So you’ve obviously heard by now – Dane Reynolds has announced he will stop competing on the World Tour. We surely here have a perfect example of Nietzsche’s beautiful line ‘No artist tolerates reality’, as Dane the artist/surfer can no longer tolerate the daily grind of the surf tour and in rejecting the context of his time, seeks something new, different and more meaningful.
It is utterly heart-warming for the alternative surf fan to read Dane’s ‘official’ statement on his website Marine Layer Productions, which is refreshing, honest and even poetic. I’m not going to copy parts out of it here, as it deserves to be read in its entirety.
Instead, here is one of my favourite Dane Reynolds videos, where he swaps some of his more alternative surfcraft with Patagonia ambassador Dan Malloy and together surf some mellow waves. If the chilled surfing doesn’t do it for you, there is a smoking track which starts at around 7 minutes by Little Wings.
Absolutely – although it is a pity that if we do tune into the ASP tour he won’t be there, but who can seriously blame him? Instead of churning out 30 minute packages of polished surfing, he can get paid, be free, have fun, surf how and what he likes. Hopefully we’ll also be able to see even more radical stuff from him now!
I read his acticle as well. I felt he said it as well as anyone could. It WAS poetic, heart felt, soft and most importantly, honest. I feel it is a very shallow move for people to bash him for making that move. To tell you the truth, every soul surfer should understand how he feels. Afterall, 99.9% of us surfers out there are NOT professional.