Similarly, Sam Hawk was pretty bad ass. He shaped me a magic 6'8".
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The Yin and Yang of Gerry Lopez (upcoming streaming film)
- Thread starter sponge
- Start date
Agreed.
I'm halfway through, and can't see anything to change my mind.
Hero worship sells, being in a position to write your own legacy is a privilege and it's something surfing and the surf media is particularly good at (if you have kept the right people onside).
In Australia, Bob McTavish is a master of it.
Monetising your own legacy is a skill and it requires a dedicated team.
I don't have any particular beef with it- it just makes for bland art.
Gerry was the best. No one has surfed Pipeline better. It's a basic, terrifying wave that asks you to do one thing (which is why scoring airs in a contest there is fvcking joke). Gerry did that thing better than anyone, on boards he shaped.
Lots of people talk, less people do, even fewer do it well, and only one gets to be the best.
Sammy Hawk was great, Owl was always better at Sunset (and BK was better than him), but in that era, Rory was the only one that gave Lopez a real run for his money.
Gerry is Gerry for a reason, and it ain't because he has better PR
Lots of people talk, less people do, even fewer do it well, and only one gets to be the best.
Sammy Hawk was great, Owl was always better at Sunset (and BK was better than him), but in that era, Rory was the only one that gave Lopez a real run for his money.
Gerry is Gerry for a reason, and it ain't because he has better PR
Come on now mate.
Fair's fair but that is BS of the highest dimension.
Your pals with the filmmaker and are getting a payday out of it.
No one has surfed Pipeline better?
I'm getting no payday out of it. At all. Not my project.
Ask the best Pipe surfer of the last 20 years, who spends all his time out there on a soft top, who's the best ever. I'll put a steak dinner on what his answer is.
But we can agree to disagree. Either way, I have a great deal of respect for your opinion.
Ask the best Pipe surfer of the last 20 years, who spends all his time out there on a soft top, who's the best ever. I'll put a steak dinner on what his answer is.
But we can agree to disagree. Either way, I have a great deal of respect for your opinion.
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No probs - sorry I over-reacted there.
Just watched the rest of the film.
I really liked the throw net fishing sequence.
Just watched the rest of the film.
I really liked the throw net fishing sequence.
It's not about if Lopes is the best surfer to every surf Pipe. It's about how he strapped on the North Shores most terrifying wave on self-designed boards, and not only figured out how to surf it better than anyone else of his era, he did it with an absolute grace and poise that remains unmatched to this day.
As to the almost nauseating commercial saturation - Yoga and SUP clinics with Gerry in Mex, Snowboard and yoga clinics with Gerry in B.C., Costco Gerry Lopez surfboards, Lopez Mt. Bachelor Big Wave snowboard contest, the endless sponsors, Lopez windsurf/wakesurf/SUP/surf popouts, blah, blah blah.
All just part of the hustle from the most energetic, crafty apex hustler that ever stood on a surfboard, his life-style icon status earning him millions while never working a straight job a single f'n day in his life.
And that alone is a contest 10 every time.
As to the almost nauseating commercial saturation - Yoga and SUP clinics with Gerry in Mex, Snowboard and yoga clinics with Gerry in B.C., Costco Gerry Lopez surfboards, Lopez Mt. Bachelor Big Wave snowboard contest, the endless sponsors, Lopez windsurf/wakesurf/SUP/surf popouts, blah, blah blah.
All just part of the hustle from the most energetic, crafty apex hustler that ever stood on a surfboard, his life-style icon status earning him millions while never working a straight job a single f'n day in his life.
And that alone is a contest 10 every time.
Don't talk sh!t on the Big Wave Challenge. That was always one of the best event's around and he did it for our community not for himself. I wish he was still putting it on.
Same. There aren’t many lives I would trade up for. Despite my hand wringing and chicken littling on the mental health thread, I am happy and have a wonderful life now, and a wonderful life to look forward to as well. But yeah, Gerry is and has been living the dream since before I was born.
if I could slap my name on some stuff and make millions whilst surfing and snowboarding and traveling the world, mix in some yoga; I would do so.
that would be the real gerry not the hero gerry. also thro in the rabbit b story.
Yeah the Corporate Hustle of surfing is nauseating and yet many a decent lifestyle is attached to it. Sell Outs everywhere grifting off the soul. And everybody is buying into it. And everybody wants to sell it. How can I attach surfing to my business. Look at all the ex names out there selling it. Can you just buy no name Tshirts from Hanes? Shorts from Walmart? Can you do it and not feel humiliated or somehow lesser? Can you do it and are you on the real? Because Surfy Logo's are the sh!t
To much negativity from the normal windbags here, maybe because they can't hang (or never could) and now to burned out to even stand up. No one's perfect and Pipe more than anywhere has been the warrior pit as long as I can remember. Glad he made this film, he was also great in Conan The Barbarian with Schrawznegger chopping heads off and plundering women without abandon. Pretty sure any person here would duplicate the Lopez mantra if they could.
My sister met him in an airport and he wouldn’t co-sign her mortgage
A Lopes story (surfed with him a bunch). Watched him lose it when he was pigging out sets on his SUP at the Oregon coast, and some younger guy twice his size called him out on it. Lopes began screaming at the guy, reached a point where Lopes told he'd meet him on the beach.
"Uh, Gerry, that guy is twice your size and will likely fuck you up"
"Fuck that guy, I'm not afraid of him"
Things cooled down, Lopes still fuming the rest of the session...anyone thinks there isn't a full on North Shore Hui personality under that Zen facade, doesn't really know him
"Uh, Gerry, that guy is twice your size and will likely fuck you up"
"Fuck that guy, I'm not afraid of him"
Things cooled down, Lopes still fuming the rest of the session...anyone thinks there isn't a full on North Shore Hui personality under that Zen facade, doesn't really know him
Let's say he makes 10 grand a month from those Costco boards, and the only actual work he did was sign a contract.
Who here wouldn't jump at that deal?
Who here wouldn't jump at that deal?
1 Watched about 10 minutes of it this morning before work on You Tube..so far, it is fine. Has the Peralta cinema style touch.
2 The human part, that he was human like the rest of (good/bad) is par for the course in biopics.
3 Liked the very brief flashes of fashion and pop culture seen so far...boy, we're a goofy species.
4 Does viewing this count as "meeting their hero"?
2 The human part, that he was human like the rest of (good/bad) is par for the course in biopics.
3 Liked the very brief flashes of fashion and pop culture seen so far...boy, we're a goofy species.
4 Does viewing this count as "meeting their hero"?
Early 90's Im out a La Perouse on my 7'10 Lopez gun. My pride and joy. Im hungover as hell. G-Lo paddles out with Armada. Looks at me with disgust. Ashamed I paddle in.
.
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yea, a decade ago he used to routinely show up at a popular spot on the Or coast to SUP along with an Armada from Bend, take over the local campground, lineup full of SUP kooks flailing and falling on their boards. When he exchanged the OR coast for an east cape hang, the armada dissapeared, and the locals were stoked. Never saw a moregraceful stand up on a SUP, however, or a greedier one.