I grew up in a small but beautiful town called Mangawhai. Probably the two
most famous surf breaks there are the Mangawhai Heads river bar (a famed
river bar left) and Te Arai Point (a nice off-the-rocks right hand beach break).
In between the two there is a lessor know beach known as Black Swamp. Our
farm was walking distance to that beach and my brother and I often surfed
there alone, apart from a few fishermen. It was unspoiled, and pristine, with a
lining of sand dunes that had important nesting sites for birds native to the
area. I have mentioned this beach in my podcasts.
On one of my return holidays to New Zealand I took a friend of mine to that
beach. It was in 2018. I was horrified to see a large area of the dunes and
forest being demolished by bulldozers and diggers. Obviously, something
was being developed for construction. It did make me feel quite sick.
Later, Kelly Slater popped up in Mangawhai Heads. He had a surf there, to the
delight of the locals. It was later revealed that he was there due to a golf
course which was being built by one of his rich friends. It is an exclusive
members only golf club.
Ironically, the golf course is named Tara Iti, which is the Māori name for the
Fairy Tern, probably New Zealand’s rarest breeding bird. So the golf course was
named after the very birds that had their nesting areas destroyed to make the
golf course.
There were some local protests about the proposed golf course, mainly because
of the precarious situation of the Fairy Tern, but you know, money does the talking.
It's one big club, and we ain't in it, lol.
In fact, if you search the Fairy Tern situation now, you will only see articles claiming
that the golf course is helping the Fairy Tern thrive. That is hard for me to accept.
Bulldozers, people, and flying golf balls do not seem to tally with a near
extinct wild species partying like it is 1999. Not surprisingly, the articles which I
had found years ago connected to the controversy and protests have pretty much
disappeared from internet searches.
Here are a couple which still exist:
"This whole treading lightly stuff is garbage," says Aaron McConchie from community group Save Te Arai.
"They speak about sustaining the environment and ecological responsibility. Well, it's hard to prove that argument when you are damaging the landscape."
McConchie says developers have turned a small weir into a "dam" to get water for their golf course.
"It's unbelievable," says McConchie. "They're creating a modern-day moat. You've got the rich on one side and the public land on the other."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/tara-itis-ironic-eponymous-bogey
“Invite-only membership, which costs six figures, is reportedly restricted to about 250. Before gaining entry, according to the NZ Herald, members go through a kind-of personality test, with background checks and interviews. Non-members need a letter of introduction from their club to play and they’re expected to stay in member’s cottages during their once-in-a-lifetime visit.”
“Melanie Scott is a member of the group Save Te Arai who voluntarily monitors the fairy tern. She says: “It seems to me utterly extraordinary that for the first time we have a Minister of Conservation who is a member of the Green Party who seems unperturbed by the fact that she may well preside over the extinction of this bird.””
Later I saw Kelly Slater appear as a presenter at the Oscars in 2022. I felt the
timing was off, considering the information which had surfaced about
Hollywood, Epstein Island and so on. I wondered why he was there, at that
time? Then it was revealed that he had a close relationship with Kering. Kering
owns the fashion group Balenciaga.
“I’ve known François [Henri Pinault] for a long time. He and Kering helped start
my company, Outerknown, so we were former business partners. Susan
[Chokachi] and her husband are old friends and neighbors, so the Gucci
connection happened naturally.
My look is really clean and classic. It makes me feel like I clean up well. It’s
styled but also understated.”
https://www.yahoo.com/now/kelly-slater-suits-gucci-oscars-020533679.html
Francois-Henri Pinault is married to the famous actress Salma Hayek.
It was around this time that I began to notice Freemason symbolism in professional
surfing. Especially, what appeared to be Freemason hand signals from the live show
presenters of the World Surf League (WSL) competitions.
A simple internet search indicates that Kering used to own Volcom. The Pipeline surfing
event used to be sponsored by Volcom.
Then I began to notice the logos and designs of the surfing sponsors.
The famous Hawaiian Pipeline Masters surfing event has also been sponsored many times by Vans. The checkered pattern is a well-known symbol of the Freemasons. The brand was made famous by the 1982 movie Fast Times at Richmond High, starring Sean Penn.
But why is professional surfing so influenced by the Freemasons?
We need to look no further than the founder father of surfing the famous Hawaiian surfer and five-time Olympic swimming medalist (1912, 1920, and 1924) Duke Kahanamoku. Duke Kahanamoku was a Scottish rite Freemason and was a Master Mason in the Hawaiian lodge No 21. He was also a Noble (member) of the Shriners fraternal organization.