Innholdsfortegnelse for March - April 2021 i Tracks

Typically those Oz surfers with a lust for waves in the XXL range have a host of international options – Fiji, Hawaii, Tahiti, Northern California, and Portugal to name a few. However, the big C travel ban has forced all the gunslingers to look closer to home for their adrenaline fix. The roaring left bommie featured in this shot has become something of a focal point in recent times. Aided by a couple of La Nina summer swells, its profile has blown up. Not surprisingly, tensions rise a little when a certain spot becomes ‘on trend’ and suddenly everyone wants a slice of the big wave pie. Despite the crowds and the increased attention there are always standouts, particularly when the wave is so challenging. To really nail this spot,…

Eating seafood is a big part of Australian culture. Wild-caught seafood also has one of the lowest carbon footprints of the ‘animal proteins’ – equal to milk, and lower than eggs, chicken, lamb, and beef. However, certain fishing and farming practices are better than others. Some seafood choices can help support jobs, keep ecosystems in balance and even encourage the clean up our oceans. Meanwhile, other seafood choices can have devastating consequences for our big blue. So, how do we choose seafood that’s delicious and good for us, but also great for our oceans. Below is a simple guide to help you make more informed choices next time seafood is on the menu. 1. Look for an eco-label If it’s wild-caught seafood, the global sustainability standard is Marine Stewardship Council…

Australian Expat, Troy Sinclair typically spends his days running his resort, Batu Karang, on the island of Nusa Lembongan. It’s a sweet gig but things had been a little slow on account of COVID and the corresponding tourist restrictions. Troy decided it was a good time to follow up on a little boat project he’d been working on. He figured chartering a boat could provide him with an alternative income stream in hard times. Meanwhile, the surfer in him dreamed of owning a high-speed vessel that would transport him to any of Indonesia’s best waves on a whim. You see this was no ordinary runabout. It was a repurposed Russian special forces, navy strike boat; 12 metres of sleekly engineered, high-powered marine transport with a top speed of 55 knots…

I HAD ALREADY MADE MY DECISION – STAYING HOME AND RELAXING ON THE COUCH AFTER DINNER WAS THE IDEAL WAY TO SPEND MY SATURDAY NIGHT. NO PARTIES, NO DRAMAS, JUST A GOOD FEED AND SOME SERIOUS CHILL TIME. Then the call that would seriously screw up my simple plan came through from peripatetic photographer, Al Mackinnon. Al had been watching a fierce hurricane spin across the Caribbean, devastating parts of Jamaica, Cuba and even the low-lying Bahamas as it twisted across the western Atlantic Ocean. Cyclone-induced carnage and perfect waves have always been strange co-conspirators. The agony of those who lose lives and homes juxtaposed by the ecstasy of surfers lucky enough to ride coiling swells on the fringes of the intense barometric lows. Nature’s Yin and Yang on display.…

Gnung-a Gnung-a Murremurgan ventured into the English settlement at Sydney Cove in November 1790, and was given the adopted name ‘Collins’ from the Acting Judge Advocate David Collins. (1) A few years later, Gnung-a Gnung-a embarked on an epic voyage across the Pacific to Nootka Sound (now Vancouver, Canada) as part of an expedition to the West coast of North America under the command of Captain George Vancouver. Because of the mutiny on the H.M.S. Bounty in 1789, under the command of William Bligh, the British Admiralty thereafter prohibited multi-year single ship expeditions, believing that two ships would reduce the risk of mutiny. Vancouver was given command of the armed ship Discovery (340 tons) with a crew of 100 men and the armed tender Chatham (135 tons) with a crew…

From the moment their mum, Alex, tossed them into the Pipeline shorey as blonde-locked surflings, the Florence brothers were destined for the surfing stage. Now, John has his two World Titles and Nathan is one of the most popular surfers on YouTube – an all-round performer with a gift for one-liners. Recently younger brother, Ivan, has been claiming his share of the limelight. By far the best skater of the three, Ivan is frequently featured on social media pulling slick tricks on four wheels. The low-slung shoulders and limited upper-body movement employed by skaters often translates to a cool, minimalist approach in the surf. Ivan is a case in point, threading tubes with an economy of movement that gives his whole act a kind of stylish nonchalance. He is also…

Behind the Cover - Mason Ho by Corey Wilson This day was so much fun! Best waves I’ve ever seen at Rockies. This was taken in the off-season and there were only a few guys out. I knew this was a special one for me after this wave passed and I went underwater. When I got home I showed Mason and he was so fired up! He was so stoked on the mountain in the background, said he used to play on that thing when he was a kid growing up. - Corey Wilson Craft Corner MH SURFBOARDS - CHIPPA LIMITED COLLECTION Chippa and Matt decided to work on a limited range of boards to reflect Chippa’s experimentation with shapes that are a little left-of-centre. They ended up with the…

Once the borders closed in early April 2020, we had three ‘real’ Cloudbreak swells, the kind that produce what we’d call proper ‘ledge days’ with swell periods of around 20-seconds. Those were days I’ll never forget. It’s kinda sad because it could have been a time when all the locals were making the most of the uncrowded waves at Cloudbreak, Namotu, Tavarua and Frigates, but because there were no tourist dollars flowing through, everyone was too broke to get out to the reefs. We really had to pick our days to organise a boat and fuel etc. We couldn’t afford to hit the outer reefs five times a week and froth out no matter what the conditions were like (still can’t right now). Tourism is our main industry, therefore with…

“It was just Conor surfing, with six of his closest mates running safety and filming,” Clem McInerney told Tracks. “It was a golden ticket on the best chart we’ve ever seen. The stars had aligned and Maguire surfed the wave of his life.” McInerney was the man who filmed the wave ridden by 25-year-old Conor Maguire at Mullaghmore on October 28, 2020. It was the biggest wave ever ridden in Ireland. It may have been the most seismic wave surfed since the pandemic. At the time, Ireland had just gone into level five restrictions; the most severe of the pandemic. Schools were closed. You could only leave home for work, education, or other essential reasons. Exercise was permitted, but only within five kilometres of your home. So when a once-in-a-decade,…

When Tracks catches up with Pauline Menczer, it’s around 11 am on a Friday and she has already finished her morning shift. “These days I’m a school bus driver and a mad gardener,” she explains enthusiastically. Driving the bus is a job she professes to love. “I’ve got a few surfers on the run and it’s really nice to encourage little teen surfers… I’m a kind bus driver but I’m strict. I just like to teach kids manners. You know, they’ll give you a hard time for the first six months. And then they’re just absolutely lovely.” While the ‘kids are alright’ with Pauline at the helm, the 1993 World Champion is also enjoying the publicity wheel, as attention turns to the recent release of the film ‘Girls Can’t Surf’.…

In the United Kingdom in the late 18th and 19th ‘to dance upon nothing’ was one of the grizzly metaphors used to describe a public hanging. Now, surfing at Mavericks is not exactly a death sentence, but it does involve confronting your mortality, and getting hung-up is certainly a horror show scenario you want to avoid. Many Mavericks regulars will tell you that to avoid ‘the dance upon nothing’ they go looking for the roll-ins or chip-ins; that little chunk of wave that caps or lifts just enough to sling you in early; so that you can be on your feet and trimming for a split-second before things get far more vertical and suddenly you are spearing down the face of a 20-30 footer. According to Chase LaRue (pictured) the…

As a surf photographer Marty Tullemans was a prolific dynamo, a restless barrel of human energy. The kind of guy who could swim against a raging Burleigh current to get a sublime water shot of a 70s luminary like Peterson or Bartholomew in full cry, and then hustle his way through the throng of contest spectators to make sure he was on-hand to nail the podium shot. Given his irrepressible energy, his talent, and his love for his job, he played a huge part in defining surf culture as we know it. Anyone who read surf magazines in the 70s 80s and 90s stared rapturously at photos with a Tullemans credit and his work was frequently revisited in later decades. As a human Marty was zany, engaging and famously eccentric;…

Think of it as a disaster movie. I have. For many years now. To be invited to Hollywood to write a movie about surfing and then have them actually want to make it, and then to talk them into hiring all your friends to do it with you, and then to have to stand by and watch the Hollywood machine turn the story into a compost heap was absolutely heart breaking. But at least my friends and I had a ball making it. People like Matty Liu (who surfed that giant day at Jaws but did not make the final cut), Shane Dorian (who I believe was at a contest in Brazil when I called him and asked him to star). He was fifth in the world I think but…