Surfing, Skateboarding, Music, Photography, Travel, Culture and general antics of the youth on the run.

Dear Surfing, Anyone out there? What I’d do to watch a surf vid that mattered right now

what youth chippa wilson surfing

I’m still awake, watching music videos, trying to recreate the nostalgia that late night MTV2 once provided. Right now it’s Radiohead’s “Karma Police” music vid on YouTube.

This is what you’ll get when you mess with us.

I’ve had enough wine and a long enough day not to care anymore. I’ve just finished a perusal of the Internet’s modern surf landscape and I must say it is desolate. A barren wasteland of odds and ends and poorly executed web clips. And yes, it is the “the offseason” for the surfer “athlete,” — and maybe I should just chill and recharge and wait for the new surf season to kick off. Interview a skater or something, I know, I know. But I can’t get that excited for this WSL rookie class, the waves have been good at home and I wanna be hyped! But not even a peep from Joe G is on the horizon at the moment. Help!

There’s kind of some stories. Dane’s in an airport in Lisbon without a passport, there was another shark attack in Reunion (not good news at all) and Owen Wright surfed a heat (good news), but other than those headlines there’s just a surplus of subpar, rushed out videos. Nothing with any moxie! No sick shit! Straws are being grasped at. And hell yes, maybe we are to blame too, the landscape of the surf entertainment culture is in a strange place, and sure, by the end of this we’ll have to go ahead and pick up the slack and vow to fix it, but until then, let’s’ take a look at the latest online offering:

Surfing Magazine: Gone. Although still serving the same banner ads as Surfer Magazine…worth the CPM?

Surfer Magazine: Voiceless. Literally an SUV ad with pictures of waves. Now a quarterly magazine I think, with more pictures of waves. Bible of the Sport, very Old Testament.

Stab Magazine: PSA’s and product reviews, couple cool vids. Have more shark stories written than Peter Benchley.

Beachgrit: So fun! But it is such a slow time of year!

Surfline: Great surf check cameras…

Kook Slams: I literally just wiped tears out of my eyes because their captions are so good. Finally, someone has the good enough sense to use an internet platform properly. God love you Kook Slams. We’re hiring.

Surfing Magazine’s Facebook page: Just turned into Surfer Mag Films Facebook and POOF! All is well! I think…:/ (and yes we clicked that link that says this page is offensive).

Other than that, you’re either a surf brand, caught between a rock and e-commerce hard place. Or us! But fear not. We’re here.

We’ll make something worthy of throwing a party for you. Let’s start with a new short film starring Craig, Chippa, Yago, Lee Wilson, Eric Geiselman and Dillon Perillo called Hello, Sea. Let’s put it out a week from today. After that we’ll give you said party, a new magazine and once we wake up from that, we’ll give you what you really want: A new full-length movie announcement. And we’ll promise that it’s only the beginning. Fuck this boredom. We’re here. —Travis

Creation curation dear youth what youth surfing

Dear Youth Creation > Curation

“It’s easy to attack and destroy an act of creation. It’s a lot more difficult to perform one.” ―Chuck Palahniuk

Adolescents Surfing Dear Youth What Youth

Dear Youth The adolescents are coming

Tomorrow we’ll be unveiling a new series we’ve been working on called The Adolescents. The idea behind the series is to illuminate and introduce you to some of the younger surfers we’ve been watching and getting psyched on. Kai Neville has been grooming and documenting the elite in surfing through his filmmaking for a while…

Dani Loureiro CS Louis Dear Youth What Youth Surfing Traveling

Dear Youth: The Wishkah Bridge A pilgrimage to find Nirvana by C.S. Louis

There are probably several fanatical accounts citing the significance of the Wishkah bridge on the Internet. And hopefully this will inspire you to check them out over a can of beer alongside some righteous tunes. I am not capable of delivering as thorough a report because I have not yet done such research, and arrived…

Nate Lawrence Surfing Dear Youth What Youth Indonesia

Dear Youth We back at it

“Well, I’m out of here on Saturday,” Nate Lawrence just told me. Another round of trips are leaving and waves of new projects are hitting the road. 2013 was incredible. And if you want you can see for yourself here, but we can’t stay idle for long. Kai and Nate have plane tickets, rental cars…

Panther Vision Ozzie Wright Jamie Heinrich Volcom Surfing Music What Youth Dear Youth

Dear Youth: Prepare for Panther Vision

I’d say that’s all we can do. Attempt to prepare you. Although there’s not really any way to do that. But this is your warning shot for our new monthly series of celluloid called Panther Vision presented by Volcom. The series was created exclusively for What Youth by Jamie Heinrich — who’s a creative freaking…

Kai Neville Copenhagen Project Arto Saari Dear Youth surfing Skating What Youth

Dear Youth The Copenhagen project today at noon

This is a photo snapped by Blake Myers of Kai Neville shooting film of Arto Saari, who is shooting a photo of Kai, while a tourist takes a photo of all of them. Rad. The Copenhagen Project will begin streaming right here today at 12:00 noon PST.  Tonight we’ll be premiering the film, releasing What…

Caffeine Nicotine Travel Surfing What Youth Dear Youth

Dear Youth From the terminal

These artifacts detail a long-winded sitting. With an interesting man. Who had a lot to say. The setting was perfect. The lighting signifies that it was conducted in a place where the mind runs more freely, spurred on by caffeine and nicotine. The latter not something we condone, but something we realize is a necessary…

West Australia Creed McTaggart Jay Davies Taj Burrow Dear Youth Surfing What Youth

Dear Youth: Taj Burrow, Creed McTaggart and Jay Davies farewell session in the West

We made our beds at Taj’s house this morning. Packed up and toasted the forever legendary one himself for his hospitality, gracious pours of red and for sharing his home break this week. Taj, Creed, and Jay spent most of the morning trading pits in the cerulean blue that you’ll only find in the western…

Jeremy Asher Lynch Remind me to forget Dear Youth What Youth

Dear Youth Be present

“A creator needs only one enthusiast to justify him.” The surrealist sexual painter/photographer Man Ray said this. And we think it’s important to remember today especially. As we all drown in our own inboxes, gasping for validation and appreciation amongst the swarms of hornets online and in social media, it’s nice to remember that a…

Jeremy Lynch Alex Knost Surfing Advice Dear Youth What Youth

Dear Youth More friendly advice for a lot of young men (and women and iPhone users)

“We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.” John Steinbeck wrote that line in his essay “Paradox and Dream”. I’m sure you’ve read it.  Anyway, we like that line. It relates to our lives in the water. In America. On the Internet. In this industry. We’re all searching, battling…

Pinnytown Surfing Road-trip Dear Youth What Youth

Dear Youth: Take us back to Pinnytown

Last month we went to Copenhagen, Denmark to film The Copenhagen Project. The boys at Monster put us up at The Tivoli hotel (which is pretty much like the Disneyland Hotel) and let Arto Saari be our guide. We spent 8 days traveling like a wolf pack on bikes to all the known and unknown spots…

Noa Deane Surfing This is Us France Dear Youth What Youth

Dear Youth: Noa Deane in the French flats

This day got away from us a bit. It was the last smidge of swell during our trip to France and we had to milk it for everything we could. Only problem was that we dipped into the wine a bit early. 16 hours of daylight leaves one a bit discombobulated with regards to things…

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