McKnight's fiery speech, plus photos from Surf Summit
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Fernando Aguerre of ISA
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Bruce Beach of Depactus and Jeff Kearl of Stance
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Kevin Meehan of Volcom and Brandon Lillard of Skullcandy - so nice to see Brandon healthy and happy after his accident
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Brent Futagaki of Active Ride Shop
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Brandy Farber of Roark
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Jaci Schroeder of Roxy and Eric Thomas of RVCA
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Retailers relaxing at the special retailer reception in the afternoon
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Matt Singley
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Michael Tomson of Rusty
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Doug Palladini of Vans and Daniel Neukomm of O'Neill and the La Jolla Group
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Andrew Traa of Heritage
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Quiksilver Chairman Bob McKnight
Surf Summit 18 got off to a newsy start Wednesday with more retailers in attendance than usual and a no-holds-barred speech from Quiksilver Chairman Bob McKnight, who called for the industry to band together to fight against the outsiders who have co-opted the surf lifestyle.
His speech came 10 years after his infamous “grow the pond” talk at Surf Summit, and this time, he pointed out all ways the industry has grown and expanded in the past 10 years.
But now he said, outside companies have “figured out our secret” and the industry needs to come together and support one another, clean up its mistakes, and fight off outside competitors.
“We grew the pond, now we need to protect the perimeter,” he said.
He also admitted that Quiksilver has been a bad example of late with its recent troubles, but said, “We apologize, and now we’re back and we know how to correct” the situation.
The industry needs to tell better stories about itself to the world and get ready for the positive things on the way, such as surfing in the Olympics, which could happen by Tokyo 2020; soon-to-arrive wave pools; and the future potential of the remade World Surf League, which he praised.
Bob urged people in the industry to quit talking negatively about each other and focus their energy on getting better.
“The tribe needs to stick together,” he said. “No more shit talk.”
He said the industry needs to rally around itself just as the French rallied around the Charlie Hedbo publication after the attacks in Paris, and Bob used the phrase “Je Suis Charlie” several times in relation to the industry.
He also took Shop-eat-surf to task for writing stories about items like former CEO Andy Mooney’s severance package instead of writing about more positive events, such as big waves at surf contests and other industry triumphs.
SIMA was not immune to criticism, and Bob called for a revamping of the organization including new funding mechanisms and a new approach to the Waterman’s Ball, among other issues.
We’ll have a more detailed report about Bob McKnight’s speech tomorrow.
Surprise Bob Hurley email
The other interesting twist on the opening night of Surf Summit was an unexpected email from Bob Hurley sent to nearly everyone in attendance that arrived just as festivities were getting underway Wednesday night.
The Hurley brand is no longer a SIMA member and nobody from Hurley attended Surf Summit.
Bob McKnight referred to the email obliquely in his speech, urging the person who wrote it to come down and hang out with everybody instead of sending mass emails.
The email outlined the accomplishments of the Hurley brand and discussed the brand’s business philosophy.
I asked Hurley for clarification for why the email was sent and what it means, but have not received any more details yet.
Photos
SES took lots of photos during the night, and they are above in our slide show.
