A year after the surf riots, Huntington event ends on a mellow note

 

In contrast to the night of violence that marked the end of the U.S. Open of Surfing last summer, the nine-day competition at Huntington Beach drew to a close on a quiet and mellow note.

“It’s a better crowd and a better attitude,” Police Capt. Russell Reinhart said Sunday evening as he stood at the foot of the city pier.

The international competition ended with riotous conditions last year as beachgoers stormed through the city’s downtown, smashing shop windows, pelting police with litter and tipping portable toilets into the street. Police from neighboring cities had to be brought in to help quell the violence.

Organizers of the surf competition, downtown merchants and city leaders pledged that this year would be ...more

The Best Mentawai Islands Surf Video from my drone, Phyllis. June 2014, by Paul Borrud from The Bird on Vimeo.

Posted on blog.geogarage.com

Photographer battles the Arctic to capture perfect surf photo

 

When evoking images of a surf expedition you initially think of clear waters, sandy beaches and vibrant sunsets. That’s not the case for surfer photographer Chris Burkard’s latest venture. In an attempt to capture a perfect surf photo, Burkard captured images of professional surfers Brett Barley, Chadd Konig and Patrick Millin in the harsh, subzero temperatures of Norway.Recently, Burkard teamed up with SmugMug Films, a YouTube series created by the favored photo storage site, SmugMug. Burkard—who is a self-proclaimed “cold ...more

Meet the Press, + Surf

 

As predicted, the new swell is arriving in Pacasmayo. Friday provided long peeling waves, ideal for surfing and SUPing. Size ranged from head high to a couple feet over on the sets. Unfortunately the wind never came up, but competitors were content with multiple surf sessions. The coming days are forecast to be bigger and better. The mood is high in the the El Faro Adventure Resort where the last of the competitors are trickling in. We will have one more day of  ...more

Sunshine greets competitors at the Australian Surf Festival

 

BRILLIANT Saturday sunshine welcomed competitors on day one of the Australian Surf Festival (ASF) on the Coffs Coast.
Surfing got underway in junky two-foot peaks at Macauleys Beach where Philippa Anderson (Merewether, NSW) kicked off her ASF campaign with a bang.
Philippa successfully locking in a 9.00 ride to get the edge over her opposition in the first round of open women.
The Novocastrian natural footer managed to pick off numerous punchy right-handers, which allowed her to lock in the highest heat score of the division.
As a result she booked a spot straight into the second round where she is set to face off with Paris Whittaker (Caringbah, NSW) and Phoebe McGregor (Yallingup, WA).
Due to locking in the 9.00 wave score, Philippa was awarded the FCS performer of the day award.
Despite being the youngest surfer in open women, 13-year-old ...more

The streets have eyes...

I got caught picking my nose today.

A crusty, scabby, abominable beast of a booger which I fully blame on the Dust Bowl, kicked up by thousands of feet scampering across the street from the Surfline offices at the U.S. Open of Surfing. The protester who called me out -- "Ewww, ohmygod, that's sooo gross!" -- did so between two pierced lips, not to mention purple hair, finger-painted breasts, a shredded t-shirt reading "KISS MY ASS," hand-stamped buttocks and a menagerie of tattoos both fake and real coating nearly every inch of visible flesh.

Which made me ponder: just where does the line between "appropriate" and "inappropriate" lie in Surf City this week?

Truth be told, that line is probably the entrance to the actual contest fray, where anyone distributing stamps and stickers, flyers and feelers, toys and treats, posters and pamphlets and any guerilla propaganda whatsoever is generally frowned upon, if not flat-out prohibited from entering. So all that stuff -- all the non-endemic marketing and pretty much anything peripheral to the Culture of Shred that this event was built on -- is banished outside, across the street and around the corner into the humble realm of an anonymous nose-picker.

My editor calls this whole non-event "a Petri dish of youth ...more

Surfing in Ghana: where beats meet beach breaks

 

“It’s DJ Shocker!” someone shouts, pointing towards the stage, where a young man is standing behind a rented 1990s desktop computer flanked by two gigantic palm trees. “You gotta listen to this guy,” I’m told. “He’s a local electrician.”

It’s Saturday night in Busua, Ghana, and I’m dancing in the jungle to the high-octane shuffle of west African dancehall. It’s the first evening of my surfing holiday in the small coastal village but with the Easter celebrations in full flow, it’s impossible not to get sucked into what I can only describe as Ghanaian Spring Break. Besides, with most of the village – surfers included – fully preoccupied with the party, it was always going to be a case of dance first, surf later.

No surprise, then, that the surfing competition due to take place the following morning starts a little – well, a lot – later than planned. Making my way down to the beach, head still fuzzy from tropical punch and ...more