Surfing

This is an edit from my very first hard drive which contained all the original Shipsterns footage. I thought this drive was long gone and was pretty happy to stumble across it over… Read More →

The 7th Annual Rockstock and Barrels Surf Contest and Music Festival is happening this Saturday, June 22nd in Rockaway Beach, NY. This is an ASF (Atlantic Surf Federation) sponsored event. Despite Rockaway’s devastation during Hurricane Sandy, St. James NYC and Boarders Surf Shop may still be rebuilding, but are not letting it affect their annual surf contest and music festival. Show support for Rockaway Beach this Saturday and enjoy some surf, music and fun. Rockaway isn’t dead. Saturday, June 22nd 8:00am – 7:00pm Beach 90St. Rockaway Beach, NY The event is free and open to the public. Surf contest starts at 8:00am. Music to follow. Lineup below. 11am – The Free Noise Brigade 12pm – Poorhouse 1pm – Fish Doctor 2pm – Exit Verona 3pm – Walker And The Brotherhood of the Grape with special premier set by The King’s Heartbeat 4pm – Matt Kiss 5pm – Symptom 7 6pm – Groundswell Visit www.rockstocknyc.com for more information. Surfers registration Event posting online

Order is restored at Keramas as top seeds take out lesser-ranked foes

Yesterday afternoon I was back at the hotel in Sanur, having beat the traffic, having just filed my post for the day, full of self congratulation at my endeavour and initiative and was just contemplating running down for a quick surf when I first heard the commotion. Bemos from the contest were dropping crew back to the hotel from Keramas, and they were all buzzing as they got out, the buzzing paraphrased thusly: “Holy shit!”, “Oh my God!”, “That was the single greatest thing I’ve ever seen!” That kinda stuff, much of it coming from the ASP judging panel who themselves were still in disbelief. Pretty soon the foyer of the hotel was full of people with phones and laptops gorging data, all watching and replaying the same video. They were double checking they hadn’t been seeing things.

We have a beautiful,  sunny morning with a steady breeze blowing out of the west over a slightly whitecapped ocean with nonexistent surf in the knee to waist high range crumbling away. Overall,  a good day to bust out the foam board or just give in and make it to work on time. Related posts:Surfing Lesson: How to Duck Dive Ask Beth: What Should I Do About Cramps in My Feet? How can I duck-dive without aggravating my back?

Slater, Parko, Julian find Round Two redemption as Keramas stops and starts firing

Top Seeds Regain Control on Day 2 of the Oakley Pro Bali

Turn it up. That’s the mantra when you’re young, as if music could be listened to any other way. It had to be loud enough to follow you around school or in the water for the rest of the day, and that requires a hell of a lot of volume. So you’d fry the speakers on your mom’s Dodge Caravan as you headbanged your way to the beach after school. And when your mom noticed and asked why the radio broke, you’d still blame it on the faulty stock sound system. And not because you’re a terrible son, but because music was meant to be loud. That’s why live shows exist, and microphones and amplifiers and 20-inch subwoofers. It’s why Aussie thrash-pop bands like DZ Deathrays establish a following and have kids blowing out their parents’ 6-by-9s. The Deathrays get it — they’re always loud. Loud enough to ring in your head over the gravelly rub of surf wax. Loud enough to stay with you through a four-hour session, despite the sea’s futile attempts to rinse the furious riffs off of you. Think Death From Above 1979. Think The Bronx. Think about grabbing your board, borrowing your mom’s minivan and coming up with a new excuse.

Yeah, this is a sweet air. Awesome and totally epic. I could not have done it or do it or even know what it feels like to pull that off. This guy is truly at the forefront of creatively technical surfing that pushes into the less-explored physical realms. Yep. But it would have been ten thousand times more better if he hadn't claimed it. If he had kept going and taken a crunching chunk out of that next section. If he had shrugged it off like he does that everyday (which I think he might.) Even if it meant perhaps not getting the "score" by creating the possibility that he would have messed up the next maneuver. Yep, this sort of pop and stop surfing is meaningless to me. Then again, when was the last time I surfed?