“This clip is from an old hard drive my mom found under her couch.”

I’m going to call bullshit on this version of “dog ate my homework,” because absolutely no one sits on footage like this unknowingly, not even mothers who don’t surf.

And if you surf like Noah Hill, you know your surfing is worth something. Which might be why, in the text introducing the video you’re about to watch, he takes a swing at the “lack of community and support within the industry.”

Titling it Taking Wonderful Care of Yourself is a touch ironic. Noah admits he’d been neglecting his health to spend more time in the water — he’d been diagnosed with skin cancer recently.

“Thankfully I am healthy now and have figured out how to spend lots of time in the water while protecting myself from the sun.”

Filmed and edited in a modest home-video style, you’ll burn a minute and fifty-nine seconds for the first wave, but it’s worth the wait. The absence of color footage takes away a bit of the eye candy pervasive across most clips, edits, and films, but it serves as a good excuse to focus on shapes, forms, performance, and flow.

The film is released through Brad Gerlach’s Wave Ki, where Noah has recently come on board to contribute some creative work. In the YouTube description, Noah critiques the surf community, pointing out its flaws, but argues that smaller companies like Wave Ki represent the future. His manifesto might have a point. Surfing’s always been individualistic, a little selfish — waves are scarce, surfers are still mostly terrible, skaters are cooler, etc., etc.

But for what it’s worth, here’s a little support, Noah.

Have we reached a consensus on surf reports delivered in loco hominis?

What are the ethics of sending live updates from the beach? How detailed should they be? A quick text saying you’re about to paddle out, a quick photo, communicating size range and conditions, a video of a set rolling in?

If this is a dawn patrol dispatch, the receiver might still be tucked in tight like beans and rice wrapped in a warm tortilla. If it’s good, they’ll have to drag themselves into the cold knowing it’ll be worth it. If it’s rubbish, they’ll snooze the extra hour. A win in both cases.

You have to like your friends very much for this sort of good deed. Or, in Jordy Smith’s case, you might simply want to reduce the statistical probability of becoming an hors d’oeuvre for South African marine life. Safety in numbers, and all that.

In his latest YouTube upload, titled with intentional understatement — Fun surf at home — Jordy spoke into his phone: “Four to six, clean” before paddling out into precisely that. Except it wasn’t, was it? As the South African threads wedgy barrel after glassy barrel, you begin to question his relationship with veracity.

Couldn’t he just say it was going off?

Maybe he was just maintaining plausible deniability while keeping a lineup under reasonable control. Jordy Smith: World #3, diplomat.

In the same week, Joel Tudor took on a major airline (and won), Jaleesa Vincent wrote an explicit rap song about her Pussy Surfboard, and a World Junior Champ invested his life savings in luxury sunglasses.

Just when you thought surfing was gonna be fine, Paul Evans (WSL) joins the pod to excoriate children and tell us when, precisely, our little hobby went tits up.

Happy listening. 

“It all feels like a façade to me… Likes? Comments? Who cares?” Bobby Martinez spat in a recent interview for How Surfers Get Paid, a discussion that had enough venom and meat to justify a full editorial breakdown.

And what better way to honour Bobby and his snake-eyed disdain for likes, comments, and competitions than by turning likes and comments into a competition? Thanks, Bobby. You’re with us always.

In the interview, Bobby also mentioned that Billabong once sued Andy Irons during his competitive reign, which seems a little absurd when you dig into it. The comments below the interview reflected that sentiment.

While both comments deserve equal praise, and each has 26 likes, we’re giving the nod to Kama’aina, with a notable assist from Com. Kama’aina, send an email to [email protected] with proof of your Disqus account. You’ve won a year of free Stab Premium and are now in the running for the end-of-year title.

And because what goes around comes around, Kama’aina throws the assist to Negatron for October.

Gotta love someone who can turn bulls piss into lemonade. Negatron, see award and instructions above.

Collectives and grassroots cliques are increasingly doing the work brands used to do.

Let’s face it, some of these are operating under brands themselves (Chapter 11 TV, Former, Octopus, Epokhe, Ritual Vision, etc.), and could easily grow too big and end up repeating the same story they were reacting against.

But let’s, for now, focus on how a lot of their revenue is going back into the making of surf films — arguably the second-best thing to actually going surfing.

Erratic Nerve isn’t a brand (yet?), but it serves as a platform for the documentation and dissemination of one such clique comprised of East Coast U.S. surfers.

About a month ago, they released a clip where Sensei Ben Bourgeois joined the much younger EN crew on a teepee-hunting mission to Nicaragua.

Now, a well-deserved short documentary profiles the underrated, but far from unknown, East Coast figure. Ben Bourgeois, a favourite son of Wilmington alongside one Michael “Air” Jordan, was actually born in New Jersey (and both Michael Ciaramella and Brendan Buckley are still trying to lay claim to the fact).

The 47-year-old was a mainstay of print media during the industry’s heyday, appearing in countless titles and issues, mostly playing the freesurfer part. In competition, he beat the Hobgoods, Taj Burrow, and three-time world champ Andy Irons at ISA events. After a few years on the QS he made it onto the CT. His first year wasn’t stellar: a knee injury didn’t allow his surfing to flourish, despite a solid qualifying campaign.

In 2001, due to the 9/11 attacks, the CT season was reduced to five events. Going into the final contest of the year at Sunset Beach, 10 surfers still had a shot at the title, and it was actually Ben’s victory against Australian Danny Wills in Round 3 that made CJ Hobgood the 2001 World Champion. Unfortunately, Ben was relegated that year, only requalifying for another season on tour in 2008.

Bourgeois had the opening part in Taylor Steele’s Momentum Under the Influence, where he was often mistaken for Kelly Slater (despite Kelly being well past 23 at the time) not just for the clean board with the Quik logo, but for a rather similar style and flow. Uncanny, really. You could see it already in the grom footage in the Erratic Nerve profile. Ben moved almost exactly like Slater at the same age.

Dubbed by some as the East Coast’s Tom Curren — both for his style and his tendency to go on solo, covert missions to places none of us should know about — this episode of Erratic Nerve’s Off Script series takes a closer, human look at Ben the man: where he revisits his career, and how sobriety helped him fall back in love with surfing.

And for the surfing alone, it is a very worthy watch.

All photos by Todd Glaser.

Last night Santa Barbara’s historic Arlington Theater was filled with over 2,000 eager souls, hungry for banana pan… I mean an evening filled with ‘tasteful’ music from Jack Johnson and friends, along with two newly remastered films: Thicker Than Water and The September Sessions. 

The show also included an in-depth Q&A with the crew who not only brought these films to life a quarter century ago, but showcased their relevance and impact on filmmaking today. The names Chris Malloy and Emmet Malloy ring a bell? Appearances also came in the form of Timmy Curran, Rob Machado, Brad Gerlach, and more stars of the aforementioned classics. 

The night commenced with live music from Todd Hannigan and Xocoyotzin Moraza, followed by the screening of Thicker Than Water. The two paired like oxygen and spark, reminding us that music and surfing together is greater than the sum of its parts. Which is probably why Jack Johnson was able to create something so timeless in these films. 

“We used to sit around on these trips, and I can honestly say, the reason I had the confidence to go out and start singing in front of other people was having friends who were so supportive. And you can tell when your friends are bullshitting you (crowd laughs) it was so nice to have them around and I just want to say thank you,” Jack explained to a rapt crowd.

Piggy-backing off that was Dan Malloy: “It was one of the coolest things ever to be in the room when Jack was working on that first album, and then seeing him put it out there — then it just goes into the next stratosphere. It was a wild experience.” 

As Jack, G Love, The Hermanos Gutierrez, Zack Gill, and Rob Machado hit the stage, an improvisational set took place as The September Sessions played behind them. This cemented the fact that surfing is best consumed in a sensory immersion chamber.

“From being in front of the camera and then coming home from those adventures, the movies were cool, but they weren’t reflecting how magic the experience was that we were having,” says Chris Malloy, nostalgia-dosing his own surf career. “And so the idea was, hey before we have to, like, get real jobs, let’s write a love letter to surfing. And that’s what it really was. There was no big plan or budget with these films. It was just about how we could put our heads together and write a love letter to surfing.”

Letter: received. 

Check out the trailer of a new documentary Directed by Emmett Malloy SURFILMUSIC — following the evolution of Jack Johnson.

If, as Volcom founder Richard Woolcott once said, “big is the enemy of cool,” then Lee Wilson and Brad Flora, who run Efwun and Thrash Craft, respectively, are operating deep behind enemy lines. 

Both surfer-run brands are small, irreverent, and obsessively detailed: the kind of things you only find if you know where to look. 

Add Lazer Fins to the mix—co-founded by Quik’s Puerto Rican stylist Rolo Montes and East Coast craftsman Robbie Merrell—and the result is a microcosm of surfing’s best instincts: self-made, global, and allergic to corporatization. 

Lazer has already screwed with Mikey Wright, Kael Walsh and many other gifted pro’s fin boxes, while the brand plots the release of its biggest full-length team surf film yet.

So yes, surfing’s Indonesian DIY scene is thriving. And equally, Wilson’s and Flora’s air games.

More on Efwun, Thrash Craft and Lazer at these hyperlinks.

Arthur Villar wouldn’t be very pleasant to surf against. 

Yesterday, he hit Stab High Bottlerockets rival Loci Cullen with a last-minute full-ro into the flats to steal his spot in the Rip Curl GromSearch semifinals. This morning, Jaime Vaselko had him on the ropes until Arthur swung back with a Kerrupt flip. It was easily the highest and most technical air of the event and — with Lee Wilson not on the panel — the judges chucked him a 9.13. 

Which is to say that he was looking like the child to beat heading into the final against the supremely consistent Ocean Lancaster.

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Meanwhile, on the girls’ side of the draw, Emily Jenkinson bested Carol Bastides in a low-scoring affair while Eliza Richardson chucked 12.33 points at Talia Tebb. 

The swell had picked up from yesterday, and with plenty of time to run the two remaining heats, organizers put the comp on hold through dead low tide. When it kicked back on, we saw an expression session featuring RC crew Molly Picklum, Tom Curren, Crosby Colapinto, and Justin Becret. And, not that it was for points/clout, but Lucas Skinner won. He won this event the past two years, but is already looking way closer to the CT level than anything else.  

Then it was Finals time. The wind started cranking offshore. The boys padded out first, and Ocean found an 8.33 for a two-turn combo. Arthur quickly answered back with a tube-turn combo, but Ocean had another 7.57 for two more of his turns. On both of his scores, Ocean generated the most revenue on his second turn — one was an end section hammer, and the other a fin release. For once, Arthur had no more last-minute heroics. 

The trend continued on the other side of the draw. Emily Jenkinson hunted tubes while Emily sought to belt her way to scores, and the judges nodded to the latter. She finished with 12.57 points and a very high likelihood of her nose finding a sticker on it soon. 

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So, this year was swept by two Australians who surf way more powerfully than their ages should allow. If history repeats itself — and it tends to — these two will have to stand on a lot more podiums in the future.