Josh Kerr’s Derelict Dream Tour Comes True

A look behind the scenes at the first WSL Red Bull Airborne event!

style // Oct 10, 2018

Words by Stab

Reading Time: 4 minutes

On Sunday afternoon, with rain falling in sheets as Stab enjoyed the layday in Jeremy Flores’ “Fantasy Factory” compound in Seignoisse, with Josh Kerr and a handful of the heads in town for the Red Bull Airborne, Peter King made note of the stark contrast between surfers on The Tour, and the raw and rag tag invitees to the Red Bull Airborne event.

“At yesterday’s surfer’s meeting, you could really see the difference. Most of the guys had cracked beers already, a couple were trying to score weed…”

If Kerrzy’s little upstart sideshow’s done anything, it’s loosen the vibe around the comp site, with the world’s best aerialists still recovering from their long weekend in Waco, but amping

Yesterday before the finals, Kerrzy went through the format with Eithan Osborne, Kalani David, Matt Meola, Griffin Colapinto, Jack Freestone, and Yago Dora, then dropped some big news on the boys: all of them had qualified for next year’s tour…

“I’ve got a job!” Matt Meola said.

“Oh, and there’s no drug testing on the Air tour,” Kerrzy

Little Eithan Osborne, who has been doing his damndest to burn through his Stab High paycheck as quickly as he can, was visibly overwhelmed, the 18-year-old having probably the best month of his life, regardless of the 0.00 heat total he was about to put down in the final, and not for a lack of trying.

“All or nothing,” Albee layer said of Eithan’s hour-long Hail Mary fest. “I’d rather see him try sick shit and not land anything than stick boring airs and get average scores.”

While the final had plenty of opportunities to take to the sky, the highlight came with fifteen minutes left, as Jack Freestone hitched a ski ride right past a patiently waiting Griffin Colapinto, and cooly stepped off the ski and into one of the best right runners of the afternoon…

Seems like these Air Show comps really bring the best out of surfers. Griffin Colapinto, a semi-serious middle-finger salute to Jack Freestone, after getting more than backpaddled… Gentleman’s Rules notwithstanding, Griff should have fuckin’ burned him.

Photography

Sam Moody.

While the conditions were, um, challenging, it could have been much, much worse. You could see the relief on Kerrzy and Dave Prodan’s eyes as the final wound down, with Yago Dora, far and away Stab‘s favorite Brazilian surfer, running away with the thing.

The invitees headed across the street to the Red Bull house, to talk about plans for next year’s tour, which is very much still up in the air…

Here’s what we know:

Kerrzy’s got a wish list of locations he’d love to get RBA on the schedule.

Three to five stops.

One will most certainly be at Keramas, duh.

One will very likely be in New York City, potentially paired with… wait for it… wait for it… a fuckin’ longboard contest. Regardless, ports and storms, having RBA roll through NYC with a carefully selected waiting period, well, it could be insane.

The six surfers that made the final are shoe-ins, the rest will be announced soon, with rumors of up to four wildcards for each event.