Innehållsförteckning för #340 SURF TRAVEL från Surfing Life

This photo, or rather what this photo represents, is my holy grail. Sailing a wide open, wild ocean in search of waves. Dropping anchor here, and fishing for dinner there. The whole time, one single primary objective fuels me. Finding the perfect wave and surfing it until I can surf no more. The ocean lures me and captures my imagination like nothing else I’ve stumbled across in my 40 years of existence. My daughter asks me to walk to the beach with her all the time. We go there; she collects shells at the shoreline and walks the dunes tirelessly in search of washed up treasures to take back to the house. Mean while, I literally stand there like a lobotomised patient from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and stare…

As far as surf and travel destinations go, Portugal’s got it all. The south-westernmost country in Europe sports a wave-drenched 600 kilometres of coastline, catching the smallest of summer swells as well as getting absolutely flogged in the wintertime (think: Nazare). There are beachies and reefs and bombies and pointbreaks; spots with plenty of Croc-wearing German surf-scenesters; and many without another waxhead for miles. A few paces back from almost any beach and you’ll find some of the best – and better priced – food in all the world. Culture, history, art, great wine, cold beer and tarts, so many tarts... Portugal, a country older than most, is a relative newcomer to the surf scene, but it is one that’s dripping with enticements. For a long time, before men from…

We knew we were in for a real travel adventure the moment our boards were denied safe passage on TAAG airlines from Luanda to Lubango, and a 17-hour ‘local’ bus ride stood between us and the world’s longest left. The destination and journey ahead suddenly felt as far and deep as the divide between the rich and poor in this crazy city they call Luanda. The world’s most expensive city, just might also be the world’s craziest city! As chaotic and depressing as the journey in front of us sounded, nothing defeats the optimism and smile that is Dane Gudauskas, who would be my righthand man for this mission. I mean, he brought a tent spray-painted with a smiley face just to let any potential thieves know we had come…

Let it be clear: the surf here has to be chased, and even when you find it, it probably will be nothing that resembles what was expected. Perfect waves are not just there, lapping encouragingly, beckoning the eager. Much travel across hard ground is needed, as well as local knowledge and tenacity to even get the chance of finding a wave, let alone riding it. The journey to some of the coastal locations in themselves can be treacherous and testing. One has to embrace rather than fight the elements in this Arctic island. The wind is simply unstoppable. The land is dominated by it and the mostly inclement weather that results. Extreme is normal here. To describe the Icelandic landscape as dramatic and rugged would be to sugarcoat the truth.…

We’re not sure about you, but our heads are still spinning from all this rapid fire Travel talk. The next logical thing to do is book your air tickets, load your car, fill your caravan, and get out there and just do it. Travel, see the world, see your country. Hell, just visit a beach you haven’t surfed before and paddle out. Your soul will thank you for the effort. Next issue is WAVES. The reason why we surf, the reason why we Travel. The reason why we build and ride the Boards we choose to ride and build. The reason why we care to learn about Technique and read about the Surfers who ride them a damn sight better than us. WAVES are what brings us all together, and…

This photo, or rather what this photo represents, is my holy grail. Sailing a wide open, wild ocean in search of waves. Dropping anchor here, and fishing for dinner there. The whole time, one single primary objective fuels me. Finding the perfect wave and surfing it until I can surf no more. The ocean lures me and captures my imagination like nothing else I’ve stumbled across in my 40 years of existence. My daughter asks me to walk to the beach with her all the time. We go there; she collects shells at the shoreline and walks the dunes tirelessly in search of washed up treasures to take back to the house. Mean while, I literally stand there like a lobotomised patient from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and…

Dusty Payne is one tough, country music loving hombre. He very nearly didn’t become a pro surfer. He had his sights set on being an NFL running back. The hardest, most physically demanding position in American football. But a knee injury derailed his NFL dreams, so surfing it was. Dusty attacks the ocean with the same fearlessness he used to attack gridiron defences. He gets hit, he gets back up. He goes again. That’s who he is. And he’s been hit a lot lately. Another knee reconstruction, a back surgery, and dealing with the depression which follows being long-term injured and laid up and unable to do the things in life you love. Dusty and his younger sister Molly grew up together with Coco and Mason Ho. They were a…

Road trips are an Australian surfer’s rite of passage. Whether it’s an hour down the coast searching for an uncrowded summer grovel away from the masses, or it’s loading up the Landcruiser and aiming it at two weeks on a deserted beach, armed only with your favourite gun, a swag, and all the tinned baked beans you can handle. The Australian desert road trip is another level altogether. Harsh Australian temperatures, unforgiving landscapes and some of the most poisonous snakes, arachnids and bugs in the world. The reason they’re so toxic is it’s so damned hot. Mother Nature armed them with quick-kill toxins so they don’t have to chase their food after they’ve bitten it. Ain’t nobody got time to be chasing dinner in this heat. Anyway, I digress. Back…

SOMEWHERE IN INDONESIA Traveling through Indonesia can be some of the most rewarding surf travel you will ever do; and it’s right on Australia’s doorstep. Get away from Bali and point your nose to its outer islands; and there’s jewels waiting for you like this one here. We could tell you where this place is, but there’s no fun in that, so we won’t. All you need to know is it exists, it’s out there, and most days it can be found empty and reeling ... Not a soul in sight, just you and your favourite board and a long grinding right. You will never be the same surfer after a session like this. CAPE TOWN SOUTH AFRICA Noordhoek which translates into North Corner, is exactly that. A tucked away…

The countdown is done, the surf trip is on, and the froth levels are high. You and your mates are ready for your 10 days on a boat in the Mentawais, surfing Suicides and Arik every day, before retiring with a Bintang and sharing stories of who caught the best wave that day and who got pounded the hardest. Until you get to the third night, and the aches start to set in. Why won’t your back ache ease like it normally does? Why does that twinge in your shoulder feel like it’s getting progressively worse? You don’t want to miss out on a day’s surfing, but if you feel like this tomorrow you’re going to have to. Why is this happening to you? You totally did a few shoulder…

Travelling offers you everything you can imagine, not all good, sometimes even bad, but always memorable. There are so many ways you could describe the high and lows of surf travel. From the time you stumbled upon your first really big score, to the time you never even took your board out of its co ver... or the time your boards didn’t even arrive. We asked Mikey Wright for his most memorable travel, both good and bad. GOOD “My best trip of recent years was a huge score at P-Pass,” Mikey remembers with fondness. P-Pass or Pohnpei is in the Caroline Islands and features a Chopes-like righthander. It’s the most rare and super fickle wave ever, where it might only break solidly and proper a couple times a year. “I…

The surf industry is made up of many businesses that sell a wide range of surf goods and services, but they all sell, in the first instance, surf culture. It is due to the existence of surf culture that there is a marketplace in which surf brands are able to compete. Their individual success depends not just on their competitiveness within this ecosystem, but the health of the ecosystem itself, which ultimately depends on the appeal of, and attraction to surf culture by the general public. The main actors are the big surfwear brands, who wield influence over the direction and sustainability of the other surf businesses, largely through their domination (and in many cases, ownership) of the retail space. This is the lens through which we should be analysing…

BRING A HAMMER and good strong HEAVY DUTY tent pegs ... the floor is nothing but hard granite rock covered by windswept sand. Don’t be fooled by the sandy appearance. You will need a hammer or you’re screwed! All of our pegs broke, so we had massive rocks inside the tent in each corner to keep the tent down from the wind. SHADE IS KEY! Basically, without it, you will die. If you’re on a low budget and not in a cabin, bring as much shade as you can in the warmer months. All we had was a tent, but when we were setting the tent up, the shade cloth that goes on the top of the tent ripped. So, all we had was a totally see-through tent. Which totally…

An island in the middle of the Atlantic; a veritable swell-magnet roughly halfway between Lisbon and New York, it’s blessed by a jet stream wind, heated over the Sahara and lifting moisture from the vast expanse of sea in between, to create an almost perfect garden micro-climate for this series of nine volcanic outcroppings (considered by conspiracy theorists and ancient Greek philosophers like Plato to be all that remains of the lost continent of Atlantis). Rows of hydrangeas line the roads. Mint and lavender grow wild in fields where fat herds graze. Steam rises from the many thermal hot springs and drifts through verdant forests punctuated by giant ferns. Now imagine old-world 17th century fishing towns, established in the valleys, hugging sheer cliffs overlooking the Atlantic, with cobbled streets and market…

Mikala Jones is resting on the couch at his family villa in Canggu. The excited voices of his two daughters pingpong between the incessant barking of Buster, the pint-sized family chihuahua, who’s running around in circles in the background. It’s been a gruelling nine days away, and the girls are overjoyed Dad is home. Instead of being holed up in some remote barrel outpost, though, Mikala has just returned from the Gold Coast, undergoing rehab on his back. “I had major surgery in October last year, so now I’m just trying to get the movement back in there and strengthen all my muscles,” he says. “They had to fuse open my L4, L5 and S1 vertebrae.” The operation was the end result of a late take-off that didn’t go according…

Surfing Life is here to guide you through the pack and pick off the best set of audio snacks to keep you locked and loaded for your daily public transport boredom or those long drives looking for a perfect bank. We have burst many pair of ear-drums to filter and decipher the multiple offerings of the surfing world of podcasts. We’ve researched, reviewed, simplified our favourite 5 ‘casts and given a rating based on the battery life of your mobile device. THE DOOLEY: A SURF PODCAST VOICES: Hosted by Mike Jennings with regular Danny Johnson DATE STARTED: Feb 2017 FREQUENCY: Fortnightly SPONSORSHIP LINES: None. Mike produces this podcast from him bedroom. EXPERT OPINION LEVEL: Mid- Weight: Mike is a self-confessed kook and Danny used to be a body-boarder, but these…