Bong in big trouble

[Roy_Stewart]

Good news I suppose, hopefully quicksilver will be next.

[Nick Carroll]

Well then it's gone full circle then. What now?

In the big Western nations, surfing slowly continues to lose its edge as its median population ages and its youth/rebel style fades entirely from view. Old avatars of that youth/rebel thing die a slow death, as do their lame modern counterparts, the "squirrel"-type hipster douches. Surfing numbers, however, continue to slowly increase along with the sport's accessibility. Here at least, "Government"-style structures such as Surfing Australia become more important than surf corporations, which either go down the Target route or turn to a focus on surfing hardware. After all, if they can't support a fashion trend, surfers do need surfboards and wetsuits.

Brazil, driven by its much younger surfing demographic, its travel-inclined population and a stronger sense of possibility and mission, becomes the world's dominant surfing nation.

Super-core surfers go down two main roads, either high performance competition (which will find a way to survive and thrive globally) or increasingly into big wave charging, the one area in which surfing will retain an edge of its old glamour, aggression, brilliance and epic stupidity.

[gabsouy]

nice work nick, can you forward that on to blasphemy rottmouth

[Nick Carroll]

yeah actually I don't think it's possible to predict the future of something like surfing with any real accuracy

[collnarra]

crystal cylinders and golden breed?

Well then it's gone full circle then. What now?

"Hang Ten"

catchit

mango

instinct

gotcha

surfers' alliance

and on it goes.

[moondoggie]

Well then it's gone full circle then. What now?

Brazil, driven by its much younger surfing demographic, its travel-inclined population and a stronger sense of possibility and mission, becomes the world's dominant surfing nation.

History repeats - substitute the word "Brazil" for " Australian Surfing in the '70's and 80's" and history repeats. The empire was built on the ground swell of passion and opportunity created during that period, the "Empire" has now travelled down along the product curve and the declone (sic) ah, decline, corresponds with the products maturity staleness obsolescence.

ON The other side...

The decline in Bongs share price just reflects the above. Simple, less demand for the product they created ( this bears no resemblence to the act of getting wet)
Lowered future cash flow lower share price:
alog with a shipload of shorting the share price ( pushing it down) by the circling sharks .

This OFFER BY TPG has been rejected by the bONG board and I suspect it is hardly a hostile bid with any credence. More like a mates ploy to arrest the shorting. stabilise the shareprice and stop Bong going into a default position under its covenannts with its bankers. The TPG bid is a sideshow that nobody ( the market) has taken seriously otherwise bong's shareprice would be trading at 3 bucks plus ( i.e. the bid price ).

The latest is that Bong and the so called hostile bidder TPG are arguing over whether TPG can due due diligence on bONG. This sideshow should waste more time and buy bONg some space to get its house in order. TPG only has c.5 per cent of the company ( Gordo Merchant has 13 per cent) not the 20 per cent needed to make a cumpulsory bid to take over a public company.Dont believe everything you read in the press- this is a typical stock market ploy good for the shareholders and a bad news tactic for all the gamblers that were shorting down the bONG share price.

MDx

[Hollowed out]

well moondogie could be onto the ploy here as that sounds about right as a tactical move but like one comentator said, a lot of confidence gone in Bong board and senior management and that is a very heavy call because it squarley places the blame for Bongs demise in their hands.
So if TPG don't get up and the status quo remains re Bong board and management, what is gunna radically turn things around?
Too many crew have got themselves into huge paying jobs at Bong (and others) thru the 'good ol boys' union, made squillions and are set up for life even if it all goes down from here on in. Some of their best core people have been axed or left further protecting the high paid passengers. BTW I do not include Derek or Gordon in their ranks but they will have to wear the blame, like it or not, because the buck stops somewhere.
Huge cleanout from the top down is the only way the get rich quick culture will change and unless TPG force that to happen IMHO I just can not see who is going to be held accountable for such a disaster in seeing shares go from $18.50 to $1.80

[collnarra]

Are you a shareholder HO? Is your interest in this because you were burned?

[Hollowed out]

Nup colinarra, never have invested or been employed in Bong, although maybe wish I had bought some when they did the IPO at $2.30 back in 2000 and sold at $18.50 few years back, or got a job like many have/had.
What about you, ever get lucky or burned by Bong or employed by them?

[collnarra]

no mate. although I must confess to engaging in some schadenfreude about the whole situation.

[Hollowed out]

good call, cause in reality when one thinks about it, there is that element for sure. But another aspect is how most say it won't affect them or who give a fcuk,I am just saddened to see our culture being trashed by greedy VC's and wankers who buy some surf company and then impose themselves on the culture and eventually worm their way into the surfing culture over the bodies of people who have dedicated their lives to it.
Many do not realise how much pull these kooks have over the surfing culture and lifestyle . They have the cash that controls the surf media, contests, board manufacturing, cottage industries and local surf shops, the environment, kids values and the jobs that many surfing communities rely upon...I could go on and on.
IMHO Rip Curl are by no means innocent completely but they are the only big surf related company not sold out to Banker wankers and still run by surf mad founders like Claw and Singding who you will see in the lineup on any day anywhere in the world, being just another humble one in the lineup

[collnarra]

mate, the surf industry, the general surf media and the numpties who populate it will fall over themselves to give just about any company entering the surf market a handjob. Look at how Nike has been welcomed without even a question as to motivation or heritage.

I'm also still mystified as to why Nike felt it had to establish its own master brand despite its acquisition of Hurley. At least with hurley it's possible to argue there's some "authenticity" (whatever that happens to mean) via its founder, Bob Hurley.

Will hardcore surfers buy Nike "surf gear"? You gotta wonder.

Josh

[Hollowed out]

yeah good ponints although t least Nike aren't pretending to be who they ain't and never will be. The new young chargers who have signed with Nike 6 were grabbed right out of the QS, Bong etc clutches and IMHO the likes of JW is laughing all the way to the bank and to the benefit of his performance because he knows exactly what and who he represents without any hidden agenda.
Also re your point about why Nike when they have Hurley, well that was just plain smart to be able to leverage off two seperate brands without doubling costs and hows the irony in that Bob Hurley tells Bong to stick it when they tried to pressure him into not doing certain stuff and now he co-sponsors the AOS and is picking up the paper each day reading that Bong are getting hammered while he goes from strength to strength. Nike know not to fcuk with his advice.
Nike lets Bob call the Hurley shots while Bong let Ted Kunkel (bong chairman) and a bunch of bankers and non surfers call Bongs direction. Results speak for themselves as the real surfers in Bong aka Gordon, Derek, Naude et al are basically puppets to the bankers.
This means things like the best made wetsuits by Xcell get bought out by Bong, then they use the brand to get into places where their inferior Bong suits won't get, then turn the screw and push the cheaper to make and more profitable Bong suits and that spells the demise of significant wetsuit R&D and we all suffer for that.

[Hollowed out]

oh sorry re.
Will hardcore surfers buy Nike "surf gear"? You gotta wonder.
Yep I say all the young crew following JW et al will lap it up cause they would not be seen dead in the "old" school brands and the AOS was just a snapshot (like it or not) of the style of surfing and age of the influencers are today...Quik will have to pull out all stops to hang onto Banting as he represents a whole new image and may not even want QS as his sponsor.
Interesting that the last of the big boys was Ace Buchan (who Bong dropped) and it was daylight to the new school. Just have to look at who is sponsoring 95% of the new young dynamos, both mens and womens, the worm has turned and has grown a snakes head to bite the hands of greed

[Roy_Stewart]

Well then it's gone full circle then. What now?

In the big Western nations, surfing slowly continues to lose its edge as its median population ages and its youth/rebel style fades entirely from view. Old avatars of that youth/rebel thing die a slow death, as do their lame modern counterparts, the "squirrel"-type hipster douches. Surfing numbers, however, continue to slowly increase along with the sport's accessibility. Here at least, "Government"-style structures such as Surfing Australia become more important than surf corporations, which either go down the Target route or turn to a focus on surfing hardware. After all, if they can't support a fashion trend, surfers do need surfboards and wetsuits.

Brazil, driven by its much younger surfing demographic, its travel-inclined population and a stronger sense of possibility and mission, becomes the world's dominant surfing nation.

Super-core surfers go down two main roads, either high performance competition (which will find a way to survive and thrive globally) or increasingly into big wave charging, the one area in which surfing will retain an edge of its old glamour, aggression, brilliance and epic stupidity.

What a pile of corporate shill based clap trap..

By the way there is a flaw in your SUPs paddle faster than prone paddlers theory.

.

[Grooter]

What a pile of corporate shill based clap trap..

By the way there is a flaw in your SUPs paddle faster than prone paddlers theory.

.

[swvic]

By the way there is a flaw in your SUPs paddle faster than prone paddlers theory.

Flaw relate to paddling 13 foot logs, Roy?

[Roy_Stewart]

By the way there is a flaw in your SUPs paddle faster than prone paddlers theory.

Flaw relate to paddling 13 foot logs, Roy?

Yes, it relates to displacement hull speed. More paddling power is only effective if one has the hull length to reach a higher top speed. Thus short SUPs are not necessarily faster than prone paddled longboards. In paddle races the length of the boards allows more paddle power to lead to higher speeds.