Back in the wet, and a conflict of interests!

I couldn't be a happier man today. This morning I hit the water for the first time in almost three weeks. I'd taken a short hiatus due to a small injury I'd collected when; like a right planet, I fell off a seawall at night time on the island of Nusa Lembongan. I guarantee there was no falling down juice involved, well not enough anyway, just slipped on some seaweed and went for a burton, base over apex, putting a deep but not serious cut in my right foot and some additional grazes on my arm. No biggee but with the potential for infection from water borne gremlins the doc's told me to rest it for a while. So happy a man am I. as happy as a pig in poo with the result of a three hour swim posted to our facebook page for prosperity. So at 6.30am I hit on down to the Serangen surf break which is just a twenty minute drive from my door. I love the early morning light when conditions are right, and today they were almost perfect.

My coffee enriched drool was leaving some pretty hectic puddles in the foot well of the car as I made my approach to the spot. Head to Overhead high sets were rolling in, clean, glassy, almost no offshore wind and some real nice early morning sunlight. I took a while to shoot some of the surrounding land scenics, a temple, the washed up tug boat on the Sanur Reef, clouded in early morning mists. And the waves, the glorious waves that I would soon be tumbling around in, my physical connection with the Ocean once more rekindled and renewed, strengthened and so so so overdue. I spent the next three hours enjoying the waves, shooting the things I see, the surfers the movements of water, the liquidmocean. Three hours was enough, it's amazing how even after just three weeks one finds just how fast you can loose the edge, have to keep on top of the fitness when out of the water, note to self.

Dedik, the owner of the Warung (Cafe) I use whenever I go to Serangen was there to welcome me out of the water. As I'd not been there for about three weeks due to the cut on my foot she had thought that maybe I'd left Bali or gone on somewhere else. Not to worry, I'm part of the furniture here, no plans to go anywhere. So as customary I checked the imagery on the camera, ordered a coffee and checked my phone for missed messages and/or calls. The SMS I'd received was a corker.

OK, so you're all aware that we are sponsoring a local guy here in Bali. Kadek is a stunning little surfer and a great bloke to boot. As part of the deal we are supplying him with 2 surfboards, clobber and financial backing for the comp registration fees, this is a national comp which means trips to Sumatera and Java on the agenda. So here I am reading an SMS from an 'entity' who had supplied Kadek with a handful of pairs of sunglasses, a few pairs of board shorts and a whole handful of stickers. So the meat and veg of the deal is that this 'entity' was not happy with me for removing a sticker that Kadek had placed on the board. On calling the person that had sent the message it was suggested that they were feeling 'snaked' insofar that I had taken things on my own hands and removed the sticker and therefore eliminated any chance this entity had of promotion when Kadeks images were posted to the web etc. When asking if there was a conflict in their written contract with the rider the response was "We don't do contracts" well, urmm, are we talking sponsorship here or??

OK, so let's get this straight. I'm the bad guy for removing livery of a competitive company from a surfboard that was supplied by my company. I'm also a bad bad man for not allowing them the chance of promotions stemming from imagery taken with my cameras, bought with my resources, of photo sessions booked for the promoting of the liquidmocean brand. Hmmm, maybe I'm missing something here? Anyone with feedback? The long and the short of it is that this 'entity' have now retracted their 'sponsorship' of the rider. Quite what impact this will have on my ability to sleep remains to be seen.

What a day it's been, more in store soon.

Cheers,
Mark.
P.S We also looked at a sample of a new Tee coming soon. Looks pretty damned cool if you ask me.