Table of contents for No. 575 in Tracks

Two years ago I was in Hawaii with my father and sister for the Pipe Masters. Like the competitors in the event, we were at the mercy of the mercurial North Shore conditions. When howling onshores and huge closeouts colluded to ensure a lay day was called, I figured the best thing to do was jump in the car and drive west side for a day of good old-fashioned rubberneck sightseeing with the family. Around an hour later we arrived at Makaha, the original home of Hawaiian big-wave surfing. Flanked by the rugged beauty of the west side mountains on one side and a raging sea on the other, we pulled up at a narrow parking zone where a couple of ‘da boys’ were hanging out and listening to tunes…

Not the News SURFER MISSES HIS WEDDING DAY. Whale Beach surfer, Rick Frothmeyer, is recovering in hospital after being punched out by his ‘future’ father-in-law. Frothmeyer left his wife, Wendy Towelwarmer, standing at the aisle after he went surfing at The Wedge on his wedding day. “I’ve been committed to the wave all my life. I couldn’t miss the day of the decade,” stated Frothmeyer from his hospital bed. Frothemeyer also made another guilty confession. “I knew most of the best surfers would be at the ceremony and I’d score all the good ones.” Tunes THESE NEW SOUTH WHALES - I JUST DO WHAT GOD TELLS ME Melodic, acidic, tongue in cheek punk rawk from the back alleys of Newtown, New South Wales. Pod GQ - THE MEN WHO RAISED…

IT’S A MISERABLE DAY DURING AN OTHERWISE WARM WINTER IN SOUTH AFRICA. KANOA AND I SIT ON THE BALCONY OF HIS SMALL BUT COZY APARTMENT. HIS FILMER ARRIVES, PICKS UP HIS RIG AND SURREPTITIOUSLY STARTS SHOOTING OUR INTERVIEW. “HE’S COOL,” SAYS KANOA OF HIS FILMER. “HE’S JUST GOING TO GET A FEW SHOTS OF US.” We riff a little about the Championship Tour, about the year so far, about the back half of the year. Easy-going and intelligent, Kanoa speaks freely, and has a measured thoughtfulness behind much of what he says. He delivers a rare style of old-school wisdom, a refreshingly astute element to come across when interviewing a professional surfer, and especially one as young as Kanoa. Born in 1997 in Southern California to Japanese parents, Kanoa and…

At 1.17 am on June 3, 1994 an earthquake registering 7.2 on the Richter scale fractured the Indian Ocean floor, 15 kilometres deep in the Java Trench, Indonesia. It took about 40 minutes for the vibration of energy from this massive displacement of land and water to radiate out and cross 130 kilometres of open sea to reach shore. This means the waves were travelling at about 300 kilometres per hour when they hit the coast. This kind of wave is called a tsunami; Japanese for ‘Harbour Wave’. A completely different type of wave from other sea waves, which are wind driven and whose limited power plays out mostly on the surface. What’s going on with a tsunami is all happening underwater. They encompass the entire vertical water column, from…

OF ALL THE PLACES YOU’D EXPECT TO FIND JAMIE MITCHELL ON A LAZY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, SEATED IN THE BACKSTAGE AREA OF A COMEDY CLUB DEEP IN THE HEART OF DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES MUST SURELY BE WAY DOWN ON THE LIST. Alas, and more is the shame, Australia’s celebrated big wave riding export isn’t gearing up to drop a tight set full of zingers, he’s here on business. “To tell the truth, I probably couldn’t tell a joke to save my life,” cackles Mitchell. “I’m hosting a fundraising event for my Seven Crossings Project – actually, we’re calling it a Comedy and Conservation Night, there’s going to be silent auctions and a sustainable fashion show.” If you’d not heard of Mitchell’s Seven Crossing Project, um, project, it’s hardly surprising, as the…

TRAVEL TO MANY PLACES ONCE CONSIDERED FAR-FLUNG THESE DAYS AND YOU’RE LIKELY TO STUMBLE ACROSS ANY NUMBER OF YOUNG EXPATS HAVING A GO AT RUNNING A BUSINESS. Bars, breweries, restaurants, hostels and surf resorts are all popular choices of enterprise, and to those passing through and enjoying the good times they offer, these start-ups must look like the ultimate balance between work and fun. But how much of it is a dream and how much is reality? How much of the exotic fantasy remains after the owners have come face-to-face with the daily hurdles of living in a third-world country, where language barriers, unconventional industrial practices and the sobering experience of being far away from everything they’re used to, combine to reveal a less glamorous side of the lifestyle they’ve…

Behind the Cover - Koa Smith by Alan Van Gysen This swell was a special one, and not just because it was one of those rare, large west swells that every five years lights up the point and produces the worlds best waves. This season marked my tenth year of visiting Namibia for Skeleton Bay. This swell showed the world and I that despite evidence to the contrary, sand spits of this freakish kind can and do - like many of us hope for ourselves, change literally overnight from being broken shadows of their former self to being made whole and perfect once more. I have been present and in the ragging current every time Koa Smith has caught his ‘wave of the year’ at Skeleton Bay since his GoPro-altering…

IT’S A SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN SPRING AND A FIVE-FOOT, SOUTH-EAST GROUND SWELL IS STEAMING INTO BONDI, WHERE VOLLEYBALLERS, LOVED-UP-COUPLES, SELFIE-TAKING TRAVELLERS, HIPSTERS, SKATERS, SURFERS AND MORE, COALESCE IN A COLOURFUL SCENE. AS THE HUMAN MOSH PIT RAGES, A FIGURE IN A BLUE VEST TAKES AIM AT A MEATY LIP AND STABS A DEFTLY TIMED SNAP. IT’S A DISTINCTLY PURPOSEFUL MOVEMENT AMIDST AN IDLE BEACH CROWD THAT ARE MOSTLY CONTENT TO SAUNTER OR SUNBAKE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. The manoeuvre’s precision marks the surfer out as someone with superior skills. “Who was that?” asks an impressed local as he watches on from the beach car park. “That was Fraser Dovell,” I inform him. “He used to be an Australian Junior Champion but now he is an architecture student at Uni… Still rips…

MARTIN DUNN AND I ARE SITTING IN FRONT OF HIS LAPTOP SCRUTINISING FOOTAGE OF THE SESSION I’VE JUST HAD. RELYING ON HIS WELL-TRAINED EYE, MARTIN PAUSES THE FOOTAGE WHEN HE IDENTIFIES SOMETHING THAT CAN BE WORKED ON, AND IN A GENTLE TONE THAT DOES NOT DESTROY MY SURFING SELF-ESTEEM, ADVISES ME ON WAYS I MIGHT IMPROVE MY PERFORMANCE. It’s a marked departure from my typical ‘just do your own thing’ approach but as I look at the flailing arms, the half-turns and the kinks in my act, I realise I’m in need of help. Over the last 33 years, Dunn has developed a reputation for being one of the most astute coaches in surfing. Along the way, he has helped a swathe of top-flight competitors (most recently Connor O’Leary and…

SHYAMA BUTTONSHAW KNOWS HOW TO HAVE FUN WITH HIS GIG AS THE QUINTESSENTIAL, MODERN SURFER/ SHAPER. Take for instance, a recent impromptu expedition he went on with lateral-thinking Californian craftsman, Ryan Burch. Shyama had been on a month-long stint in the US, taking part in a shaping contest and sharing ideas with Burch, when the duo decided to make a dash for Cloudbreak. Two days of non-stop shaping ensued in Burch’s Southern Californian bay. A few beers, a couple of sleepless nights, and several plane miles later, the surfer/shaper double act was experimenting with eight new craft at firing Cloudbreak. Shyama, who grew up in Torquay and dabbled in competition in his teens, suggests that his own water-time provides an immediate litmus test for his design experiments. “I think being…

A YEAR OUT FROM RETIREMENT, JOEL PARKINSON IS DEFINITELY NOT MISSING THE FEEL OF A TWITCHY, HIGH-PERFORMANCE BLADE UNDER HIS FEET. “I THINK I’VE HAD ABOUT ONE HOUR OF SURFING ON A REGULAR SHORTBOARD,” HE HAPPILY CONFESSES. “THERE’S JUST TOO MANY GOOD BOARDS OUT THERE TO TRY AND JS HAS BEEN DOING ME TWIN FINS AND ASYMS’ AND ALL KINDS OF DIFFERENT THINGS… I’ll step it up on a performance shortboard if the waves are on, but if it’s three-foot onshore I’m not interested.” The competitive urge, it seems, has been replaced by the more fundamental principle of surfing for pleasure. “I haven’t had a bad surf since I retired…” he insists. “I mean I’ve had bad surfs, but I’ve still come away thinking how much fun is this? I’ve…

WHEN ASH GRUNWALD LOOKED UP THE DEFINITION OF ‘FLOW STATE’, THERE MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN A PICTURE OF HIM, BUT IT WASN’T FAR OFF, “IT MENTIONS SURFERS AND MUSICIANS!” HE EXCLAIMS. I caught up with Ash to discuss his new book following the Byron Bay Writers Festival. ‘Surf by Day, Jam by Night’ is more than a book, it’s a backstage pass, your VIP invitation to hang out with Ash and his friends who just happen to be some of the world’s most awesome surfers and musicians. Reading Ash’s one-on-one interviews is like chatting with your mates while cruising down the coast…well, if your mates were Jack Johnson, Steph Gilmore and Kelly Slater. But it’s not just beats and breaks from Australia’s most-loved surfing bluesman. It’s about being happy, finding…

NIXON – RIVAL TIDE WATCH the Rival features a high-contrast digital display wrapped in an individually tested and 100% waterproof case, bold bezel, free-swing band with a textured pattern to channel water, and 550 pre-programmed tide locations. Any Nixon tide watch purchased until end of Jan 2020 gets you an entry to win an all expense paid trip for 2 to G-Land, courtesy of Nixon and World Surfaris. nixon.com INDO SURF AND LINGO The number one surf explorer’s guidebook will never steer you wrong when you’re looking to make the most out your hard earned trip to surfing’s disneyland. This updated version features the best new surf spots, yachts, villas and hotels. It’ll give you the low down on where to stay near every magic surf spot. indosurf.com.au GOPRO –…

MY TODDLER IS SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS. “DADDY!” THIS IS A ROUTINE I’VE BEEN BLESSED TO EXPERIENCE FOR ABOUT 12 MONTHS. It continues as I grab whatever clothing has been tossed beside my bed and proceed to rip it on. Bleary eyed, I make my way down the hallway as the reality hits that I won’t be making it out for an early. Again. As I scoop him up with one hand he begins to recite his demands. “Blind open, hop out, TV...” Finally, the rapid-fire Tourette’s transitions to one syllable prompts. “‘Bluey’, toast...” It’s been less than eight minutes and he’s won the first battle of many that will go down today. As the TV glow illuminates the pre-dawn morning I can tell the wind is…