Lunes Madrazo

Like cruising through Latin America, getting jumped by some banditos and having the shit kicked out of you.

Bueos dias, muchachos!

I went to Puerto a few years back.  Which 'Puerto' you ask? The one that doesn't need a second name - it's that hardcore.  I was there out of season.  Which I was disappointed by and thankful for at the same time.  It did get to about 4 foot one day and that was interesting enough. 

By all the Catholic saints, that place hits hard.  Swell comes uniterrupted from which ever other side of the Pacific is throwing out swell.  So, its a very long period.  Offshore is a deep water canyon which means there's no energy lost before it slams into the sand bank.  And when I say sandbank - there isn't too much sand left on it as most of it is kicked up and held in suspension.  This means two things - neither of them good.  1.  The water is heavier, with all the sand in it.  2.  It isnt so much a sand bank as a gravel patch - those bits too heavy to be scoured.  So, instead - you get scoured, properly.

I hate to think what this guys about to go through

In Spanish speaking countries, they don't appreciate the notion of a man confident enough to wear pink.  Unknown at Mex Pipe.

Thanks to MSW and RpmSurfer.  Check 'em out for some more Puerto action and some steamy senoritas.
And an extra muchas gracias to my scandatina/latinavian missus for the title.

Heaven Waits

One of my first published works tried to capture the colours that we see when we surf.  I think I did an adequate job.  But, as I tried to convey in the piece, there's nothing like actually being there.  There's something about being so close to the water - a semi transparent surface - and the fact that we're out there in all conditions and chasing it through all coastal orientations and latitudes that make every moment of every session unique.  Like you'll never step in the same river twice, you will never see the same moment again when surfing.  Time on the water is a kaleidoscope - a complex and dynamic arrangement of light that cannot be reproduced.

Photography means 'light writing' so its only fitting that they capture these moments better than these monochrome letters ever could.  As much as surf photography is about shooting surfers, photographers know that there is so much more going on around them than just waves being ridden.  As surfers, we recognise moments like this from our own experience.  We hark back to those points in time.  Perhaps, this is one aspect of that expression: Only a surfer knows the feeling.

Heaven Waits, by Matt Clark

Via 6 feet and perfect

Being Mocked by Shaun Joubert

Sometimes you just have to admit being beaten.  Here's Shaun Joubert's blog.  Having a brief look at it, it's pretty plain to see that he does most things better than me.  He surfs better than me.  Takes better photos than me.  Travels better than me.  Blogs better than me.  (Sigh)

Hacks better than me...

I first became aware of Shaun about 4 years ago in Bali while watching Occy's Grom Comp.  He was pretty good back then, but now, he's a household name and one of our rising stars.  Keep an eye on him.  Good things to come from this guy.

Here's a pic of J-Bay taken by Shaun. I originally meant meant for J-Bay subject of this post.  Then I got distracted.  Now I feel inferior.  Damn you, interweb.  Crush my ego like that...

A new take on an old subject.  Pretty sweet shot from a guy whose job it is to be on the pixels, not creating them.

Do yourself a favour and hit the link above.  Then, carry on being awesome to yourself and carry on hitting his links (note: marinelayerproductions in there.  See...I'm not the only one)

Enter the Neckbeard

It's about time we had a little chat.  For the last while - since about the time he blew off JBay to go surf somewhere else - I've had a little man crush on one Dane Reynolds.  He's just too awesome.  His hand drawn logos.   His flop-all-over-the-wave style.  His tube-riding.  His carves.  His airs - of course.  His casual attitude.  His sexy anchor tatoo.  You see?  I'm just going on about him like a teenage girl.

"Swoon" - in a stricly-hetero surf-envy kind of way

And have you checked out his website: marinelayerproductions.com  There's some prett sick stuff right there.  Take the time to watch Lost Interest...  For me, those 12 minutes are way, way better than the whole of Lost Atlas.  Lost Atlas was very formulaic:  Drop in to mushy beachbreak, drive once, loft and throw tail a varying number of degrees.  Repeat.  Show occasional wildlife shot to let the viewer know this is somewhere exotic.  Lost Interest however.... actually, why you listening to me?  Just go watch it.  Click the download and comeback to it - it takes a while - but like most good things, it's worth the wait.

Then there are his boards.  The Dumpster Diver - so named because he found the prototype in a Dumpster behind Merrick's factory - set the tone for board shapes today.  It's the most popular board in the US currently.  I appreciated the break from the spearhead/leaf shapes that had been the norm until then, but the DD never did it for me.  Perhaps, it was the realisation that no board would allow me to surf like Dane.

Then came the Neckbeard.  Just look at it:

Its the perfect example of a host of ugly features coming together to create something beautiful.  I want one.  Better add it to that lengthening Christmas wishlist.

But, instead of receiving, and in the spirit of the Neckbeard, Christmas and Movember, I'm going to do the next best thing.  Moustaches - they've been done.  So, this Movember, apart from the regular 'tache, I will be growing a neckbeard to go with it.  I hope to raise money for testicular cancer, in the hope that some may be cured of this afflication and have the balls to go out and surf like Dane.  Not only just chop hopping, but also charging heavy barrels which he also does

A different kind of Dane Reynolds air

Check out my mospace at http://mobro.co/neckbeard.  Help a bro - donate for a mo.  It's as easy as booking a movie ticket.  Maybe even easier depending on how fussy you are on movies and picking seats.  You can follow my progress here, on FB, or at the mospace.

Nature's airbrush

As a Cape surfer, there's a lot to relate to in this photo.  It's the wide open spaces. And the wind that blows it wider.  It's the sounds of it scattering sand on sand around your ankles.  It's the battering against your hood.  It's the tugging on your board forcing you off balance as you pad across the beach.  The newly settled sand is soft and your feet sink into it making the walk even more challenging.  Your suit, built for the cold just beyond, is added resistence is the hot, dry wind.

Yet, despite all this, there's a sense of euphoria in the group.  You know what's to come.  You know what the wind has done for the banks, how it shapes the wave.  You embrace this constant force.  You have no choice.  It swirls around you in constance.  To shun it is pointless.  It's the unseen ally that is taken for a foe. Where would you be were it not for this wind?  Not here, in the starkest of beautiful places.   

Pic by the legendary AVG.  (Yes, this one is not from the Cape.  Get over it.)

Thick upper lip

I don't have to say it.  You know what this month is about.  My top lip is bristling with excitement.  Here are some surfers who embrace the mo.  Now, tell me what you want to do to be more like them.

Michael Peterson - owning it.  Burt Reynolds got nothing on MP

Gerry Lopex - perhaps the original.  Gerry now has a bare top lip.  I would give him grief, but he is Mr Pipeline

Ant Keidis of the Chilli Peppers.  As if he isn't cool enough

Donny Frakenreiter - Of course

Matt McConaughey - surfs, apparently; wears a 'tache, occasionally; humiliates himself, frequently

There's too much awesomeness going on there

Bobby Martinez - happier days with a handle-bar

I have no idea who this is, but that's an awesome tache there, bro.  And if you Google 'surfer moustache'  he deservedly comes in 1st place.

Tom Selleck - probably not a surfer, but Magnum PI was set in Hawaii, and c'mon: look at its magnificance.

Some big names getting in on the action.  Here's Dane Reynolds

And Kelly...wait a minute...

Interestingly there may be more Dane Reynolds/facial hair related action here later.  And check the guy out in SF later - he will be there.  Allegedly.

And, if you still need inspiration to grow a mo, help a bro after that, well then, I don't know...

Just another barrel...

Here's a quick barrel of Steph Gilmore at Backdoor.

Steph, Backdoor, Pipemasters last year.  That's about it.  I'm not going to be patronising.  "A girl, a heavy, Hawaiian reef, etc."  We've known what girls are capable of. 

On a technical note: look at where she's looking - way down the line.  This is not a point and shoot pit.  She has a lot of work to do to make it.  Here arms and shoulders tell me she's getting ready to compress and drive.  With that, and her focus, and the fact that she's Steph Gilmore, I'd wager she makes it out of this one.

Thanks TWS

(Some manly moustache related entries to follow)