Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries:
I have a vivid memoy of watching the Louis Vuitton Cup on TV in 1987 when New Zealand first arrived at the forefront of elite global yacht racing through the impeccable pairing of skipper Chris Dickson and KZ7. They won 37 of their 38 match races going into the final against Stars and Stripes in the waters off Fremantle, Western Australia. In the final, Stars and Stripes emerged the victor 4 wins to 1, but New Zealand was indelibly etched in the yachting history books. They became the America's Cup team to beat from that point right through to today. And who can forget the 1995 America's Cup where One Australia and Team New Zealand, with Russell Coutts at the helm, went head-to-head in the final in One Australia's second boat? The first One Australia boat snapped in two during a match race and promptly sank earning the dubious accolade of becoming the first America's Cup contender in 144 years to lose a match race by shipwreck. New Zealand went on to win the America's Cup thast year and held onto it for the next eight.
Team New Zealand has always been a top challenger, but despite the impressive innovation and money flushing around in the sport, it's forgotten about the little people. The people on the other side of the world, far from the Bermuda Triangle, but hoping to share some of that national pride and passion for yacht racing with their own children. Nope, trying to find live footage of these supersized yachts battling it out in Bermuda is next to impossible. Live radio updates just don't quite do it for kids who have grown up in the new millennium. Those kids aren't going to have that pang of excitement that I share for yacht racing. For them the link is broken. The exclusive sport of yacht racing has exclusified itself completely. I can't see how that's going to bode well for its future.
Surfing on the other hand has leaped the middle man. It has taken the reigns of its broadcast and just keeps doing it better and better – available live, in HD, free for anyone with an internet connection. World Surfing League (WSL) has not just raised the bar, its poked a crystal ball into the future of sport and realised that the closer the athletes and contests can get to their fans the better for everyone. And so I eat my breakfast watching the world's best tear Cloudbreak apart in Fiji, and then I'm in the channel watching a ride from that angle, then I'm in the athlete boat. With another view I can see the waves exactly as the judges see them, in replay and slow motion, and then Kelly Slater is telling me about the waves and conditions and that gnarly frothy wave he copped on the head. All in HD, with expertly informative commentary while I drink my coffee and finish my bacon and eggs with my family.
And WSL has even taken it a step further. I have their app (you can get it here), so I follow all the Kiwi surfers as they wage their QS campaigns. And I have a bunch of mates who think they know who is going to shine at each CT venue, so we compete for bragging rights, selecting our ultimate fantasy team for each event. It's addictively easy.
Why does this position surfing for an explosive boom? It brings the sport's elite directly to the grassroots of surfing – you don't even need to know how to surf to get a buzz out of the sport with coverage of this calibre. If you do surf, then even better, and the barrier to entry to take part in this sport is still so, so low. Not just in terms of start-up cost, but in time and the scale of the reward.
Through luck (possibly some) and the good engineering of WSL, the stage is set for surfing to become one of the more dominant household sports globally as we head into the future. They already have Brazil, Australia and the coasts of USA ...
Bring it on ... Derek
PS June 08 (that's this Thursday) is World Oceans Day, so go surfing, immerse yourself in the ocean and remove a bag of rubbish while you're there. I've seen a bunch of surfers around Dunedin removing plastic bottles and rubbish from the shore after a surf – full respect to you all for doing that – it's awesome. I hope it inspires others to follow your lead.
Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries: