Surfing Life

Surfers, we’re an odd bunch. Misfits of the modern world, driven by an insatiable thirst to ride waves. Some for leisure and some professionally, but all of us for the love of the game. Surfing brings people together and the ocean doesn’t discriminat

This issue we chat to surfing royalty, the greatest of all time, Kelly Slater. Aside from his well-publicised and unprecedented eleven world titles, Slater has been at the forefront of change on many fronts. Many of which have not involved putting on

They say the tour is a marathon, not a sprint. Yet when all is said and done, world titles can be traced back to a single heat win buried deep within the year’s stats. A bookmark to a momentum change, a ratings juggle or even a psychological blow to

It’s been nearly 30 years since Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, Shane Dorian, Kalani Robb and Ross Williams all lived under one roof. In one of those weird confluences of fate that happens in surfing from time to time, after leaving her abusive husband, B

“I first realised that we were in trouble when we saw the smoke coming over from the back of the mountains to cover the beach. We had gone down to the ocean to get away from all the madness, to watch it all, and then we saw the full extent of the fir

Wade Carmichael is back in the country for a short while. He’s just returned from the European leg of the world tour and is enjoying some downtime at home before heading off to Hawaii for the northern hemisphere winter. Surfing Life used the opportun

The war of wave pools continues, in late October the first waves were pumped, and ridden, at the long-heralded Surf Lakes facility that is in proof-of-concept phase at Yeppoon, a coastal town near Rockhampton. The region is more famous locally for be

Fins, we really can’t live without ‘em. We’ve spent so much time focussing on board manufacturing, shape evolution and testing boards – heck, we even dedicate a whole issue to them – but we can forget the humble old fin at our peril. In fact, fin bra

Steph Gilmore is one of the most talented humans to ever set foot on a surfboard. Her competitive record speaks for itself — one of the greatest of all time. She’s graceful yet powerful, calm yet determined and has a style that many can only dream of

When Jack and Alana started dating in early 2013, the immediate cries of ‘surfing’s power couple’ rang through the halls of the surf industry. And while that title, along with calls like the ‘Posh & Becks of surfing’ might not have sat well with the

Jeremy Walters is a former World Qualifying Series surfer; smooth style, incredible wave knowledge and dad to Dakota, Harley, and daughter Evie. Walt, as he’s known in surfing circles, grew up in the wave-rich area of Yamba/Angourie. Jeremy was crown

It was hardly the stuff surfing dreams were made of, but that was beside the point. To Ryan Callinan, this crumbly, wind-blown, brown-water Japanese beach break might as well have been a river of gold. Not only had it delivered him one of the crownin

It was 2013, and there was a rumour of a story out there in the ether, that the biggest wave in the world had been ridden in Portugal, and I was asked to chase the story. My investigations led me to Carlos Burle, and I tracked his number down. It had

Change is like a pulse in the ocean – imperceptible at first and slowly it makes its way within eyesight, creating a wave that takes shape and makes music. It comes incrementally. As surfers, we know this! Wait for the swell, sit in the lineup, paddl

We all read magazines, follow along on Instagram, and try our hardest to capture that quintessential lifestyle shot. Whether it be someone famous or just family and friends, it sure is a challenge. So what are you looking for when it comes to capturi

The clichéd and repetitive hypothesis behind the Brazilian upwelling into professional surfing is that these young surfers are always incredibly desperate, relentlessly driven, and are fighting for their very existence every single heat of their live

When all is said and done, all we want to do is surf more. If we can, we’ll centre all of our life’s activities on the tides, the swell, the wind and the waves. If not during the week, then most certainly on the weekends and anytime we’re free from t