In 1976, esteemed SoCal punk filmmaker David Markey, around 13-years-old at the time, captured this rad 8mm film footage of the skateboard, surf, and dirt bike scene in Santa Monica. Markey writes:
Read the restThe dawning of the Dogtown era; Road Rider 4's, Bennett Trucks, Logan Earth Ski's, 2 colored Vans. Shot at Bay Street, Kenter Elementary, McKinley Elementary, Harvard Street, and the former vacant lots of Santa Monica. Skaters include Paul Hoffman and Paul Cullen.
At first I thought this video used special effects to make it look like a tiny surfer was bugging a normal size surfer. It's actually a remote control scale model of a surfer.
The Anatomy of Surf rides along with surfing legend Ian Walsh as he describes the sensations of surfing, set to footage of some beautiful waves. Read the rest
This year's snow cyclone led to an ocean phenomenon called slush waves, or slurpee waves. A few hardy souls decided to try to surf them. Read the rest
The Truck Surf Hotel is a modded Mercedes Actros outfitted with a hydraulically-expanding two-story inn. Inside is a living room, kitchen, four double rooms with bunk bed, one double room with a single larger bed, bathroom, and shower. Over the course of a week vacation package, the hotel travels to surf destinations in Portugal and Morocco. The trip is around $700-$900 depending on the destination and season; airfare not included.
Truck Surf Hotel (via Uncrate)
Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa set a new Guinness World Record for riding the biggest wave ever surfed, an 80-footer in Nazaré, Portugal.
“I try to surf big waves all my life, and I had a huge experience in 2014 where I almost died at Nazaré,” Koxa said. “Four months later, I had bad dreams, I didn’t travel, I got scared, and my wife helped me psychologically. Now, I’m just so happy, and this is the best day of my life."
Now he and Mick are planning to wing on over to London and jam with the Stones.
Surfer Magazine recently headed over to Kelly Slater's Wave Company, a humongous wave-generating engine on rails that lays out glassy slab after slab. Read the rest
Jenya Ivkov documented a tropical paradise surf safari, and even the waves are nice and relaxing. It includes some lovely footage around the island. Read the rest
The Endless Summer is the most important film in the history of surfing, and a lot of that is due to director Bruce Brown's evangelistic narration and participatory enthusiasm. Brown died this week at age 80. Read the rest
This made me laugh. It's a quirky video by YouTuber Kevin Parry where his fingers and hands play "miniature action sports," like skateboarding and surfing.
Here's his behind-the-scenes video:
Making of 'The Dock' looks at the logistical challenges of constructing and towing a floating dock out into the Bali surf, as well and the challenges of surfing from it. Read the rest
The ocean has been featured prominently in a lot of bad news lately. Here's Morgan Maassen's reminder of how lovely it can be, featuring surfer Stephanie Gilmore. Read the rest
Surfer Filipe Jervis stars in Timing, a short film that encourages everyone to pursue their dreams now, and not wait for the perfect timing. Why? Because it's never the perfect time. Read the rest
Jack Baker was bodyboarding at Sydney Australia's Cape Solander when a big backwash wave launched him into the sky. Fortunately, he suffered only from a burst lung and is now recovering.
"I even said to the photographer who was in the water: 'this backwash is going to kill someone.' As this wave came towards me, I took off and as I got in it was real deep, I was already going too fast, I attempted to eject hoping it would send me back through the wave," he told SurferToday.
"Instead of ejecting, I got smashed by the wave, and suddenly I was in the air just falling. I had already got kicked about so hard in the waves so as I came back down I was dizzy and I didn’t know whether I was in the water or up in the air. But when I hit the water that woke me up."
John Severson, the iconic figure of surfing media, has died at age 83. His 1961 film Big Wednesday is arguably the greatest of the early surf films, part of a lifetime of innovations in surf media. Read the rest
Nuno Dias shot this absolutely insane surfing footage that looks more like a snowboarder out in front of an avalanche than a surfer on a wave. Read the rest
Yes, Destination Isolation has some lovely footage of Asher Pacey's surfing. But what make it great is "Pip, Pip Yeah" by Indonesian girl group Dara Puspita. Read the rest
