Download - The Red Bulletin July 2013 – ZA
S wa z i l a n d ' S i n S p i r at i o n a l f e S t i va l
ZAR 30.– July 2013a beyond the ordinary magazine
reason: He thinks.
He raps
BUSHFIRE
planet
wave-riding Special!Surf
T H E P U L S E R A C E S
Come and discover more at www.infiniti.co.za
Welcome We’ve gone from coast to coast – that’s the North Shore in Hawaii, Australia’s south and America’s east and west – to bring you a 24-page surfing special that features the best waves, boarders and surf stories on the planet. elsewhere on the edges, we’ve got an amazing photo essay that lifts the lid on Mexico’s illicit car racing scene. From the world of legal sport, ultramarathon man Ryan Sandes shows how to build a physique that can run 8,000km a year and we also have someone claiming to be faster than Usain Bolt. (That man is Bolt’s manager, and he is only half-kidding. maybe three-quarters .) From those lofty heights, there is only way to go, and that is down
– to the bottom of the world’s deepest cave. All that and much more. We hope you enjoy the issue.
Julian Wilson, leader of surfing’s new wave
reinventing the wheelThe World Rally Championship is being rebooted. In a sport with its fair share of character actors, who can be the new star of the series?
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THE WORLD OF RED BULL
the red bulletin
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08 gallery: the breaks up close at stunning surf spots with the world’s best wave riders
38 the new brat pack young, not dumb, here they come: an ambitious gang of red-hot talents wants to take surfing to the next level
60 roll on, rockaway a community of surfers is working to rebuild a New York City beach afterthe devastation of hurricane sandy
20 80me & my bodysouth african extreme athlete ryan sandes runs the equivalent of Paris to Beijing every year
more than the musicswaziland’s acclaimed Bushfire Festival doesn’t just uplift its audience, it uplifts an entire community
50depth chargethe journey to the bottom of earth’s deepest cave is long and dangerous. one man wants to go further down...
Bullevard 08 photos of the month
14 news Sport and culture on the quick 17 where’s your head at?
Hugh Jackman is Wolverine 20 me & my body Ryan Sandes 22 winning formula Flyboards 24 lucky numbers Unlikely champions
Features
26 Mexico’s Secret RacingThe underground car circuit where speed means more than life itself
38 Surfing’s New Wave Julian Wilson leads pro surfing’s vanguard to new horizons
46 The Gaffer How Ricky Simms came to keep sport’s fastest movers in check
48 Future SA Sounds Reason is a rapid-fire rhymer but can still choose his words carefully
50 Going Underground The deepest cave in the world
60 After The Hurricane Bringing a surf scene back to life
70 Rebooting The RallyHow the WRC is going to live and thrive in a post-Seb Loeb world
80 More Than The Music On-site at Bushfire Festival in Swaziland
action 90 travel Deep-water soloing in Croatia92 party A guide to the best nights out93 training Red Bull X-Fighters94 my city In Berlin with Modeselektor95 playlist Mount Kimbie’s top songs96 save the date Events for your diary98 time warped Breakdance begins?
AT A GlANce
92partying in portlandtake your front row seat at the acclaimed sunday night burlesque show at dante’s in the us of a
THe WORlD OF ReD BUll
04 the red bulletin
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Ten years ago, the Polish lensman won a World Press Photo award for images of Shaolin monks in training. In this month’s edition of The Red Bulletin, we showcase his remarkable shots of the Mexican underground car-racing scene. Links between the two? Stories from life’s margins, Gudzowaty’s favourite place, and black-and-white photos, his chosen colour scheme. When you commission him, you get 12 pictures only, but a dozen does the job, always.
Tomasz GudzowaTy
After 35 years working your dream job, you would think a person has no regrets. And yet, Bielmann has one: to have spent “even more time than I did in the water”. Friends of the American surf photographer will tell you that he as an enviably rad dude – which makes him exactly the right person to focus on surf stars like our cover star Julian Wilson, despite heavy swell. His photos appear in adverts, magazines such as National Geographic and on the walls of discerning collectors.
Brian Bielmann
Hurricane Sandy caused more than
US$100 million in damage to a New York City surfing community, erasing seven miles of boardwalk and permanently altering the way of life for its residents. “We got out there six months later and people were still chopping wood for fires,” says Louison, a journalist, surfer and resident of Brooklyn, NYC. “No one’s tougher or more insular than Rockaway surfers, yet everyone wanted to talk because everyone had a story to tell.”
Cole louison
daumanTas liekis
“Six months after the hurricane, people were still chopping wood for fires” cole louison
The Lithuanian nature and science
journalist travelled to Georgia to explore the deepest cave in the world. This kind of adventure is just another day at the office for him (another day involved research at Chernobyl) because, as well as his journalistic duties, Liekis also works as a biologist. During his time at the Krubera cave, he observed the living things that only exist in the dark, raw environment that extends more than 2km below ground.
contributorSWho’s on boardthis issue
The Red BulleTiN South Africa
iSSN 2079-4282
The Red Bulletin is published by Red Bull Media House GmbH
General Manager Wolfgang Winter
Publisher Franz Renkin
editor-in-Chief Robert Sperl
deputy editor-in-Chief Alexander Macheck
editor, South Africa Steve Smith
editor Paul Wilson
Chief Sub-editor Nancy James
deputy Chief Sub-editor Joe Curran
Assistant editors Ulrich Corazza, Werner Jessner, Ruth Morgan,
Florian Obkircher, Arkadiusz Piatek, Andreas Rottenschlager, Daniel Kudernatsch (app)
Contributing editor Stefan Wagner
Production editor Marion Wildmann
Creative director Erik Turek
Art director Kasimir Reimann
design Miles English (manager), Martina de Carvalho-Hutter,
Silvia Druml, Kevin Goll, Carita Najewitz, Esther Straganz
Chief Photo editor Fritz Schuster
Photo editors Susie Forman (Creative Photo Editor)
Ellen Haas, Catherine Shaw, Rudi Übelhör
Repro Managers Clemens Ragotzky (manager),
Karsten Lehmann, Josef Mühlbacher
head of Production Michael Bergmeister
Production Wolfgang Stecher (manager), Walter O Sádaba,
Christian Graf-Simpson (app)
Advertising enquiries Andrew Gillett, +27 (0) 83 412 8008, [email protected]
Printed by CTP Printers, Duminy Street, Parow-East, Cape Town 8000.
Finance Siegmar Hofstetter, Simone Mihalits
Marketing & Country Management Barbara Kaiser (manager),
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distribution Klaus Pleninger, Peter Schiffer
Marketing design Julia Schweikhardt, Peter Knethl
Advertising Placement Sabrina Schneider
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The Red Bulletin is published in Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, Kuwait, Mexico, New Zealand,
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Website www.redbulletin.com
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Write to us: [email protected]
06 the red bulletin
WINGS FOREVERY TASTE.
CRANBERRY. LIME. BLUEBERRY.AND THE EFFECT OF RED BULL.
T h e B ox , Au sT r A li A about faceSeasoned surfers describe this spot, out from the town of Margaret River on the south-west tip of Australia, as a “super-shallow right-breaking beast” with “steep entry, fast tubes, thick lips”. A lip is the upper part of the breaking edge of the wave, which goes on to form a tube for the surfer to ride through – as nailed here by Oz native Kieren Perrow. At The Box, a tube should be ridden as fast as possible: falling can lead to painful contact with the coral reef under the waves. Keen on Kieren? www.twitter.com/kierenperrowPhotography: Russell Ord
SURF SPECIAL
08
N E W S O U T H WA LE S , AU ST R A LI A deeper downThe ‘duck dive’ is a surfer’s plunge beneath a wave to avoid the impact of a wall of water, as demonstrated here by Belinda Baggs. The Australian is known for the flawless technique of her longboard style, its calm aesthetic distinguishing it from the often brutal riding of the big-wave scene. Baggs’s special trick is the ‘nose ride’: inching step by step to the tip of her board while riding out the wave. “Living without the sea,” she says, “would be really scary.”Know the nose ride: www.vimeo.com/57337399Photography: Ben Moon
10
Wa i m e a B ay, H aWa i i
board gamesBig-wave surfing was born on November 7, 1957, on the rugged north coast of the island of Oahu, when Greg Noll and a handful of other young Americans first surfed the waves of Waimea Bay. Almost exactly 17 years later, the first pro surfing contest was staged at the same location. Wave heights can reach 8m. Here, a group of pro surfers battle through a monster set in competition with – as the abandoned boards show – varying levels of success.More on this contest: www.quiksilverlive.com/eddieaikauPhotography: Brian Bielman
12
Bullevard
Erzberg Austria’s busiest car wash was found down the road from Red Bull Hare Scramble. Samo Vidic
EVERY shot oN tARGEt
phototicker
Every month we print a selection, with our favourite pic awarded a limited-edition Sigg bottle. Tough, functional and well-suited to sport, it features The Red Bulletin logo.
Have you taken a picture with aRed Bull flavour? Email it to us at: [email protected]
Auto pilotThe idea of a flying car is almost as old as the car itself. Now the dream is set to come true. Here
are the major stops along the road to the car of the future
ConVAiRCAR (1946)A prototype withstood 66 test flights, but a crash eventually
halted plans for mass production.
TERRAfugiA Tf-x (2009) After a first test flight four years
ago, if all goes to plan the first flying car will be on sale in 2015.
PiASECki AiRgEEP (1962)In development for five years, and
flew, but the US military’s final evaluation was: do not proceed.
CuRTiSS AuToPlAnE (1917)The first car with wings was able to skip along the runway, but not
actually take to the skies.
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Sport and culture on the quick
Say Watt?: sound systems from their origins in Jamaica to today’s versions belting out on bikes
in its truest form, a sound system consists of two turntables, an amplifier and stacks of speakers as high as a house and loud as hell. its natural habitat is the streets of Jamaica, where the culture of sound systems arose in the 1950s, soon developing into an alternative to overpriced clubs and an important instrument of the counterculture. out of the stacks flowed bass-heavy, quintessentially Jamaican music styles from ska and dub to dancehall.
these days, sound systems are ubiquitous on the global party scene, mostly at festivals and carnivals. Parisian gallery la gaîté lyrique is staging say watt?, a major exhibition of sound system culture, with early photos and posters from Jamaica (right) and a screening of Babylon, a film about the early sound system scene in london. there are also panel discussions led by french reggae specialist seb carayol and workshops at which you can learn how to make your own sound system. you can also expect speaker sculptures by young artists and plenty of concerts, with deep bass frequencies delivering deep tissue massage. the exhibition runs until august 25.Pump up le volume: www.gaite-lyrique.net
Speaker stacks and booming bass in a new exhibition devoted to the culture and impact of that outdoor party must: the sound system
the watts matter
14 the red bulletin
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stop four of the red bull cliff diving world series takes place this month in malcesine on italy’s lake garda, where a women’s competition will be staged for the first time. germany’s anna bader, 29, is one of the favourites.the red bulletin: What is it about cliff diving that you find so compelling?anna bader: It’s a battle of strength versus gravity, with no external assistance.What are your favourite spots for diving?Switzerland, Thailand and Majorca. It all began for me in Rick’s Café in Negril, Jamaica. There, the locals dive straight from the cliff in front of the pub, into the turquoise blue sea.
Freefalling at 90kph: what does that feel like?When you’re actually in the air you don’t notice anything. I feel almost weightless.Do you ever get scared?The forces at work in diving are enormous, and there is painful punishment for every mistake. Fear is good. Once you have it under control, it can aid concentration, but if you let it gain the upper hand it can paralyse you.What do you admire about your male cliff diving peers?Orlando Duque has the best entry phase. Gary Hunt is the twist pioneer. Artem Silchenko is the specialist for handstand jumps – and that happens to be my strong suit, as well.
IN freefall Cliff diver Anna Bade on role models, fear as an aid to concentration and plunging from the pub into the water
‘I shot that!’: Chris Burkard and his championship-winning photo of Chilean surf
WE HAVE A WINNER!
First time out: Anna Bader
Powerful imageschris burkard can well remember the day that he took his best-ever photo. “the light, the wind, the swell: everything was perfect, as if nature wanted to linger in harmony for just one moment.” the photographer, from san luis obispo, california, captured surfer Peter medina in an emerald-green wave off the coast of chile with his nikon d700. the remarkable image won the last red bull illume contest, the world’s largest competition for action and adventure photography. in late august, a jury of 50 international judges will announce burkard’s red bull illume successor for 2013. “any kid can capture the world with an iPhone or a goPro. for me, this is a positive development,” says burkhard. “it takes years of training to press the button at the right time. his top tip for successful snapping? “analyse the photos which don’t work.” Burkard’s work: instagram.com/chrisburkard Red Bull Illume 2013: www.redbullillume.com
A billion there
Tech to make an 11-figure
sum
www.annabader.com
INstAgRAm:tHE quICkEstIn April 2012, the
owner of the photo-sharing app agreed to sell to Facebook for US$1 billion –
just 551 days after it was launched.
pINtEREst:tHE NEXtEst?
The social pinboard site – estimated
value: US$2.5 billion – isn’t currently for
sale, but the big web companies are
showing (p)interest.
skypE:tHE BIggEst
In 2011, Microsoft bought the video chat
software company from eBay for US$8.5
billion. The online auction house paid US$2.5bn in 2005.
Calgary A first urban endurocross for the Canadian city: Red Bull Rocks & Logs. John Evely
Puerto del Carmen Heat, wind, soft asphalt. No wonder Ironman Lanzarote is feared. gines Diaz
Baku At Red Bull X-Fighters, snowmobile freestyler Daniel Bodin enjoys Azerbaijani hospitality. Denis klero
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Deep House MotherThe Life Rhythms collective are doing right by their moms. Made up of township luminary DJ Fosta and Scottish-born veteran, Chris D, the two were joined in the Red Bull Studio by Lungiswa Plaatjies, vocalist for percussion ensemble, Amampondo. “At first we had no idea what the message of the song should be,” says DJ Fosta “Then we realised we wanted to praise the mothers of our nation. They’re our light.” DJ Fosta and Plaatjies wrote lyrics to the deep afro-house track. Release info at: www.facebook.com/pages/Life-Rhythms/660325350649243
in the slipstreamSouth Africa’s teenage star of MotoGP, Brad Binder, explains how he makes the most of his equipment
Against the odds: Brad Binder is on course for a top 10 finish in
Moto3 despite his slower bike
Long and fastA new feature of this year’s nine-day joBerg2c mountain bike race was the Red Bull Run. Essentially, this race-within-a-race featured five timed 3-5km enduro-style downhill sections at various points over the 900km between Heidelberg to Scottburgh. German rider Nico Pfitzenmaier clocked the fastest accumulated time after negotiating the newly SA-designed and much talked-about Momsen Vipa dual-susser. He and partner Timo Cooper finished third overall in the joBerg2c race.www.joberg2c.co.za
DJ Fosta (left) and Chris D
One of joBerg2c’s timed Red Bull Runs
London A tiny taxi takes to the UK’s streets ahead of the Red Bull Soapbox Race. Daniel Lewis
Osaka Josh Sheehan gives new meaning to the term ‘sun seeker’ by Japan’s Tower of the Sun. Jason Halayko
Soweto I.D.A Crew jump for joy as their dance moves win them Red Bull Beat Battle in South Africa. Craig Kolesky
making a name for himself in motogP this year is 17-year-old Potchefstroom rider Brad Binder. a graduate of the red Bull motogP rookies cup, this is Binder’s first full season in motogP riding for ambrogio racing. aboard his suter honda, Binder has consistently been the fastest of the honda riders and though the nimble little bike handles really well, the Ktms have had their number on out-and-out top speed.red bulletin: How do you keep up to speed on a slower bike? “i battle to put in one lap time that is really fast. for this reason, i haven’t had very good qualifying sessions. Because my honda engine doesn’t have the top speed, it’s crucial to get a good slip stream to make a good qualifying lap.”
What’s your race strategy?“in a moto3 race, one of the most important things is to get a good start and try to hook on to the front guys. this can make your race. once the race is a few laps in, it is so important to get into a rhythm. Without a good rhythm it is impossible to have a good race.”You’ve put in some noteworthy efforts with a 12th, 10th, 4th and 7th place in the season’s opening four races, despite your handicap.“it’s gone quite well so far, but i still want to be a lot further up the field. it does feel good to be the top honda at the moment. realistically, i want to finish the championship in the top 10 this year. this is my goal and i hope to achieve it.” www.bradbinder41.com
Bullevard
16 the red bulletin
Where’s Your head at?
hugh jackmanWith animal instincts and killer pipes, the 44-year-old Australian rules action movies and musicals.
But what happened on the set of his Chinese-language debut? And how does he get so ripped?
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Dark HeartFrom helping a fallen Jennifer
Lawrence at the Oscars to crooning at Nicole Kidman’s
wedding: Jackman is officially Hollywood’s Nicest Man – but not without edge. Making Les
Miserables, his soundtrack was metal band Godsmack.
“With all this beautiful music playing, in my head I’m
hearing Crying Like A Bitch.”
TV Or Not TVFor every US version of The Office,
there is Viva Laughlin. A 2007 remake of BBC comedy-drama-musical
Blackpool with Jackman starring and executively producing, it was cancelled in America after two of
eight episodes were shown, and after just one in Australia: the shortest-
lived show in Aussie TV history.
Punishment Glutton
To shape up as Wolverine, Jackman follows the 8/16 Diet, eating 6,000 calories per day during in an eight-
hour period, then fasting for 16 hours. “I eat a 12oz steak every day. I don’t know any
doctors recommending that.”
A Rare Talon With The Wolverine, out this month,
Jackman has played the titular role seven times, matching Sean Connery as James Bond and one less than Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry
Potter. Shintaro Katsu played the blind swordsman Zatoichi
in 26 films from 1962-89.
Captive AudienceComing soon: Jackman in a kidnap thriller for Canadian
director Denis Villeneuve. “A film called Prisoners, which I’m real
excited about. I loved working with Denis. He’s like [Batman director
and Man Of Steel producer] Chris Nolan: same vision, clarity
and similar dynamic.”
Cool Hand HughDespite many ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ accolades, Jackman
remains in awe of his movie alter-ego. “I pinch myself every day that I get the
chance to play Wolverine. Sometimes I think I’d prefer to be him in real life. He’s so
much cooler than me.”
Chinese Take-OffJackman got mixed reviews playing a Shanghai nightclub performer in
Chinese drama Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. After months learning a song in Mandarin, he later told Jay Leno on US TV: “I sang my song [to Wendi Murdoch, co-producer] and
after the first syllables she was, like, ‘Great’, but after that it was, ‘What?’”
Seal BrokenBy the 1990s, Jackman was an accomplished stage musical
actor. Playing Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, in
Melbourne, he wet himself onstage. “I realised that the muscles you release to sing are the ones you don’t want to release if you need to go.”
The Wolverine, out worldwide from July 24: www.thewolverinemovie.com
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18 the red bulletin
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JHB
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me and my body
The South African extreme athlete, 31, runs the equivalent of Paris to Beijing every year. The only thing that makes him quake in his boots is the cold www.ryansandes.com
Ryan SandeS
1 LOSER WINS
One advantage of running long distances is keeping your weight down, even though your body needs fat reserves. I’m 1.78m tall and I weigh 66-68kg for a race. After a 100-mile run, I weigh one to two kilos less.
2 ACHILLES HEEL The most common injuries: fatigue fractures, runner’s knee and sprained ankle ligaments. A recovery period can take from three to four weeks, depending. Another problem is that the other foot or leg compensates during recovery and can be overburdened.
SUPPORT SQUAD 4 I run about 800 hours a year.
That’s about 8,000km in distance and 300,000m
in altitude. The main focus of my training is to maintain
a clean running technique. I work with a coach and
a biokineticist twice a week. For my stressed back, there
is lots of physiotherapy and chiropractic.
GREAT SHAKES 4So far, I’ve only had cramps
during ultramarathons in Antarctica, which is partly
due to compression stockings. As soon as you stand still there,
when it’s -20°C, your body temperature drops quickly
and your muscles start shivering and cramping.
INNER VOICE 3 Long periods of rest are
important. I sleep between eight and nine hours a night. In the morning my heart rate
is 47bpm; when it’s under extreme pressure, it speeds
up to over 200, but I don’t measure it that often.
I prefer to pay attention to my bodily reactions.
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20 the red bulletin
For proof that the hard yards pay off, look no further than dedicated SA street dancers I.D.A. After months of hard graft, choreography and challenging qualifiers, the Sbhujwa crew from Tembisa were crowned the 2013 Red Bull Beat Battle champions.
Conquering seven of the country’s top dance crews in the final – including title holders Reptilez – Katlego Mphahlele and his I.D.A Crew withstood the pressure of head-to-head battles in front of a very vocal 2,500-strong crowd at Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown, Soweto. In the final battle, I.D.A. came up against the hip-hop Clinch Crew, who came at them hard, bringing a coffin and tombstone onto the stage for their final routine. The not- so-subtle “we’re going to bury you” message was loud and clear.
“We just wanted to have fun on the night,” said a breathless Mphahlele after the final battle. “From the first round to the final, that’s all we have been focused on. Even when Clinch Crew came on to the stage with those props, we were like, ‘You know what, let’s just roll with it and have fun!’”
The final was also as close as it gets, with I.D.A. taking victory after coming from behind in a split decision.
“At no point in the competition did we ever think we would win it,”said Mphahlele. “We won the first vote from the crowd, but then the next two votes went to Clinch. If one more vote went to them then we would’ve been done. That’s just who we are though. We are not big-headed or arrogant. We always tell ourselves that whatever comes our way we will deal with it.”www.redbull.co.za
HArd & FASTTop performers and winning ways from around the globe
battle tacticsI.D.A. are the 2013 Red Bull Beat Battle champs. It’s a title they certainly won the hard way
Despite starting from
sixth place on the grid,
Spain’s Dani Pedrosa
was triumphant in
the wet at the French
round of MotoGP at
Le Mans, his second
win of the season.
“I’m speechless,” said SA surfer Jordy Smith after winning the Billabong Rio Pro, his first victory on the ASP World Tour outside his home country.
Italian golfer Matteo Manassero, 20, became the youngest-ever winner of the BMW PGA Championship by beating Simon Khan and Marc Warren in a play-off at Wentworth, England.
At the X Games in
Barcelona, motocross
rider Ronnie Renner of
the USA won gold in the
MX Step Up as the only
rider to clear the bar
on each of his first
attempts up to 31ft.
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Sbhujwa crew I.D.A. surprised themselves when they won Red Bull Beat Battle
Bullevard
the red bulletin 21
jet setFlyboarding is watersport’s most spectacular new discipline. This is how to be a rocket man, in theory and in practice
ON THE WHITEBOARD“A jet ski turbine, a connecting hose, four control jets and you’ve got a piece of sporting kit with which, according to its manufacturer, you can ‘dive like a dolphin and fly like a bird’,” says Professor Thomas Schrefl of Austria’s St Pölten University of Applied Sciences and the University of Sheffield in England.
“To get airborne on a flyboard, the force of the water shooting downwards must be greater than the force of gravity. The force of gravity for the flyboard and the pilot is determined by the product of the total mass and operates downwards: FSch = –(mPi + mPl)g. Here mPi and mPl are the mass of the pilot and the flyboard, respectively, while g is the gravitational acceleration.
“The force operating upwards comes from the water shooting out the jets. It is pumped upwards through the hose at a velocity of v¹, redirected through a piping system and then shot out of jets with a velocity of v². The flyboard exerts force on the water, FW, and redirects it downwards. This alters the momentum of the water. The change of momentum per unit of time equals the force acting on the water. Newton’s Third Law states, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This force, FPl, holds the flyboard in a floating position.
“Now we can estimate how many litres of water per second are required to carry the flyboard and the pilot. For this we must compare the weight force with the alteration of momentum in the water, and time. This results in the equation (mPi + mPl)g = W(v² – v¹). As above, g is the gravitational acceleration. We define the amount of water that flows per second as W, and calculate it as the product of the density of the water, the velocity and the cross-sectional area of the inlet pipe, A¹. The amount of water in litres flowing in per second is W = rv¹ A¹ litres.
“In other words, the velocity of the water at the inlet is v¹ = W/(rA¹) where r is the density of the water. Because the cross-section of the four jets, A², is overall less than the inlet, the water comes out of the jets faster than it’s pumped in, that is, with a velocity of v² = –v¹(A¹/A²).
“In conclusion, if we assume a total mass of mPi + mPl = 100kg, an inlet area of 80cm² and a cross-sectional area for all jets of 50cm², that means that 55 litres of water per second are required to keep pilot and board aloft for one second – water that shoots out of the jets at 40kph. Jet power, indeed.”
ON THE FLYBOARDIt was a combination of jet-skiing, wakeboarding and kitesurfing that Frenchman Franky Zapata had in mind when he devised the flyboard in 2011. “It only takes 30 minutes with an instructor to learn how to use one,” says Zapata. “It feels like freedom.” A year later, his countryman Stéphane Prayas was declared the first world champion of the new discipline, in which judges award points based on the rider’s freestyle manoeuvres. www.zapata-racing.com
winning formula
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High water: David Goncalves of France in the
qualifying round of the 2012
Flyboard World Cup in Doha, Qatar
23
Bullevard
lucky numbers
Unlikely Champions A blind archer? A lightweight sumo wrestler? A footballer with crooked
legs? A look at the world’s most extraordinary sporting careers
218Footballer Jan Molby was plagued by a different kind of weight problem. At the height of his width, the Danish midfielder carried several kilos of excess baggage – though not very far, as he rarely strayed beyond the centre circle. Yet he was good enough to make 218 league appearances for Liverpool from 1984-95, winning three titles and scoring 44 goals.
4One of football’s all-time greats
was lucky to be able to stand up straight. In 1933, Garrincha was
born with a curved spine and a right leg bent inwards and 6cm longer
than his left, which bent outwards. After a childhood operation, a
doctor suggested: “Play football. It will make your legs stronger.” It was
good advice. The winger drib bled Brazil to World Cup victory in 1958
and 1962; in the latter, he was joint top-scorer with four goals.
160Tyrone Bogues escaped the
Baltimore ghetto to play 14 years in the NBA. That is already the stuff
of dreams. What makes the man known as Muggsy an all-time hoops
legend is his height: at 160cm (5ft 3in), he is the smallest player in
NBA history. “I always believed in myself,” he told Sports Illustrated,
just before his debut in 1987, “That’s the type of attitude I always
took out on the floor, knowing… there’s a place for me out there.”
699Im Dong-Hyun is legally blind. The South Korean has only 15 per cent vision in his left eye and 20 per cent in his right, but that didn’t stop him setting a world record score of 699, out of a possible 720, in qualifying for the men’s individual archery at the 2012 London Olympics. Thanks to his extraordinary muscle memory, the 27-year-old can fire on target again and again.
98Sumo wrestlers normally weigh at least 150kg and are Japanese. But Pavel Bojar is Czech and tips the scales at a mere 98kg. After bronze at the 2000 world junior sumo championships, he was taken on by the Naruto organisation in 2000, under the ring name of Takanoyama Shuntaro. In 2011, he broke into sumo’s top division. He has tried to gain weight, but his metabolism does not allow it.
Dai Greene
Jan Molby
Pavel Bojar
Tyrone Bogues
Garrincha
Im Dong-Hyun
400In 2011, Dai Greene became
400m hurdles world champion in Daegu in Korea. The 27-year-old
Welshman is epileptic, but eschews medication for the sake
of his athletics career. “I could sense that the tablets were
having a negative impact on my performance, so I stopped taking
them,” he said. “I minimise the risk of fits with regular sleep
and by avoiding alcohol.” wo
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Bullevard
24 the red bulletin
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On MexicO’s illegal racetracks, the laws Of the land and the cOde Of the rOad are fOrgOtten. the Only thing that Matters is speedwor ds: roge l io r i vera ph o tog ra p hy: to m as z g u dzowa t y
27
The flagman drops his
arms To sTarT The race. aT
The finish line, only
The winner is applauded
28
Illegal racing drivers Armando Cerda (left) and Miguel Romero, and their 1968 Dodge Charger
30
All the rules of the
roAd Are broken in An
illicit pursuit of AdrenAlin
Wheel-repair guys, like Erick
Garcia Rojas (right), are on standby at all times
very day, about five million cars turn Mexico City into a pitiless car park. The huge logjam, which unfolds across the world’s third-largest city, leads to a type of chaos from which there appears to be no escape.
Illegal racing drivers claw back their lost freedom in rundown areas on the outskirts of the city, isolated spots and outlying roads, dilapidated garages and warehouses. They break all the rules of the road, daringly racing souped-up cars in illicit pursuit of adrenalin.
“I’m just addicted to speed,” admits Joaquín, one of the drivers, and he’s speaking on behalf of all of them. “I was already in love with these races before I had a driving licence. My friends and I just used to sneak off to them on Saturday nights back in the day and watch.”
In addition to sating a desire for the forbidden, feeding a fascination for mechanical tinkering and escaping from the everyday routine, the races are run in a party atmosphere. “All my friends are there,” Joaquín says. “We play music, smoke, drink, chat up girls, meet new people.” The only thing that can ruin one of these parties is a police patrol. “When we hear the sirens, it means we get the hell out of there.”
The Mexican police have no sympathy for the illegal races and are rigorous in their attempts at stamping them out. Cars are seized and drivers are arrested. However, the popularity of illegal racing has led the police to sanction certain races, which take place in a controlled environment and include safety measures for both the drivers and spectators. These events are sparsely attended, though, because much of the appeal of
Life is Lived on four wheeLs. Cars are bought, repaired, tuned, driven, but, most importantLy, they are proudLy shown off
E
32
Remote Roads, caR paRks, waRehouses. the moRe isolated and desolate, the betteR
Hugo Loyo at the wheel. Below left: José Alberto Eleuterio, one of the younger racers, waits for his turn on the track, while Loyo repairs a 1970 Dodge Charger
35
this kind of racing lies in playing cat and mouse with the police.
After the races are over, the stories Joaquín and his friends tell each other around the campfire are always about the same things: speed, drinking, accidents, death and survival. “Once a friend ‘borrowed’ his father’s car to drive in a race, where he had an accident. The car was a wreck and the only reason he didn’t end up in prison was because his uncle bribed the police.”
There is a great deal of danger, but most races pass with drivers suffering nothing worse than a few bumps and bruises. It is a lot easier to get over injuries than it is dented wings or doors. Drivers put all their money, along with all their time, into getting their cars into race condition. It isn’t easy getting classic cars like a 1969 Ford Mustang, a 1970 Chevy C10 or a 1966 Plymouth Valiant Hardtop to look good and perform well enough to win a race. “Speed costs money,” Joaquín says simply. “My cars are only ever as quick as my wallet allows.”
"The only Thing i'll swap my
car for is a wheelchair or a coffin"
he races aren’t run for money. The
only thing up for grabs here is gaining respect. That hasn’t changed in decades. Whether the drivers are 15 or 45, they take on this challenge for one reason only: to prove that they are the best.
“A lot of people ask me why I like these races,” says Joaquín. “I give the answer a professional racing driver would: I want to take the car to new limits.” But, as Joaquín knows, racing like this is more than a battle between man and machine. “It’s between me and my fears.” Like all drivers, he is willing to risk everything for the race.
“My girlfriend knows that if she loves me, she has to accept me and my passion for speed. She stopped coming to these events. She says that someone else will have to identify me at the morgue further down the line. I always reply that the only thing I’ll swap my car for is a wheelchair or a coffin. I’ll never give up this type of racing. I’m addicted to speed and nothing will cure me.”
T
37
Words: stuart cornuelle
From shaggy-haired dudes to high-performance athletes, the ambitious stars of surfing’s new guard have an eye on the mainstream – and a sport in transition is hoping they grab the world’s attention
SURF SPECIAL
Australian star surfer Julian Wilson is part of the sport’s new breed of professional athletes
PAC KB R AT
The New
38
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ulian Wilson is in the shower. he’s been in oregon for two weeks, training at his sponsor’s headquarters in preparation for the first event of the association of surfing professionals (asp) World championship tour. Wilson is working out every day, sometimes
twice. Between sessions he sits in design meetings in which the technical merit of an extra-stretchy boardshort is carefully probed. at night he holes up alone in a hotel. he drinks only water, sleeps often and eats a lot. For him it’s a business trip.
“guys now train hard,” he says of today’s surfers, “and they put a lot of effort into the way they come across. it’s not so much the going out and the hardcore parties, things that kind of left that mark on surfing as being a sport where you can just travel the world and have a great time and get paid to do it. if you’re like that these days, you’re going to be left behind.”
iles from the coast, Julian Wilson is sweating. outside it’s raining, which it does so generously in oregon, in north-west america. inside Wilson flips a tractor tyre across the floor of an otherwise empty gym. only a trainer looks on. Wilson, 24, is a professional surfer – among the best. the gym is one of many like it in a cutting-edge sports complex on nike’s global campus, built to make olympians out of merely great athletes. Wilson flips his heavy 6ft tyre some more, then moves to the speed bag before a set of stair sprints.
this whole scene is confusing if your image of a surfer involves, say, a board, a beach, or a pathological avoidance of rain-soaked inland gyms – and you wouldn’t be alone in being confused. things like plyometrics and unilateral strength training just don’t go with the carefree ideal of a genuine surf dude. But this is why Wilson’s sweating there, alone on the gym floor. he wants to get your attention. he wants to change your mind.
the australian earned around Us$300,000 in prize money alone last year. his endorsements brought in a lot more on top of that. he’s part of a generation for which surfing isn’t countercultural play time – it’s a sport, a career and a billion-dollar industry. it’s grown up and out, into iceland and morocco and Brazil. surf brands are traded for huge amounts on world stock markets. talented kids get home-schooled like child pop stars. hawaiian John John Florence, the ideal of a surf prodigy-turned-pro, has been sponsored since he was six. they can afford BmWs before they’re old enough to drive.
yet for all its growth, surfing still lags behind other sports – even action sports such as snowboarding and skateboarding – in mainstream popularity. interest may spike and wither but a half-century after surfing became a beach phenomenon, it still remains mostly coastal. a niche. a novelty.
Wilson and his peers could change that. they’re – to use a pun – riding a wave of developments that are bringing surfing closer than ever to the global living room, from new media to management, to better performance, to the amount of money spent grooming and marketing young stars. surfers like Florence and californian Kolohe andino, south african Jordy smith and Brazil’s gabriel medina – they might just make you care about surfing.
40 the red bulletin
J u l i a n
W i l s o nborn
November 8, 1988Hometown Coolum Beach,
Queensland, Australia
long life Before switching
to shortboards, Wilson won the
Australian Junior Longboard title at the age of 14.
in tHe pink Wilson is an
ambassador for the National
Breast Cancer Foundation, and rides pink boards in competition to raise money and
awareness for the American charity.
J o h n J o h n
F l o r e n c eBorn October 18, 1992Hometown Honolulu, Hawaii, USAHey, Bro(S)! Florence is the oldest of three brothers – all of whom are professional surfers.Boy geniuS At 13, Florence became the youngest surfer to compete in Hawaii’s prestigious Triple Crown surf series. Six years later, he became the youngest to win it.
This professionalism – a word that’s now eclipsed ‘gnarly’ in the surf lexicon – is driving the sport’s rapid ascent. The old war stories about competing high or hungover, on no sleep, borrowing a board the morning of the contest are just that: old. Totally foreign to the pros today, for whom fitness and preparation are gospel.
“The next generation of surfers is even more serious at a younger age,” says Florence, just 20 years old. “There’s more training, and more mental and psychological work being put in at an earlier age.”
At every ASP event, it’s normal to see trainers and coaches, managers, agents and cameramen paid to catch a pro’s every ride. Spin bikes and Swiss balls are on-site to help competitors warm up. There’s a massage table and a catering area.
“It’s a little less rogue now,” says Peter Jasienski, global media director of surf brand Hurley, who works with Wilson, Andino and Florence. “They’re aware of their influence over an audience, whether it’s kids or adults or fans of the sport. That’s the biggest difference.”
The results aren’t surprising: better surfing, better role models and a better image for the sport in general, all of which is music to the ears of the surf industry, and the industry controls the coins. Professionalism, after all, is a symptom; money is its cause.
Two years ago, Dane Reynolds, then a popular 25-year-old yet to register an ASP World Tour victory, was re-signed by his sponsor Quiksilver for a reported US$23 million, to be paid over six years. (The media half-jokingly called it ‘The Decision’, referring to LeBron James’ 2010 transfer to Miami Heat.)
Bidding wars have become a common thing when top surfers hit the market. The 2007 race to sign Jordy Smith was so intense that Nike reportedly organised a call from Tiger Woods to woo the teenager.
It’s against this backdrop that squat-thrusting in an Oregon weight room suddenly makes a lot of sense. Annual worldwide surf industry revenue now exceeds US$6 billion, a figure predicted to double by 2017. If surfers have started behaving like professional athletes, it isn’t by accident. It’s because an ASP World Tour victory today nets an six-figure cheque plus extra potential for sponsorship earnings. “Even though companies and contests seem to be struggling, there’s more money in surfing than ever,” says Florence, now in his second full year on tour. “Not just for the surfers, but for the events and the sponsors.” For some of the surfers, that is – the very best ones.
“Those three athletes [Wilson, Andino and Florence], I would say, represent modern surfing,” says Jasienski, “but it’s not just the investment surrounding them; it’s the fact that they see it as a professional career. They represent themselves well in the media, they’re aware of their influence on the youth, and they really maintain their own media marketing machines.”
They earn their keep, in other words, but it’s not easy. It calls for high-tech gyms and experienced coaches, and a lot of smiling, as well as all the other trappings that come with being a professional athlete. Brands aren’t simply throwing money at the nearest golden boy – they can’t afford to.
That US$23 million for Dane Reynolds makes for a nice headline, but Quiksilver also withdrew support for Reynolds’ signature sub-brand Summer Teeth last year, along with several others, in a round of fierce downsizing. Billabong is desperately seeking a private equity rescue for pennies per share, down from US$12-$14 five years ago. Analog Clothing (owned by Burton Snowboards) abruptly dropped its whole team and left the surf business last October. Nike, too, ended its surf programme. The industry is hardly in fat times.
The tumult revealed that the core surf market is still relatively small. Huge surf brands only get so big by selling also to non-surfers at urban flagships and landlocked department stores. Of late, their wares just haven’t been selling like they need to. The global economic downturn is one reason; new consumer tastes and trends are another. Both have put a squeeze on the industry just as the sport itself seems ready to progress to the next level.
All this has been bad news for mid-level pros, who are an easy expense to cut, but it puts a premium on surfing’s one per cent – true icons who can push a product. Surfers like Wilson, Andino and Florence, who are “their own media marketing machines”.
“ T h e n e xT g e n e r aT i o n o f s u r f e rs i s m o r e s e r i o u s aT a yo u n g e r ag e . T h e r e ’s m o r e wo r k b e i n g p u T i n ”
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the red bulletin 43
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A n d i n oBorn 22 March, 1994hometown San Clemente, California, USAPoP PoPs uP Andino’s father, Dino, was a pro surfer in the 1980s and ’90s; he won a US Championships in 1990 and was named ASP Rookie of the Year in 1991.and mom too Kolohe’s nickname, Brother, is simply how his parents referred to him after his younger sister was born. Eighteen years later the name has stuck.
In October 2012, a new company called ZoSea Media acquired all media rights to the ASP tour, announcing plans to renovate and expand the brand. For the first time, a single group – spearheaded by veterans of MTV, Time Inc and the NFL – will produce and broadcast surf contests. The plans are set to turn surfing into a real spectator sport that is easy to find and follow beyond the confines of the coast – a sort of Holy Grail that has been elusive in the past.
“Now it’s just accessibility – that’s the biggest issue,” says Peter Jasienski, whose company holds the licence to one of the tour’s long-standing events, the Hurley Pro at Lower Trestles in Southern California. “If you can’t be on the beach, how can you be part of the energy and share that enthusiasm, whether you surf or not? The core surfers, coastal residents, they’re all tuning in, but now it’s about access to sport and access to competition, that energy, that story.”
“To be honest, I don’t think its ever going to have a live following on TV like basketball or soccer,” adds Wilson. “It’s just too unpredictable – the waves, getting the time windows and stuff. But if they package the events and put them on TV, and show the best waves as well as how it all works, I think you could captivate a huge audience.”
A huge audience leads to huge advertising revenues. ZoSea’s makeover will take the pressure off struggling surf brands, which now pay more than US$2 million a pop to sponsor major ASP events. Instead, ZoSea hopes, high-profile mainstream brands will enter the space with their sizeable mainstream budgets, and then the sky’s the limit.
In June this year, Wilson, Andino, Florence and the rest of today’s top surfers are on Tavarua Island for the Volcom Fiji Pro. The event briefly disappeared from the ASP Tour in 2009 for lack of sponsor support, but if things go well in the coming years, it won’t happen again. If things go really well, a million households will see Wilson doing Sushi Rolls on ESPN and no one will bat an eye – it’ll just belong there.
That’s the vision, anyway. A sport in transition, out from the shadows and into primetime. A new generation with the star power to take it there. A passionate fanbase so much bigger than just those who visit the beach, just waiting for its opportunity to get engaged.
Now is the moment to care about surfing. It’s time to get on board. Surfing’s new heroes on Twitter: @kolohe_andino; @johnjohnflorenc; @julian_wilson
On a trip to Japan in 2007, Julian Wilson caught an average wave and went left. He launched into the air, spun an inverted backhand loop with his feet completely off the board, his hands grabbing its rails and landed clean and rode out. Wilson named this the Sushi Roll.
Footage soon spread across the surf world.The most remarkable thing about the brand-new
move was the way news of it broke online. Through photos and YouTube, it become an overnight high-water mark for progressive surfing. This was an early glimpse of the new generation of surfing’s radically technical brand of surfing, captured and shared with equally radical ease – and this was six years ago.
Since then, technology has only cranked up the model, bringing things faster, freer, in higher quality. A ride or even a whole contest can be beamed to fans before the surfers’ hair is dry. Cheap equipment and social media websites mean anyone can be a producer, and nothing falls through the cracks.
This sea change was on display two years post-Sushi Roll in 2009, when Jordy Smith stomped a rodeo flip in Indonesia that instantly tore through the web. It features in Done, the short film Florence released online last year, showcasing his best surfing over several months, and the type of project that used to take a team of people at a couple of companies to produce and distribute. Now it’s just one man and his cameraman.
Wilson and Andino have dedicated personal cameramen on call. In the last few years, both have created blogs stocked with unseen footage that’s only days old when it is published. Never before have surf fans had this kind of access to the best surfing, and never has the best surfing been this good.
“There’s a bigger audience following surfing now than ever since I started,” says Wilson, “definitely in the last eight or 10 years. Back in Australia, it’s becoming a lot more mainstream. It’s on TV. And it was pretty startling last year during US Open time to see a lot of surfing on [ESPN’s] Top 10 Plays Of The Day and that kind of stuff. iPhones are incredible, keeping people in touch with the events and getting updates. It’s a lot more accessible than it ever was for people to follow.”
There Wilson hits the most crucial point of all: the new order, his new order, is on display at the ASP World Tour, and at events like this month’s US Open Of Surfing, a week-long contest set to bring millions of visitors to Huntington Beach, California. The best surfing isn’t only found in blogs and magazines, but in competitions, on a global stage, with the ASP juggernaut pumping it out to new eyes.
“The athletes are increasingly concerned with putting on an excellent show,” adds Gabriel Medina. “That captivates the audience and brings new fans.”
Thanks to a deal the ASP struck late last year, surf contests will be ready for their close-up in 2014.
W i l so n a n d a n d i n o h av e d e d i cat e d ca m e r a m e n o n ca l l . i n t h e l ast f e W y e a rs, b ot h h av e c r e at e d b lo gs sto c k e d W i t h u n s e e n fo otag e
Watch exclusive footage of Julian Wilson in surf action in The Red Bulletin tablet edition. Download it now for free.
the red bulletin 45
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world champion and double olympic medallist in 5,000m and 10,000m
it’s a role he fell into naturally, having graduated from Belfast’s Jordanstown University with a degree in sport and exercise science and soon after realised that his own talent as an irish under-23 middle-distance international would not carry him on to a full-time running career.
“i wouldn’t want to embarrass Usain,” says ricky Simms, a grin cracking his face open wide, “but i can beat him at a lot of things.” it’s a brief moment of jocular hubris in the otherwise groomed, composed manner of the manager of the fastest man on Earth.
So what can he beat Bolt at? “Long-distance running. For sure. anything over a mile. Easily,” he says, the grin now a chuckle. World sport’s most charismatic personality has a manager who can match him for competitive spirit.
Simms, 38, from Milford, County Donegal, wears the sharp suit of a seasoned sports agent with ease, but he’s a sportsman at heart and, even if his lungs and limbs weren’t up to the job of being a world-class middle distance runner back in the 1990s, his competitive zeal hasn’t waned.
you don’t get to be the boss of Pace Sports Management, the pre-eminent agency in world athletics, without the killer instinct, but Simms is quick to dispel the notion that, sharp suit aside, he is anything like the cut-throat agents caricatured by hollywood.
“it’s not about us doing well, it’s about the athletes doing well. if the athletes are doing well, we do well.”
Simms is busy paring down the numbers in his agency so he can generate bigger income for a smaller group. Mo Farah, the superstar of middle-distance running, is still on the books, having talked his way into Pace back when he was a sales assistant working in the sportswear shop across the road.
Simms is first and foremost a coach who still writes the training and racing programmes for many of his athletes, including Vivian Cheruiyot, three-time
$10,000 to run the race they’d say to us, ‘No, we’re only going to pay $3,000.’ So you had to work very hard to justify it.”
a rewarding business became a ticket to fortune and a sprinkling of fame when, in 2003, he engaged the services of a rangy limbed Jamaican 15-year-old with otherworldly sprint times. Simms knew Usain Bolt had world-class potential, but
he’d seen child prodigies fail before. “Everyone was talking about this
kid from Jamaica who was winning the under-20s when he was 15. he was a giant. i remember saying, ‘this guy is going to revolutionise the sport.’ But we’d had many talented kids before – maybe he was 15 in a 25-year-old’s body?”
Since Bolt’s elevation to sporting deity at the Beijing olympics in 2008, Simms’s feet have hardly touched the ground. a busy travel schedule has removed him from much of the day-to-day activity at Pace as he works to make the most of Bolt’s speed on the track and his affability off it.
“i think our business model changed a little bit in the last five years,” says Simms. “We kind of have a company working full-time for Usain, and another working full-time for Mo. i could spend all day, every day on either one of those guys.”
So, who is the next global athletics star? Simms has one name in mind.
“i think it’s going to be difficult to have a Usain again in our lifetime. there are always talented sprinters in Jamaica, you know. We have another guy, he ran 9.97. So there’s Usain, then there’s yohan Blake, and then this guy, Kemar Bailey-Cole is his name. We look after him, but it’s a long road. this year is a big year for him to see if he can step up.” www.pacesportsmanagement.com
You’ve got to move fast to look after Usain Bolt and Mo Farah, among a roster of world-class athletes, and this Irishman manages just fine
Words: Declan Quigley
he soon made his way to teddington in Middlesex to learn the ropes of athletic coaching and management under the tutelage of athletics agent Kim McDonald.
When McDonald died suddenly in 2001, aged 45, Simms and his german girlfriend, Marion Steininger – the two are now married and live in Middlesex – took over McDonald’s roster of almost 80 athletes, happily discovering that the majority were willing to give a rookie a chance.
“i think we were fortunate that we had good-quality athletes, that we were already a strong company. Predominately Kenyan long-distance runners. So, of course, some of [the promoters] made life much more difficult. When Kim was negotiating, if he had negotiated a fee of
Ricky Simms makes sure Usain Bolt’s career stays on track
Ricky SimmS
The Gaffer
46 the red bulletin
On The Pace: Notably Ricky Simms ClientsUsain Bolt, Mo Farah, Vivian Cheruiyot, Kemar Bailey-Cole, Christine Ohuruogu (400m), Phillips Idowu (triple jump)
‘Just 8.5 off the pace!’According to records at Finn Valley athletics club in Donegal, with whom Simms has been affiliated for many years, his best recorded 10k is 35:03. Mo Farah’s best is 26:46.
Tenth AtmosphereSimms is the eldest of a family of 10 children
The KickerHe is a lifelong Liverpool FC fan and a regular at Bayern Munich. “I should have been a footballer,” he says.
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B4 Reason (2008) and WenzTheAlbum CuminOut? (2009). hip-hop fans were soon calling for a full album, and reason duly obliged with The REASONing. Produced by sa hip-hop producers, BattleKat, reason’s debut LP was released at the end 2010 on the now-defunct label, outrageous records. he was still technically unsigned, so tumi Molekane – he of sa hip-hop royalty, tumi & the Volume – signed up reason to Motif records, a south africa-
reason is a thinker. answers are not forthcoming without analysis and deliberation. you hear it in how he views himself in relation to his fans and his music as he carefully negotiates a path among his duties and ambitions of being a rapper, a husband and father.
“Being a father makes me conscious of what i say,” he says. “i wouldn’t say i’m censored, maybe just more censored. it adds perspective on how i view people. Lately, i’ve tried to be more accurate about my experiences. i’ve learned that people relate to honesty, that they want to listen to a song and be like, ‘i know what he’s talking about. i’ve been there, too.’ or maybe they haven’t been there. But they know the experiences. a hard time is a hard time and a good time is a good time.”
reason certainly knows both experiences. the 26-year-old rapper from Katlehong, near Johannesburg, has been in the business for a long time and he’s paid his dues on his way up the hip-hop hierarchy.
“growing up, hip-hop appealed to me the most – more than other genres. i had the best references to it, and i guess rapping is easier than singing,” he laughs. “as a youngster, i listened to kwaito. i was huge tKZee fan, but i also listened to Busta [rhymes] and em [eminem], but i never followed kwaito the way i followed hip-hop.”
reason’s reputation grew on the back of his Mc-slaying abilities as a battle rapper – both on the street corner and on the stage in official stand-offs. his step-up came in 2005 when he guested on dJ Fresh’s yFM radio show. reason chipped in with a series of jingles before becoming a regular guest on yFM’s hip-hop show, rap activity.
after that, reason’s music featured on two mixtapes, the 28-song Understanding
A Lot On My Mind [both tracks appear on Audio3D]. Because i’m more musical, i’m at liberty to explore more avenues. What matters is the idea.”
each of these avenues have their own devotees: women’s magazines, for example, clamour to paint him as a rapper you could take home to mom. on the other hand, hardcore hip-hoppers highlight his battle-rap credentials, while also recognising all those years reason spent in relative obscurity.
this situation often leads to periods of reflection for this thinking man of hip-hop. it’s a balancing act of appeasing his fans and his listenership, while also staying true to the reason why he started making music in the first place. it’s all about fulfilling your reason – hence the name.
“reason was created by sizwe Moeketsi,” explains reason, referring to himself in the third person. “he comes from sizwe’s experiences. reason tells sizwe’s stories. he talks through the music. reason [he pauses, searching for the right words] writes sizwe’s life.
i go home and my daughter doesn’t see reason, my daughter sees sizwe. she sees her dad. she might be like, ‘i saw you on tV’, but that’s where it ends. i go home and i’m a father, and a husband.”
Moeketsi seems to be managing this balancing act pretty well.
“the whole of last year was my happiest moment,” says reason. “People wanted to hear what i was creating, and my audience, well, they were people like me: people who wanted to hear good music; people who like hip-hop. and at my album launch at shikisha, in newtown, i had all my favourite rappers there, and they’d come to see me.” www.facebook.com/reasonthemass
He’s a master of rapid-fire, think-on-your-feet MC battles, but rising hip-hop star Sizwe Moeketsi, aka Reason, also chooses his words carefully
Words: Lindokuhle Nkosi
based independent music company, whose roster included the likes of Zaki ibrahim, Perfecto and Molekane himself.
it was at Motif records that reason found his home. in 2011, one of his tracks, Walk On Water, appeared on the official mixtape of sara Blecher’s film Otelo Burning. the following year he released his first full album, Audio3D, on Motif. it’s a record that artfully showcases reason’s Mc skills. it’s also a legacy of his days battle rapper.
“i’m flexible, i can rap on any beat,” he says. “i can make a jingle. i can rap in isiZulu. i can make something more old-school like Do It Like I Can, or something more up-tempo like
Katlehong MC Sizwe Moeketsi is fulfilling his reason through rap
reason
The Ruminator
48 the red bulletin
Formerly known as… The Mad Massacre was Reason’s MC moniker in the early days. “But I couldn’t see the radio stations saying, ‘And that was the new single by The Mad Massacre’” he says.
DiscographyAudio3D (album 2012)
Otelo Burning (mixtape, 2011)
15 Grand (single, 2011)
The REASONing (album, 2010)
WenzTheAlbumCuminOut (mixtape, 2009)
Understanding B4 Reason (mixtape, 2008)
depth charget h e j o u r n e y t o t h e b o t t o m o f e a r t h ’ s d e e p e s t c a v e i s l o n g a n d d a n g e r o u s . o n e m a n w a n t s t o g o f u r t h e rw o r d s : d a u m a n ta s l i e k i s p h o t o g r a p h y: a r t ū r a s a r t i u š e n k a
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Creeping downThe Krubera Cave reveals its hidden depths begrudgingly. The descent, with its narrow passages, is hard going
arly on a bright, clear morning, a radio message
crackles through base camp. “Calling all stations, come in please!” About 60 speleologists, from a dozen countries, are camped here at the entrance to the Krubera Cave in the Caucacus mountains, in Georgia’s Abkhazia territory. Recently, at this hour, hungry cavers, scientists and caver-scientists would sit at the breakfast table, with talk of the night’s dreams and the day ahead’s plans reverberating in English, Russian, Spanish and Arabic. Today, there’s no sound but the emergency call, repeated by Vytautas Gudaitis, the camp’s communication co-ordinator, with increasing alarm.
E52 the red bulletin
D e s c e n D i n g o n r o p e s o r o n f o o t , c l i m b i n g a n D c r a w l i n g , w o r m i n g
a n D D i v i n g , t h e s p e l e o l o g i s t s , a s c a v e s c i e n t i s t s a r e k n o w n , i n c h i n t o t h e D e p t h s , s l o w l y g e t t i n g
c l o s e r t o t h e c e n t r e o f t h e e a r t h
The large tent where breakfast is eaten lies in tatters on the ground. The smaller provisions tents are torn to shreds, supplies scattered everywhere. Several men try to cover the field kitchen with a tarpaulin; others hang sleeping bags out to dry. Many more are squatting around Gudaitis, their faces in their hands.
The base camp, about 2,200m above sea level and 60km as the crow flies south-east of the Russian city of Sochi, is in tatters. A storm of wind and rain ripped through the night before, severing all connections with the expedition’s other camps, deep underground in the cave – the deepest cave on the planet. Heavy rain makes underground lakes rise and underground waterfalls rage. At this moment, no one at base camp knows if colleagues in the cave have been swept away. The underground supply camps, the only refuge for the people down there, are likely flooded. This is no regular expedition: those camps, and those people, are more than 2,000m below the surface, as part of an attempt to go beyond 2,191m and set the record for the deepest ever journey underground.
Descending on ropes or on foot, climbing and crawling, worming and diving, the speleologists, as cave scientists are known, inch into the depths, slowly getting closer to the centre of the Earth. From down there, Gudaitis receives a liberating message: “All OK, the storm only temporarily cut off comms.”
The journey to the mouth of the Krubera Cave is arduous. Hours in trucks on bumpy, ever-narrowing paths into the steep hills of the Caucasus mountains. Waiting
at the end of the track are the donkeys of Vano, a local man who works as a shepherd here in the summer. He and his donkeys transport the tons of supplies and equipment to the base camp. Here, the entrance to the deepest cave in the world yawns unspectacularly between bushes and rocks, a hole 4m by 1m, the camouflaged mouth of a monster.
Krubera is named after the Russian speleologist Alexander Alexandrovich Kruber. He died 19 years before it was discovered, in 1960, by Georgian cavers. Looking down from above, it only covers an area of about half a square kilometre, but its complex system of limestone tunnels, terraces, shafts and chimneys zigs and zags for several kilometres. Many of the pathways are so narrow and wet that the only way through them is to crawl.
Every now and then, a crawling caver will emerge into a chamber the size of a
cathedral. There are caverns, subterranean landscapes filled with small lakes and waterfalls and blocked by sumps, as stretches of cave filled with ice-cold water are known. It is a proven fact that the cave is 2,191m deep. The floor of the cave is just above the sea level of the nearby Black Sea, but it’s underwater. The purpose of this expedition, under Ukranian leadership, is to reach the floor of the cave, currently mapped at the bottom of the sump known as Dva Kapitana (Two Captains).
Camps are erected at intervals on the way down, complete with tents,
Into the depthsThe entry to the Krubera Cave opens up unspectacularly among herbaceous plants and rock
Gearing upIn terms of equipment and logistics, exploring caves is much the same as mountaineering, only cavers go the other way
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A cave with a sea viewthe Krubera cave is the world’s deepest, stretching from a plateau in Georgia down to just above the Black sea
The krubera cave, discovered in 1960, has been explored down to a depth of 2,196m – thus far
The deepest point of the krubera cave to have been explored so far – only about 50m above the black sea, which is 13km away – was reached on august 10, 2012. cavers think there could be a direct link between the cave and the sea. They will try to find it this summer
55
fireplaces and toilet alcoves. There are supplies of food and water, petrol and gas for cooking, air cylinders for divers, batteries for lights and headlights, as well as medicines. The expedition prior to this one had seven campsites, the last at a depth of 1,960m below the cave entrance, a journey of two days.
On this trip, everything relies on the precise organisation that Yuri Kasyanov mercilessly drills above ground. Without permission from Kasyanov, the expedition leader, descending alone into the cave
is prohibited. Groups working in the cave – such as the biologists who search Krubera for new life forms – must check in with Kasyanov each night at a specified time, explaining the work they have done and any problems they might have. Only then is another day checked off as completed. Unless previously given an exemption by Kasyanov himself, every member of the expedition must report back no later than 11pm, regardless of their position in or above the cave. Should that not happen,
a person is considered missing and a rescue party is immediately deployed.
Kasyanov also meticulously assembles each of the descending groups. The Bashkir Honeys are made up of petite women from the Russian province of Bashkortostan, about 1,000km north-east. The girls have known the caves since childhood and feel more comfortable on a rope than on solid ground. The Iron Fist group comprises experienced male speleologists from several countries, who prepare the
56 the red bulletin
passage to the underwater floor of the cave and carry heavy equipment for other cave divers. A third group, The Lithuanians, are also experienced divers with a specific and important role: to assist Gennadiy Samokhin in his attempt to set a new depth record.
Samokhin has been involved in speleology for over 20 years. The gaunt, bearded Ukrainian lives in Crimea and reckons he spends five months a year underground.
During a 2007 expedition in Krubera, Samokhin broke the existing depth record. He travelled the last few metres underwater, in the Dva Kapitana sump, and almost paid for it with his life. To get out of the sump, he had to squeeze through three narrow passages. In the last tight spot, his wetsuit ripped and
G e n n a d i y S a m o k h i n b r o k e t h e e x i S t i n G d e p t h r e c o r d h e r e i n 2 0 0 7 , a n d a l m o S t p a i d f o r i t w i t h h i S l i f e . h e S u f f e r e d f r o m t h e b e n d S
icy water came in direct contact with his body. To avoid hypothermia, he had to get out of the water quickly – too quick to dispel the nitrogen that had accumulated in his body during the dive. He appeared at the mouth of the sump more than half an hour before scheduled, and suffered horrendous vision problems from the bends, tiny nitrogen bubbles clogging the capillaries in his brain and his eyes.
Samokhin finds caving inspiring. He uses every spare minute above ground to look for new caves, to ask questions about their topography. He talks only of caves. Yet breaking the depth record is last on his list of goals. He prefers instead to consider the complexity of the undertaking, because he knows that for the journey down, he needs an experienced and trustworthy team. He knows he has to pace himself. He
Taking it all down
Lowering supplies to make underground
camps can be painstakingly slow
57
only enters Krubera when the passage is prepared until just before the floor. Nothing about the journey worries him. “Fear is just a premonition of death,” says Samokhin, over dinner the night before his record attempt.
For those who don’t live large parts of their lives underground, the cave entrance can be unnerving. The closer you get, the more you feel the damp and cold seeping up through the hole into Hell. There is nothingness. The pitch-blackness even swallows the light of a headlamp. The Krubera begins as a sheer abyss. Its chimneys and shafts and caverns of sharp rocks are hostile. People are not welcome here. Metre by metre, rope length by rope length, it gets colder and frostier. Sunlight beckons only briefly in the mist overhead, then blackout.
After a pause to acclimatise at a depth of about 250m, the first tight bottleneck then opens into a large chamber with high ceilings. Emil Vash, one of the speleologists, tells how he always enjoys the drop into this inner world. “Every time I descend into a cave I feel at home,” he says. “Problems disappear, suffering disappears, I can relax.”
Positive thinking might be a precaution: the cave takes revenge on those who speak ill of it, say cavers, and they mean it. They honestly believe that the cave can punish them if they leave garbage behind, or break off too large a piece from a rock face.
“Feeling respect and even a little fear is maybe not such a bad thing,” says Aida Gudaitis, the head of The Lithuanians. “Unless fear mutates into panic, it is a healthy boundary between sound reason and stupid decisions.”
The deeper the advance into the cave, the more monotonous the daily routine. Secure lifelines, haul material, check and repair equipment; eat, drink, sleep. Day
and night, sunrise and sunset, rain and shine exist only in Yuri Kasyanov’s messages. The longer a team spends below ground, crowding around gas cookers and heaters under tarps, the more welcome are his messages received from above. In contrast, radio messages to the outside are short and clipped, business-like missives from the belly of the Earth.
At 700m down: Alexei falls ill. Probably a stomach ailment. Says he feels bad, goes to the toilet constantly. Possibly from dirty water?
A long and winding road The bulky equipment in waterproof bags hinders any chance of a quick descent
and discovered that he had cheated on her. Else is now depressed and refuses to leave the camp.
1,600m: Aida Gudaitis suffers from an ear and bladder infection. Kasyanov orders him to return to the surface camp, but he refuses.
He is supposed to lead The Lithuanians to the Dva Kapitana sump. With an ear infection, diving is out of the question, but the ambitious Gudaitis ignores all warnings and continues his descent.
Alexei is one of the strongest and best-prepared members of the group. Bad news for Yuri Kasyanov: his illness slows down the transport of supplies in the cave considerably.
1,400m: Else is sick. Could possibly be heartache. Lies in her sleeping bag and cries nonstop.
Else is a member of the Bashkir Honeys crew. She joined the expedition with her long-term boyfriend. Before descending into the cave, she secretly read the texts on his mobile phone
58 the red bulletin
the storm, another radio message arrives at the surface camp: “We have set a world record! The cave is 5m deeper.” Some members of the party, above and below ground, had expected Samokhin to extend the record further, but he risked his life for these 5m. To avoid a repeat of the problems that almost proved fatal in 2007, he used a different gas mixture. This time, the dive through the passage in the sump is a balancing act. Samokhin leaves spare tanks behind. Bends and ledges slow his progress. The pressure gauge in his tank shows one per cent of his oxygen left. When he resurfaces, his dive computer confirms the depth of 2,196m. Samokhin firmly believes that he can go deeper,
that he hasn’t reached the bottom of Krubera. He told Ukranian reporters that the Dva Kapitana sump could be 10 miles long, and that it ends in the Black Sea. But because the sump is only about 100cm by 60cm, with barely a slope to it, advancing 40m yields only 5m in depth. On his next attempt, Samokhin wants to use a rebreather, which captures exhaled air and enriches it with new oxygen. Using this method, dives can be extended from 30 minutes to several hours. He may even look elsewhere to try and break his record.
If Samokhin should find another entrance to Krubera, it might lead to a more convenient way to go deeper. He will never stop trying.
Deep down and delightedThe moment Gennadiy
Samokhin sets a new world record sees him
submerged in a flooded area of a dark cave
2,196m underground
L a t e a f t e r n o o n o n t h e d a y a f t e r t h e s t o r m , a n o t h e r r a d i o m e s s a g ea r r i v e s : “ W e h a v e s e t a W o r L d r e c o r d ! t h e c a v e i s 5 m d e e p e r ”
1,960m: Camp Rebus, the deepest cave camp in the world. Week three of the expedition, and Gennadiy Samokhin is ready to make a first record attempt.
The team is highly motivated, although no one knows if the weather will improve. At night underground they can hear how the rising water ‘snores’ in the sump. Even those with steady nerves feel anxious. Late afternoon on the day after
the red bulletin 59
r o llr o C KAWAY
o n ,Hurricane Sandy swamped the east coast of America, devastating New York City’s only public surf beach. A group of surfers have made it their mission to bring Rockaway beach back to lifeWords: Cole Louison Photography: Benjamin Lowy
SURF SPECIAL
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teve Stathis is sitting on the decking between Boarders, his gutted surf shop, and a painted wall of lockers on Beach 92nd Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard, two blocks from the Atlantic Ocean. “We look forward to hurricanes,” he says, “because they bring big waves. That’s the difference between us and normal people.”
Inside the shop, among debris, power tools, and a grumbling generator, Stathis’s son, granddaughter and surf buddies have congregated around a makeshift table where one of them has opened a yellowing album of old surf photos. Five months after Hurricane Sandy, the shop is still without electricity.
Stathis, 63, is the guy you seek out when you want to talk to someone about surfing in Rockaway, an 18km peninsula in Queens, New York that Sandy reduced “to a pile of rubble” according to The Wall Street Journal. Home to the only public surf beach in New York City, its breaks are ridden year round by a dedicated group of around 300 local surfers.
You might recognise Stathis if you read or watched a lot of news after the hurricane last October. The media followed him like an aura after the tragedy. His hair is mostly white, but
he is tan and tall, with a surfer’s upper-body build and the powerfully smooth gait of all water athletes. His accent is flatly Queens, with short vowels and muted r’s, and he speaks in an articulate, friendly way that welcomes outsiders by letting them know who’s in charge.
The wind blowing in off the water is cold, with whiffs of salty sand, but Stathis is sitting in the spring sunshine with his workshirt open listening to distant pops of nailguns. He is the founder and president of the Graybeards, a local nonprofit organisation formed in the wake of 9/11. To date, the group has raised and distributed over US$1 million to hurricane victims. He was one of the first people to ride the break two blocks away and is a living legend in the Rockaway surf scene, which is half a century old and spearheaded by himself and the guys inside his shop drinking coffee: Jimmy Dowd, Dennis McClean and John Roberts, the elder of the group, who calls his old surf buddy “a great, great man”.
“Rockaway is tight-knit,” says Stathis. “Growing up, you had to be careful what you did in this community, because someone would spot you and tell your parents.”
He pauses and watches a plane pass overhead. “And so there’s a lot of localism here. If you paddle out to the line and try to hog waves, you’re gonna get dealt with. But it’s changed. When I started surfing here, there were seriously like 10 guys in the water. Now? Forget about it.”
(And yes, he does pronounce it “fuhgeddaboudit”, though nobody says anything.)
“Yeah. A lot’s changed since it started.”
Steve Stathis in his gutted Rockaway Beach surf shop
62 the red bulletin
“We look forward to hurricanes because they
bring big waves”
Surfing didn’t start in Queens, Florida, California, or even Hawaii. It probably started 3,000 years ago in French Polynesia, an island nation of seagoing people who brought heenalu,
or ‘wave-sliding’, to Hawaii sometime in the 16th century. The earliest surviving records are the journals of European explorers, who first banned the activity, but soon found themselves sliding waves. Surfing stayed on Hawaii until 1907, when a local named George Freeth formally introduced it to America when he was hired by the Pacific Electric Railroad to ride waves for a public relations event organised to coincide with the opening of the company’s Redondo Beach line.
Surfing took to California and sprung up almost immediately in Florida, slowly moving up the coast. According to former
The isolated community of Rockaway was one of the hardest hit areas in New York
the red bulletin 63
professional surfer and surf historian Mike Tabeling, people paddled boards, but didn’t surf, off Virginia Beach throughout the 1920s, and there’s a 1934 record of a Californian named Tom Blake giving surf demonstrations in New York and New Jersey, although the surfers at Boarders, who have been riding the waves at Rockaway for six decades, say nothing caught on until the late 1950s.
It was Korean War veterans, they say, who made up the first scene: native New Yorkers returning from abroad with a newfound passion they were determined to try out at home, despite the comparatively small waves and 5OC water temperatures that drove surfers to wear two bathing caps and wool sweaters coated in oil.
Korea, now famous for its waves, saw the war end in July 1953, about five years before Dennis McClean started
The boardwalk at Rockaway Beach was washed away by the storm
64 the red bulletin
“Every year they tell us to evacuate, but we’re used to hurricanes here”
board, so I did and caught the next wave. That was it.”
Everybody here has their and-then- I-started-surfing story. They all begin in different places and end in the water, where they stay.
“Surfing kind of takes over your life,” says Stathis.
“I never looked back,” says McClean. “Once that bug bites you…” says
Roberts, trailing off.“I can’t imagine not doing it now,”
says Michelle Cortez, a 20-something Manhattan-born artist, who visited Rockaway in 2011 from Williamsburg and never left. “Surfing took over.”
Collectively, they offer their mostly overlapping histories of Rockaway surfing, the ebbs and flows of its popularity, their picketing City Hall for the surf beach they finally got in 2005, the reasons for the aggressive local culture, etc, and slowly but surely, a spooky truism arises: hurricanes mean big waves and waves mean good surfing.
“Every year they tell us to evacuate,” says Stathis. “We always say, ‘Well, we didn’t evacuate then and we’re not evacuating now, we’re used to hurricanes here,” he continues. “Hurricane Donna. Faith. Gloria. And we got excited when we heard Sandy was coming.”
Hurricane Sandy brought big surf. Double-headers, waves twice the height of a person, rolled into Rockaway 48 hours before the storm, bringing out the surfers and cops. Cortez,
who’d spent Hurricane Irene taking pictures from the boardwalk, found the surf too strong, but hung out on the beach. Police asked her and some friends to paddle out and tell the surfers not to surf.
At 4pm on Sunday, October 28, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the evacuation of Zone A, which included the coasts of Lower Manhattan, Williamsburg, Red Hook, Staten Island and all of Rockaway. “This evacuation is mandatory,” said the mayor. “It is for your own safety.” Anyone who stayed did so at their own risk.
Cortez and her neighbours decided to stay. A dozen friends congregated to make dinner and camp out in a second-floor room in the steel and brick building across the street. They called the gathering a ‘hurricane party’.
As winds picked up, Stathis watched the storm in a bar in Florida, where he’d gone with McClean for a holiday. His wife, Kathy, planned to fly down in two days. Hours before the storm hit, Kathy
surfing the break off his neighbourhood beach, but he remembers the older kids paddling out to the break a year or two before. This is around the time that a quiet fishing village 160km east of Rockaway was turning into a secret surf town, and today both Montauk’s waves and wild ’60s surf culture are the stuff of legend. (Entire books have been devoted to both Montauk and Korea’s surf scenes.)
If this were Top Gun, McClean might be Tom Skerritt, call sign Viper. Even among the skilled Rockaway surf elders, he is revered for his talent on a board. He was one of the first surfers on the east coast sponsored by legendary California surfboard company Hobie, and he was riding Rockaway “about two years” before he was regularly surfing with the core group that included John Roberts and Steve Stathis.
“What year? Hmmmmm,” he says, his winter hat pulled down past his eyebrows. “It was the year I was turned down for Little League. The scene was very small – my brother Dee and a couple of other guys. So I borrowed my friend’s board with a seam all the way around it and I didn’t do so well. Then one of the older guys said to move up on the
Jimmy Dowd, owner of surfing company
St James, stands where the boardwalk
used to be
John Roberts, one of the first to surf
the Rockaway break
the red bulletin 65
emailed a video of herself with their baby granddaughter, Charlotte. “Here we are in big, bad Hurricane Sandy,” she said, holding Charly up to the screen.
Two storeys above 91st Street, spirits were high at the hurricane party. There’d be no work tomorrow, so everyone was having fun, drinking beer and watching the weather forecast.
The storm was scheduled to hit the coast at 9pm, but by 5.30 things were picking up. “There was this point of silence at the party,” remembers Cortez, “and then a point where everyone went home.” She decided to check on her dog at
Hurricane Sandy was the second-costliest storm in US history after Katrina, when measured by the amount of damage. The National Hurricane Center estimates close to US$50 billion in property loss
“The surfing community gets a bad rep, but if it wasn’t for us, a lot of people would be dead”
Rockaway has been largely cleaned up, although it has yet to be rebuilt
Michelle Cortez went on a surfing trip to Rockaway – and has stayed there ever since
66 the red bulletin
at Cortez’s front door. Much of the 11km stretch of lumber disappeared, leaving a line of concrete pillars down the beach.
“Yeah, the boardwalk,” says Stathis. “The lifeblood of our community was the boardwalk, and now there’s no boardwalk.” A football-field-length piece of it had floated down 95th Street. Plane-sized chunks with their railings showed up 200m away. These were some of the first sights to greet Stathis when he came back to town two days later.
Cortez describes it as “Armageddon”. Stathis says words can’t describe it. “You had to see it,” he says.
No official relief would come to Rockaway for four days, though by mid-morning people were out, exploring the ruins and helping one another. Neighbours met on the relocated boardwalk, bartering for supplies. Drop stations were established on Cortez’s and other people’s front porches, with posted lists of what was needed most. Neighbours sought out elderly and housebound people and ran supplies to them. Some packed supplies on their backs and walked from house to house.
Dan Sullivan spent the morning paddling around the neighbourhood on his surfboard, rescuing dogs and cats. “The surfing community gets a bad notch,” he says, “but if it wasn’t for us, a lot of people would be dead.”
Sullivan stands at the corner of Beach 92nd and Holland Avenue while his cousin chops wood at the house behind him. A musician and producer who lost his studio, Sullivan and his brother distributed gas generators around the neighbourhood to homes without heat.
Rockaway has been largely cleaned up, though not rebuilt. Most of the wrecked cars, homes, and the boardwalk have been hauled away, leaving only indications of the storm: water lines, lawns with no grass, homes with no siding. The neighbourhood looks scrubbed clean in a way that’s off-putting and violent. As Sullivan speaks, internal and external renovations are taking place on every street, some by work crews, some by families, some by solitary home owners. Homes are patched with bright sheets of new plywood.
Like most locals, Sullivan says the widely praised Federal response here was nil, then slow at best. Five days after Sandy, no one had mobile phone service or running water. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) didn’t arrive until November 8, and six weeks later, most residents were still without power and fighting a new problem at home: mould. FEMA would eventually offer grants or loans to local homeowners,
of power. Around this time Stathis got a text from his wife: “We’re going to die.”
They all got through the night and at around 5.30 in the morning, Cortez and a friend decided to venture out. They walked down the stairwell to find the lobby more than half a metre deep in sand and the courtyard full of broken glass and sofas. The abandoned SUV was wedged in the doorway.
“We stepped outside and the first thing out of both our mouths was, ‘The boardwalk is gone.’ There are so many unbelievable things that happened. But the boardwalk being gone, that was, uh…”
If the boardwalk represents Rockaway, then what Sandy did to the boardwalk is metaphorically appropriate. The damage estimates for Sandy are upwards of US$50 billion. New York City was the hardest-hit area and
Rockaway was among the hardest-hit neighbourhoods in New York City. About US$150 million in damage was done to the beach alone. Boarders was flooded with 2m of water, though the tide stopped
home and, off the kerb outside, stepped into water up to her shins. It was hours before high tide and there was a full moon. She ran across the street, and “in about eight minutes” packed a bag, unplugged everything and got her dog. When she stepped off her porch, the water was up to her hips. “That was the moment when I thought I’d made a mistake. That something really major was going to happen,” she says.
A group of about 15 people spent the night in a room whose windows rattled in the storm, even though they were built to withstand 110mph winds. At one point, someone spotted an SUV floating down the street with three young men inside. Jimmy Dowd, the owner of a surf gear company called St James, went upstairs and retrieved three wetsuits, then swam to out the vehicle with two friends and pulled the men through the sunroof.
Power was lost at two in the morning when a transformer blew into the side of the building.
Cortez stayed up texting her mother every 10 minutes, until her phone ran out
“The first thing out of out
mouths was, ‘The boardwalk
is gone’”
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tenants, and businesses, though residents say the process was untimely, confusing and ultimately ineffective.
“We got nothing out here,” says Sullivan. “Last month I got $2,000 for flood insurance that cost $1,800 a year that I’d paid for 20 years. But you know, it doesn’t matter. The community pulled together and made things happen.”
Since there were no roads or public transport, the first volunteers arrived riding bicycles with trailers full of supplies. Stathis recognised many as the Williamsburg ‘hipsters’ who would frequent his shop during the summer. “They were riding 15 or 20 miles, helping clean up all day, then riding back,” he says. “We’re gonna have to rename them Helpsters.”
One such Helpster was Beastie Boy Mike D. Raised on the Upper West Side, he now lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two kids and has been known to catch a wave or two in Rockaway. The weekend after Sandy, he found himself volunteering alongside his old board buddy Robert McKinley, creator of Montauk’s Surf Lodge. Supplies and volunteers were plentiful, but hot meals were few and far between. With the help of their friend Sam Talbot, a surfer and former contestant on reality TV show Top Chef, they set up a station on 45th and Beach Channel Drive, grilling chicken.
As lines grew, they looked to upgrade. Within a few days McKinley found a weathered truck from the Canadian eatery Swiss Chalet and the Rockaway Plate Lunch Truck was born. It still bore the Swiss Chalet logo and, appropriately, the word FRESH. In lieu of an ‘Open’ sign, the guys leaned a salvaged wooden pallet against the front bumper, spray painted with a welcome: “HELLO ROCKAWAYS” it read, “COME + EAT.”
By Halloween, Cortez’s drop station was overflowing to the extent that she
Rockaway resident and surfer Paul Kadish
commandeered an empty townhouse across 96th Street. Originally a storage area with high stacks of tools, matches, diapers, cleaning supplies, canned goods, and bottled water, it became a full-blown relief centre, with a soup station, warming tent and a fleet of volunteers running supplies throughout the neighbourhood.
Five months later, the house is no longer just 183 Beach 96th Street, but Smallwater, a nonprofit organisation (with a lease) headed by Cortez. Hurricane relief remains the focus, with mould removal
and demolition services still in demand, but Smallwater volunteers also offer free trauma therapy and workshops that focus on the local environment. Other organisations have partnered with Smallwater to give locals rebuilding money. A few blocks away, the Rockaway Plate Lunch Truck is still open five days a week
The outside of Boarders, which was still without power five months after the hurricane
Steve Stathis with Rockaway native and lifelong surfer Mary Leonard
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and recently served its 20,000th meal. The single-special menu has not changed.
A few blocks further on, sitting on his balcony, Dowd watches a work crew clustered around the southern tip of the half-finished boardwalk he used to change under as a kid.
“The magnet in this community is the ocean,” he says. “It’s a force and we’re like pieces of metal that stick to it. It holds us here. It brings people to the beach.”
Six storeys down, nailguns pop. The wind blows over the flat surf. “No waves today,” says Dowd, “but it’s supposed to be good tomorrow.”www.nycgovparks.org/parks/rockawaybeach
“The magnet in this community
is the ocean and we’re like
pieces of metal that stick to it”
Follow the surfers of Rockaway Beach as the deal with devastation of Hurricane Sandy in the free Red Bulletin tablet edition.
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A f t e r a d e c a d e d o m i n a t e d b y
S é b a s t i e n L o e b , t h e W o r l d R a l l y
C h a m p i o n s h i p n e e d s a f r e s h
l e a d i n g m a n .
W o r d s : W e r n e r J e s s n e r P h o t o g r a p h y : M c K l e i n
I n a s p o r t w i t h i t s f a i r
s h a r e o f c h a r a c t e r a c t o r s , w h o c a n
b e t h e n e w s t a r o f t h e s e r i e s ?
reinventing the
whee l
WRC driver Evgeny Novikov at this
year’s Acropolis Rally in Greece
whee l
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he king of rally, the once-in-a-lifetime genius, the demolisher of records, has just one more race to go before the chequered flag falls for the last time. In Strasbourg in October, on the Rallye de France-Alsace, Sébastien Loeb will, on home-country roads, mark the end of his era and a dominance the likes of which rally has never seen and is unlikely to see again anytime soon.
When Loeb debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1999, the stars of the show were Tommi Mäkinen, Carlos Sainz, Richard Burns and Colin McRae. To win a race, you needed a Mitsubishi or Subaru or even a Peugeot as long as the
charismatic Finn Marcus Grönholm was behind the wheel. Then came Loeb, larger than life, winning nine titles in a row, all of them with Citroën, a manufacturer previously noted for a single Monte Carlo Rally victory in 1966, which came after the Mini Coopers in first, second and third were disqualified for having the wrong kind of headlights.
To see Loeb compete – in the formative Xsara, then in the wonderful C4, and finally in the dinky DS3 – was to witnesses greatness. They said that a non-Scandinavian could never win Finland’s 1000 Lakes Rally, but if you were to place a pebble on the apex at
Doing everything right: Sébastien Ogier (also below left) and Volkswagen Motorsport in the lead after the first sweltering day of action in Greece
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A n i c o n i c r a c e . E c o n o m i c c r i s i s ?
N o t h e r e , n o t n o w
the exit of a curve combination there, every driver would be at least a metre away from the sweet spot – except Loeb.
Loeb deserves all platitudes, but the abdication of the “best car driver in the world” (copyright: Michael Schumacher) opens up significant new prospects for the WRC. If changes have to be made, now is the time to make them.
GladiatorsThe Acropolis Rally in Greece is one of the iconic events in the calendar, driven on dusty, stony gravel paths around the Isthmus of Corinth, treacherous for every part of its 1,052km course length.
Drained: Russian driver Evgeny Novikov
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the spectators along the route love the WrC. they come in their thousands to get covered in dust and bombarded with gravel from the cars’ back wheels. they barbecue at the roadside for the special stages, armed with flags and cameras. Year after year, they stare, gleeful and amazed, as the heroes tear past in their loud, colourful cars. economic crisis, unemployment, bad mood? Not here, not now. Just put on your VW cap and Ford t-shirt and join the party!
Ancient Greek stories established that, before the status of hero can be conferred, there comes a test, which, at least in the short term, leads to failure.
Sébastien Ogier, the staunch, upright driver of the VW team, was tested in battle against Loeb last season, driving a second-tier Skoda S2000. the current world championship leader, now driving a Polo, he sets off first as clear favourite.
drivers here have particular respect for two special stages: the first from Kineta to Pissia, because it’s tough and long; the second, Kineta, because it’s driven at night. the banks of hood-mounted spotlights on 300hp- plus four-wheel-drives can’t hope to elicit every secret from Greek donkey trails. An average speed of around 90kph is expected on a road
Mikko Hirvonen is striving to fill Loeb’s shoes
I t ’ s p i t c h d a r k i n G r e e c e , b u t e v e r y o n e i s w i d e a w a k e
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edit
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that would shred the nerves of normal drivers in normal cars at normal speeds.
Ogier is expected to win the night stage handsomely, with an intimidating time, but it doesn’t turn out that way. After just 10 minutes at racing speed, the VW Polo r WrC and its fuel supply have stopped. it’s all over for Ogier. Later, the mechanics will determine that the plug to the fuel pump has come loose, and who knows how that could have happened. A stupid defect, but decisive for the race. it’s dark in Greece, but everyone’s wide awake.
the king of the night (and the next morning) is russian driver evgeny Novikov, with the co-driving genius ilka Minor from Austria at his side. Minor learnt her championship chops at the right hand of Manfred Stohl, for years the best privateer in WrC, and later proved a flawless guide to Norway’s Henning Solberg. She is now leading a rally for the first time.
“Finally we’re right where we’re supposed to be,” she says, standing in the dark in the service area. Novikov’s joy is more internalised. He was once the youngest driver to win a WrC special stage, but that pales beside tonight’s achievement. Novikov has the biggest balls of all the top drivers, but the next morning he rips a break disc on a concealed stone, and then a brake line, a wheel rim, a wheel, a strut. But, in the end the man from Moscow wins four of the Acropolis rally’s 14 special stages.
Mikko Hirvonen of Citroën had high hopes for Greece, but the once
On the menu at the Greek rally: night,
dust, stones, holes
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unflappable Finn is flapping about. his stats say he is slow, but if a technical problem in the first special stage means your front wheels no longer do what your steering wheel commands, a light foot on the pedal is better ascribed to caution than cowardice. nonetheless, hirvonen, whose 15 wrC victories make him the most successful of the current drivers apart from loeb, is a long way from fulfilling the role intended for him: to defend the world championship cup for Citroën sport. hirvonen is no loeb, and that’s rarely been more apparent than this season, of all seasons, the one that would really count.
For a long stretch of the rally, the battle for the lead moves in time-lapse. to force a decision requires reflexes rather than brain capacity: at the limits the car must become a part of the body, a part you can position down to the centimetre while driving at 160kph on a gravel lane, running on instincts or blind trust in whatever your co-driver tells you. sébastien ogier is managing that best, and lately, so has his team-mate, the 28-year-old Finn jari-Matti latvala, who has been rally’s ‘man of the future’ for what seems like a decade. By turns lightning fast and error-prone, latvala has finally found his niche at Vw. For a while he was playing dogsbody at Ford, but
the cool, calm, clever Vw motorsports director jost Capito gives him space: “everyone can be a winner here.”
with ogier’s technical problems, it’s latvala who carries the team’s hopes in greece, and he performs brilliantly. on the rutted, unyielding gravel piste there’s a rock or a hole lying in wait around every corner that can stop your race dead. But slow down too much and you become prey to opponents who will notice any reduction in pace instantly. After winning the rally, latvala thanks and hugs everyone on his triumphant return to the service park, even the mechanics for ogier and his young norwegian teammate Andreas Mikkelsen.
Forging a dominant troupe out of a functional team and breaking Citroën’s perpetual dominance within half a season: this is all Capito’s doing. Capito says that the objective for the season is to “fight for one of the two championship titles, driver or team, until the end”, and he has an unlikely advocate in latvala, who says he has “ended many seasons in the top three of the drivers’ championship but never won the team championship. that’s my goal for this year. Anything else, i’ll take it as it comes.”
in 2014, manufacturers will be allowed to bring new, improved cars
Not without my digicam: fans follow
Norwegian Ford driver Andreas Mikkelsen
A r o u n d e v e r y c o r n e r t h e r e ’ s a r o c k t h a t c o u l d e n d a d r i v e r ’ s r a l l y
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saturday september 7th
to the starting line. VW voluntarily waived this right, aware of its opponents’ issues. Citroën is casting an eye on the touring car scene as a future sphere of activity. Ford’s involvement is down to the personal interest of motorsports boss Malcolm Wilson, with no more participation from the manufacturing side. And if Hyundai step up as a new manufacturer, it’s only fair that they start on a level playing field.
New rulesOne thing is clear: the WRC, a mighty live experience, a superior sporting series, is currently having trouble establishing its force on the ground. In most parts of Europe, Jari-Matti Latvala can walk the streets unrecognised, “and when I’m on holiday in California I may as well be an alien.” If it were up to the Finn, he would make sure that WRC were broadcast live around the world. He might be in
luck, because there’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes to ensure better presentation of the sport, and to increase its standing. (Latvala received the Greece cup from the hands of FIA president Jean Todt, an honour rarely even accorded Formula One victors.)
About 50 million people currently watch the WRC on television. With Red Bull Media House assuming control of the rights in co-operation with the Sportsman Media Group, the aim is to double this figure in the short-to-medium term. The FIA rally chief, Michèle Mouton, who finished runner-up
in the 1982 world rally championship, and WRC race organisers are currently rethinking the format of the rallies. What about a marathon day without servicing, for example? How do you make the most of the special stages? What do you do on the Sundays? How about a shoot-out for the final special stage: the fastest and second-fastest in the rally to that point competing for first place, third- and fourth-fastest for third, and so on, until 10th place?
There are lots of options and ideas on the table, ideas to be discussed, discarded, determined by vote or democratically replaced with something better. These are exciting times for the World Rally Championship. www.wrc.com
Greece winners 2013: Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikka Anttila.
Above right: Sébastien Ogier studies his final time sheet.
Above left: Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia in action
Watch the extended highlights from the Acropolis Rally in The Red Bulletin tablet edition. Download it now for free.
A l o t o f w o r k i s g o i n g o n t o i n c r e a s e W R C ’ s s t a n d i n g
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YOUR MOMENT.BEYOND THE ORDINARY©
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The BDI performance group entertained the crowd between sets
MORE than
Unique among music festivals, Swaziland’s acclaimed Bushfire doesn’t just uplift its audience, it uplifts an entire communityWords: Lloyd Gedye Photography: Sydelle Willow Smith
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s the beat drops, the audience bounces in unison and more than 8,000 pairs of arms reach skyward. It’s Saturday night at the Bushfire music festival in Swaziland and Colombian outfit Bomba Estéreo has just hit the main stage.
Pacing its length, their petite frontwoman, Liliana Saumet, scours the onlookers, gazing from left to right before unleashing a torrent of sounds, unfamiliar to the non-Spanish-speaking ear. Dressed in silver high-top sneakers with black stockings, high-cut denim shorts and a bird of paradise-adorned white shirt, Saumet has the crowd eating out of her hand.
Behind her, a tight-knit three-piece, mostly dressed in black, are busy demonstrating a sonic power that this seventh edition of Bushfire has over its audience. The fact that Saumet is rapping in a foreign language makes little difference to them. They’re utterly enthralled by the music and attitude of this new-age Aztec princess and her band. With each flailing arm and MC pose, the crowd roars its approval.
If you’re looking for the real power of music – that ability to unite people across the boundaries of race and culture for a moment in time – then Bomba Estéreo’s performance is no better example. And when it comes to cultural diversity, you don’t
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Far left: Dancers from Swaziland in traditional dress. Left: Bomba Estéreo’s lead singer, Liliana Saumet. Below: A rapturous reception for The Soil
get a music festival in Southern Africa that can compete with Bushfire.
“We certainly celebrate bringing different people together,” said Bushfire festival director Jiggs Thorne earlier in the day when The Red Bulletin tied him down for a chat. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
A few hours later, the physical manifestation of what Thorne was talking about is in full effect. Festivalgoers from Swaziland, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ghana, England, Spain, France, Germany, Holland, America, Brazil and Colombia are shaking their asses in unison.
“Our programme reflects the diversity of people who attend the festival,” says Thorne. “When people come together across cultures, there is a fusion of stories. People talk about the Bushfire atmosphere and I think it’s just that, it’s a masala of ingredients from around the world.”This year alone offered up acapella gospel
“We started in 2007 with 4 , 500 people and now we are capped at about 20,000. I don’t think we can take any more than that”
Above: Festival director Jiggs Thorne. Right: Nozinga from Shangaan Electro. Opposite page top (l-r): Khasi soul group The Soil; The Brother Moves On. Opposite page bottom: Festivalgoers in high spirits
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pop from South Africa’s The Soil, punk-blues attitude from Reunion Island’s Nathalie Natiembé, acoustic guitar rhythm from Niger’s Tuareg maestro Allouhseni Anivolla, banging break-neck dance moves and beats from Giyani’s own Shangaan Electro, and afro-futurist rock from Johannesburg’s The Brother Moves On. Not to mention the headline act from Colombia.
The Setting, the Mission…Bushfire is hosted every year at the fantastical paradise that is House on Fire. Built in the Ezulwini Valley, which translates as ‘Place Of Heaven’, 23km from Swaziland’s capital, Mbabane, this amphitheatre and performance area is a quirky mosaic and sculpture-filled wonder that infuses Bushfire with an other-worldly atmosphere.
Founded in 2006, the festival held it’s seventh edition in 2013 and was pretty much at full capacity in 2013, with punters flooding in for its three-day celebration of art, craft, music, dance,
theatre and poetry. The fact that over 10,000 people pour through the gate on Saturday alone, gives an indication of how this festival has gone from strength to strength.
Key to its success is Bushfire festival director Thorne and his vision for a Pan-African arts festival. He explains its history, legacy and impact: “House on Fire hosts a sculpture workshop and ongoing multi-disciplinary arts programme throughout the year. After seven years of running House on Fire we wanted to expand the concept. We had this idea of the fire bursting out of House on Fire and escaping, creating a wildfire. Basically a bushfire was the idea behind the festival.”
Clearly the fire not only took, but spread.“We started in 2007 with 4,500 people
and now we are capped at about 20,000 over the three days,” says Thorne. “I don’t think we can take any more than that.”
The recently added venue, The Barn, is a space at the festival for debates, lectures, films screenings and interactive art, illustrating the festival’s commitment to the development of ideas in Swaziland, as much as it’s into developing artists. That, however, is just part of Bushfire’s mission – social responsibility and development are also at the forefront of its agenda, with its partner, Young Heroes, receiving 100 per cent of profits from the festival. Young Heroes is an NGO that assists HIV/AIDS orphans in Swaziland through social grants, medical care, and skills and vocational training for school-leavers.
“From the onset I really wanted to use the platform to address issues around development and meet real needs in the area,” says Thorne. “There was this idea of creating a platform that can address arts development, but also broader societal development. I met Steve Kallaugher, the founder of Young Heroes, shortly after I decided to start this festival and he explained to me the very real experiences of orphans in Swaziland and so Young Heroes became the festival’s beneficiary.”
Kallaugher picks up the story: “One day I saw Jiggs at a gig and I went to him and said I am doing this project for
FireFest Route It gets better. Bushfire is now also part of FireFest. Launched in 2013, it is Africa’s first festival circuit.
The FireFest Route includes:
Harare International Festival of Arts, (HIFA) in Zimbabwe www.hifa.co.zw
The Azgo festival in Mozambique www.facebook.com/Azgofestival.Official
The BlackMajor festival in South Africa www.facebook.com/blackmajorsa
The Bushfire festival in Swaziland www.bush-fire.com
The Sakifo Musik festival in La Reunion www.facebook.com/SakifoMusikFestival
All five of these festivals take place between April 30 and June 9 – an intentional realignment by all to realise the potential benefits of a festival circuit.
“It’s a very exciting project,” says Bushfire festival director Jiggs Thorne. “We started last
year, trying to get five Southern African festivals into a manageable tour timeframe. It is amazing, because for the first time in our history we have been able to export Swazi acts to the region. We sent artists to Safiko Musik last year and they are sending us artists this year. This means so much to the artists.” One of the main benefits to result from the formation of the festival is the sharing of costs when bringing top acts to perform. In 2013, Colombian act Bomba Estéreo headlined the FireFest Route – appearing at all member events. The Brother Moves On (South Africa), Hope Masike (Zimbabwe), Masikane (Swaziland) and Muzilation (Mozambique) also joined the Firefest Route for its full duration.
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orphans in Swaziland and I need your help,” says Kallaugher. “I had hoped that he may add R10 to a ticket for some show at House on Fire or do a benefit gig.”
Thorne had something a little more radical in mind. He wasn’t thinking an add-on fee to the ticket of a small show, but a new music festival, of which a 100 per cent of the profits would go to Young Heroes. There are an estimated 120,000 AIDS orphans in Swaziland and prior to 2013, Bushfire had raised over R530,000 for the NGO, benefiting over 900 orphans.
Bushfire also donates 100 per cent of all merchandise sales to the Gone Rural boMake community development programme, which assists rural women and their children with health, education and water services. Not counting this year, the festival has made over R160,000 for the project to date.
That’s not where Bushfire’s economic footprint ends either – a study conducted in 2011 showed that Bushfire generated R12-million in tourist receipts that year, an enormous impact on the Ezulwini Valley. On top of that, every year it creates direct employment for over 1,000 Swazis
“Bushfire has been a really big economic driver. I mean this weekend there are no beds left in Swaziland, which shows the impact,” says Thorne.
… and the Music and Musicians.Bushfire is not only developing a name among festivalgoers, but the unique vibe and atmosphere it offers is beginning to reach musicians from foreign shores, too. Bomba Estéreo had only played in Africa once before – the Agadir Festival in Morocco last year – so the prospect of travelling south to Bushfire was attractive.
This current tour to Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland would be a new experience for the Colombians.
“Colombia has a rich heritage of influence from African music,” says Simón Mejia, the band’s founder, bassist and keyboard programmer. “My own personal influence with African music is huge – from the ’70s up until now.”
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Creaked Records and features samples that she collected in Mali, Ghana, Burkina Faso and South Africa. Anything from knives being sharpened at a market in the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou, to the sound of an ill-fitting door being opened in a cottage in Johannesburg, or even to Frempong’s mother’s loud washing machine made it onto the album.
“I wanted the lyrics to be based on stories, traditional and everyday, nowadays experiences of people I’d meet on the way,” she says.
Alhousseini Anivolla,the Tuareg guitarist from Niger was also no stranger to Southern Africa. In fact he has visited South Africa twice before, with his band Etran Finatawa in 2009, and then again in 2011 for a project called Guitafrik.
“I enjoyed our first tour in 2009 so much,” says Anivolla. “I appreciated the audience, the welcome, I felt very comfortable here in Southern Africa.”
This time Anivolla played shows in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Harare, Durban and at Bushfire. His performance at Bushfire saw him collaborating with KwaZulu-Natal guitarist Guy Buttery. Their performance early on Sunday afternoon was a laid-back affair, with the two guitarists interlocking rhythms creating a potent fusion.
It’s fusion that, when thrown into the already rich blend of Bushfire’s line-up, makes for a memorable audience experience. Dhuha Tawil, an American currently volunteering for Peace Corps in Swaziland raved about the performance afterwards. “That was awesome,” she said. “The thing I love about the festival is the diversity in the artists performing. Bushfire really showcases Africa and its art.”
And this from Rob Verrecchia, a 20-something doctor from Sheffield in the UK currently working in South Africa: “I loved the fact that I met so many new people at the festival. My personal musical highlight was definitely South African part-band, part-performance artists The Brother Moves On.”
But Bushfire is not just a festival for international travellers, Mzi Lupupa, a lecturer from a local university in Manzini was attending his third Bushfire: “I keep coming back. It’s the warm, friendly people and the great music on offer every year. My favourites this year? The Soil and Toya DeLazy. I’ll definitely be back in 2014.”
Ultimately, this is the beauty of Bushfire. Different races, different cultures, different nationalities coming together to have a party and celebrate art – while at the same time making a real difference to local Swazis’ lives.
He references Fela Kuti and the Afrobeat movement, which tore through the continent in the ’70s, and newer artists like Kinshasa’s Konono No1 and South Africa’s Shangaan Electro. Bomba Estéreo have dubbed their music ‘electro vacilón’ which translates as ‘electro tropical’, an interesting if not obscure description.
“They are terms to try to explain a certain mix that is difficult to categorise, as there are many influences, from traditional Colombian music to African music, to electronics, rock, dub, ambient...”
However you attempt to describe Bomba Estéreo’s sound, it is heady brew. If you are looking for pointers, imagine M.I.A. was Colombian. It’s also a mix that went down a storm on Saturday night.
Another visiting musician with appropriately multi-cultural roots was Ghanaian/Swiss Joy Frempong. Returning to Bushfire for the second time, she previously toured South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique in 2009 with the band Filewile, and in 2011 she returned to play some gigs in Swaziland and South Africa as a solo artist under the Oy moniker.
A creative artist interested in people and their culture, no surprises then that her set on Sunday afternoon was met with roars of approval from the crowd. Frempong’s music borrows from the palettes of jazz, hip-hop and electronic music, but is improvisational and experimental in nature, using loads of found sounds. Her latest album Kokokyinaka was recently released on
Left: Steve Kallaugher, founder of Young Heroes. Below left: Nathalie Natiembé on the main stage with Cheney. Below: Colombian fans during Bomba Estéreo’s show. Bottom: Jeremy Loops back at Bushfire for the second year running
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FREEDOWNLOADYOUR MOMENT.
BEYOND THE ORDINARY
Padel power: how Red Bull X-Fighters champ Dany Torres hones his lightning reactions
TRaining, page 93
a c t i o n !T r a v e l / G e a r / T r a i n i n G / n i G h T l i f e / M U S i C / p a r T i e S / C i T i e S / C l U b S / e v e n T S
Hanging tough: there are no
ropes in deep-water soloing
Where to go and what to do
Rock and aweT h e p u r e a dr en a l in ru s h of conqu er ing a 65f T rock face a r m ed on ly w i T h you r w i T sTRavel, over the page
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the red bulletin 89
Ups and downs Deep -Wat er Soloing a C r o at i a n C l i m b W i t h n o S u p p o r t a n D n o p r o t e C t i o n , j u S t b a r e h a n D S o n W e t r o C k – t h e n a p l u n g e i n t o t h e a D r i at i C
Advice from the insideGo with A pro
“Always take a guide,” says duke. “they know the area and the tides and can make sure you don’t get into
trouble when you’re climbing. there’s always a boat on standby to help, too. And don’t look down!”
A n d A n o t h e r
t h i n gdo split
before you split
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Take the leap“The first thing is to practise the jumping,” “it can be difficult,” says piccini, “and falling is dangerous. climbers need to be used to it. climb to a low overhang over deep water, as this is the safest jump. when you are comfortable with that, you can focus on the climb and go higher.”
seAfood, eAt it
After swimming with fish, try dining
on it. high-end nostromo is aptly
located next to split’s fish market.
or more rustic is the popular
Konoba matejuska. www.konoba matejuska.hr
Keep on risinG
if your legs can take it, climb the
200 steps of split’s 190ft bell
tower (left) at the cathedral
of saint domnius for
an unparalleled view of the
rock you just conquered. www.inyour pocket.com
hAve A beAch pArty
Join split’s trendies on Kasuni
beach’s white sand. relax by day
then head to beachside
nightspot Jungla for bright lights
and beats. www.resident
advisor.net
there’s a reason the spanish call deep-water soloing psicobloc or ‘psycho bouldering’: it’s the kind of climbing that involves dizzying heights and a very minimalist approach to kit. Forget carabiners, ropes and hard hats: the only aid is a handful of chalk. it’s man versus rock with a mandatory sea plunge.
with 1,000 steep-faced islands, croatia is an ideal base for both novice and experienced climbers wanting to go it alone, but with rushes come risks. “any climb over 10m is potentially fatal,” says instructor daniel piccini. “safety is a big concern. this is a totally different experience of climbing, even for a pro. people have to adapt.”
londoner gary duke, 31, climbed with piccini in split, croatia’s second largest city. “it’s unlike anything i’d done before, it’s pure adrenalin,” he says. “i’ve been lead climbing for three years, and with this there wasn’t the distraction of clipping and rope work, so you can focus completely on the climb. it’s so freeing.
“i got up to 50ft knowing a jump was the only way down. it was extremely scary – but it’s a huge part of the thrill. it was the best climbing i’ve ever done.”climb with Avantura Adventure: www.avantura.biz
splashing time: after climbing over water without ropes, there’s only one way down
AcTion !travel
90 the red bulletin
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Firebreathers? Check. Go-go dancers? Check. Karaoke with a live band? Check. The eclectic offerings of Portland club Dante’s include all of these, as well as a diverse live music line-up that features rock, New Orleans brass bands, reggae and Pink Floyd cover bands. “Sunday night we do Sinferno, a burlesque and cabaret show, and I don’t think there’s a place on the West Coast that could match it,” says Stephen Santoro, co-owner and general manager. If all that wasn’t enough, one of the club’s other regular performers is Nik Sin, the little person performer better known as Mini Marilyn Manson.
Burn baby burn P o r t l a n d, U S a da n t e 'S h e at S U P t h a n kS t o t h e ac c l a i m e d S U n day n i g h t b U r l e S q U e S h ow, S i n f e r n o
j e a n s & m o u s t a c h e s
Da n t e ’ s o w n e r s t e p h e n s a n t o r o o n h i s n i g h t s p o t
Captivating performers: cage dancers at Dante’s
Life is a cabaret: acts range from
fire-eaters to ventriloquists
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Action !party
the CrowD“Portland has definitely
turned into a hipster town, so no matter what the show,
we get a lot of long hair, fancy moustaches and skinny jeans.’
the Drinks“I try to keep my price
point down because I hate going to the hotel next door and paying $10 for a Ketel
One greyhound.”
the fooD“We‘ve always had our
own pizza kitchen, with New York-style pizza. We open at
11am every day, so we get a lot of people who have a slice and grab a seat
for lunch.”
s h o w t i m e
p o r t L a n D ' s b e s t b a n D s
Dante’s350 west burnside streetportland, oregon 97209, Usawww.danteslive.com
shinsafter bailing on the
desert climes of albuquerque, new
Mexico, alt-rock darlings the shins
hit their sweet spot in portland
with albums Chutes too narrow
and wincing the night away.
www.theshins.com
sLeater-kinneyyes, yes, they’re
technically from olympia,
washington, but band co-founder
Carrie brownstein’s rock chick
aesthetic defines portlandia, the tV
show that, well, defines portland.
www.ifc.com/shows/portlandia
DeCeMberists the indie folk
rock band honed their theatrical
live shows in pubs around portland and released their first album on the city’s hush
records.www.decemberists.
com
92 the red bulletin
Torres has a tattoo that reads ‘where some see fear, I find fun’. In the course of his FMX career, he has suffered major injuries to his hands and his legs, but the truth of the matter is in his ink. “My motto remains ‘enjoy what you do’,” he says. He applies this philosophy to his training regime. “I want to spend as much of my life as possible on two wheels, with BMX, motocross and mountain biking.” Twice a week, for three hours at a time, Torres practises tricks like the Paris Hilton flip, a backflip with his legs straddling the handlebars of his bike. You certainly won’t find him in the weights room. “I don’t even use the one I have,” admits Torres, who prefers to keep flexible with stretching and strengthening exercises for his back and legs.
Raise both legs simultaneously and lower them again. They shouldn’t touch the floor, nor be raised too high.
Lying on the ball, raise your right arm and left leg, then left arm and right leg, holding
the stretch for three seconds.
Lay your hips on a Swiss ball, support yourself with your hands, keep your back
straight and lift each leg up and down.
With toes braced against the floor, put your hands behind your back, then slowly and evenly
raise your upper body and lower it again.
D o T r y T h i s A T h o m e
1 2
3
“Contortions on the bike and impacts on landing: all of that affects your back,” says Torres. “These four exercises – do 10 repetitions of each – will increase the stability of the lower back region.”
4
M A T C H F I TAnyone foR TenniS?
Action !workout
PAdeL do niCeLy foR dAny’S ALL-Round gAme “Padel tennis,” says Torres, “is a cross between tennis and squash that’s mainly played in Spain and South America. A dynamic sport that hones your reactions and your flexibility, it keeps my body fit.”
All the fun of the airR e d B u l l X- F i g h t e R s d a n y t o R R e s F l i e s a B o u t o n h i s B i k e , d o e s Pa R i s h i lt o n s a n d c a n n o t B e s e R i o u s
Spanish freestyle motocross Rider dany Torres was Red Bull X-fighters World Tour champion in 2011, and has been flying through the air on a motorcycle since 2002.
dany Torres at the dubai leg of the 2013
Red Bull X-fighters World Tour
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the red bulletin 93
g ross e r t i e rga rt e n
Museum Island
Nordhafen
schlesischer Busch
Potsdamer Platz
Lützowplatz
Checkpoint Charly
Brandenburg Gate
e r n st-t h ä l m a n n -Pa r k
Vo l ks Pa r k F r i e d r i c h s h a i n
kreuzBerg
tiergarten
Prenzlauer Berg
mitte
Friedrichstrasse
Wilhelm
straße
Luisenstrasse
Chausseestrasse
Heidestrasse
Torstrasse
Alt-Moabit
KurfürstenstrasseBülowstrasse
Invalidenstrasse
Turmstrasse
Perleberger S
trasse
Bernauer Strasse
Leipziger Strasse
Gitschiner Strasse
Oranienstrasse
Holzmarktstrasse
Skalitzer Strasse
War
scha
uer S
tras
se
Strasse des 17 Juni
Pren
zlau
er A
llee
Otto-
Braun
-Str
asse
Pots
dam
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tras
se
Karl-Marx-Allee
Hallesches Ufer
Annenstrasse
Karl-Marx-Allee
Landsberger Allee
Engeldamm
Danziger Strasse
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P
IL CASOLArEGrimmstrasse 30
an italian restaurant in kreuzberg run by communist punks. amazingly unfriendly waiters with stretched earlobes and dreadlocks. But, along with great pizzas, they have Berlin’s best wild boar ragout.
4
CIvILISTBrunnenstrasse 13
almost all of my clothes come from here. Perfect for lads who don’t want to spend their life shopping. a small shop run by art-loving skaters, who also do magazines and exhibitions.
1
ALL In OnErosenthaler Strasse 43
at some point in the night you’ll go past this place. Which is just as well, because they have the best kebab in the city. my tip: “garlic and herb sauce, spicy, no onions.”
2
KUMPELnEST 3000Lützowstrasse 23
a bar for the brave. it used to be a brothel and it still looks like one. Berlin’s hardcore scene meets here from about five o’clock in the morning, then parties on into the day.
5
3 HArD WAxPaul-Lincke-Ufer 44
one of the best record shops
in europe: a paradise from techno to dub. For years i used to stand behind the counter myself. this shop has really influenced my taste.
Action !city Guide
berlin is the global centre of club music, and the kings of nightlife here are the duo known as modeselektor. gernot bronsert and sebastian szary have been at it since the late 1990s, shaping the underground scene of their hometown through bass-heavy concerts and dJ sets, with their many fans including björk and thom yorke of radiohead. a new documentary, We Are Modeselektor, tells their story so far. “the city plays a starring role in the film,” says bronsert, who, when not gigging all over the world likes to spend every spare second in berlin. but where exactly? here he tells all.www.modeselektor.com
BY LIFTBerlin’s
Fernsehturm Tv tower is the tallest
building in all of Germany.
Bronsert recommends
it highly. “It’s a pretty clear
declaration when you take a lady
up there.” www.tv-turm.de
BY PLAnEFrom Strausberg
airfield in the east of the city, take a one-hour
flight over Berlin and Brandenburg
in a Cessna 172, carrying up to three
people. Make sure you ask
for the window seat.
www.aeroworx.de
“Garlic and herb sauce, spicy, no onions” B e r l i n B a r s f o r t h e B r av e , s h o p s f o r t h e s h o pa p h o B e , k e B a B s f o r t h e f o o d i e : G e r n o t B r o n s e r t o f e l e c t r o n i c d u o M o d e s e l e k t o r s h a r e s h i s c i t y ’ s h i G h l i G h t s
Berlin born and bred: Gernot Bronsert, 34, is a musician, DJ and label owner
T o p F i v eMY BErLIn HIGHLIGHTS
a b o v e b e r l i nHOW TO LOOK DOWn OvEr
THE CITY
BY CLIMBInG WALL
Scale the walls of an above-
ground World War II bunker
in Humboldthain Park. The going
gets tough, but the reward
is fantastic views across
the Mitte and Wedding
districts. www.visitberlin.de
34
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94 the red bulletin
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When mount kimbie released their debut album Crooks & Lovers in 2010, the music world nodded and grinned as one. the duo’s tracks were both bassy and fragile, both electro nic and warmly rounded. critics came up with a new genre for their music: post-dubstep. kai campos and dom maker have refined their sound for their second album. here, maker reveals what was playing in the studio during the recording of cold spring Fault Less youth (out now). www.mountkimbie.com
Dom Maker, half of British electronic duo Mount Kimbie
h i p t o b e s q u a r ecornering the MP3 MarKet
the VaMPa little amp that lets you bring old speakers into the 21st century. Wire it to any speaker then connect wirelessly, via Bluetooth, to a phone or music player. its rechargeable battery give about 10 hours of play.www.paulcocks edgeshop.com
King Krule Rock Bottom
there’s only one guest singer on our album, and that’s King Krule. When people hear his low voice, they imagine a middle-aged black guy, but he’s actually a 19-year-old ginger kid and an amazing songwriter. rock Bottom is a fantastic tune, with a fantastic video. he’s easily one of the most exciting people i’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting in music.
1
John Maus Hey Moon
this song isn’t all that new, but i’ve been listening to it a lot recently. i really like the marriage between the female and the male voice, and the production is fantastic. Kai and i were listening a lot to Maus’ and ariel Pink’s music when we worked on our record and a lot of the sound he has on that song really had an impact on our work.
2
James Blake Overgrown
he used to perform with us live before his solo career. now we mostly see each other when we’re on the road. Like last year, when we happened to meet on a train to London. he played this song to me because he wasn’t sure about it. i thought it was the best thing he had ever done. it ended up being the title track for his second album.
3
Actress Hubble
Kai and i are massive fans of everything that actress has put out. it almost makes me anxious listening to his hypnotic tracks sometimes, but i love the intensity of them and if you’re in the right mood, the music can really take you on a journey. no one is so revered in electronic circles right now. hubble, from the album Splazsh, is incredible.
4
Tame Impala Lonerism
it usually takes me a while to warm to an album, but with this one i was instantly hooked. i don’t know what it is about this australian band, but the psychedelic pop on this record inspired us to get back to writing music. the production is sick, the mixing is sick and they are an amazing live band. i’m incredibly inspired by tame impala.
5
AcTIon !music
juStin tiMBerLaKe
the idea for the tour came to him
when he saw Sir elton john
and Billy joel on stage together,
interpreting each other’s songs.
Kanye WeStjay-Z’s bosom
buddy is annoyed that his partner
is cheating on him with timberlake. he dissed the
pairing’s joint hit, Suit & tie, while performing on
stage in London.
jay-Zhires a cigar roller when on tour to
provide his guests backstage with the
most exquisite tobacco products.
J t & J a y - z
ShaWn carter anD juStin tiMBerLaKe are on tour together
Dates and tickets: www.justin
timberlake.com
Facts to impress fellow gig-goers with while you queue to get
through security
“He played this song to me on the train” p l ay l i s t t h e s u r p r i s i n g j o u r n e y o f i n f l u e n c e s t o M o u n t K i M b i e ’s n e w a l b u M
the red bulletin 95
d o n ’ t m i s s
ink these dates in your diary
July 9-13
J-Bay is backAfter the sad cancellation of the Billabong Pro at J-Bay comes news that in its place will be The Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing. It’s an ASP sanctioned event, which means among the field of 72 – 64 men and eight women – will not only be SA’s best, but a couple of wildcard internationals, too.www.facebook.com/JeffreysBayopenofsurfing
For south african music fans, the iconic oppikoppi festival is a right of passage. But while
an overload of the country’s best musicians is immensely enjoyable, the environment’s
very nature will probably be a challenge. the midday heat, evening chill, the dust, the thorn bushes and the campsite are not for the faint-hearted. intimidated? you should be. yet it’s also one of the best festivals in the world. Commit.www.oppikoppi.co.za
July 20-21
Be at Hayter
august 10
Two shades of blue
august 8-10
Thorn in my side
Catch the county’s top cross-country and downhill talent at the sa mountain bike champs at the hayterdale trails near Zuurberg, eastern Cape.www.cyclingsa.com
after the glamour of the super 15, rugby fans can look forward to some old-school, sa action as the aBsa Currie Cup kicks off. it’s the opening weekend for the Premier division, of which the highlight has to be the clash between dhL Western Province and Vodacom Blue Bulls at newlands. ww.sarugby.net
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AcTion !save the date
doWn & dirtyBringing new
meaning to the term ‘game run’,
the save the rhino 2 day trail
run involves running with the
big five at Legend Golf safari resort in entabeni, near Polokwane. the event supports the Forever Wild
Protection initiative Fund.
www.trisport.co.za
20july
on the deCkshelping you ease
back into varsity’s third term is the red Bull studio night at tollies in stellenbosch. Pascal & Pearce will be spinning
the tunes.www.redbull studio.co.za
2august
skiinG For the kinG
held in honour of Lesotho’s
monarch, king Letsie iii, the
king’s Cup ski & snowboarding
Champs take place over four
days on the 1km-long slope at the afriski resort in Lesotho’s Maluti
Mountains. www.afriski.net
11july
a top surf competition returns to the water at
Jeffreys Bay this month
96 the red bulletin
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4 ISOSTAR HYDRATE & PERFORMIsotonic sports drink Hydrate & Perform was carefully developed by leading European sports nutrition company Isostar in order to replace depletions caused by intense exercise. The product quickly re-hydrates and replaces essential electrolytes. In addition, the unique blend of simple and complex carbohydrates with Vitamin B1 provides a stable nutrition source that is rapidly absorbed by the body without spikes. Hydrate & Perform also boasts excellent levels of sodium, calcium and magnesium to boost muscle function and prevent cramping. R139.www.isostar.co.za
5 SONY HDR-AS15 ACTION CAMProve yourself with the only mountable action camera boasting legendary Sony video quality. Capture every hardcore gravity-defying moment in extreme HD with the new HDR-AS15 Sony Action Cam and share your glory on the fly for instant bragging rights thanks to built-in Wi-Fi®. Featuring advanced Sony optics and an ultra-wide angle Carl Zeiss® lens Action Cam is all you will ever need for stunningly smooth, blur free, Full HD resolution footage that is crisp, clear and incredible as the moment itself. It’s light and seriously compact but waterproof, rugged and built to go hard plus with a huge ecosystem of mounts right out of the box and loads more available it’s the ultimate in hands-free pro shooting. R3 499.99.www.sony.co.za
MUST-HAVES!PROMOT ION
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The nexT ediTion of The red bulleTin is ouT on AugusT 6
Time warped
Twentieth-century historians would have it that breakdance, also known as ‘breaking’ and ‘B-Boying’, emerged from the nascent hip-hop scene in Brooklyn, New York City in the 1970s. In fact, an artistic form of rhythmic dance was being practised six decades earlier, about 200 miles north-east of NYC. In Baltimore, the Baker
brothers, Billy and Bobby, who went by the name ‘The B Boys’, had a successful vaudeville act comprising acrobatic spins and turns, what was considered North America’s finest top-hat balance and the then-risqué indoor opening of an umbrella. The only surviving photograph of the pair (Billy not pictured) was taken in July 1913.
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100 Years of breakdance
98 the red bulletin
/redbulletin
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BE THERE WHEN THE BOKS TAKE ON THEIR BIGGEST RIVALS IN THE 2013 RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP. PLUS, WATCH EVERY ACTION-PACKED GAME OF THE VODACOM SUPER RUGBY, SIX NATIONS AND ABSA CURRIE CUP ACTION LIVE WITH EXPERT ANALYSIS AND ALL IN STUNNING HD. BECAUSE TRUE RUGBY FANS NEVER SAY DIE, NEITHER DO WE.
UP THE ACTION
JHB
421
52/ 2
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seen
on
DS
tv/S
uper
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rt