Dear ISA President Aguerre,
Congrats on getting surfing into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics! When will you reveal your agenda to demonstrate to the surfing youth of the world the importance of respecting and protecting the ocean?
Over the summer, it became official that surfing graduated to the Olympics. The opening venue: Japan 2020.
On the surface, at least for competitive surfing, the antichrist to the messianic soul surfer, it was an epic, validating win-win scenario. It offered the opportunity to showcase what surfers do to people who may have never even seen the ocean in person. And, more realistically, it opened new doors for companies like Billabong, Quiksilver, Rip Curl, Hurley and dozens and dozens of others to spread the surfing “lifestyle.”
And, Surfing IS coming to you, whether you live by the ocean or not, via a surge in recent years of high-quality wave pools or man-made surfing ponds.
According to Inside the Games, International Surfing Association (ISA) President Fernando Aguerre had declared that the sport will bring a “youthful and fresh energy” to the Olympics when it makes its debut in Tokyo in four years time.
He also added, “Surfing is a sport but also a lifestyle, a culture and a relationship between the surfer and the environment.”
The environment?
It’s a multifaceted word. In this case, Aguerre was referring to the environment of the lineup, a surfing term used to describe the physical location where a surfer paddles out in the ocean and catches waves.
In the interview, he drives that exact meaning for his use of “environment” home: “Who do you know that doesn’t want to be hanging out in the ocean in a wet suit with people who play with the waves?”
Not to sound too much like a cynic, but I actually do know quite a lot of people who’d rather not be in a wet suit, bobbing in cold, radioactive waters just to “play” in waves.
The Problem with Japan
As I write this, there is a grommet (a term for a budding surfer), who dreams of being in the Olympics. He or she ingests everything the surfing industrial complex offers: clothing, language, technical innovations in maneuvers and equipment, movies, videos, and dreams of becoming a pro.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
However, Japan happens to be one of the worst places on the planet for competitive surfers to make their Olympic debut — and I’m not talking about what the quality of waves might be like when the circus comes to town.
I’m referring to the other environment. THE environment that includes the so-called playground president Aguerre was referring to — the ocean and all of its inhabitants.
Long story short — Our ocean (collectively speaking) is the world’s toilet bowl.
Adding to our — yeah, me too- perverse treatment of the environment, Japan takes it up a notch with their annual slaughter of dolphins.
According to the National Geographic, “For this year’s hunt, which runs from September until March, the Japanese government set a kill quota of 1,820 dolphins of various species, according to the Dolphin Project, about the same as last year. In addition, trainers will be allowed to choose about 150 live bottlenose dolphins, which have been pre-sold to marine parks around the world. Many more dolphins are likely injured or killed than what is officially reported, the organization adds.’
For this act, and this act alone, putting aside the alphabet-shit-soup of manmade toxic annihilation we pour into the ocean, professional surfers across the globe should use the 2020 Olympics as a platform, not playground, to speak against such heinous, unnecessary crimes against the original surfers.
