Well said Scott re Toledo. I fully respect Filepe who is an incredible surfer and athlete but that was his moment and he completely missed his opportunity on the global Olympic stage. Also agree that the commentators should have referenced his troubles in heavy waves as part of the narrative. The personal struggle and personal triumph of athletes is what makes the Olympics such a great spectacle every 4 years. Watching all athletes rise under the pressure to perform their best on the day. I feel sad for Felipe that he will surely regret this performance for the rest of his life. That was his moment of redemption in front of a global audience and he just failed to deliver. I'm not sure he will recover to compete again. Sad performance on an historic day when all the other surfers did themselves proud.

Even though he didn't prove himself in waves like Pipeline and Chopes, Felipe was champion not just once, but twice in a row. Both being champion in points during the year, in addition to the final in Lowers. It's wrong to say he doesn't deserve to be champion because of the WSL's current single final format

Rich “Where the fuck are my boards?” Pavel

That Gabe photo is surfing’s Air Jordan moment

I'd like a wetsult top 1 mm that comes with a reef slipper pocket. They need to design the slipper as well & it slides into a pocket in the back so you take off the slipper when you get out the back.

Surf instructors launch beginners into 8ft faces in El Salvador even if someone’s behind them.

Do not encourage guys to show ass 😂

Chris- Many thanks for your Leadership, GREAT surfboards, and I’ve got massive respect for the life you’ve created through hard work. Cheers!!!

What a legend, fascinating interview, will be back for more for sure 🤙🏻

If you're in California, don't bother, as even the company says they don't work on great whites , which is what we have in California.

y'all are in socal... that's pretty rad, hope to see y'all in the water some time! Great pod, can't wait to watch more🤙

That Scott bloke nailed it! If you want to be a surfing commentator but still want to remain best mates with your pro hero’s then step away from the mic. Stop pandering to poor performances and call it for what it is. I personally couldn’t care less if surfing ever gets accepted into mainstream public popularity or gets taken for “ a real sport” but these guys obviously do so ACT like the real sport commentators. If someone is too fussy and bungle’s priority don’t blame the ocean again and put it down to bad luck, call it. If someone isn’t up to standard and needs to go back to changers, call it…no, the girls are still light years away from the men and if they’re out of position, call it. And if Phil keeps dogging it NEVER stop calling it. Its professional criticism; doesn’t mean you hate their guts,,,,don’t panic they’ll still let you carry their towel.

Very attractive chica was doing a photo shoot at my local spot at sunset last night in a g string and a nice little fish board. We all had broken necks out in the water looking back at the cliffs. She then paddled out and started shredding. It really was a sight to see especially the duck dives up close!

The up-close slow motion angle has been epic....for whatever reason, the olympic setup of cameras have been spot on, and the drone shots are better, clearer, etc. The waves are the stars, and once the stars showed up, the various angles...and YES, the silence...instead of talking every second...it was so good. Good on Joe and Mike. It was so good.

Felipe couldn't even pull the transgender card. The women at chopes would smoke him.

Best interview I’ve listened to on Surf Splendor podcast and the best interview I’ve heard or read with Chris on any platform! In my opinion, Chris is the best active all around shaper. Very interesting hearing more about his story! Hopefully we get a part 2 in the future!

DLS: surfing is the most dangerous sport? cycling might surpass it in terms of potential consequences, running into a tree at 50 miles an hour; also skating (you fall on concrete instead of water). Isn't surfing more scary than dangerous? It's mind fuck scary in my opinion but doesn't seem that dangerous. I think you guys are punching down a little with Felipe. It's the WSL's fault that their format let him win. DLS just spoke about how death defying the wave is so if someone can't step up that sort of speaks for itself. Pro surfing and big wave surfing used to be clearly separated and slab chasing barely existed. I guess I find the criticism a little over done for a surfing contest performance by someone in a marginalized and poorly run sport; big waves clearly aren't his thing, he is not charging, and it's sad that he can't face up to that in any kind of honest way; nuff said. I'd almost rather hear you talk about Kelly. Take it from the man. Why aren't countries put on opposite sides of the draw? Lots of same country matchups in the mens and women's brackets which seems unnecessary. Contrast: the show took much offense at Felipe Toledo not charging, fair enough, but gives NBC a pass for sending someone clownish and cringeworthy (I haven't seen it) to cover surfing at one of it's holiest sites. I wish I could see the quiet coverage with Parsons; that sounds cool. 52:00 Surely you guys have noticed that one go to look for a large swath of women is to leverage and emphasize their more sexualized assets, t&a call it? Have you ever seen beach volleyball? I'm not saying it's right or wrong for the ladies to show what they've got but I think at least in surfing they can wear what they want; didn't beach volleyball mandate skimpy bikinis for the women? And the girls aren't sexist or misogynist for an outfit choice, that's more on the viewer; they would seem more sexualized or sexual but is that forbidden territory? Check out track outfits; seems like competitors dress how they want within a somewhat narrow band of options. And I saw something about a muslim women who might have been prohibited from wearing her face cover thing in these very olympics: her modesty forbidden! The ladies get it from all sides: the men objectify them and make misogynistic comments while the women think them slutty for wearing something one sees commonly warm water surfing.

The fact that the WSL promote Felipe Torpedo and choose him to be their poster boy is why..... I hate surfing.

Get joel back on or tosh would be cool 🐸

Ken Bradshaw 👑💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪🏆💎

Bought my first new board, drove up to CI in SB, had saved up just enough, didn't realize fins were extra (early days of fcs). Fortunately they took pity on me and gave me a discount so I could just get it. Took the board out the next day and there was a big fence up at the local for some stupid event. My friends and I jumped the fence. I passed my brand new board over to my friend who preceded to drop it on the concrete. No worse sound in the world. Tail busted on my brand new board. Of course I surfed anyway which was a bad idea, it took on some water. If only I could go back in time and gift myself this sweet new CI Everyday Board bag!

Excellent interview.!

Those people commenting bullshit harassing you about trying to make the world a better place more than likely are getting paid to do that.

Oh man the claims being made. My favorites are interviews you just let them talk and you can just hear the non sense.

Rad Interview! Chris seem like epic dude and epic stories!! I've got an Brewer I found on the street that looks like it could be from the early 00's. I know its not a real Brewer because it doesn't the True Brew logo. Cool to know there's a chance it came from his shop!

I used to have a "big brand" board bag that I won't name to not throw them under the bus. A simple day bag but even those should have some sort of protection. The problem is the bag had no way to protect the rails, especially where the zipper is. Anyways one day Im pulling my board out of the car by the shoulder strap and I wasn't paying attention to how I had the strap held. I had grabbed it where there was still some slack and when the weight of the bag was out of the car it just kinda fell down on the ground. It wasn't even a big fall and it was a shortboard, so not a lot of chance for momentum. Well you know what happened, even with it in a bag I heard the unmistakable sound of the rail smacking the concrete ground. It sounded like the board wasn't even in a bag. It was on the tail section where the zipper was and sure enough when I opened the bag I saw broken fiberglass pieces and had to do some at home repair work. I would have been better off if the board was in no bag. I realized at that point that not all bags are created equal and what to look for in a proper bag.

My family stayed at a house next to Ken's at Sunset this May. He came out to talk the first morning and was super cool, talking to my kids and giving us a lay of the land. We talked a few times over the course of the week and he was great. His daughter Zoee is a shredder.

Is there any relation to EC?

i hate surfing too: SCAM ALERT Surf camps are a total scam. No one learns how to surf or even gets to surf other than belly riding white water. The sting ray risk is significant standing in waste high water for 90 minutes. Participants are wearing a stiff old wetsuits that have been peed in 20 too many times. Meanwhile as a rookie you are an easy target for parking lot thieves. they know the exact length of your lesson or your wallet is lifted from your under your beach blanket. in short; overly costly and a terrible experience. rent a bike!

Great interview with Chris! Very interesting guy, humble and hard working!

I moved around a lot as a kid and luckily ended up in northern Peru during the early to mid nineties where I learnt how to surf. One of my friends had a younger uncle who surfed, had a Toyota Hilux, a hot gf, multiple surfboards and a longboard so needless to say, as 13 year old groms we all thought he was the coolest. He would take some of us groms on surf trips, often crammed in the back of his Hilux where we would huddle together for warmth and then sleep in our board bags on the beach after surfing ourselves silly. On one return journey there was a loud crack as one of the straps holding the boards snapped and in horror I saw 2 boards, one of them mine, flying into the air. The flitted and fluttered slowly down, almost like leaves until my board fell first on the hard tarmac, followed shortly by the cool uncle's heavily glassed board, which fell on top of my board, cushioning its fall. Although my board did have a lightweight board bag, it was no match from the impact of the road and the airborne attack from the other board. It had some vicious dings whereas the uncle's board had minimal scratches. I was heartbroken as this was my only board and knew the fix would be at least a week, an eternity for a grom like me to not be able to surf. A CI everyday board bag may have helped me here and minimised the trauma I still have to this day as I can still clearly picture the flight and fall of my board in this moment. These issues may be something I will have to unpack with a therapist at some point but I do know that ever since then I have been extremely anal about strapping boards to roofs. PS the cool uncle (Fernando Bazán) was a legend, paid for the repair job and gave me free reign to borrow his boards whilst waiting for the repair job, further cementing his legend status amongst us

Fantastic interview, and what an interesting character 🤙🏻

DLS and Chas… it’s dope you’ve been teaming up with Devon and CI for these giveaways, but you sure you don’t wanna go the catch surf route and team up with project real tree? The worst board bag experience I’ve had was of no fault of the board bag, but I’d assume caused by another passengers roller bag. I was all packed for Hawaii, pipe insulation on the rails, towels wrapped around both boards… nothing was gonna hurt them and my wife was gonna see that dragging boards from Florida to Hawaii was totally worth it and not a pain at all. I was so confident in my abilities that I was already bragging in the Honolulu airport as I unzipped the bag to see an imprint that looked like the hulk stomped an air one-toe’d. Roughly a 3x3 inch ding on the deck of my newest board. Thankfully I still had the perfect board for Waikiki in November for most of the trip- a rental log because for 7 out of 10 days it was knee high. Good news- I think it all worked out in the end because I’m sure my wife understands the real issue was that I should have brought a longboard l, so I see no issues selling her on that this winter. In this instance, this bag might not have saved my boards during air travel, but man will be perfect my new neckbeard when it arrives. Imagine me rolling up to beach, pulling a fresh CI out of a fresh CI board bag! Seriously though, she was able to get a session out at queens on a log and loved it, it all worked out and she got to surf the way she wanted to and I was able to score on my board and the log thanks to an early winter south shore swell of what we’d call headhigh in Florida and the classic little waikiki rollers for most of the trip. Work, Ryan

yah CC !!

his face is the same size as his neck looking like a worm from the old games

I need this boardbag. Since I am broke and living away from the surfspots near Gisborne I cycle every day on my rusty bike with a home made surfrack on the side. While cycling my way up and down on the sketchy roads of New Zealand and getting a couple of birds a log truck drives by. The wind blows against my uncovered board and brings it off center. While holding on to my bike to not get driven over my board slides out of the rack and starts grinding over the road. I finally could stop at a save spot and see that my rail and fin got a extra sand job. Now I can join the hype of the asymmetrical boards. While still concerning the roads on my rusty bike and freshly sanded asym board without cover, it would help alot to worry about one less thing on those sketchy Kiwi roads. Thanks alot!

epic

I didn't grow up near the ocean. Hometown is a small farming community outside of Fresno. But, all I wanted to do was surf. Never owned a board bag cause I'd just toss my Glassic in the back of my pickup truck and head to Pismo whenever I could. My sister was headed to the beach with friends and asked if she could borrow my board. On her way out of town she stopped by my house and picked up the board. To keep from getting wax all over her stuff, she made rail pads out of a couple towels and strapped it to the roof. Fast forward, I was not home when she returned from her trip, so she took the surfboard to her house for me to pick up later that week. She forgot the board was on the roof of her SUV, but she quickly remembered when the first glass-on snapped off entering the garage. Still got the board - still missing the middle thruster fin.

🤩

I'm tired just hearing about it. Insane dedication. Dudes a machine. He wanted it real bad.

Started surfing around 7 with my neighbor/best friend and his dad. My parents being the cheapskates they are never bought me a proper board or wetsuit until I was around 11. Until that point I was trunking it with a rip curl vest all winter and borrowing whatever boards I could or using my dads old longboard he bought in the early 70’s, probably at a garage sale. For one of my birthdays or Xmas my parents decided to surprise me with my first real board. They went to randy cone for a custom and I’d imagine they told him my age and perceived skill level at the time and I ended up with a brand new 7’0” fun shape. I had been short boarding for awhile and was decent but they didn’t know the difference. I was still stoked to have a new board and I remember begging my dad to take me to the beach to try it out. He told me it was south wind and wouldn’t be good but I just wanted to get wet. (He was a commercial fisherman and knew the ocean). We get down to the parking lot and it was a blown out mess. I couldn’t fit the board under my arm so I put it on my head and start walking down. Halfway through the lot a huge gust rips it out of my hand and I watch as it goes flying, spinning through the air and smashing down on the asphalt. Multiple huge dings, bad enough I couldn’t even try it out. I remember being so bummed. We got it repaired and I surfed it for awhile. Padded board bag with a shoulder strap would have prevented that problem. Local to CI so will save on shipping and my last intact bag just ripped on Sunday. Lasted over 15years so I got my $ worth. I also have a 12 year old who can’t carry some of his boards under his arm especially when we surf our favorite left reef you have to walk to so I always carry two.

Moonlight is the best and glad Peter is ok

DLS and Scott; Re: Diffenderfer; The nuisance of a quality custom surfboard can be appreciated by most if not all surfers. I don’t know nearly as much about wine as DLS, but even though I may not understand the nuisance of taste and smell or the reasons why, I can still appreciate a good wine over a $20 bottle. Same with clothes, same with coffee, same with surfboards, you may not understand why, but almost everyone can tell the difference in quality craft. Re: Surf Photography Safety We have had surf spot localism hierarchy for generations, and now we are talking about surf photography hierarchy and respect. I wonder what the equivalence of paddling straight to a foreign peak would be for a new shaper? Something like entering the boardroom show best in show with a board that stretches the criteria with some experimental concept? What are the faux pas new shapers should avoid?

I was on a bachelor trip with a buddy in Costa Rica. He booked us a boat to Witch's Rock that took about an hour each way. I brought an extra board on the boat in a sock that was never used. When I got back to our hotel I took my spare board out of the sock and noticed a large pressure ding on the bottom. What a bummer.

Definitely similar age and trajectory that I can relate to. Thanks for a great interview!

Sorry but he's a liar, he says you can't perfect it but I saw a clip of him recently doing the most perfect roundhouse cutty known to mankind. 😅

My boards have generally arrived unscathed, but I will never get my time back that I wasted on pre packing my surfboards in a travel bag that’s supposed to protect them!

I watched my CI mini get stepped on by my dog while I was changing on the beach into my wetsuit. He punched a solid hole into it. With the CI EVERYDAY bag, my dog Hank wouldn’t have been able to punch through it despite his awesome strength. The bag is tougher.