Innholdsfortegnelse for #344 SURFERS i Surfing Life

Surfers, we’re an odd bunch. Misfits of the modern world, driven by an insatiable thirst to ride waves. Some for leisure and some professionally, but all of us for the love of the game. Surfing brings people together and the ocean doesn’t discriminate; the one thing that binds us all, the sport of kings. I’ve just spent 10 days in Southern California and as I write this from my seventh floor hotel room, I can see the iconic Huntington Beach pier cutting a majestic figure into the North Pacific Ocean. Over the last week Surf City USA, as it’s been officially named, played host to one of the biggest junior surfing events the world has ever seen. 44 nations were represented, with over 360 competitors and just under 500 participants…

They say the tour is a marathon, not a sprint. Yet when all is said and done, world titles can be traced back to a single heat win buried deep within the year’s stats. A bookmark to a momentum change, a ratings juggle or even a psychological blow to a campaign. The 2018 WSL Men’s World Championship Tour has been an eye-opener. Never before has the Brazilian dominance on the podium been so evident, with nine out of eleven events, won by Brazilian surfers. Granted, it’s been four surfers who have been the repeat offenders – Toledo has two, Ferreira has three, Medina has two, while Cardosa has one. The shining light for the rest of the world has been our very own, Julian Wilson. The only non-Brazilian to win…

Wade Carmichael is back in the country for a short while. He’s just returned from the European leg of the world tour and is enjoying some downtime at home before heading off to Hawaii for the northern hemisphere winter. Surfing Life used the opportunity to find out more about the people’s champ by throwing him into our new Isuzu and heading down the coast for a good old-fashioned Aussie road trip. From the moment you meet Wade Carmichael in the flesh, you immediately get the sense that what you see on the World Surf League’s post heat interviews is a true reflection of the man you get in person. He’s humble and unassuming, but beneath that calm demeanour is someone who believes in himself, is unwavering in his approach and unashamedly undeterred…

It was hardly the stuff surfing dreams were made of, but that was beside the point. To Ryan Callinan, this crumbly, wind-blown, brown-water Japanese beach break might as well have been a river of gold. Not only had it delivered him one of the crowning glories of his career – a win over Hawaiian aerial whiz, Seth Moniz, in the final of the 6000 point Ichinomiya Chiba Open (all but cementing his World Tour qualification for 2019) – more importantly, it had helped close the darkest chapter of his life. As he spoke to reporters after the win, he looked to the sky and broke down. “I’d like to dedicate this to my parents, who recently passed away. It feels good. It felt like they sent me a few,” he…

We all read magazines, follow along on Instagram, and try our hardest to capture that quintessential lifestyle shot. Whether it be someone famous or just family and friends, it sure is a challenge. So what are you looking for when it comes to capturing these special moments? Firstly, if you’re having a quick read of this article and wondering, is this really for me? We would say, if you want to round out your ability as a world-class shooter or increase your repertoire, then yes, it really is for you. Many of the feature stories in this magazine rely on a bunch of really cool lifestyle shots that tell a story, give you some insight to the people we are talking about, and set the scene or mood. How do you take your…

This issue we chat to surfing royalty, the greatest of all time, Kelly Slater. Aside from his well-publicised and unprecedented eleven world titles, Slater has been at the forefront of change on many fronts. Many of which have not involved putting on a contest rash vest. From changing the way we look at board length and design, to driving the sustainability message through his apparel brand, to shocking the world with one of the best man-made waves we’ve ever seen. At 45 years of age, Kelly Slater is still leading from the front. And while that only scratches the surface of Kelly’s influence, it gives us all the inspiration we need to tap into his creative mind for a glimpse into the future. These are Kelly’s view on five key…

It’s been nearly 30 years since Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, Shane Dorian, Kalani Robb and Ross Williams all lived under one roof. In one of those weird confluences of fate that happens in surfing from time to time, after leaving her abusive husband, Benji Weatherly’s mum rented a house right on the beach at Pipeline. During the winter of 1989 it would become ground zero for the Momentum Generation revolution. “Sure, we all already knew each other for a few years prior, but this house was the place that allowed us to hang out together for hours upon hours, days upon days, and weeks upon weeks,” explained Williams. “The friendships that were fostered would catapult us as a group into stardom.” A huge cog in the wheel of this success…

The war of wave pools continues, in late October the first waves were pumped, and ridden, at the long-heralded Surf Lakes facility that is in proof-of-concept phase at Yeppoon, a coastal town near Rockhampton. The region is more famous locally for being a mining hub and launch point for many beautiful tropical islands located inside the Great Barrier Reef. Both a holiday destination for well-to-do Aussies and mega-rich Asians, as well as career saviour for a large percentage of down under’s male unemployed. Rockhampton is promoted as the Beef Capital of Australia and you can also purchase mummified kangaroo scrotum bottle openers at the souvenir counter at the airport. This week, the local baggage handlers started dealing with loads we bet they are not too familiar with – large coffin…

When Jack and Alana started dating in early 2013, the immediate cries of ‘surfing’s power couple’ rang through the halls of the surf industry. And while that title, along with calls like the ‘Posh & Becks of surfing’ might not have sat well with the duo (they are way too humble and down to earth for such a title), it was one that was difficult to ignore given the star power that had just collided. Alana had been on and off the world tour from the age of 18 and had already amassed a huge social media following (her Instagram page currently has 1.8 million followers). Jack was a two times WSL World Junior Champion and his star was rising rapidly at the time. He continued to climb the World…

It was 2013, and there was a rumour of a story out there in the ether, that the biggest wave in the world had been ridden in Portugal, and I was asked to chase the story. My investigations led me to Carlos Burle, and I tracked his number down. It had been a few years since we had last chatted at the Red Bull Big Wave Africa, in Cape Town, but I wanted to talk to him about the real story on Nazaré, Portugal. Everyone knew that there was a crew on it, and there was a rumour that it was the biggest waves ever seen and ridden by a human. Carlos is a legend to talk to. His sense of humour combined with his faltering English can be quite…

“I first realised that we were in trouble when we saw the smoke coming over from the back of the mountains to cover the beach. We had gone down to the ocean to get away from all the madness, to watch it all, and then we saw the full extent of the fire. It had kinda blown up, this big plume of smoke and the wind started to switch.” World Surf League commentator, Strider Wasilewski is coming to terms with losing his Malibu home after the devastating fires that started on the 8th of November 2018, and decimated over 96,000 acres of land in the process. Officially named the ‘Woolsey fire’ the blaze had been California’s worst, since the Corral fire of 2007. Woolsey went on a rampage, destroying over…

Fins, we really can’t live without ‘em. We’ve spent so much time focussing on board manufacturing, shape evolution and testing boards – heck, we even dedicate a whole issue to them – but we can forget the humble old fin at our peril. In fact, fin brands are some of the very companies that are leading the charge in terms of innovation, material and technological advancements in the manufacturing space, and we thought it was about time we took a closer look. So, we grabbed two surfers, each at opposite end of their respective surfing spectrums, to test drive a bunch of fins and give us their feedback. Dean ‘Dingo’ Morrison, a former world championship tour surfer (finished 9th in 2007) left an indelible mark on the international scene along…

Jeremy Walters is a former World Qualifying Series surfer; smooth style, incredible wave knowledge and dad to Dakota, Harley, and daughter Evie. Walt, as he’s known in surfing circles, grew up in the wave-rich area of Yamba/Angourie. Jeremy was crowned Australian Champion in 1998, and between 1999 and 2000 he competed on the World Qualifying Series. In July 2001, Jeremy’s oldest son Dakoda was born, and with the rigours of international travel weighing on his mind, he decided to hang up the rash vest and establish the Yamba-Angourie Surf School. Given Walt’s pedigree and the place where they lived, Dakota was always going to be introduced to the ocean at an early age and they have been inseparable ever since. “He started surfing when he was two years old,” recalls…

As of late 2018, the Brazilian storm is still churning and decimating the hierarchy of the World Championship tour, but there’s a rumbling brewing, a quiet upwelling that’s starting to make noise on a global scale. There’s a small yet formidable army of positively charged surfers forming, and they are already hell-bent on taking on the world. The difference between this new group, and the Brazilians currently in control, is that this group comes from a small town, not a country. This new group comes from a 50-kilometre region that lies between San Diego and Los Angeles, the town is San Clemente, and if you surf, you already know it well, but did you know that this town is well on its way to World Tour domination? The USA was…

When all is said and done, all we want to do is surf more. If we can, we’ll centre all of our life’s activities on the tides, the swell, the wind and the waves. If not during the week, then most certainly on the weekends and anytime we’re free from the shackles that keep us from our first love. Surfers, we might be an odd bunch, but no one can say we’re not driven and we’re pretty sure there’s a famous quote that says, ‘a life lived centred around the ocean, is a life well lived.’ And if not, well you heard it here first. If you’ve followed us on our recent journey, you’d have seen that our promise to you is to make you a better surfer. We’ve dedicated…