Innholdsfortegnelse for #345 TRAVEL i Surfing Life

There’s an oft quoted saying that states, “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us,” (Anonymous). Being such an enriching experience, travel not only literally broadens our horizons, but also opens our minds to new landscapes, cultures, food and of course, waves. And if travel is indeed such a life altering experience like the quote suggests, my question is: why are you still here? I’ve been fortunate enough to have travelled a fair bit over the last 12 months. The type of work I was doing meant there was more international travel than domestic, and it also meant I experienced some destinations for the very first time. Brazil, Bali (don’t judge me, I’m a late bloomer) and Taiwan were among them. I’m one of those…

If you were forced to make a call, right now, on who is the greatest women’s surfer of all time? Would you say Steph or Layne? What can be said about Stephanie Gilmore that hasn’t already been written? Probably not much at all, she’s the modern queen of the surf world. Much has been said about her flawless and flowing style. Her contest record speaks for itself and her smile is disarming and endearing — a true champion in every sense of the word. Shortly after our last issue (Surfers) went to print, Steph went on to win a seventh World Title at the Beachwaver Maui Pro, the final event of the WSL World Championship Tour. It’s been said many times during her illustrious career that she’s maybe struggled with…

Over the years you’ve probably been overwhelmed with the illustrious sand bottomed, right-hand points of Mexico’s Oaxaca coastline. But as you will soon learn there are plenty more gems to be found across the Latin America region. Heading south from Mexico, there are waves all the way along the Pacific Coast of Central America, from Guatemala to Panama. Costa Rica has long been a popular destination for surfers but sits at the higher end of the price range for your average punter. Nicaragua has also been a hit for those lured in by uncrowded waves and offshore winds 330 days of the year. However, with the current political situation and civil unrest, most travellers will be looking for a new location to sink their teeth into. Further south in the…

Dylan Graves is better known as the tube pig maniac responsible for mastering some of the world’s heaviest death slabs — none gnarlier than the rock-rimmed, borderline closeout, Psiquiatra (psychiatrist), on his native Puerto Rico. As his career has progressed, however, Dylan has developed a taste for a different thrill. He’s embarked on a worldwide journey into the weird and wonderful world of novelty waves. So when the call came through from the Great Lakes core lord, Burton Hathaway, to tackle the ‘swell of the decade’ in America’s largest inland lake system. Naturally, he ‘dropped everything to go check it out’. “Great Lakes has been on my bucket list for years,” he tells Surfing Life. “As I’m getting older, I am less concerned with getting the best ride and more…

Natural beauty, non-stop action, unforgettable adventures. Whether you’re nipping down to your local beach or flying to far-flung shores, chasing waves with a camera lens has its fair share of rewards. Packing and transporting photographic gear isn’t usually one of them, but don’t fret. Here’s a few tips from seasoned surf shooters on travelling easy — and safe — with your kit. BE PREPARED After days of careful planning, you’ve lined up a killer shot: the light’s incredible, there’s a rider gliding into frame amid a perfectly formed barrel. You lock focus, you hit the shutter and… your camera says no. Nothing sucks more than equipment failing; batteries or memory running out part way through a shoot. So be sure to take everything you need, plus spares, especially if you’re…

Well, we hope you’re feeling at least a little jet-lagged from meandering through the pages of this issue. We’ve tried to give you samples of inspiration from all around the world to whet your appetite, and if you hadn’t already felt the onset of the dreaded travel bug coming on, beware, it’ll sneak up on you quickly. Itchy Feet Syndrome (IFS) is a real thing. We’ve seen it before and there is almost no cure if left too late. It’s ruthless and will work on you like Chinese drip torture until you can take it no more. Left unattended it will fester, cause irritation and leave you feeling dull, boring and bland. However in its worst recorded cases, most likely due to a secondary infection, IFS has been known to…

This issue we chat to a pioneer from the surf travel and tourism space. Shaun Levings was the founder of World Surfaris, which went on to become a veritable super power in the surf tourism industry. Shaun got his start in travel back in 1995, not long after his sixteenth birthday after joining a small travel agency in Gosford, NSW. From there he moved to the big smoke, to join national travel agency, Thomas Cook. His first experience in dedicated surf tourism came with The Surf Travel Co after spending six years in Sydney, but after his wife Jacquie landed a job with Qantas in Brisbane, the couple moved to the Sunshine Coast and World Surfaris was launched in 1997. Shaun eventually exited the business in 2016, but not after…

The 2018 WSL men’s world title race was one for the books. Going down to the proverbial wire at Pipeline at the end of last year, Gabriel Medina muscled his way into the history books becoming the first Brazilian surfer to claim two world titles. Our own Julian Wilson fought like the warrior we know he is, and did all he could to wrestle the title away from Medina by making the final. But once Medina got there, the world title was a fait accompli for the man who finished strongest in the back half of the year. Wilson ended up number two in the world, with the other 2018 title contender Filipe Toledo, finishing the year in third place. And while we are on the record, two other Australians…

He was the local leader of a certain gang in Hawaii when we met. Being a grovelling journalist, the bike was my only form of transport from Waimea to Pipe, as there was no budget for hire cars. It was the morning of media registration at the main Pipe car park, hence the bike mission, while he was about to cross the path along with a crew of tattooed boys, obviously wanting to cross over and go down to the beach. It was tough times in Hawaii back then. Fists still played a major part in regulating, and intimidation was equally as important. A slow squeezing of brakes saw the bike slow down, and he slowed down his pace as well. Sensing that he was going to let me go…

My phone pings near the dregs of my second beer at Dropkick Murphy. It’s a new message from my connection Sean Edington, a river guide on the Zambezi. “It’s just started. You coming?” And there was a picture — a bad angle — but you could see the lip and the curl of the wave, and that was enough. The wave normally only lasts a week. Time starts now. Things to organise: budgets, surfers, vehicle, passports, cameras, video, reflective jackets, fire extinguisher, cash, food, and shelter. Things to worry about: crocodiles, hippos, elephants, cattle, goats, trucks, potholes, roadblocks, bad drivers, the mighty river itself and the spirits that dwell within. At 3 a.m. on a Tuesday, with boards strapped to the roof, we hit the road. Rapid 11 in the…

Water has always been in Gemma Cornish’s blood. It may have started in the pool as a promising swimmer in Wellington, New Zealand, but the allure of the ocean had always been present with annual summer holidays spent down at the beach, for as long as she can remember. She competed, as a swimmer, up to national level from the ages of six to nineteen until an injury cut her competitive trajectory short. Prior to that though she practically lived in the water, sometimes training all day across the disciplines of swimming, synchronised swimming and surf lifesaving. Now the 22-year-old surfer has forged a lifestyle around the ocean, and in the process has discovered a new passion that has taken her on a wild journey weaving together her love for surfing,…

On a typically tropical afternoon in Canggu — the surfing and tourism favourite on Bali’s west coast — a scene plays out that perfectly sums up everything that is wrong with the world. As wealthy tourists toast the day with cocktails, beers and coconuts, a procession of ashen-faced Indonesian women trudge home following a day of hard labour at a nearby Singaporean-owned, luxury resort construction site. Their faces are hollow with exhaustion, many having worked seven days a week for that past three months, for which they’re paid around USD$8 a day. “The hardest (part) is I get so tired, sometimes I cannot handle it anymore. I just crash down and cry. When that happens I get flashbacks of how sad my life is,” explains *Made, 35, who was orphaned…

One of the world’s most recognisable surfers has just signed a 10-year contract with his main sponsor, the year after he retired officially from competitive surfing. What does that say for the three-times world champion who won’t surf another heat on the world tour again? Well it means there is a lot more to Mick than just putting on a contest jersey. And for Rip Curl, the architects of his ‘lifetime’ contract, it means that Mick is more than just another surfer on their books. “Mick isn’t just a world champion surfer,” says Neil Ridgway, Rip Curl’s Group Marketing Chairman. “He is the most important surfer in the history of our company,” he concludes emphatically, before elaborating further. “We know that — and he feels it too — so we…

Here’s Kaipo’s top 10 tips for travelling to Hawaii. 1. Always remove footwear before entering a house. 2. Never look a local in the eye and say “What?” That is a call to battle. 3. Get some bigger boards, and glass them a little heavy. Ride them before you arrive so you know them; you will be stoked on your new friend in Hawaiian waters. 4. Be humble — the Hawaiian word is ha’a ha’a, and it goes a long way. I’ve seen guys like Jack Robinson and the Gudauskas brothers gain giant local support by just being humble. 5. Check your leashes. Make sure your leash string is short and be prepared to swim in from any session you paddle out to. You’ll probably swim at some point so…

I feverishly made my way up the beach from the water’s edge, shuffling my feet through the blazing sand, baked by the afternoon sun and doing its best impression of molten lava. Every once in a while, I’d pause on a palm leaf or a piece of driftwood or whatever else was strewn about, allowing a temporary respite for my poor Canadian feet, their soles tender from spending the preceding months stuffed into woollen socks and winter boots. It was our first day in Mexico. Hanna Scott, Nate Laverty, Marcus Paladino and I had all fallen victim to the winter blues, and pulled the trigger on a last-minute strike mission to find solace from the dreariness that had set in at home. I had been to this infamous stretch of…

The stunning landscapes of New Zealand are made up of two main islands, which could quite possibly be two of the world’s most beautiful, but also the least imaginatively named. The North Island and South Island. There’s 15,000 km of coastline to explore and the majority of it has world-class surf potential. Just imagine if it only took you two hours to drive from Coolangatta to Margaret River. That’s how long it takes me to drive from Mount Maunganui, where I live on the east coast, to Raglan on the west coast. I have a theory that if you are prepared to put in some time behind the wheel, you’d be able to find good waves somewhere in New Zealand, on any day of the year. Whenever I get some…

Travel, whether it’s a lifelong dream or a short-term plan, the thrill for new adventure sends us scrambling out the door. The further away from home we venture, the quicker we realise how enormous the world really is, and how insignificant we (and our problems) are. When we wander through a foreign place, our necks crane and mouths gape, as we attempt to soak it all in. Stories, cultures, languages are streaming into our senses, and that feeling kids get on Christmas morning starts pumping through our bodies. “THE LAYER OVER TOP IS THE CONNECTION OF THE FLOW OF WATER AND OF THE TIDES. IT’S THE DIFFERENT MOVEMENT ASPECTS AND SPIRITUAL CONNECTIONS. YOU’VE GOT THAT OVERLAPPING, UNDERLYING SORT OF VIBE.” BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE JOURNEY ENDS? Our well-worn shoes…

You’d be correct in thinking that a surfing trip to the Solomons will be one heck of an adventure. The wild and untamed beauty of the Solomons features of over 900 islands. It’s a remote, yet accessible destination with a bunch of uncrowded waves to discover, many of which remain unnamed. It’s regularly touted as one of the final surfing frontiers, and for good reason. Forget all about modern luxuries and instead embrace an intrepid surfing excursion like no other. Visualise tidy seaside bungalows with panoramic views of crystal clear waters, loads of super fresh seafood and endless icy cold Sol Brews. As for the waves, expect to find plenty of secluded reef breaks perfect for sharing with a few mates. WAVE GUIDE November to April, is the favoured swell…