Surfing anorak that I am, I’m always looking out for new DVD’s to keep me stoked while the sou’ westerlies blow. This DVD popped into my mailbox a week or two ago, the new film from Mikey DeTemple, the man behind Picaresque which came out a couple of years ago, called Sight | Sound. With great anticipation I popped it into the dvd player tray and it’s been living in there since!

Although he does wield a camera, Mikey mostly takes on an actor/director role and steer his films firmly into the artistic side of the endeavor with little in the way of voice or titles cluttering the piece. The film flows past smoothly and in full colour from one section to the next, with a “modern electric” soundtrack that is a hell of a lot better than that description makes it sound!

Like Picaresque, Mikey made an effort to seek out some of the roads less travelled while gathering footage. This time we are treated to, amongst others, spitting Nicaraguan beach break barrels, sub zero snowbound Canada, dusty Baja zippers and colourful Barbados.

There’s an eclectic mix of surfcraft to fit with an eclectic mix of surfers. Chris del Moro clearly rips on anything, Ryan Burch makes slabs of foam look fun and there’s plenty of high quality logging on offer from DeTemple, Kassia Meador, Scotty Stopnik and Justin Quintal, an East coaster that few will have heard of but many will remember. There’s some good footage of Tyler Warren and DeTemple on mini Simmons style boards too, maybe the first footage on DVD outside Richard Kenvin’s sphere of influence and making them look just as fun as they undoubtedly are. The Canadian footage is high quality too, even if it does look ball-achingly cold! It’s somehow gratifying to watch pros donning full suits boots and gloves to surf in 40 degree water and snowstorms just like we do!

My favorite section features a rifling right hand Mexican point which looks almost cape St Francis perfect. Jared Mell and Kassia Meador feature heavily, their contrasting styles creating a counterpoint like a conversation through the footage. Meador smoothly logging some of the most impressive women’s longboarding I’ve seen while Mell’s highly technical almost jagged and urgent “Knost-esque” style sitting on the other side of the coin. Mell is exceedingly good and has perhaps the longest hang heels I’ve ever seen committed to film.

The overall feel is similar to picaresque although the production crew and many of the cast have changed. There’s a more balanced mix of short and long equipment, warm and cold water. The most obvious difference is a hike in production values from last time. There’s a more lush feel to the shots and some of the footage is shot on 16mm film stock.

It’s altogether less self-congratulatory this time – something that Picaresque was criticized for – I really liked it and it’s stood up to repeated viewings so far.

Perhaps the best way of rating a new surf film is by answering this most simple of questions… did it make me want to go surfing?

In this case, the answer…….”HELL YES!”

(Mercifully the star wipes are not in the actual film!)

More of my rambling here.

Photo by Nick Lavechhia.

A little while ago I rolled into the car park half an hour before dusk, not expecting much, not really expecting a rideable wave if i’m honest. Sea breezes were still blowing and at first sight they were crumbling barely knee high waves. Seconds before I turned tail and headed home, a set came through, hit the best bank on the beach and a familiar silhoueted figure carved it up smoothly with tip time and drop knee.

Decision made, I scrambled into my suit and paddled out anxious to wash off the grime and suncream after a day of shed clearing and visiting the local dump. The sets were infrequent but there were  few to share them with. When they came, the waves were still a mushy waist high at best but with just enough shape to allow some fun logging, the bank marshaling the disorderly bumps into decent shape, the breeze slackening as the sun dipped towards the horizon. The small righthanders were playful and teasing, demanding fleet of foot and light of touch but rewarding with stolen moments of ten over and dropped knee. Kick outs with smile lost in the fading light.

As i sat waiting, alone with my thoughts, it struck me how personal the surfing experience is, how little the experience of each wave is shared no matter how many there are in the line up. How the feel and the feelings engendered are different (yet the same) for each of us, modified by board choice and local conditions. For me it’s the little things i love, the perfect imperfections. I’m drawn to the edges of things. The warmth of the sun on your face, the glow of the sunset sky, water drawn over  soft rails,  making the most of a flawed wave. It’s in the subtle grace of good trim, the weightless feel of a well placed noseride, the sweeping swing of a well timed cutback and the addictive momentum of a well timed fade as you take off. Grace in adversity, good style making economy of movement more powerful than wild action. It didn’t need to be six foot and perfect, i didn’t need to be here yesterday, i just needed to be here now.

The light was gone all too soon and I wandered out in near darkness, spent but smiling, storing my little packets of stokefulness like a squirrel mindful of the uncertainty of my next meal but content with an appetite sated.

The format will be tag team style with several rounds and everybody will be surfing at least once. Teams will be selected randomly, so that the contest is better balanced and the final will be judged at the end of the day.

Judging criteria will be classic longboarding criteria: noseriding, flow and style will be considered and scored higher.

There will be a barbecue and beer at noon. Registration will cost 20 Euros, and is between 09:00 and 10:00 in front of Zarautz’s Surf Club, right below Argiñano’s Restaurant. So come along and enjoy the day.

For years now, people have been heralding the return to longboarding as a return to the heart and soul of surfing itself. Whether this is true, like the rest of the world longboarding has moved on. In this respect, Lee Ryan’s book provides a refreshingly forward-looking and modern approach to the subject. That is not to say that the author does not give due respect to the wisdom of those who have gone before. But what he does is to thoroughly demystify the subject without in any way diminishing it. In doing so he provides both an entry level text for the beginner and also an advanced manual for the expert. The breadth of the book is also impressive and covers the technical aspects of both the equipment and manoeuvres with nuggets there for everyone. This is a real gem of a book in which the passion the author has for both surfing and teaching shines through in every page.

So what’s new in Volume 2?
More great tips and advice from professional longboarders including multiple British and European champion Ben ‘Skindog’ Skinner and 2009 ASP World Champion Harley Ingleby.
Ever wondered what board dimensions the top professionals ride? – find out inside.
Want to turn pro one day? Learn how international longboard competitions are judged.
Find out why a full round house cutback is one of the most difficult moves on a longboard.
Watch video clips of the pro’s to help you understand the manoeuvres in real time.
More great photo’s from the world’s best lensmen.

Want to fast track your surfing? Visit www.shortcuttolongboarding.com to find out more and download two free chapters.

There is a very thin line between spectator and contestant… if there is a line at all. Anyone can enter and have fun …and that’s much more interesting than watching some very talented surfers surf by themselves from one of the sponsor’s tents. The last addition to these events is the Onda Longa Longboard Festival.

After a long waiting period (1 month), it took place on March the 27th, the second to last day of the waiting period. The reason: because it breaks deep inside one of these fjord-like Rías that dot the Galician coastline, Monte Pedrido needs a combination of huge swells, spring tides …and on a weekend. Luckily even during one of the worst winters in recent history in terms of waves, Galiza is never short of huge swells and, after some close calls, the event could take place right before the end of the waiting period. The wave itself isn’t high performance friendly at all, even for logs. It is the closest version of a cold water Waikiki you can find around here: very soft, hardly much a wall and reforming endlessly; hence the name of the event: onda longa (Galician for “long wave”). And so the format of the event was quite simple: everyone surfed together wearing a distinct shirt -or tee-shirt- that helped identify the rider and the winners were sorted out later after a nice dinner.

Check the Onda Longa 2010 video clip from suso ben.

And check all the action and photos HERE .

Niegà

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!

A.C.L. stands for Asociación de Clubes de Longboard (Longboard Clubs Association) and it ran an amateur circuit of longboarding and festive events all over Spanish beaches a few years ago.  Some of these events have grown way beyond the A.C.L. such as the aforementioned Salinas Longboard Festival, while others have been one-year wonders. And it seems that 2010 will be interesting as, along the Salinas event in August, the Málaga Surfing Club and the local longboarding brand CeCe Surfboards are holding the Tarifa Noseriding Festival on Europe’s southernmost beach during Easter (1-4 april). Note that it is a mobile and noseriding-only event.

As I write these lines I’ve heard of other festivals that might be held all over the coast and that will be announced shortly. So… wax your logs, iron your hawaiian shirts and start training as soon as possible.

Niegà

or why you shouldn’t be wearing  a leash on a log!

I’m quite opinionated about most things, surfing included.  I think style is important, in the sense that the way you surf a wave and the equipment you choose to ride is a reflection of your personality and that the aesthetics of the lines you draw on a wave are important.

I love longboarding, particularly the traditional style of logging, a pursuit where looking stylish and making the difficult look effortless is part of the point.

I am a firm believer in riding longboards without a leash, unless you’re a beginner, likely to lose your board and kill someone of course. I’d go so far as to say that if it’s big enough to need a leash you should be riding a different board.

Perhaps you agree, perhaps you think that’s controversial. In fact the most recent surfers journal has an opinion piece telling us it shouldn’t matter, but hear me out & see if i can convince you.