French Surfer Assaulted (Perhaps Sexually) By Angry Freesurfer During QS Event

Nothing like a little sexually-inspired angst to spice up a QS event. 

Yesterday at the Sydney Surf Pro, French surfer Charly Quivront was assaulted (perhaps sexually) by a freesurfer during his heat.

Video evidence shows Charly—who according to the webcast announcers was “well within the competition boundaries”—burning a freesurfer on a chest-high right. Charly was justified in doing so, because he is a paying member of the WSL, and the WSL technically owns all waves. 

Presumably irked by this arrangement, the freesurfer (who has not been officially identified, but definitely might be Stab writer Jake Embrey) proceeded behind Quivront and went so far as making purposeful contact with Charly’s hind-quarters. The commentators officially declared this act as a platonic “push”, but based on the area of contact it’s likely the perpetrator had more nefarious motives.

We’ll let you be the judge.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Charly Quivront ? (@charlyquivront)

Whether or not you think this crime had a sexual bent, and whether or not it was definitely Jake Embrey who caused the non-consensual collision, we can all agree that Charly was hard-done by the situation.

Sorry, bad choice of words. “Negatively affected.”

To be fair, Charly surfed the wave surprisingly well for having a sex-crazed lunatic nipping at his heels. The Frenchman must have practiced burning people for years to prepare for this highly specific incident. A true competitor. 

But much like the Nate Florence/Makai McNamara incident from the Volcom Pipe Pro, this situation raises a larger question about competitive surfing: what happens if a freesurfer screws up somebody’s wave mid-heat?

Charly lost his Round 2 match in Manly, but if we’re being fair, this particular wave didn’t play a huge role in that outcome. However, it could have—and that’s enough to justify some form of intervention from the WSL. 

Alas, as it stands (and much like the Pipe situation), the WSL can and will do nothing to rectify a situation in which a non-competitor interferes with a competitor. They can theoretically fine the perpetrator (assuming they can get a local official to identify him/her), but that serves only to fatten the WSL’s wallet, not remedy the affected surfer.

We’ve actually seen incidents of this nature before on the Championship Tour. The two that come to my mind are Dean Morrison at J-Bay (who was so deep in a Supertubes section that some punter down the line assumed he had fallen, took off on the wave, and forced Dingo into an unwanted doggy-door) and Kolohe Andino at J-Bay (who was burned by a sponger).

There’s also the incident at Stab High 2019 when Ian Crane was dive-bombed by Eric Geiselman in an inflatable swan. 

While I can’t speak for the WSL’s robust decision-making panel, the Stab High judges discussed whether Ian would have landed his backside ‘oop had there not been an astral interruption. After watching the replay, we deemed that Eric’s presence added more entertainment value than it detracted from Ian’s potential for success, and therefore let it slide.  

Now, I’ve thought about Charly’s situation long and hard (for modern standards, so like 45 seconds) and can’t come up with a solution that’s fair for all surfers involved. Like Makai, it seems Charly has been fucked by some form of karma or poor fortune.

I wonder if Charly shouted to Jake Embrey, “I don’t get paid like you, garçon!”