There’s a small bar in this terminal and it’s filled with all those sad looks that people usually have in airports, bad sandwiches and ice cold beers. I’ve just met up with What Youth filmer and team psyche-leader Victor Pakpour. He travels with the most hideous piece of luggage you’ve ever seen. He says it’s easy to find in foreign ports. It’s massive and floral and he just fills it with gear and clothes and grins through LAX. While in Australia Victor will be grabbing some last minute footage for Reef and What Youth’s film collaboration Anything Sing, which will be out this Spring. There’s swell, star power and blue water waiting. Myself, Kai and heaps of surf dudes will be venturing up the coast, posting up on the beach and filming a brand new series for this here website. Expect radness. And according to the forecast, there’s a good chance we’ll be disregarding a good amount of responsibility and surfing our brains out. And don’t worry, we’ve got a good amount of entertainment in store for you this week while we get settled in Australia, including some sneak peeks inside What Youth Issue 3, which is now available in the What Youth Shop. As for us, we’re boarding our flight. —Travis
Why would anyone wanna leave Paris? Donald Trump is making it harder to be a youth on the run
The great Gloria Steinem put it best: In response to Trump’s attempt at pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement: “Too late, we’re already pregnant.” Yesterday Donald Trump announced that the United States was leaving the Paris Climate Agreement. Now, I suggest you do a little homework (always a good idea), but the short of it:…
What’d you do this weekend? We threw ourselves into the pit with The Murder City Devils
“A lot of our songs early on were about romanticizing places we weren’t. Other places, other towns, things we couldn’t get to” said Spencer Moody, lead singer for The Murder City Devils before a secret show they were playing Saturday night. And yes, this was a place you definitely wish you woulda been. And it…
This is Absurd An old note comes back to haunt and hype us
Editor’s note: This was originally published in What Youth Issue 1 (which is now sold out) as an intro to Kai’s film Dear Suburbia,. It recently struck another modern chord with us as we thought of all the impending doom out there. And this kind of reminded us that’s it still, in the face of insanity,…
How we met Yago Dora Yago’s success at the Rio Pro is validating something we’ve known for a long time. Let’s recall.
Long before the WSL started with the weird warrior techno hype video things, we were watching Yago Dora. His surfing caught our eye, but it was his vibe, his personality, his approach that really stuck with us. In What Youth Issue 13 we recall his ability to jump in our big white van and road trip…
did you see that new WSL commercial? Is Dion right? Is it time we say no to the WSL?
I’m quite depressed right now. There are the sharks. Crowds. Hospitals. Stress. Bills. Work. Marketing. Branded Content. And WSL. And it’s the WSL that’s really getting to me right now. This morning the first thing I read on Instagram was Dion Agius (on Aussie time) calling out the WSL for turning their new promo video…
Cull Your Fear A spike in shark sightings and an attack in Southern California raise the debate…again
Editor’s Note: Taylor Paul is a surfer. A really good, big wave surfer in fact. Mavericks, Dungeons…all the scary ones, that come with lots of sharks. He has researched this, spoken with experts on shark populations, flown in helicopters to look for them (and found them) and lived in Santa Cruz, Southern California and San Francisco….
What’s Dane Been Up to? We spent the weekend with the Reynolds family filming for a new Fairly Normal
Dane was home this weekend. A classic California pre-summer day: lots of blue, couple fun waves and lots of traffic. We met up with Dane at Rincon, where he surfed glassy and “1-foot but perfect” Rincon for an hour on a Channel Island twin fin (with a small trailer). He had earlier told me his…
Let’s talk about trunks (briefly) We built this industry on them, so why are so few pairs worthy of your thighs?
Today marks the release of Former’s “Control” boardshort. So yes, full disclosure, we back them, and what they’re doing, so there’s the commercial above. It’s really cool. And those trunks look sick on Dane. But I do still retain the right as an editor and one of a few who started this whole blessed mess…
The Surfer/Hooper Index Craig Anderson is Steph Curry and other ridiculous comparisons to kick off the NBA playoffs
The NBA is probably the most commercialized athletic event in the world. This makes it the most unlike surfing (kinda). But at its core, basketball is like surfing. I’ve been around both types enough to see the personalities, egos, artistry, techniques and grandiosity of both sports. They are completely unrelated — maybe like distant second…
Does WSL = Christian Youth Group? Conservative and “cool” with really bad music
When I was in high school there were always people trying to get us to join them at their church youth groups. They would meet on Tuesday night and camouflage the underlying church message beneath the prospect of a healthy amount of cute girls and “rock music” on a school night. I would sometimes go (there really…
Tanner And Norwegian Black Metal Bright guy, dark music
We had a sunny surf and followed it with Coronas in a dark bar full of magicians. There were lots of smiles and laughs throughout our hour long afternoon sit down with Tanner Gudauskas, as you’d expect, but there was also critical analysis of what the hell it is surfers do for a living and existential life…
My Fondest Memory: Airport Beers After a week in paradise, it’s the anticipation in those pre-flight bubbles I remember
I just got home from five days in absolute “paradise.” Clear water, boat rides, adventure, diving, nurse shark sightings, couple fun waves, good friends, dark rum and cold mini beers whenever I needed. A quick jaunt to recharge. I read some books, rode some waves, danced in the Third World discotheque, ordered foreign foods in foreign…