EP 78: Joe Turpel - Calling the Olympics, Filming “The Ultimate Surfer,” Kelly Slater’s future, The new tour schedule, What to expect from The Challenger Series, Committing to the craft of commentating, and Highlights from Tokyo

WSL commentator Joe Turpel talks about his insanely busy year on
and off tour. He goes into detail on the redesigned Championship
Tour schedule for next season (especially Trestles and G-Land),
gives his thoughts on the midseason cut, gets stoked on the
Challenger Series slate, and looks at how this schedule will impact
the return of Kelly Slater. He shares stories of working as the
primetime announcer for Olympic surfing and calling the action from
Connecticut, and then reviews which country’s teams he thought
performed best. He also talks about his experience as the
commentator on the new ABC show “The Ultimate Surfer,” from
shooting the show during the pandemic to recording the new podcast
with Cassie Randolph. Joe also tells his backstory, from growing up
in Hawaii and Orange County, announcing NSSA events, being on the
same UCSB surf team as Dave, passing up jobs that wouldn’t allow
him to announce surfing, and committing to the craft of
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