Tabla de contenidos para May - June 2021 en Tracks

As Australian property prices go, loony developers are desperate to get their hands on space in Sydney’s densely populated eastern beaches. However, no matter how good the offer, the faithfully departed folk who reside at Clovelly cemetery (see photo backdrop) are not giving up their view of the waves for anyone. The Pacific Ocean spectacle is particularly ‘enlivening’ on days like this one in early May, when a westerly-licked groundswell aimed directly at a slug of well-formed sand off Bronte. It was a Saturday morning and as the entire east coast turned on, most surfers stampeded towards more fashionable set-ups. However, early in the morning, eastern suburbs lensman, Bill Morris, had received a tip off that an outside bank at Bronte was hurling big, sand-bottom slabs. He figured he’d take…

Whether it’s the takeaway coffee on your morning surf check, or the bag your new wetsuit arrives in, there’s some form of unavoidable packaging in your life whether you like it, or not. Mostly you love the ocean and understand that plastic isn’t great, so compostable alternatives to plastics are naturally a better option right? Right? Well according to the Australian Packaging Covenant (APCO), the body that manages the environmental impacts of packaging, the answer is…not quite. Their Sustainable Programs Officer, and avid surfer Meredith Epp explains, “You need to be wary of compostable alternatives as there’s a lot of greenwashing and it depends on whether it meets the Australian standard for composting.” Some compostable coffee cups require an industrial composter plant to process, whereas others can be thrown in…

For over a decade Chippa Wilson has beguiled us with his highly original take on riding waves. The wiry goofy-footer from Cabarita with the blazing yellow eyes and ink-splashed torso ushered in the kind of aerial hi-jinks that required observers to consult a dictionary of skateboarding tricks to figure out what he was actually doing on a wave. His tube riding prowess and rail carves are less frequently celebrated, but both are key elements of a dynamic act that has made him one of the world’s pre-eminent freesurfers; heavily in demand from sponsors, filmers, photographers, surf media and air contest organisers alike. However, after 10 years of travelling, launching cloud-tickler airs for the cameras, and logging clips, Chippa Wilson decided he needed to find a retreat; somewhere he could indulge…

Lungi Slabb doesn’t simply ride the barrel, he dances with it. When the wave face bends, the lip chucks and the spinning foamball bites at his heels, Lungi uses his pliable frame to shape-shift his way through the hollowest sections, responding to every subtle bend and twist in the wave with a complementary physical response. “He’s just navigating out there,” explains Quiksilver photographer, Ryan Heywood, excitedly, “Full wheelies in the barrel and frontside laybacks.” Watch Lungi surf at Snapper and it seems like each tube is a puzzle to which he must find the perfect response. Every time he takes off you can’t wait to see how he interprets the wave. “When I’m surfing, everything just sort of comes to me… just working with the wave and relaxing, that’s the…

Our eyes are still on the pot of gold: the wave heavier than its busier neighbours, the one almost impossible to find without a guide, the one you’re not allowed to surf without a guide.We’ve got the spot pinned on Tom’s phone. We’ve got the hire car. And our treasure map marks the exact, unmarked turn-off from the highway. The search begins. We feel the buck of rocks under the car’s chassis. Hear the squeal of branches on the chrome. Get chased by a bull.We double back to a locked gate, with a sign that says, in emphatic typography: NO TRESPASSING. PRIVATE PROPERTY. ‘The wave’s on the other side of this gate,’ says Tom. I look at his phone and then shake my head. ‘Does the treasure map say anything…

Freesurfer and entrepreneur Dion Agius likes to put a creative twist on his projects. Whether he’s launching airs, designing a sunglasses label or producing a new film, Dion typically strives to introduce something entirely different to the surfing sphere. His latest surf film, ‘Dark Hollow’, has a subliminal environmental agenda and is framed around his home state of Tasmania. Dark Hollow is actually the east coast, Tassi’ town Dion grew up in. Perhaps channelling the slightly medieval tone of his stomping ground’s name, he elected to weave in a recurring theme involving a surf witch.When he needed someone to play the part, he asked Esta, the girlfriend of photog John Respondek, if she was willing to cast spells in front of the camera. Dion is famously hands on with his…

Going on 30 years ago now, way before instant news stories or social media being blasted out by anyone with a smart phone using Instagram,Twitter or Facebook, our surfing news turned up in monthly and bimonthly doses in surfing magazines.The only way to get some surf news out there quickly was a press release to the news media followed up by meet and greet press conference. This image is from around June 1991 when Kelly was in Australia on his way to Indonesia for a Tracks magazine surf trip. A few months earlier he’d signed a sponsorship deal with Quiksilver. So, they took advantage of the situation by depositing the shy teenager into the big chair at their Newport Beach office, and had a room full of mainstream and surfing…

FEATURING THE WORK OF: JOHN RESPONDEK JOSHUA TABONE NATHAN OLDFIELD HARRISON MARK ALAN VAN GYSEN BEN BUGDEN…

In December last year the WSL were midway through the Women’s Maui Pro at Honolua Bay when a tragic shark attack prompted a venue switch.There was still a quarter, two semis and a final to run when the women leapt islands from Maui to Oahu to join the men at Pipe. It was heralded as the first women’s CT event at Pipe, or to borrow from Joe Turpel’s rainbow-coated commentary, “For the first time the women are competing at the craziest wave and the most beautiful wave in the world in a championship tour format.” Sally Fitzgibbons happily conceded she’d never surfed Pipe before. Carissa Moore gave a nod to the fiercely competitive nature of the Pipe lineup on a day-to-day basis, and suggested she was looking forward to being…

Skating and surfing have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship over the decades. In the early 60s, when skate culture first started to get its grip on the asphalt, the four-wheelers were frequently referred to as sidewalk surfers. Then Larry Bertlemann showed up in the early 70s and started tearing up lineups with his rubberman act. While surfers were trying to figure out Larry’s radical lines the skaters were busy pulling ‘Berts’ on concrete embankments. This involved crouching as low as you could go over the board and then planting the leading arm as you twisted through a frontside carve. By the early 80s the skating vanguard were performing a range of tricks at altitude. It wasn’t long before the likes of Matt Kechele, Matt Archbold, Davey Smith and Martin Potter were…

BEHIND THE COVER: WADE GOODALL BY JOHN RESPONDEK “This trip to the Mentawai was with Wade, Harry, Dane, Droid, Taj & Coleborn. The images bring back some great memories for me, and make me realise how much I miss Indonesia, its dreamy blue waters and cooking waves. It really is the best place in the world for a surfing trip (and beer drinking trip) with friends.We have another one booked in for next year. Fingers crossed we can make it.” EVENT REPORT THE SURFAID CUP Each year Surfaid hosts a series of tag team surf events to raise money for the important work it does providing communities in Indonesia, Mexico and the Solomon Islands with access to healthcare, clean water and improved nutrition. In the recently held Surfaid Cup at…

Dusk filters into Urbnsurf’s Three Blue Ducks restaurant. At least 100 thirsty, slightly sunburnt patrons of varying ages and surfing prowess – including at least 20 sponsored pros – are toasting a surf session to remember in the Melbourne wave pool. We’re here for the launch of Rip Curl’s new brand campaign; an excuse for an A-list of women’s surfing to get pitted and party poolside. Retired Championship Tour (CT) surfer Dimity Stoyle (DJ Shimmy) flicks her wrist over pop-up decks as two-time World Champion Tyler Wright cruises by in bare feet. At the bar, wedged between tipsy surf retail and advertising professionals, a shock of blonde hair standing five-foot-two shouts her order to the staff. I recognise the youngster from a brief introduction earlier and call out. “Hey Pickles,…

After a lengthy break from transmission, captain and crew are welcoming travellers aboard sleek modern aircraft. Out in the deserts – Alice Springs, Australia and Mohave, California – dormant fleets of 747s and A380s are being prepped for action. Known as Boneyards these storage facilities have never been busier. Not since commercial air travel began a century ago have so many planes been flightless. It’s been a wild ride but most signs suggest we will soon be roaring across the skies, necking free booze and surfing perfect tropical reefs… sometime… fairly soon… probably. And if we’re not it’ll be because of India. At the time of writing (April 21) India had just notched up the biggest daily tally for infections and deaths for any country during the entire pandemic. It…