Tim Taplin and a quart of gold, Oz

“The waves were amazing for the boogers at this particular spot in Oz but I wasn’t having much luck with the light,” says photog Mark Clinton of the afternoon session y’see here. “The sun was hidden behind thick cloud. As I swam out, it all cleared up and the light shot through this small pocket in the the sky.” Tim Taplin, the man pictured here under this mini-Chopesian roof, happens to be O’Neill Menswear Designer in Oz. But he also has a kink for throwing himself under liquid buses. This day, he was surfing with a coupla pals and his pops. He scooped this one from the pack and, once he reached the bottom, tried to take the staircase. He was chewed up on the inside (narrowly missing some dry rock), but according to Mark, it was all worth the shot: “After this wave, the light went behind the hills and the golden quarter of an hour was over.”