Mark Mathews pulls in and gets absolutely annihilated at the beastly The Right in WA.

When I saw it out the back, I knew it was the biggest one of the day. And I’d seen a couple when I was watching in the channel that were makeable and nearly that big. When I was whipping into it, I was just hoping that it would hit the reef right and just be perfect. But I let go of the rope and just as I got to the bottom of it, it just went real weird on the reef. It sort of hugged the corner of the reef and that’s what makes it close out. I was just like, “Fuck!” You know, there was nothing I could do but try and pull in.

Interview and full sequence shot by Ray Collins over at Surfer Magazine.

Brilliant outtake from Taj Burrow’s biopic Fair Bits (available here in its entirety), featuring Ben Stiller as a super aggro local.

Via Stab

Taj Burrows has gracefully published his biopic Fair Bits from 2007 in its entirety on Vimeo. Legend!

The “Taj Burrow’s…Fair Bits” surfing DVD starring Taj Burrow, is a selection of short surfing films featuring collaborative efforts from 7 different surfers. It also features chopper footage from 6-ft super tubes, towing into a Malaysian wave pool, and a sequence with Taj, Rob Machado and Kelly Slater attempting to ride a door, shovel, snowboard, skis, guitar case, and a coffee table. Features Chopper footage from 6-ft super tubes, towing into a Malaysian wave pool, and a sequence with Taj, Rob Machado and Kelly Slater attempting to ride a door, shovel, snowboard, skis, guitar case, and a coffee table. A selection of short surfing films featuring collaborative efforts from 7 different filmmakers; Brendan & Emmett Malloy, Clark Eddy, Brendan Hearne, Taylor Steele, Scott Soens and Kieth Malloy.

Travers Adler shows why he’s one of the most interesting surfers to watch. Feels like a goofy yet incredibly stylish clip from a Thomas Campbell movie.

Filmed and edited by Morgan Massen

Dale Kobetich is on to something with his atmospheric and tantalizing 50/50 photography. Now if he could only apply a little of that eye for beauty on his watermarks…

From Dale Kobetich’s Flickr via Josie Giddings

The next installment in the Legendary TVC’s series is this gem of a Coke commercial from ’75 with footage from George Greenough‘s seminal Echoes, set to the song with the same name by Pink Floyd. The music in the commercial is not by Pink Floyd, but whatever band made the soundtrack they only changed enough notes to stay clear of a lawsuit.

Don’t forget to check out the previous episodes of Legendary TVC’s: Toohey’s Extra Dry (feat Mark Richards) and Quiksilver (feat Ross-Clarke Jones) if you missed them!

Via Style Evolution

Original illustration from Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Harry Clarke (1889-1931).

Via 50 Watts

The year of pain in review by Surfline. Nice with some commentary (to know they’re still alive).

Tahiti resident Tim McKenna has captured some fantastic angles at what must be one of the world’s most photographed waves at the moment.

Tilt Shift lenses are frequently used in architectural photography to control perspective, and in landscape photography to get an entire scene sharp. They can also be used to create a selective focus area to simulate a miniature scene. Outrigger canoes, small boats, jetskis and surfers are perfect subjects for this. This is the photographic effect Tim has been working on while flying around French Polynesia these last few years.

Via Tim McKenna

This promotional poster for Tim Winton’s fantastic novel Breath, designed by UK designer Andy Smith, is absolutely stunning.

Via Andy Smith’s Flickr

The new Craig Anderson Moments clip dropped some time ago and it is unreal. Nobody his age surfs with the same degree of style and composure. The introductory barrel, cutback and backside double-grab air-reverses (what?!) could close any respectable surf movie.

Via Quiksilver Australia / Vimeo

Lengthy Nathan Fletcher profile by Joel Patterson for Surfer Magazine. Happy to see him finally getting the recognition he deserves.

“Fiji was the culmination of a long road,” he says in a gravely voice. “The sun was out, I had the right board for the swell size, I was with like-minded people, the media was there to record it, and to get barreled like that and come out was emotionally overwhelming. It was like winning a lifetime achievement award. When you throw your morals out the window and put everything on the line and make it, it’s an incredible feeling.”

Since Fletcher’s return to the surf spotlight more than a decade ago, that feeling has become his guiding light. His location at any given moment has been dictated by the swell patterns of the Pacific, traveling on a moment’s notice to Mavericks and the North Shore in the winter, Mexico and the South Pacific in the summer—the bigger the wave, the better.

“Nathan’s an integral part of the evolution of big-wave surfing,” says Greg Long, who has emerged as the spokesman for a generation of chargers who have largely turned their backs on tow-in surfing and its reliance on technology. In fact, the genesis of the anti-tow movement can be tracked back to the morning of December 6, 2008, when Fletcher and Kohl Christenson showed up at Mavericks on a cold and foggy morning without any tow-in equipment on a day that was considered “too big to paddle.” The two considered packing up and going home, but Nathan remembers Kohl turning to him and saying with a smile, “I may never come to Mavericks again, we gotta go out there an at least get pounded on one.” As the tow-in circus swirled around them, the two battled current and dodged sets for hours, until, in close succession, each caught a bomb.

Their groundbreaking session was largely ignored by the surf media, which was focused on the death of big-wave legend Peter Davi, who drowned that same day while surfing Ghost Tree, but the inner circle of the big-wave community was watching. The session became a call to return to big-wave surfing’s roots.

“Nathan and Kohl’s foggy day session was definitely one of the pivotal moments in the paddle-in movement,” says Greg Long. “When I saw those photos, I thought, ‘If those guys are catching waves like that in those conditions, what else is possible?’”

Do yourself  favor and read the whole thing over at Surfer Magazine.

This recap of John Florence’s incredible season finale in his backyard is well worth a watch.

A few days after Oahu’s 19-year-old John John Florence won Hawaii’s Triple Crown of Surfing, he took a moment to reflect upon being the youngest surfer in history to earn this coveted title. John John talks us through what it means to win in front of family and friends and, most of all, in his own backyard.

Via Tracks Mag

Chris Bryan has just released some insane Phantom footage from the ridiculously gnarly August day at Teahupoo last year. Scary doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Update: The original video hosted on Chris Bryan’s Vimeo was pulled but the above YouTube embed is the same clip that someone else has uploaded.

The above shot of Christian Redongo by Zak Noyle in Tahiti was just voted Surfer Magazine Photo of the Year. It’s certainly a lovely shot, no doubt about that, but I would be hard pressed to have to pick between that and the ones below. One thing is certain however – this years finest surfing photography was mas o menos owned by the talented Zak Noyle and Chris Burkard.

2011 was certainly a good year to be in Tahiti. One of the best water photographers in the biz, Zak Noyle, left his home island of Oahu with a small crew bound for Teahupoo. Talent is great when it comes to photography, but a little bit of luck never hurts either. Nature provided for this shot with a perfect peeling tube ridden by Christian Redongo, and the kind of rainbow that postcards are made of.

Derek Hynd finless at J-Bay by Alan van Gysen

Former pro surfer turned journalist Derek Hynd is one of surfing’s most enigmatic characters. This is why we sent Steve Shearer to learn what he could about Derek and his cult-hero persona and profile him for our October issue. What Shearer discovered that Hynd’s crusade against friction allows him to attain unnatural velocities. Here we see Derek reaching terminal velocity on a wide-open wall at J-Bay.

Iceland lineup by Chris Burkard

When most surfers think of their dream surf trip, they usually don’t picture throwing on a 5/4 wetsuit with booties and gloves in Nordic waters. Luckily for Chris Burkard and a small crew of surfers, this meant that they had all of Iceland’s frigid perfection to themselves. Burkard spent his stay shooting perfect, empty lineups and some of the most awe-inspiring landscapes that you could ever hope to find on a surf trip.

Jesse Merle-Jones from below by Zak Noyle

Nothing matches the calming effect of the underwater world. Even just a few feet below the surface things move in slow motion, colors are muted, hard edges become soft, and quiet envelopes everything. “I love this perspective because it gives surfers such a different view of what they normally see,” says Zak Noyle, who spent an entire day swimming on the reef with just a camera and a pair of goggles. “There’s so much going on below the water that’s hidden to the viewer above, from how shallow the reef really is to the way that the wave barrels and turns inside out on itself below the surface. It’s so beautiful. I kept forgetting to come up for air.” Photo: Noyle

Via Surfer Magazine

Joel Parkinson talks through some of the defining qualities and waves of Australian all-round amazing surfer Laurie Towner.

Via laurietowner.com (which is well worth a visit)

New understated (Kelly Slater co-founded) clothing label VSTR has an interesting roster of contributors online, amongst them Derek Hynd who’s posted memories of South African shark encounters, cleverly titled Hyndsite #2. Derek’s penmanship is perfectly suited to this kind of storytelling. Chilling.

After about 100,000 rides in 40 years this is the only instance I have of total recall of paddling for a wave. I can still feel my head turning hard right to do two things. Check my position and check the shark. Sounds weird, but I can still feel my left arm digging a little harder to get a touch closer inside and a bit further away from the rhumb line of this phenomenal creature. I kept watching its left eye closing in. It was closed by membrane. I was no thought about whether it was good news or bad. I was just watching, stroking in.

Then I took off and ran down the line. There was nothing else for it.

Read the whole thing over at VSTR

Don’t miss this brilliant portrait by Amanda Bluglass on Ray Ives life spent underwater, told through his extraordinary collection of marine artifacts.

A rogue with an eye for salvage – and the ladies – Ray: A Life Underwater is an affectionate portrait of one man’s deep sea diving career … Like a modern-day pirate, 75-year-old Ray Ives has been scouring the seabed for treasure his whole life. The former commercial diver has plundered the deep for over fifty years, bringing to the surface anything that glittered — even gold. In a shipping container near the water, Ray tends his museum of cannon, bottles, bells, swords, portholes and diving gear. He even still takes to the water in a 1900s diving suit.

Via Tom Bonython

Sean Doherty writes a terrific ground zero account of the first day of this years epic Pipe Masters, grit and tension intact.

Meanwhile, a kid six months younger than Jack looks set to win this contest. You know who. The Florence kid went next level out there today. Around noon, when the wind funked-up crosshore and the swell pulsed and everyone else went into survival mode, the 18-year-old displayed an uncommon and sublime mastery of his home break. When the biggest set of the day mowed through and all four surfers in the water – John John included – found themselves clustered in a pack scrambling for the channel, John John broke from them ever so subtly, heading out instead of across. He duckdived and made it through while the other three visited the Seven Circles of Hell. He then proceeded to find waves wherever he went, the highlight being a supreme read where he highlined a set wave for a small barrel, before the thing bottomed out on the chew ‘n’ spew sandbar. He swooped from the lip, dropping from 12 o’clock high, before setting up the barrel as it squared off. It was a 10 before he even came out.

Via Coastalwatch

Doug Walker’s The Lost & Found Collection has finally made it online, with interviews and great photography by Dan Merkel, Aaron Chang, Bob Barbour, Lance Trout & Larry Moore.

We all know the feeling when something is lost. But what is the feeling we get when something is found after being lost for 30 year’s? This is my journey after discovering roughly 30,000 black and white dupe negatives found at a flea market in California that capture a time in surfing that made the sport as it is today. This is not a film. This is a documented piece of history that will focus on the Photographers & Surfers of the period. It’s about the greats like Dan Merkel aka “Man Mountain”, Aaron Chang who started his career taking photos of tourists in Waikiki. Bernie Baker, Lance Trout to Bob Barbour as well as classic Surfer’s.

This task of this film is capturing the photographers and figuring out whose images are whose. In the 2 years of organizing all the material and creating proof-sheet notebooks is when my journey started. I started by capturing material from guys like, and filmmaker Greg Weaver. This was a start to see the potential of this medium of film unfold. What I found was the most AMAZING stories being told. Some stories being told for the first time and that is where we turn this story to the Photographers. In 2011 we live in a completely different world. It is fast and mean. Surfing was a sport that was built on soul and I’ve been told by many they feel that surfing has lost its soul.

We live in a digital age. I say digital because film is gone. When Photographers were shooting they were sometimes given 5 rolls of film for the month and had to be extremely selective on focusing on their subject using 400mm lenses. They would ship there negative back with surfers or send by boat from the North Shore and could take up to 2 weeks before being delivered. Film was being processed, published and edited by the magazines while photographers continued to live the dream. We are now in a digital world where the RED camera can capture 30 frames per second at 4k resolution which means that you can make a million mistakes for 1 shot when these guys could not.

Being a Film Editor for many years as well as a Surfer since the age of 10. Two days before I discovered this gift I was telling my office for someone to find me a surf project and here it is. Being a Film Editor I have the background for telling a very compelling story as well have become a Director. I feel that I have created a film that we all could be inspired and proud of as it allows us to hear stories for the first time.

This is not just about photos from the 70’s. But it is art and art has a price that is priceless.

I have being told that I didn’t find them. They found me.

This is LOST & FOUND

Via The Lost & Found Collection