Four Feels Like Freedom Photo Comp Submissions Worth A Thumb Tap!

Sitting in the ever-so-flat Los Angeles County and sifting through empties has become an exhausting affair.

Not because the submissions for O’Neill x Stab’s #FeelsLikeFreedom photo comp aren’t up to snuff, but the contrary. This morning, we considered waking before dawn and driving an hour south to beat traffic and surf waist-high Huntington.

It was sad.

So, thumbing down drop-dead photos of waves elsewhere, whether it be from a few months back or anything from the right coast, makes us sigh. Jealousy is a spiteful woman, and good waves abroad are a source of simultaneous lust and inspiration.

For the sake of a sound mind, let’s lean on the side of inspiration!

We’re two months into our #FeelsLikeFreedom photo challenge, and the submissions are coming in hashtags and pixels. So, as a friendly reminder to submit your photos for your chance to win one of Jordy Smith’s Stab in the Dark replicas (We had 12 blank STID boards shaped that we are dying to give away), a framed shot at your local surf shop and a Full Frame post on this here site, we’ve plucked three of the most idyllic Instagram posts from the # to provide some weekend motivation to get out, shoot and post.

Before you get to the truffles below, let’s revisit the rules:

First thing’s first, this competition is for North America only, apologies to everyone else…

Second, to enter you must use the hashtags #StabFullFrame and #FeelsLikeFreedom along with @Stab and @OneillUSA – if you don’t tag all four, sorry, your submission will be ignored.

The photos must be published within the six-month contest frame (ends in August and we will announce the winner, who we will handpick, in September).

The photos must be shot in North America, they must be taken by you. The photos can be new or old; however, the timelier the better. And finally, they must be unpublished. Don’t send us anything you’ve sold. We want fresh. We want romantic. We want shots that’ll make you drop everything and sprint into the lineup.

“This shot is from November 2017, taken somewhere along the seven-mile miracle,” Travis Estores says. “This day was insane. Most other spots around were washed out with few surfers out. I actually wasn’t even planning on this shot; I was just checking around looking for waves and had my camera on me. Somehow this gem on the inside hit the sand patch perfectly.”

If you’d like to, hit this hyperlink and follow Travis on Instagram. 

“This photo is shot from at the North end of Estero Bay (I’d probably be killed if I named the specific spot) in early December 2017,” photog Jason Fitzgibbons tells us. “That weekend I had some friends come up to get away from SoCal crowds, and we happened to get hit with a solid NW swell and some consistent NE offshores. Lo’ and behold, some sand moved around and this little SW facing left started going off. We surfed the shit out of it for a good three days!” 

Follow Jason here. 

“I took some Cali friends to some good point breaks in Baja,” lensman Lucano Hinkle tells Stab. “We drove for five hours south to find it all blown out by the notoriously strong winds that are known to that area. But the beauty of the coast is the way it wraps around. When all else fails you can just drive to a beach break and find something amazing!”

Double tap Lucano’s profile here. 

“This was a classic New York winter surf day,” says Chris Cook. “It was way bigger and better than people thought it would be because it only snowed a few inches the night before. The swell peaked around 10ft at 9 seconds and there were perfect A-frames everywhere you looked. Walking over the boardwalk to see this with nobody out is what it’s all about here in the NorthEast USA.”

For Chris’s Insta, click this!