Scenes From Herbie Fletcher’s 35th Annual Wave Warriors Shoot!
In honor of the first Hawaiian World Champion, Derek Ho!
“I wasn’t here for the first one in 1983,” Nathan Fletcher tells Stab of his dad’s first Wave Warriors shoot 35 years ago. “I was here the second year, though, with Buttons, all those guys, it was insane.”
We’re standing on the coarse pink sand at RVCA’s Off the Wall house, with the world’s heaviest making their way down the steps and finding a place on the rocks amongst five generations of North Shore standouts.
“This is the Wave Warriors shoot,” a very amped Herbie Fletcher tells Stab, “and it’s a deal where all the best surfers in the world come to the North Shore to wet their blades and do battle on coral and sand. You gotta be a badass—gotta take off deep and go!”
As with every year, this year’s shoot honored an icon, and perhaps none are as fitting to receive the award as four time Triple Crown winner, two time Pipe Master, and the first Hawaiian to win the World Title (in 1993): Derek Ho.
Donning the black-and-white photo tees Astrodeck and RVCA collaborate on these days, John John, Nathan, and Ivan Florence, Mike Ho, Bruce Irons, Danny Fuller, Koa and Makua Rothman, the Gudangs, and a slew of other heavies mugged for Brian Bielmann, Tom Servais, and Herbie, the handpainted Wave Warriors flag flying proudly above them in the stiff Northeasterlies, with Nathan Fletcher visibly distracted by a few absolute mutants out the back at Rockpile.
Scroll south for a look at the 2018 Wave Warriors squad, and thanks to Herbie and the RVCA crew for the hospitality.
John John Florence showed up on time, and was left milling while the rest rolled in fashionably late.
Photography
Sam Moody.
Ivan, John, and Nathan Florence with Dane Gudauskas.
Photography
Sam Moody.
Alex Knost, Delon Bone, Ford Archbold, and Nathan “Noodles” Webster.
Photography
Sam Moody.
Ellis Erickson and his Greenough-designed edge board.
Photography
Sam Moody.
How’s that for a squad!
Photography
Sam Moody.
Wave Warriors overlord, Herbie Fletcher.
Photography
Sam Moody.
Brothers from other mothers, and North Shore heavies for fifty years: Herbie Fletcher and Derek Ho.
Photography
Sam Moody.
Three members of North Shore royalty: Nathan Fletcher, Koa Rothman, and Bruce Irons.
Photography
Sam Moody.
Matty Matheson and Billy Kemper, discussing what MM will be tossing on the grill at Banzai Skatepark after the shoot.
Photography
Sam Moody.
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