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| SURFER AUGUST 2002 THE POWER ISSUE PAGE 3 |
| Number 22: Layne Beachley. 4 times world champ, big-wave surfer, tow-in groundbreaker. Yes, maybe she is Bradshaw's girlfriend, but I don't think that helps her get to her feet or to avoid a good whitewater pounding. When you ride, you ride alone, more or less. So why isn't she in the cover shot! I'm reasonably sure she could have found her way to Los Angeles for a photo shoot of this magnitude. She's plenty attractive enough, although the photo had her in a driving suit of all things. Out of the 10 surfers on the cover shot, 2 are identified by name as "surfer girls Christiana and Lila". I have to figure there was another reason, unknown to me, why two younger "surfer girls" were plopped in front of the camera, and my guess is that the answer lies in the text which accompanied the Number 9 selection, Randy Hild, of Quiksilver's Roxy sportswear line. "What puts Hild in a class by himself is how he has steered Roxy into becoming the first label in the surf industry to break from the endorsement-based advertising formula of the past 25 years and successfully market lifestyle. And how ironic that in the male-dominated world of surfing, it took a girl to do it. With the creation of the Roxy girl, Hild made an end-run around the Wall of Testosterone that has stifled the women's surf market - the entire sport - for so long." Brilliantly put, good incisive journalism - read the words. but also think about what they say. In terms of "real power: impact, influence, and authority", SURFER is calling clothing exec Hild the most powerful person in women's surfing. And he did it by marketing "girl power" (my quotes) to the exclusion of "endorsement-based advertising" (SURFER quote)- to the exclusion of pro-surfing as it exists in male surfing and really as it is in women's competitive surfing. All you ladies out there need to carefully consider this as you watch "Blue Crush" and continue to spread your wings, so to speak, into the "male-dominated" surf world. Sounds to me like you are getting hosed a bit... So the 4 time women's world champ is Number 22, and two younger unknowns are on the cover of "The bible of the Sport", representing what? The surfwear fashion dollars without any related support for women's surfing at the professional level - the pinnacle of surfing-as-athletics acknowledged by all, including market-Godsend "Blue Crush". Hmm... Postscript: Directly following this feature article was a two page ad for a recent arrival on the surfwear scene here in the U.S., Byrd clothing. It featured a simple colored drawing of a block wall and a guy spray-painting one word: "Dora". Impact and influence, yes; these are things people can have. But authority? You can be "an authority" on something, and respected or whatever, but NOBODY has authority in surfing in the general connotation of that word. |
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