In 1972, Herb Peterson created the Egg McMuffin to bolster Maccas’s fledgling breakfast menu.

For those of us teetering on the Millenial/Gen-Z cut-off, we might remember the glory days of Fuel TV and, in particular, the youth-focused show “New Pollution”. On one of these episodes, Lakey walked into a Santa Barbara McDonald’s, made an Egg McMuffin with Matt Beacham, and proceeded to surf well above her years at Hammond’s Reef.

Now, in 2023 at 28 years old, she is in her prime and sitting at the eighth spot on the world tour, within grasp of the Final Five cut-off. Plus, Punta Roca is the next stop, a wave not dissimilar to the Lower’s right (which she demolishes above.)

Also worth remembering, Lakey is widely touted as THE surfer to bring airs to women’s surfing. She famously landed the first air ever recorded in women’s competitive surfing history at the 2009 NSSA Nationals in HB.

Click above for a damn good reason to add her to your El Sal fantasy team — and to buy a CI Pro.

Music is an absolute necessity for creating atmospheric tension during a film. Ever get really scared during an intense scene of a horror movie? Just plug your ears — almost all of the stomach-churning dread you’d been feeling will disappear.

Why does ominous music create such a visceral response for the viewer? Anthony Lacagnina, a neuroscientist at the Friedman Brain Institute explains, “We don’t like when frequencies clash. Sometimes spooky music will work by resembling sounds that trigger our fight-or-flight response. The brain responds to that by activating the brain areas that are going to be involved in protecting you.”

Music is responsible for an equal amount of atmosphere in surf films, of course. Dane Reynolds, CEO of Ch11 TV, is a master of scoring his cinema. Above, he dips into the realm of horror, laying screeching, eerie strings over a misty day at a thumping Ventura beachbreak. About as dark and thumping as Ventura gets, really.

Unfortunately, the ear-plugging trick doesn’t work when one of these closeouts is about to land on your head. Click above, and happy mindsurfing.

At almost 60 years of age, Tom Curren continues to play an influential role in the culture.

There’s always some oddity to discuss in relation to him, whether its his choice of attire, equipment or general offbeat demeanour.

I can always sit still for a Curren clip.

His Legacy Heat against Occy earlier in the year at Bells confirmed he still surfs a Black Beauty smooth as ever, even with those bizarre S-shaped fins.

Regardless of what the surf forecasting website you cookie-consent to tells you — according to local fishermen — winter in Ericeira begins on the first day of August.

The fading swells and warmer days of late spring bring the local lizards and Euro travelers out of hiding for as much sun, fun, and dance floor wiggles as possible, before the premature gloom sets in again.

Our recent attempt at boosting regional serotonin levels involved screening all four episodes of Stab In The Dark with Italo Ferreira, buying our Premium members several rounds (Thanks for coming!), and giving away three of the surfboards Italo couldn’t identify, plus the one he could.

With this year’s winning board hidden in plain sight — a few meters from the screen Episode 4 premiered on — we pushed play to reveal SITD’s first-ever hat-trick. Congratulations to Britt Merrick and the Swiss girl who got the luck of the draw, taking home the newly released CI “2.Pro”!

Connecting the finishing and starting points of Stab Highway Europe, we also screened Episode 3 and a sneak preview of Episode 4 at Billabong Hossegor, with this year’s cast and crew in attendance — following a glorious inaugural session under a bluebird sky at La Graviere.

If based along their path, you might encounter one or more of the teams over the course of this week. Our apologies in advance.

And to whoever stole our flag from 58 Surf in Ericeira, you can confess your surf sin to [email protected] or [email protected]. Just keep the video vert and under 60 seconds. That’s 1 minute.

Many thanks to 58 Surf Ericeira and Billabong Hossegor for hosting us, and to Channel Islands, Lost, Pyzel, and Sharp Eye for the surfboards!

Here are more pics from the shin-dig:

I think we expected the Surf Ranch Pro to be a little like a corporate holiday party — obligatory, underwhelming, rote, but ultimately a benign, somewhat pleasant soiree.

Instead, it was more like this year’s Coachella — some usual big names, a few surprisingly brilliant acts, lots of yelling, and a controversial ending from the main headliner.

In this week’s episode of The Drop, Mikey C and Stace Galbraith make their own arguments about what happened on that fateful day in beautiful Lemoore, California, and what it means for the future of surfing.

Hint: They actually like the Surf Ranch, Caity Simmers might win a world title as a rookie, and Mikey said, “This is the most competitive season of surfing I’ve ever seen.” Lots to indulge in here.

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Mikey and Stace are two of the more knowledgeable, experienced surf nerds on Planet Earth and they have some hot takes that shed light on sides of the Surf Ranch and its subsequent controversy that you might not have considered.

Digest the deets wherever you get your podcasts (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Spotify).

“Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”

We know… our feed has been all E-Lo and Italo of late.

Between firmly penned Portuguese Insta posts and equally incisive open-letters, this week has been rife with debate in surf industry offices worldwide.

Everyone has an opinion, and it’s the internet, so everyone shares said opinion. Fair enough.

In case you need to decompress, here’s some footage of Dane Reynolds juicing every bit of soul from a playful, punchy right-hander.

The Surf Ranch could never.

Also, today’s the last day to enter Dane and Buell’s celebratory giveaway. Don’t blow it!

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is currently estimated to cover a surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers — twice the size of the U.S. state of Texas.

Old fishing nets — as you’ll see in the video – account for roughly 46% of the GPGP and 10% of all plastic in the ocean.

However, Bureo, a company started by three surfers, has found a way to convert the plastic problem into a viable business. Bureo is a start-up that works with fishing communities to acquire old fishing nets, recycle them into nylon pellets, and sell them to businesses looking for more sustainability in their supply chain. They currently work with Patagonia, Quiksilver, Yeti, and many more — including Futures. To date, over 10 million pounds of discarded fishing net has been collected by Bureo.

Sounds like one of those too-good-to-be-true case studies in any good business school’s “Ethics” class.

But it seems like the real deal.

So why did Futures make this video you (presumably) just watched? To sell fins and provide shareholder value of course! But, also to show that there are ways to incorporate sustainability into surf hardware without compromising performance (Exhibit A: The torque-monster, JJF’s, cutty at 1:47).

So, yes — purchasing fins made from recycled fishing nets won’t make a mega-dent in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch immediately, but it’s a step in the right direction. And sometimes direction is more important than speed, anyways.

Are you a resident of Hawai’i? Is there any South swell in the forecast? Is there enough room in your bank account for an extra $5,000 USD?

If you answered ‘yes’ to all of the above, you and two friends could fill that money-shaped gap in the vault by entering IPD’s Wave of Da Summah competition, running now through Labor Day, 2023.

Think of it as the calendrical counterpart to the other, more wintery, digital surfing competition. As its complement, this contest celebrates those quintessential boons of the Estive season – warm water surges sent by the Southerly sea gods, best enjoyed under a simmering sun with friends nearby – in a place that exudes a summery essence year-round.

How does one win? (Why so many questions?)

The surfer to submit the best-ridden wave on a south-facing beach in Hawaii will earn themselves a sweet $5K, plus an additional $1K for the filmer who catches it on camera. As a sign of goodwill and gratitude for their hand in the ultimate success, $1,000 will also be awarded to the shaper whose craft made the Summer success possible.

Rules for entry: 

• The wave must be ridden during the event window – May 29 thru September 4.
• The wave must be ridden on a south-facing beach, regardless of the island.
• The wave must also be ridden by a current resident of Hawai’i. Brah.

How to submit:

• The wave must be posted on Instagram, tagging @IPDsurf and #waveofdasummah in the caption. 
• Finally, you must Wetransfer the clip to [email protected].

Got it? 

Now, go stock up on tropical wax, start a text thread with your best filmer/surfer friend, and keep an eye on the horizon for your next opportunity for entry. But don’t tucker yourself out too early; the swell window is long and, Surfline-ically speaking, “south swells from tropical systems [are] generally strongest around August-September.”

See complete rules and stipulations at IPDsurf.com and keep a close eye on the competition by checking submissions posted to the IPD blog.

Good luck?