The flick only made it acutely obvious there is a huge chasm betwen GG and Simon of which I am merely reminding you about...since your generation elected not to pay attention during the first time around. Your enthusiasm is great, as is mine, for the new Movement. However do forgive me for not cracking any more joints clapping than need be for the big screen review of yesterday's news.
You gotta remember, a lot of us on this site never knew who GG was, and once we saw the footage, which was dated even in the 1980's, didn't really pay it much mind. WATER SLAUGHTER shocked us, and showed us what was possible, and the 1st The Sparrow Has Landed... well... that video changed everything. In fact, it is the only reason any of us are on this site.
There would be no sprocklander.com, or kneelo.com, or ksusa.com, or contests in the US, or US access to all of the greatest shapers of today, or any of it , if it were not for Simon. ... it has nothing to do with GG.
And everything to do with GG......It's all linked.
The documentary and linking has been done soo many times over the span of 4 decades in all the different media forms, and forums that it's anti climatic in the broader sense of the over all timeline....especially for some of us old goats who caught on right in the beginning. The industry is just milking the more lucritive aspects of the past once again, knowing full well surfng's mindless consumers will eat it all up. The older generation is still waiting for the new breed to reach the highwater mark that's already been set for you guys, and they are not alone in this vigil.
Water Slaughter was unique in that someone finally got some footage of stuff that had been going on a lot longer than when your generation became aware of it. Some of us had been riding like GG and Novo for years in Hawaiian surf....without the visual aides to map it out for us., or the documentation to go public with it. Just because you guys elected to ignore your past and stumble around in the sand doesn't negate the position I present to you. The rest of your preposterous proclamations are taken with many a grain of salt. You had me laughin' so hard the dogs started barkin' at me.
Simon Farrar has had absolutely nothing to do with contest promotions here in the US of A. After the WSA , NSSA, and lasty the USSF abandoned our intrests the CKA made three worthwhile efforts to keep things going. It was successfull but failed in large due to the laizefaire commitment by all you young fledgling KneeMen. None of you wanted to do the work necessary to keep the thing going and it folded. We passed off a good thing to you guys and you, the modern generation, let it croak. But ya know what....some people just kept right on going without you guys...and now you guys are back under foot again blowing your horns.
Where was Simon when Hoppy Swarts & David Landsdown of the WSA stood with my brother and I while we challenged the status quo to get equal treatment in their organization, then later helped get our first independent organization up and running?
Where was Simon when Shewman and Linn were getting permits and sponsers for us?
Where was Simon during the past 19 years of Surfer Bowl?
Where was Simon when the first web sites hit the screen?
What about Bud whose been pumping out the best big wave sticks for the past 25+ years, and who has been the real international connection for everyone?
What about Stevie Lis who's been just as active on the underground market since that first fish?
What about Timpone, Cleary, Ballastar, Shoelkopf, Romo, Skip Frye, Steve Sebold, Tom Eberly, Rusty, Sean McGriff, Ellington, Toby, Topper, The Electric Duck......???
Where was Simon during all this?
Do I really need to give a chronological list of who and what came first here at home? Sorry man, plenty had been going on prior to Simon's advent to the US equation with his first raw vid. That came out after all this had been going on for decades. It's been the modern US KneeRiders own choice to to wrap themselves up in pitifull contest surf and backyard beachbreaks. Face it, the decision to stagnate those many years was not the fault of the US shapers and promotors. We kept feeding you the meat and potatoes but you guys prefered to eat baby food all that time....and frankly still do. Enthusiasm is one thing, but to pile all the laurels onto Simon's back is simply ludicrous and insulting to the few here at home who've made the commitment to keep it all alive.
Congratulations, you've singlehandedly just negated every hardworking US shaper and organizer in one fell swoop...and yur telling me I don't get it? I guess yur right...I don't.
Simon is a great guy. Our conversations were brief but we're on the same page for the most part. To say he listend, and I learned, would sum up it up.
I comprehend the infatuation many of you have for him. It's understandable...every generation needs an Icon/Idol from which the larger group feeds. For your group he's the focal point. He's made his mark for your style of KneeBoarding and much more. The guy is willing to move the mountain alone and THAT spirit is identical to the one which has kept KneeBoarding from disappearing completely within the US of A by a few dozen similarily driven people.
Simon's accomplishments are not the end all to beat all within the big picture, nor is anyone's for that matter, myself included, is again my point. I see it as yet another chapter to include within the KneeRiding saga of time. He'll be telling you all about that himself soon enough....and taking some of you with him into that next level of performance. The one we've been waiting for these many years.
We're pals Eddie boy and it's great our rapport lends itself to this progressive dialogue.
Are you guys really in a Renaissance....
....more like the age of electronic Discovery and Exploration. In fact your whole age of enlightenment began with your interest in Bud's designs and the AKC club platform well before Simon entered the scene. Rob Di Stefano had the first US web site followed by Bud and I helping Phil Miller load up his NZ site with all the archival stuff we could find. Bud has laid out the platform for high profile Kneeriding on his site and recently posted the criteria necessary to be sponsered by Blast. Your central group of competitors have done great things on your own since breaking away from my grassroots Club concept with your user friendly chat rooms. Sure the web and your site has brought a lot of loose ends together and that's a good thing. But off screen there really isn't much there other than hanging out once in a while. The renaissance part will start when it all get's centralized, streamlined, and focused energy propels things to the next level for everyone, not just this tabloid novelty, courtesy of the good ol' US of A. It's still just a short handfull of people doing all the work for the US KneeBoarder. All you guys need do is pay early, show up, perform, and go home with the goods. Those days sre numbered. For this whole international buzz to move beyond the infatuation stage is for more of the prominant voices like yourself to make a commitment to help in the organizational side of this and quit freeloading off the hard work of a few others. In fact the spoon guys have branched out on their own with their own site. There's the first good example of one group doing things for themselves and bringing it back in.US KneeBoarders have not really gotten beyond the KSUSA cyber world and established themselves as a long term organization of leadership. It takes time, long hours, money, and sacrifice to make thinigs happen. Odds are that if the handfull of guys propping this thing up move on...so does your Brave New World.
So I ask again Ed, what have you personally contributed to the organizational promotion of KneeRiding to keep it going?....especially within your own organization, the KSUSA?...and when will you start? This is not an attack, it is a straightforward inquiry. Please don't go off again lauding the labor of love others have already put into this thing we do. I would really like to hear more from you than 'You're having a Blast on your new Aussie TriFin, and pluggin' into the internet, and going to gatherings, and watching vids, and taking surfaris." I would like to see you lead the action behind some of your great ideas you've shared the past few years. I just wanna know who's gonna do it if you don't?
Everyone ask yourselves the same thing and maybe you'll be able to answer Ed's question.
"Where's KneeRiding gonna go?"
...........Sure the hell beats me?
But I'll try......you modern KneeRiders really do the skateboard trick part pretty well, just like those standup guys....so that leaves tow in and tow at's.....don't it.
Where it should go is straight to the proving grounds, the Seven Mile Stretch. Bud's ponied up sponsership for one of you to really become World Class material by Surfing's mainstream standards. The outline is right there in black and white. Who's gonna ride to the challenge? You Ed?....you could pull it off. You Jack? ....all those US Titles and yet you never venture outside of the security of our mediocre local breaks?
Until the wonder boys really step up to carving their name's on the Rock it's all just hot air....and I don't mean visiting Bud for a couple of days or weeks and pussyfoot around in surf you can find at home on the best days. I mean the big Granddaddy of all Challenges...Big Hawaiian Surf, 8'-15'. That's when you'll have reached a starting point for your Renaissance. That's where every other form of surfing has achieved it's well deserved accolades. Hell, even the women have gone and done it before before you. Your generation dropped the ball, plain and simple. I guess the most anyone can do is rise to their highest level of incompetance. And your responses are you don't care.....WTF.....yur not surfers.....not really....yur just kneeboarders like they say.
Simon's already gone home and made the necessary equipment changes to move into that realm on his next trip. He got his head into the right place at the end of his stay this year. He's your generation's inspiration hand's down. He's a hell of a surfer., he's a hell of a gentleman too. But he's also aware that there are area's he still has to master, and one of them is pushing his talent into the big league and dominating Hawaiin Surf. That's what I'm always talking about...you guy's aren't there yet....far from it. Maybe now that Simon is stepping up to the challenge your generation will mature and help him out. It's a formidable task, but the equipment we have now makes it a heck of a lot easier for you as all the years of R&D others have done takes the guess work out of your equation. You have the luxury of being fed with silver spoons compared to the years of experimentation some of us pioneered to meet those demands, so rightly our expectations are high. Your's would be too if the roles were reversed. I'm not alone in this perspective, just the most vocal. Others just don't think the talent is there to make the grade. I on the other hand know it is. It just needs a good kick in the ass to get motivated .
Lastly, I haven't heard the "Why Question" for decades.....might have something to do with avoiding Surf of NO Consequence with all the overamped thrashers and the type of crowds you don't really want to surf around. I don't surf with kooks for the most part. I have people borrowing my equipment all the time trying to figure it all out. I never here questions much anymore....rally I don't....and that lets me know I made a difference in someone's misperceptions about KneeBoarding, and KneeBoarding in Big Surf.
And you are right, "it has nothing to do with GG...and everything to do with Simon"....becuase it failed to cover all the links that got us to Simon. We'll be left alone allright...until they think they can make some money from exploiting us once again....and that depends upon whether or not the modern KneeRiders are ever gonna rise to all of the challenges that still patiently wait for them to come "Bustin' Down The Door" (Muhammud Bug's circa 1976) It's an open page to be discovered. It's another Chapter to be written. KneeBoarding will only go as far as each of us pursue it. If it ends it won't be from lack of trying...it'll be because the majority didn't...... drawing the lines of the future.
I'm sure I missed credit to someone....it's not intential.....just ran out of beer....I'll get more tomorrow.
Stay home tomorrow Ed...the incoming swell is lame, highly over hyped,.....besides it'll give ya more time to practice up for the Great Grandpa Challenge. Save the 3 bucks a gallon for a day when there is some real surf and a guaranteed boat ride again. I'll see you......in the movies
running around puffing their chests up and casting ego trips all over the fun that others are having. 
