Dane Reynolds, Lower Trestles, CA

“Wow,” Benji Weatherly said to photog Blake Kueny, sitting on the beach at Lowers. “Dane is the best person to watch ever. He could be just paddling out while Kelly’s on a wave and everyone would be like, ‘woah, look at Dane paddling’, and they just watch Dane paddle.”

Benji’s commentaries on the session at Lowers didn’t stop with Dane, either. “The barstard’s found an excuse to ride every wave and cut everyone off”, Benji said of Kelly Slater’s foray into using a 3D GoPro and riding behind in passenger seat. ‘Follow-cam’, as it’s called.

But despite the amount of pros around this day, Blake says the vibe was very chill. “It was cool to see all the top guys just hanging out like groms with their packed lunches and just so psyched on surfing. They didn’t come down with tons of film crews or team vans or whatever. It just seemed like raw surfing and it was really cool.”

Check out more of Blake’s work at his site, over here.