41 – The Wingnut Interview

Recorded on Tuesday Jan 31st, with Harry Knight, Asher King, Harrison Abry and Tommy Potterton

INTRODUCTION:

We started this episode by introducing Tommy Potterton as the latest member of the team to jump on the microphone.

Harry, Asher and Harrison also spoke about their early morning barrel hunting missions last week, and Asher’s use of his Rusty Blackbird to catch more waves. That moved onto a discussion about backside tube riding.

Asher then addressed some of Ru’s comments from Episode 40 on the subject of longboarding. He mentioned his 2 favorite fins as the Greenough 4A and the Takayama Hatchet, both in the 11″ size. He then went on to talk about some different ideas for backside noseriding.

THE NEWS:

First up in the news was the announcement that Surfing Magazine will no longer be producing a print magazine.

Next up was the news that Owen Wright will return to competitive surfing later this month when he enters the Newcastle Surfest in Southern Australia:

Rusty Surfboards have announced that they will be offering all their boards for the Australian market with the option of “Anti-Shark” paint schemes. 
In talking about that, Asher and Harrison brought up the recent incident where a surfer wearing a shark deterrent was bitten off the coast of Florida.

On the subject of sharks, Mick Fanning was honored in Australia last week, when he was made an “Officer of the Order of Australia.

Our final bit of news was the media storm following Mark Zuckerberg’s attempts to consolidate his land in Hawaii.

MAIN FEATURE: Longboard Contest Criteria Pt.2

Our first feature this episode was a conversation about some recent changes to the Longboard Contest Criteria, which was made public by a now removed post on Joel Tudor’s Instagram, and then redacted by the WSL.

We spoke about the ramifications of changing the criteria, and how that might affect the surfers involved. We mentioned the Duct Tape Invitational events in the conversation:

Tommy and Asher also mention Joe Aaron as a surfer who is trying to blend both styles of surfing:

Harry mentioned the Goodwood Festival of Speed as an interesting comparison to how traditional longboarding could go.

INTERVIEW: Robert “Wingnut” Weaver

Asher and Ru drove up to Tamarindo to meet up with Robert “Wingnut” Weaver for a surf and a chat. We recorded this interview in the bar at the Volcano Brewing Company.

Wingnut is most famous for his starring role in the 1994 surf movie Endless Summer II, so we spoke about how that came about and some of his memories of the filming.

We spoke about competitive longboarding and his role with the WSL, as well as getting into a conversation about longboard technique. On the subject of where to surf, his recommendation was Hainan, China, which is the site used for the WSL Longboard Championships.

We also spoke to Wingnut about his diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis a few years ago, and how that has affected him.

LISTENER EMAILS:

We had a few interesting emails from listeners in this episode.

James Ward asked us who we thought was the best technical surfer on the world tour. The overwhelming answer was Mick Fanning, but we also mentioned Owen Wright and Steph Gilmore as good examples of shortboard technique, and Joel Tudor for longboarding.

Drew Verderame asked about the costs of competing on the WCT and WQS tours. Harry referenced this article from Stab Magazine to answer the question.

Terry Keogh asked us where we would like to travel if we had a year and unlimited funds. Harry decided he wanted a liveaboard sea plane to travel the world. You can see some great photos of the 1950’s conversions here.Lastly, Justin Murphy asked us about fin placement on Asymmetric surfboards. Harry mentioned the FCS H2 fin, and here’s a little diagram to show what fin cant is.

WHAT TO WATCH:

Tommy recommended this edit of Mick Fanning surfing in Ireland:

Asher enjoyed this B-Roll edit from Dane Reynolds:

Harrison’s pick was this video of Seal Beach in California:  

Lastly, Harry chose this video from last week at Honolua Bay.

That’s all for this episode folks, email us at podcast@surfsimply.com