So the Billabong XXL awards were handed out the other day, honoring the men and women crazy enough to chase waves the size of small mountains. And neither surprisingly nor undeservedly, Nathan Fletcher took home several of the prestigious awards with his jaw-dropping ride at Teahupoo this past August (above), including the Ride of the year and Monster Barrel awards.

Nathan’s a charger and deserves these wins like no others.

Garrett McNamara not only caught the biggest wave of the year with his 78 foot drop at Praia do Norte on the coast of Portugal, but also officially copped the heaviest wipeout of the year at this little known Maui spot above. Oddly enough, Bradley Norris’ step into oblivion at The Right in WA never made it to nominee status.

Watch the whole show here.

The great Jean Henri Gaston Giraud aka Moebius died earlier this year, leaving this world infinitely richer then when he entered it.

Images via But Does It Float

Unforgettable reflections from one of the most talented photographers in the world.

The Diary of Jon Frank

Patagonia should be the yardstick for all corporations. Instead it is the exception that confirms the rule, and all we can do is vote with our wallets.

Chouinard marched into state offices on the morning of January 3, 2012, to make Patagonia the very first company to register as a benefit corporation in California. It remains the most prominent company nationwide to have registered thus far. For Chouinard, the value of this is less about the present than the future. He can do whatever he wants at Patagonia right now, with no threat of shareholders revolting if he sacrifices a bit of profit in the name of menschy communitarianism. He owns the place in full, for as long as he’s alive. But he’s cagey about succession, and it’s clear what he fears: He never wants Patagonia to go public, or to lever itself up in search of rapid growth, as it mistakenly did before. He’s convinced that becoming a benefit corporation will help prevent that from ever happening.

Read the whole thing at The Wall Street Journal. Photo by Tierney Gearon

A long overdue and well-produced reflection on one of, if not the, most spectacular days of surfing in modern history. Both stunning and terrifying.

On August 27, 2011, the Billabong Pro Tahiti event on surfing’s World Tour was placed on hold due to a massive swell bearing down on the famed big-wave spot, Teahupoo. With forecasts calling for unprecedented surf, some of the greatest surfers in the world descended on the island to be in the water, despite a “Code Red” called by the Tahitian Coast Guard, which sought to keep everyone on shore. See the historic day through the eyes of two surfers — the young gun Laurie Towner and the veteran Dylan Longbottom — as they catch some of the biggest, most dangerous surf ever recorded, much of it captured with the super slow motion Phantom Camera for never-before-seen imagery.

Amazing how Buttons is as radical now as he was in 1978 – excerpt from Many Classic Moments by Gary Capo.

Via Surfer Mag

Kai Neville isn’t resting on his laurels. Having released Lost Atlas (review) only last year, he’s already trickling out footage from his next film, featuring the usual suspects. No release date yet but the trailer is looking good.

Reef Mcintosh takes the Surfline 25K Wave of the Winter award of 2011-12 with this wave at OTW.

“It was unanimous,” Head Judge Gerry Lopez explained. “Reef’s wave was just so perfectly beautiful and his cool, collected mastery in riding it gave him the edge over the rest.”

Stills from video by Lachlan McKinnon.

The making and sliding of the TCSS x Thomas Surfboards Pillage model. Nicely done.

For more beards, visit thecriticalslidesociety.com

Jon Frank has been playing in a league all by himself since he busted into the collective conscious of purveyors of beauty in the mid 90′s alongside Mark Sutherland and Andrew Kidman with the seminal surf movie Litmus. Here are two absolutely mesmerizing clips from his latest project The Glide, created alongside Richard Tognetti.

Richard Tognetti’s first exploration of the links between the ocean, surfing and music resulted in the documentaryMusica Surfica, winning best feature awards at film festivals in the USA, Brazil, South Africa and France. In this new multimedia performance, Jon Frank’s awe-inspiring ocean photography and footage glides across the big screen, mingling with the ACO’s live performance. The Glide comes to Sydney and Melbourne after performances in Maribor, Noosa and New York.

Eclectic and all-round awesome outpost on the net Korduroy.tv has finally received a solid makeover and it is looking stunning! Hats off to Cyrus Sutton and friends!

New Korduroy 2.0 Features:

- All New Interface – Clean, intuitive styling will make surfing through posts, shows, items and beyond a clean, in-trim experience.

- Makers – We are featuring an eclectic collection of individuals who are shaping surf and diy culture with their hands via design, craft, filmmaking, photography, board building and music. Many will have a their own blogs, galleries and stores to share their unique perspectives with you daily

- The List – Is an interactive directory of surf culture consisting of weekly top 10 lists determined by our Facebook fans. You can then rearrange each list’s order and vote on and off things you think should be included or left off.

- New Video Series – The next couple of months will see the unveiling of a couple new series on Korduroy featuring new kinds of content.

-New Store – Will feature a curated collection of items we dig.

Check it out at beta.korduroy.tv

A full-length movie about the life and times of surfing legend Jeff Hakman aka Mr Sunset… It could (and should) happen! Producer Pierre Weisbein and brilliant designer/art director Oskar Lindholm has created a great site to grab the attention and imagination of surfers and non surfers alike and to distribute a treatment by Jamie Brisick to interested parties.

Find out more at mrsunsetmovie.com

The Tyler Warren Experiments by Mark Jeremias and John Smart has been a long time in the making, with a first teaser trailer dating back as far as 2008, but from the looks of the sudden drop of the official trailer it will be well worth the wait. Actually, that’s an understatement – if the trailer below is anything to go by, this will be the surf movie of 2012.

Starring Tyler Warren, Malcolm Campbell, Duncan Campbell, Manuel Caro, Chris Christenson, Josh Hall, Terry Martin, Justin Adams, Skip Frye, Devon Howard, Alex Knost, Dave Rastovich, Joel Tudor, Christian Wach, JJ Wessels

From the makers of “One California Day” and “Natural Expression” comes a new feature length surf film documenting the evolution of a surfer and his craft.

Drawing from 50 years of design inspiration, “The Tyler Warren Experiments” explores Tyler’s surfing, influences and interest in board design through collaboration with a number of today’s most respected craftsmen.

Via The Tyler Warren Experiments

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