Surfing World Magazine June 2017

Tear out all the pages, grab a pack of blu-tac, and get busy decorating at least one wall in your home with all the images that have been captured from the past three months of swell, because Australia has been pumping. We need to acknowledge and celebrate the waves, the surfers, and the surfing that’s been going down with more than a momentary glance and a double tap, before scrolling on. We need to put them on our walls. And may I suggest that you take the pages of this mag you should rip up, and decorate your dunny, which is the last true place of refuge from outside distractions. If you’re in the habit of leaving your phone in the lounge, there is no better place to pause and…

Chelsea Georgeson 2005 World Champion ...Don’t post any shots on Instagram or Facebook! Damien Hardman X2 World Champion ...Keep your legs sealed. Don’t tell anyone where it is. Pretty simple. Otis Carey Twisty Poppin’ Freakazoid ...No phones allowed. Greg Webber Shaper, Wave Pool Visionary ...Pick any of the usual options: there’s a 4m great white that hangs there, the locals will kill you, or don’t tell anyone in the first place. Doug Lees Surfing World Publisher ...What secret spot? I don’t know what you’re talking about.   Toby Cregan Filmer, Skegg ...Don’t tell anyone. Stop talking altogether.…

AUSTRALIANS LOVE TO KNOW WHAT THE REST OF THE WORLD THINKS ABOUT US. ON ONE HAND IT HINTS AT SOME KIND OF COLLECTIVE CULTURAL INSECURITY. ON THE OTHER, I THINK WE KNOW HOW GOOD WE’VE GOT IT, LUCKY COUNTRY AND ALL THAT, BUT WE JUST WANNA HEAR IT FROM SOMEONE ELSE. IF YOU WANT SOME VALIDATION THAT AUSTRALIA IS INDEED THE RICHEST SURFING NATION ON EARTH, LOOK NO FURTHER THAN THE GUDAUSKAS BOYS. PAT, DANE AND TANNER HAVE BEEN COMING HERE FOR 15 YEARS, LIVING IN VANS, EATING FROM CANS, SLEEPING UNDER THE STARS AND SURFING THEMSELVES TO A RUBBERY CONSISTENCY. MIND YOU, THESE THREE COULD TAKE A SURF TRIP TO LANDLOCKED KAZAKHSTAN AND STILL DERIVE SOME KIND OF PERVERSE ENJOYMENT OUT OF IT, BUT WHEN YOU TAKE THE BOUNDLESS…

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT AS A YOUNG MAN COREY WILSON TURNED DOWN A LUCRATIVE CAREER AS A FOOT MODEL TO PURSUE HIS PASSION IN THE FIELD OF SURF PHOTOGRAPHY. SO DEEP WAS HIS COMMITMENT THAT EVEN DIRECT CALLS FROM VINEGARY VOGUE EDITOR ANNA WINTOUR PLEADING TO FEATURE HIS HOOFS ON THE COVER OF THE FAMED SEPTEMBER ISSUE COULD NOT SWAY HIM FROM HIS DREAM OF SHOOTING COVERS FOR SW. TODAY, 27-YEAR-OLD WILSON IS LIVING THAT DREAM AND IS WELL KNOWN AS ONE OF A HANDFUL OF NEXT GENERATION SURF PHOTOGRAPHERS TAKING THE MEDIUM TO ENTIRELY NEW HEIGHTS. HIS WORK IS BREATHTAKING TO THE POINT THAT HE’S NETTED THREE OF THE PAST FOUR SW COVERS. HE NOTES HIS STYLE AS “CRISP AND CLEAN, VERY SIMPLE,” AND IS ABSOLUTE WHEN ASKED…

IN THIS COUNTRY SO YOUNG, YET SO WELL OLD. WE AREN’T BEARERS OF WHAT HISTORY WAS, SACRED, ABOLISHED, WIPED. OUT ON UNDEVELOPED LAND, WHERE FOR THE MOMENT 21ST CENTURY SURFERS CUT ABOUT, THERE’S WEATHERED, SUNKEN SOULS IN THE SAND. IN A CAR CONGESTED WITH ADOLESCENCE, FAMILIAR TO RAGGED SETTINGS, IN IT LIKE A GAMBLE, NAIVE IN A SENSE, BUT RECKLESS IN ANOTHER. WE PILE THINGS TOGETHER, MIND INCLUDED, GOT A DRIVE AHEAD, WITH MULTIPLE HOURS TO RAMBLE. THE SUN’S OUT, THAT’S FINE, WE’LL BE DRIVING INTO AN ENDLESS NIGHT. SOCIAL WARP ON TIME WHEN TUCKED, SUCKED INTO A 3” SCREEN, LEAVE IT BEHIND IN ITS CITY FORMATION. DODGE AND SWIPE HIGHWAY INHABITANTS, AS THE HEADLIGHTS BLIND THEIR MARSUPIAL EYES. SPEEDS OF 140KM IN AND OUT, NO ROAD TO BE FOOLING…

Soli and I booked our flights the night before, after tracking a swell all week. Shieldsy was all frothing, he’d been there before and knew it was gonna be on. We flew into Melbourne just as the storm of the century hit. Ando and Rasta were supposed to go on this trip too but their plane got grounded. But our pilot – this girl – she was like, “Oh yeah it’s all good, we’ve already done a flight today.” It was actually nuts – a 20 seater plane in the biggest storm ever. There was that much turbulence, you couldn’t see anything outside, just black clouds. We were coming down into the Island full tail whipping – it was the most hectic thing ever. That exact same plane had crashed…