Innehållsförteckning för #362 Culture från Surfing Life

The ocean is the pulse of our planet. Coastal communities from continents all over the world connect to this blue-tinted energy. But beyond the surface, another force brews: culture. Its boundaries are fluid—limitless. Future surfers will add to it. Past legends and their jarring tales enhance the mix. And today’s frothers keep it alive and evolving. When it comes to culture, does the most potent force become its strongest influence? If so, how does the “culture of the ocean” define the “culture of surfers”? Weather, temperature, bathymetry, location of surf breaks are a few ways the sea impacts surf culture. So what is culture? Colere, the Latin root of culture, means to tend or cultivate.1 Hence, surf culture is how we live, connect, and pass on cultivated knowledge, social behaviours,…

Surfing’s Alamo, Nuuhiwa’s last stand, Apocalypse Next, Animal Kingdom meets Sodom and Gomorrah and enter the gates of Hell where surfing collided and stripped down to shed its amateur skin. This was the end of an era. A transitional period in surfing where social change and a hardcore approach were constantly evolving. A definitive moment for many unfolding surf careers. In October, 1972, the world surfing championships held in San Diego, California, was a train wreck waiting to happen. It has been largely dismissed as a fractured party event held in lousy waves, but it’s the monumental failure that makes this chapter of surfing history so fascinating. “The 1972 World Championships was the craziest contest I’ve ever seen in my entire surfing lifetime, and I didn’t even get to compete in it,”…

Can Saturday and Sunday percolate a culture of its own? And, no, we’re not talking late nights and sleepins. Not when salty air soothes your overworked soul.The ocean’s magnetism can be addictive. It’s the unpredictable multi-sensorial experience of gliding across the open face of a wave that has people hooked from the first time they paddle out. After a few days without surfing, we begin to crave that magical energy the ocean transfers to us. Driving for hours, chucking sickies, rearranging our entire lives to maximise surfing time, surfers will do whatever it takes to get their fix. All because we crave a sensation of being whole-heartedly immersed in the beautiful world surfing presents. For the weekend warrior, this painstaking craving of the ocean is something they are forced to…

PHOTO OF THE YEAR WIN A WERET SURF WATCH Valued at $895 Each issue, our team hunts through the best submissions by our “A-grade” surf photographers from around the world. With a glut in the digital market, photos get minimal view time. Having a photo published in print these days is a tough gig. So, we’re giving YOU the chance to be a part of SL history, and see your photo feature in our glossy pages. OPEN CATEGORY Surfing Life, like our name suggests, means we’re passionate about every aspect of a surfing life: waves, travel, surfers, lifestyle, culture, technique or capturing surfing as you see it. Entry is FREE and open to all Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia. Entries now OPEN - closes 30 April 2022 SEND…

What will be the significant cultural shift in surf over the next decade? Well, there will be so many more females in the water, and that influence will be good or bad. Who knows what it will be in the end? But that will be it. And, whenever you have a profound shift, as a community, that will probably have a significant effect on surfing as a whole. The fact [is] that [it] kind of meshes with all that variety of equipment. I think that’s going to be a big undercurrent [in] cultural change. Looking back to look forward, will surf culture get stronger or weaker in the future? I think it’ll probably just be factionalized, which it already has. You’ve got your shortborders, and your longborders—just different identities and…

This may be Kelly Slater’s last year on Tour. He’s committed, fired up, and ready. Are you? Because once he’s gone, there will never be another surfer quite like him. We can’t write an ode to Slater without writing about sport. If you’re watching Kelly surf, you’re witnessing the zenith of competition, an alpha athlete embracing his calling. Yes, even when he’s freesurfing. That’s just how Kelly is built. Canny, calculated, and above all else, competitive. In the time it has taken King James to lay claim to Jordan’s throne, Hamilton to podium past Schumacher, and Nadal to endure beyond Federer and Djokovic, Robert Kelly Slater has been surfing at an elite level, winning titles, defying age, and building his compelling case for the greatest competitive athlete of all time.…

When Frank Adler was pioneering the use of hollow plywood boards in Australia in the 1930s, he could hardly have imagined his grandson Dru would one day make a career launching skywards on tiny slivers of foam and fibreglass. Frank’s son and Dru’s dad, Ken Adler, won a Queensland title in 1964, made the final at the 1965 World Titles in Peru, was one of the first Australians to make an impression in big surf in Hawai’i, and learnt to shape in California from some of the masters of the booming US board industry. The Adler family lineage neatly encompasses the entire history of surfing in Australia. Yet, for all that, the Adler name is strangely under-acknowledged among Australia’s great surfing dynasties. Frank was born in 1913, a year before the…

Looking at the colour blue is said to open up the creative part of your mind, so it’s no wonder surfers are such creative spirits. We stare into the blue sky on the horizon, which cuts deep into the cobalt ocean—not just for minutes but often hours. Daydreaming in these wide seascapes also opens up the creative spaces in your mind. Often, we find ourselves sitting in the ocean, waiting for the next set, and letting our minds wander. Surfing, music, art, design—the list goes on—has surfing and creativity so closely connected, which drives its culture. With this in mind, we decided to run a Surfing Life boardshort design competition with our partners at MVRK Surf. The guys ponied up $500 and said they would create the boardies that won.…

“Surf music is actually just the sound of the waves played on a guitar, that wet, splashy sound.”—Dick Dale, the King of the Surf Guitar1 If you think about it, surfing is as sonic as it is physical. The sound of the ocean is the first song the Earth ever played. The ocean creates its own music. An angry sea sounds violent; the cannon crack of a barrel hitting flat water is an audible monster that will wake all of the senses. The gentle brush of small waves lapping onto the shore is a sound humans have used to lull themselves to sleep for eons. Then there’s the rarely heard, otherworldly howl of a tube, only heard from inside said tube—this is “surf music”, but just one branch of the…

Rolling down the street to Kyuss’ place, you immediately get a sense of what’s about to happen: the vibe, the groove, and the experience. First, there’s a surfboard hanging in the street intricately painted with a “slow down” on it. Then you turn into this charming old federation-era house with a shearer-style hut off the main home, and that’s where Kyuss now lives. Someone rented it, but as soon as they moved out, Kyuss claimed it for his own. It’s the chillest little pad any surfing-muso would be envious of. Rocking in with a special little gift from Fender adds to the vibe even more. We give Kyuss his brand new Jazzmaster, and before the clock strikes 12, it is plugged in, and he is tearing out some licks. The…

THE FIRST 60 NEW SUBSCRIBERS WILL RECEIVE 6 MONTHS FREE OF “FENDER® PLAY” WORTH $69.95 Play your first song in minutes. Songs you love, world-class instructors and bite-sized lessons from the most trusted brand in guitars. TO RECEIVE SIX MONTHS OF “FENDER® PLAY”, BE ONE OF THE FIRST 60 NEW SUBSCRIBERS. IF YOU’RE NOT ONE, SUBSCRIBE NOW AND GET THE MAG DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR. EVERY ISSUE. IT’S A NO-BRAINER. $69 1 YEAR 6 ISSUES FREE POSTAGE WHY SUBSCRIBE? • You never miss an issue• Your copy gets delivered to your door before it’s on the store shelves• You are automatically entered into every prize draw• It’s easier and cheaper• It makes a perfect gift• Each issue contains essential content created to inform and enhance your surfing life• Free postage in Australia TO…