The Surfer’s Journal 30.5

30.5

On the cover: Nathan Fletcher takes a no-frills, only-pop-matters approach above the horizon line at Pipeline’s end.

Inside, you’ll explore the surprising wave resources of an overlooked Caribbean island, chase right-hand points up the East Coast of South Africa, and study once-thought-lost photographs of Sydney’s burgeoning 1960s surf scene. Trace the surfing germ of a French playboy and socialite, and be schooled on the contributions of a contemporary big-wave pioneer. And for those seeking wider-breadth of the topic, check the seascape paintings of a nineteenth-century Swede, and hang in the yard with a modern California surf-boat builder. It’s a range found nowhere else in surfing.

The Surfer’s Journal 30.4

30.4

On the cover: Yes, it’s still out there. Kael Walsh finds just what he’s looking for—and finds it all by himself—at quite possibly the most crowded lineup on Earth: the Superbank.

Peel back the lid, and the issue offers full-breadth in the topic. Wider-culture points abound, from an investigation into the seminal artist who first sprayed paint on a surfboard to an overlooked but holding region in Brazil. Tracking the path of a 60s-era luminary and an examination of the title-holder at one of the world’s heaviest waves provide in-depth written portraiture. Where place is concerned, a memoir of an 80s Baja mag trip and a visual study of the seasons and peculiarities of coastal New England set immersive scenes.

30.3

On the cover: Kainehe Hunt finds room to stretch amid the backwash chaos on an otherwise picture-postcard afternoon in Hawaii.

The issue’s inner workings offer a far-and-wide trip in era, avenue, and geography: Smugglers laying down the original tracks at a famed Indonesian reef pass. The Southern California showdown between a sitting US President and a surf culture-maker. A written portrait of one of the world tour’s all-time leading proponents of surf progression. Modern exploration in a harsh, boom-or-bust European sea. High-action photography from one of the world’s most wave-rich regions. 30.3 is fully composed from end to end.

30.2

On the cover: Mid-morning light. A locked inside edge. Body English born of pure reaction. Some frames just embody the whole big thing. Sam Hawk, Off The Wall, 1975.

Page one is backed by a full tracking of the cover subject’s transformation from Huntington surf rat to Pipeline groundbreaker in the 1970s. Spot studies also abound, including the history of big-wave surfing at South Africa's Sunset Reef and the risk versus reward of surf tripping to a Mexican prison island. Find high-art lessons in an excerpt from celebrated author Paul Theroux’s new surf-centric novel and a page-by-page look at photographer Slim Aarons’ ocean-peripheral work. As to contemporary happenings, a visual roundup from a dozen of the game’s best photographers hits on global action points.

30.1

For the first issue in our 30th year of print, we lead off with an image as pure and irreproachable as the pursuit itself.

The inner workings of TSJ 30.1 are framed by culture checks: Tracing the early 1960s surf-exploitation film genre, the underappreciated role sanders play in the surfboard-building process, and the recounting of the fantasy and realities of finding a surfing Eden by the always worth-reading Bryan Di Salvatore. Chart-plot pointbreaks in West Africa, rain-dodge in the Pacific Northwest, and take stock of Portugal’s ascension as a major surf destination. The high-action water photography of Laserwolf and the intimate illustrations of artist AJ Dungo present disparate but equally personal representations of the life.

29.6

On the cover: Tommy Dalton breathes through his nose and keeps his mouth shut in the rural heartland of New Zealand.

TSJ 29.6 nearly breaks the odometer, jumping from an unlikely shaping bay in the Californian desert to trespassing for empty lineups in the Antipodes to checking the reemerging balsa scene among locals in Papua New Guinea. A look back at the surf lineage of a mile-long stretch of San Diego beach and a profile of the multi-craft expert Kai Lenny provide written doses of subcultural tradition and pure evolution. Visually, the issue’s showcases on fine artist Milton Avery’s abstract seascapes and photographer Will Adler’s atmospheric captures serve as reminders that the ocean, and riding waves, ultimately boils down to feeling it. Find all that and more inside.

29.5

On the cover: We’ve explored the tube from every conceivable POV, including the surfer’s. Recent developments in “spherical capture” are rubbing up against virtual reality, as displayed by Jordy Maree in South Africa.

In TSJ 29.5, we pay close inspection to waypoints as far as Namibia’s Skeleton Coast to take stock of that sand-dredging bender, and as wide as the snowsurf movement deep in the mountains of Japan’s Hokkaido Island. Profiles of Waikiki style staple Arthur “Toots” Anchinges and Australian surfer-rocker-taxidermist Jaleesa Vincent provide contemporary written portraiture, while a look at the premillennial photography of charmer Rennie Ellis and a 10-spread roundup of the latest work from the world’s best surf shooters offers page-stopping visual stimuli. All that, and more, between the flaps.

The Surfer’s Journal 29.4

29.4

On the cover: Mikey February reminds us that good style is predicated on not thinking about style. Inside the new issue, we hit check-points from Alaska to the Azores, take a close visual study of Tom Servais’ last decade of high-profile surf shooting, and pay our culture collection fee to the modern skimboard scene. Profiles of surfing satirist Sterling Spencer and shortboard-revolution performance pusher Sharron Weber lend human interest touches, while Nate Tyler’s hand-built home in Central California and surfboards recycled as signage on the North Shore are explorations in atypical craftsmanship.

The Surfer’s Journal 29.3

29.3

Between the flaps, TSJ 29.3 spins its compass from dodging landmines in the Falklands, to an unassisted paddle journey from Alaska to Cabo, and to the river-wave surf scene springing up in Boise, Idaho. Shaper Donald Brink’s experimentations in surfboard sonics and Martin Machado’s oceanic etchings provide doses of written and visual portraiture, while the portfolio of Sarah Lee, Derek Dunfee’s intimate look at the modern big-wave stage, and Brad Barrett’s 1960s retrospective offer photographic page studies.

TSJ 29.2 Cover

29.2

Inside the book, TSJ 29.2 treks through the Western Australian wilderness looking for empty setups, tests twin-fins at an off-grid Mexican beach break, and recounts some of surfing’s most notorious travel disasters. Essayist Ralph Sneeden’s reflections on bi-coastal identity and shaper-artist Trey Edwards home in Daytona Beach hit on cultural points, while Todd Glaser’s underwater photography and John Respondek’s highlights from six weeks in Indonesia provide visual counterbalance.

29.1

Inside TSJ 29.1, we run up the coast looking for surf in the Travel Advisory Level 4 zone of Sinaloa, offer a retrospective on Jimmy Metyko’s captures of Santa Barbara’s 1980s “progression era”, and trek across volcanic rock to find empty pointbreaks in the Eastern Atlantic. A retelling of Rob Machado’s disaster-plagued biopic benefits from longform treatment, while a look at the legacy of the world’s most famous wave print hits on wider cultural interest points.

28.6

On the cover: Framed in the strobes of citified light, Hawaiian surfer-chemist Cliff Kapono reflects silently at the fountainhead of surfing life: Waikiki. Inside the flaps, the new issue journeys from the wood mill that launched surfing’s balsa revolution and to modern caravan camping in Western Australia, from atoll searching in remote French Polynesian to surf-skating concrete pipes in the Arizona desert. The ocean-infused artwork of John Millei, Waikiki under the blanket of night, and Nolan Hall’s photographs of surfing’s offbeat “athletes” add visual high points.