Surfing Where It Doesn’t Make Sense

It makes sense that surfing—to the best of Captain Cook’s knowledge—started in Hawaii. 

The water is warm and beautiful, which proves to be a great combination for people who are capable of understanding the moods of the ocean and finding ways to translate those moods into brief but joyous rides. 

Warmth and beauty continue to exercise their command over surfing today. More warmth, more beauty, more people. I’ve seen clouds roll in and slice a crowd clean in half. A welcome sight. 

It’ll always be nice to surf in the tropics. Boardshorts, blue water, sunscreen that stays on your face for 72 hours before staining your favorite t-shirt, the speed at which the first beer disappears after a long session when you come in legitimately dehydrated and your body gets confused into believing a fucking Bintang is gonna help. The little things. 

However, there’s something to be said about surfing where it doesn’t make so much sense. 

Earlier this week, I found myself in the Pacific Northwest. 

Not my first time there, but my first time there in a while. It was cold. And cloudy. And foggy. Head-high swells were diced into peaks by a river and the channels it had carved into the sand. There were big pine tines and bigger cliffs. There was nobody around. At one point, I expected an eagle to soar overhead. 

At no point did an eagle soar overheard. 

After so many sun burns, there’s something refreshing about looking in at the beach and seeing the opposite of white sand and palm trees. 

Forgotten corner doesn’t feel like the right term—it’s more like a place that has either never been truly realized or has been willfully ignored. But, it’s comforting to know that places like this exist in case the wheels really come flying off the wagon and lineups everywhere else become incoherent soups of flesh and foam, perhaps surrounded by wave pools.

Episode 3: The Electric Acid Surfboard Test Starring Mason And Coco Ho

We back, we back, and we back. In this episode, the spotlight shines brightly upon Coco. It also shines on Matt Parker, Rusty Prisendorfer, Axel Lorentz, and Thomas Bexon—watch to find out what, specifically, a slot channel twin fin is and how it behaves.

Surfboard Prices Will Soon Make You Tremble While Pulling Out Your Credit Card And Buying One Anyway

Bad news: The world is broken, everybody wants to buy a surfboard, and nobody wants to make them. Good news: Surfing is so fun that it turns most, if not all, of us into illogical children and so it’s not like we’re going to stop buying them. We spoke with a board industry insider to learn about the labor crises and material issues that are about to drive costs up.

Do The Olympics Change Your Life And Make You Rich?

The trembling mentioned in the last title only applies to you if you don’t win the Olympics this year. Because, if you do, you gon’ get paid. We talked to a former Olympic god medalist to find out what winning the Games does for one’s life and career.

Localism Is A Sickness

A lot of things have been written about localism in the odd history of surf media. This argument is constructed like no other I’ve seen. Hint: On a physiological level, being a prick makes you unhappy, unhealthy, and certainly unwise.

Ten Years Ago, A Band Of Inebriated Pirates Raided Lowers And Set The Tone For Surfing Today

Blood was shed. Genitals were revealed. Matt Biolas’ birthday was ruined. The Lowers Raid was a fascinating affair. And when you look around today’s fun-loving, flaccid, Vloggy world, it’s fair to say it was ahead of its time. Here’s the backstory. And, a decade later, it’s still hard not to laugh at these videos.

Comment of the week 

This fatherly joke, made in regard to board costs rising, simply warmed my heart. 

One last thing: 

Anything is a leash string when your dreams are big and you have a knife.