Two Groms Discover Why Europe Is The Classic Surfer’s Pilgrimage

How did you spend your summers when you were 16? 

 Hustling gas money to get down to the local for an after school wiggle? Some of you silver spoon types were surely on chaperoned Costa Rican escapades, but most of us were on fairly short leashes.

 For 16-year-old Floridian Saxon Wilson, and 17-year-old Zach Flores—two surfers from opposite coasts with a shared appreciation for short canvas trunks, heavy single-fins, and a style well beyond their years—summer started out like something out of a dream, with both of them accepting an invitation from their hero, Joel Tudor, to come to Europe for the Duct Tape Invitational Zarautz. 

Saxon Wilson (up front) and Zack Flores, the newest addition’s to Katin’s storied, 60-year team tradition.

Photography

Laserwolf.

Chaperoned by Katin team manager and one of Stab favorite lensman, Brandon “Laserwolf” Campbell, as well as Matt Catalano, the two took Joel up on his offer, and got a look at the Old World for the first time, banging around the Basque Country filming in the nooks and crannies along that storied coast, and enjoying the same tutelage from Tudor, Alex Knost, Tyler Warren, and others, that Tudor enjoyed from Nat Young, David Nuuhiwa, and Micki Dora.

 During the Duct Tape, the pair were unmissable, shredding down the Zarautz promenade with the ir logs in tow, enjoying the region’s  loose rules as far as vino goes, and getting a proper worldly education. 

 Scroll south for a look at Zack and Saxon’s summer vacation, and click in to the clip above, filmed by Matt Catalano

Saxon Wilson, a 16-year-old dead ringer for Dewey Webber.

Photography

Laserwolf.

Zach Flores prescribes to the fringe theory of a near-waxless deck, claiming he can slide and move on his board easier, while remaining control “as long as [he] stays really upright.”

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Laserwolf.

Ain’t the adorable? Bright-eyed and frothing on their first visit to Europe, surrounded by their favorite surfers, the two were instant hits with the Basque crew, as well as Tudor’s hand-selected circus.

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Laserwolf

Saxon Wilson, hang heels tucked in the corner of Zarautz.

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Laserwolf.

Zack Flores.

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Laserwolf.

Saxon Wilson, Junior Year summer, 2018.

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Laserwolf

Saxon Wilson.

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Laserwolf.

When Saxon’s friends back in Melbourne Beach ask him what he did with his summer, he’ll kindly swipe to this postcard capture. Basque Country, 2018.

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Laserwolf