XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:

“Brad”, What I need is for you to have Angelina agree with my post… just for “full” confirmation.

And really… clowns dancing everywhere? Are you kidding? Incredibly misinformed, or trying to make bull riding look like some kind of a whacko circus?

Maybe your the clown.

There are two BULL FIGHTERS and they have to be precise and fearless when they jump in front of 2000 pounds to save our asses. Give me a break.

Your almost as bad as the animal activists.

And like you said, I’m not ragging on your sport (see how I never mentioned surfing) every sport is a test within yourself, a challenge, bull riding and surfing are alike in the fact that you are alone against a force of nature, and it is a thing very few people can claim.

I challenge you to ride a bull, and stay on. Because well, I’m fairly certain you never have, and I’ll come ride your big scary wave, Dude.

Now unless you get informed.
Shut up.

XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:

Well, other than you told me to “shut up”, I’ll try to respond. I said “bull riding” was tough. That’s clear in my article. But riding a bull and riding a 30 foot wave? Bro, I’ll get on your bull, may not make it for 2 seconds, but there WILL be a rodeo clown or two, brave men for sure, right there to save me.

However, hotshot, let me inform you this: When you fall off your board dropping in on the wave after 2 seconds, and hundreds of TONS of water are smashing you under, sucking the air out of you and bashing your body against the reef, rocks or ocean floor, I guarantee you’ll want to choose bull riding over surfing big waves ANYDAY. A bull is just good meat to eat… the ocean, well… she kicks your ass beyond Jupiter, my friend.

The article wasn’t meant to belittle bullriding, it was meant to diminish the Public Relations Firm that the PBR association hired to come up with the ludicrous phrase “The Most Dangerous 8 Seconds”. The phrase is a lie for your sport… period.

You are so right on with that one. I grew up surfing and my son followed suit. I have seen him paddle out in Tropical Storm surf where no one else, including myself, could even get past the break.

Mark Foo was from Pensacola, right down the road from me and also where I grew up.

Laird describes big wave surfing as riding down a mountain and then having the mountain fall on you, that’s appropriate.

My nickname, Teahupoo, is from the heaviest wave on the planet in Tahiti. It simply means “end of the road”.

There is no comparison between the two sports. One must be in INFINITELY better condition to be a big wave surfer and must also have a supernatural control of basic human fears, such as the fear of being eating.

Personally, I don’t ride anything that weighs more than about 135 lbs. LOL

Teahupoo

XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:

Hi Greg,

Heh heh… I know I’ve seen your blog comments and forum posts… everytime I saw your name, I envisioned the bowl sucking up and pitching enough water to fill 2000 swimming pools. I was expecting you to comment here! How did you get such a rad nick name?

Do you have to tell people how to say the name “Teahupoo”? (“cho-poo”)

Thanks for backing me up on this one, bra…
There really is no contest when you want to define the “most dangerous 8 seconds in sports”. Big wave surfing is a mind bender!

mahalo

I totally agree with you,and not just because I dislike phony big daddy Parsons. I agree with you on surfing being a much more dangerous sport. This is coming from a guy that body surfed the dirty old wedge, and his daughter Monica who recently almost bought the farm surfing the Bukit in Bali on amazing waves at Padang-Padang. She smashed her face on a reef at Padang-Padang Bali and luckily came out of it with a black eye and a few stitches. I worry a little about her surfing but we all need a challenge in our lives to be really alive. But then again life can be pretty rough on us anyways because knowone ever gets out of it alive.

Keep up the good work my site is getting lots of traffic. Thank You !
Gratefully, Jeff

XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:

Hi Jeff,

Wow… your daughter is brave! And took some war scars to earn her “beach cred”. That rocks. Tell her I said so! You should submit some pics of her bodysurfing — I’ll promote them for you on my site at fb.

I bodysurfed the Wedge before I started surfing, and I’ve seen it at 25 feet… which is scary because it peaks even higher when the swell first bounces off the jetty and then hits ANOTHER swell to form that huge Matterhorn peak that jerks and bucks any rider into the air, and then pounds them into 2 feet of water to crush them against the sand. As you can see, just when you think you’ve completed the drop, a nice bottom turn and you’re setting up for the tube, BANG! Backwash Percolater! More people have been injured and killed at this one spot than all the bull riding matches ever held. And we’re only talking about ONE SPOT for surfing big waves. GoDaddy really blew it on this one…

Perfect examples at this youtube link.

Glad your site is doing well! Cheers

Do us all a favor though and make sure your next post is titled “Surfing sucks, don’t try it”

XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Joe, you crack me up, you local buzzard! “Oh please, don’t encourage anyone else to surf! I need my drop-in spot empty when I paddle out to it.” heh heh…

I remembered when I surfed the Point at Salt Creek, there was this slightly dangerous spot for the medium swell bowls that first hit after I saw them rolling in across the Strand from a south swell across the Strand a half mile south from the Point. I knew when the first swell would hit, most surfers would paddle out further to nab the best position for the “OUTSIDE” breaks, but it was always the first two or three swells that broke inside as sweet six foot tubes… hitting the sandbars and rocks perfectly. I got those, while the rest of the group would slush their way across Salt Creek Point to Middles on long huge waves that just mushed over from the top, but where it would wall up and close out before it got to Gravels. Each break has its size limit, right?