The Occ-Cast Welcomes Sir Bradley Gerlach!

After winning his first and only world title, Adriano de Souza gave a speech about how he, an economically disadvantaged youth, came to conquer the world. ADS noted that a $7 surfboard, gifted to him by his very generous brother, was the genesis of his passion and subsequent success. 

But did you know that Adriano was not the first great surfer to begin with a $7 craft?

If you can survive the first few minutes of this podcast, wherein Brad Gerlach’s neck scruff performs an uncomfortable bump n’ grind with his clip-on microphone, you’ll learn that American vet, much like Adriano, started his career on a sub-tenner sled.

“I tried surfing,” Gerlach explains, about his move down to coastal San Diego. “I bought a board.. for.. uhh… seven dollars. For my eighth birthday… I used to get a dollar for every year.. so I spent a buck on the ice cream man, then I had seven bucks left over and I bought this surfboard.”

You’ve gotta wonder if Gerlach is irked by the fact that he’s telling this story on a podcast, while ADS was able to do in the context a World Title acceptance speech. Compounding this theory is an interesting quote Gerlach gave us about ADS just two years ago:

“Adriano de Souza pictured himself as the world champion, he set his sights on it and made it a reality,” continues Brad. “For me, from my own upbringing surfing in the 70’s in California and seeing it as an art, I don’t appreciate somebody who looks like they’re working when they’re surfing. But, he won the world title doing that. There’s a method he’s using and it all comes back to confidence and being in touch with the ocean. No disrespect to him, I just don’t see the magic when he surfs. But that doesn’t mean I’m not impressed.”

Does Gerr appear genuinely salty that Adriano stole his $7 thunder, or am I just bored on a Friday, investigating obscure surfing beefs?