The details behind technical catastrophes, nearly stolen prize money, Graham’s relationship with Andy Irons, and what the WSL might do with wave pools. Plus way more. Graham was an executive at Billabong for more than 10 years. And before that, he was the CEO of the ASP - remember that? The ASP? It’s what the world tour used to be before it became the WSL. Graham has been a part of professional surfing since its inception and today he has one of the most intense and exciting jobs in all of surfing at the WSL, overseeing more than 180 events a year. This episode was recorded at the WSL North American offices in Huntington Beach during the U.S. Open of Surfing.
When Dan Mann was a kid, he built an illegal shaping bay in the most precarious of places - a military base on an island south of San Diego, CA. The story is hilarious, and he's on The Wire today to share it alongside Rafa Gomez. Rafa runs Firewire Surfboards in Southern Spain, but he also spends three months of the year in Nicaragua where he owns a business. Rafa is a textbook example of aligning work with surfing and we're always happy when he visits us here in California. This episode also covers much about boards and fins, specifically the Spitfire, Dominator, Chumlee and Unibrow. We hope you enjoy this episode. And we hope you go surfing when it finishes.
Troy Eckert was the marketing mind behind Volcom for 20 years. He was the first employee at Volcom and retired young in 2010. Derek Sabori was a surf industry outsider who joined Volcom in 96' and worked his way up to Vice President of Global Sustainability before leaving in 2015. These two guys were hugely successful as surfers inside Volcom, and they say much of their wins both personally and professionally have come from yoga, which they are now representing through KOZM - a yoga-inspired clothing line for men, made fair with care. This episode covers a ton about surfing, yoga, Volcom and KOZM, and it's one of our favorite episodes so far.