What Just Happened At The Swatch Nines?
Reportage from a three-day surf circus.
It takes months to plan something like the Swatch Nines Surf.
A glance around the event site makes this truth readily apparent. You’d notice an orb getting carried away in the white water and an oversized mat lingering near an air section. A DJ cranking tunes and skate ramps flanking the pool. Humans from all over the world, all around the premises. And then somebody trying a double-spin (sorry, not doing degrees).
Despite all the Google Meets required to get these things in order, one of the high points was the result of a hair-brain idea hatched 12 hours into the event.
In the leadup, a floating rail was considered and ultimately decided against. However, after the first day, Swatch Nines founder Nico Zacek scribbled a bizarre outline on the back of the napkin. It was a wooden box with a PVC drainage pipe on one side, hovering just above the pool by a cherrypicker so surfers could grind it.
The crew of weapons from the Zenga Bros built this apparatus within hours and a few of the surfers demanded a crack at it. Somehow, it worked. Balaram Stack, Mason Ho, Eithan Osborne, Noah Beschen, and Jacob Szekely sessioned it, resulting in the best board slides we’ve ever seen in surfing — a strange thing to type, a stranger thing to observe.
This moment speaks to the spirit of the event: Get people together and give them all the time, space and tools they need to do something remarkable. But ultimately, let them chase whims and do whatever might call to them.
Over three days, each surfer had a crack at around 100 waves. A lot of things happen when you shoot that many air sections at that much talent.
Tya Zebrowski landed a superman. Matt Meola stuck gainers on board with straps. Eithan Osbourne landed a stalefish double-spin, albeit not clearly. The king of Waco pulled all sorts of varials. Crane did his backside stalefish full rote (patent application still awaiting approval from the USPTO). Leon Glatzer punted over a floating dock. Mason Ho and Laura Enever successfully leapt from their boards into the orb. And so on.
Even with that much time in the pool, it was interesting to see the ebbs and flows of the event. Not gonna lie — there were a few stretches in which nothing revolutionary went down.
Then, suddenly, the wind decides to puff in the right direction. Then somebody lands something small and, three waves later, something big. Then somebody else lands something bigger. Then everyone around the pool is transfixed, and the yells get louder with each wave. And, finally, somebody lands the trick they’d been trying all event.
Quite fun.
Some people might prefer to watch Ethan Ewing change direction on his surfboard several more times (Watch Trilogy: New Wave here) and consider their taste to be too pure for something this playful, but the vibe on site was unbelievably positive. All up, The Swatch Nines is a refreshing take on surfing and adds something new to the performance and culture of our strange and obsessive pursuit.
The recap video is coming your way on October 21, and will showcase all you need to see and let you know who (other than Greyson) took out the awards.
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