It’s probably clear to anyone who reads my ramblings on here that i think style is important when you surf. I think everyone has an innate type of style, a natural look to the way they surf, be it smooth as silk like Dane Peterson, nonchalant like Lopez at pipe or just plain different like Alex Knost.

Although it is possible to work at surfing in a certain way, it always looks slightly contrived compared those who are lucky enough to have good style naturally. Obviously “good style” is a very subjective judgement and to a certain extent a personal assessment.
I’ve spent a lot of time watching video of people surfing, both other peoples films and the footage that went into my two. After a while it’s very easy to identify different people from the way they move, the body positions they adopt, even if they are riding similar equipment, doing similar things, on similar waves.

I’d like to think i am at least a little smooth when i surf but in the interests of self disclosure i must admit to my own weird style quirk (besides having funny shaped toes). I seem to point my index fingers, especially on my left hand. Don’t ask me why, i’m not sure it is crucial to successful balancing, but i do it on a skateboard or a snowboard too. I’m telling myself it’s that attention to even the tiniest part of body english that helps me look like i know what i’m doing out there but i’m probably grasping (pointing?) at straws!

While I’m not in any way a religious man in the normal sense of the word, I am perhaps something of a zealot when it comes to my choice of logging equipment. I know there are sound performance reasons for choosing a 3 fin board but I’ve never found they work for me: their more drawn-out turns don’t fit naturally with how I want to surf and, as for bigger waves, in the words of  Tmoe Campbell, “logging is a strictly under head high trip”. (Don’t even get me started on progressive longboarding!)

Thinking about this the other day lead me to an interesting question: does your choice of equipment end up defining how you surf or do you end up choosing equipment that fits your natural style? It’s probably a chicken and egg question but by way of illustration…

I spent a couple of hours surfing a friend’s Junod two-tone noserider the other day. It’s a very “pig-influenced shape” with lots of roll, wide hips and a narrow nose. Very much a pocket noserider and a beautiful board. I tend to surf with a fairly smooth (in my own mind), traditional style but with this particular steed, the more outrageous body english I attempted, the more it seemed to respond. Fixing in my mind’s eye a vision of Alex Knost-style theatrics, I proceeded to have an absolute blast. Suddenly I could see where his style had its roots and I’m sure that years of getting the most out of such a shape may have helped to define his approach. Jared Mell surfs similar boards and clearly has similar elements to his style too. Musing further, it’s also clear that your local waves will have a massive influence both on style and choice of equipment. Piggy logs, for example, love clean steep waves but don’t noseride especially well in the mushy windswell waves we deal with so frequently.

Not a conclusive answer or a scientific approach at all but an interesting question…. no? Oh it’s just me then!

Yes it is! You can stop reading now if you like and just go buy it if you are short of time.

The title may seem an odd one but it’s a reference to an old Dead Kennedys’ record, a seminal SoCal punk band that you should check out if you don’t know already. The film itself sits very much in the surf flick category rather than the art film camp a la Thomas Campbell and friends. This is not in any way a derogatory comment, plenty of care and attention has been lavished on it. The footage is well shot, varied and well lit and the editing is slick, innovative and not so ‘pop video’ as to be intrusive.

There’s a pretty much 50-50 split of progressive and traditional longboarding along with a sprinkling of shortboards, fish, hulls and the now obligatory alaia shots. Highlights on the progressive side are probably Harley Ingleby’s full bore style, Taylor Jensen pulling legitimate airs on a 9 footer and Beau Young, Bonga and friends charging barrels in Indo. There’s even a glimpse of our own Elliot Dudley if you are sharp eyed!

From a traditional perspective there is some mindblowing  noseriding and so much good stuff it’s difficult to summarise. one thing that is clear is how much the standard has gone through the roof in the last five years. People are pulling stuff that was not even thought possible a few years ago, take Chad Marshall’s fins first hang heels for example. (Take a moment to visualise that – mental!) It’s a comment that is particularly true of the girls’ side, with Kassia Meador now pulling smooth hang heels and hang five foot drags seemingly at will.

Elsewhere, Knost is Knost, Pickle is smooth, Jai Lee & DP rule Noosa and CJ Nelson is still one of the most talented surfers around. It was good to see some current footage of Tudor too.

I always think that the test of a good surf film is whether it makes you want to get to the beach afterwards. In this case it’s a resounding “Yes!”