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

Dear Youth Field notes from the outer islands

Indonesia Boat Trip Cluster Filming Yoyo Island Creed McTaggart Brendon Gibbens Craig Anderson Thom Pringle Surfing Dear Youth What Youth

A five-day trip to get the fuck outta Bali and film for ClusterTM with Craig Anderson, Brendon Gibbens, Creed McTaggart & Thom Pringle.

We slept in dungeon style cell rooms with a shitty fan, all of us. Tucked tight together with mattresses on the floor. This was Indo at it’s best. A real surf trip.

Creed would wake up last every day. The first two days of waves were fun, four-foot cross-shore ramps. We attempted to surf a rare left (breaks a couple times a year) when the swell hit, didn’t end up going out. Worst vibes: around 60 people in the water (surf dog Indo tube pigs). Its funny how people hunted this swell out like maniacs and we are trying to dodge it, waiting for the down days when hacked up ramps are on offer. It’s what we do.

Watching Now Now during the trip and notice that Jordy makes this wave look way too easy. He’s shredding. Although soundtrack was muted and eyes bleeding from the drones, the dude can surf.

Good pal Thom Pringle jumped on the trip to get one last surf fix before he embarks on a journey to work in Paris, bon voyage Thom…we miss you.

Music of choice: Sex Dwarf by Soft Cell. This was jamming in our rented miners Hilux en route to shred every day.

Warung Mamas Padang food. The best food down the street and only 3 dollars. Boom, post-surf hammers.

(3 ice creams and a pancake later):

We were running late. Doddy was our Lombok driver. He zooted us to the airport in 50 minutes. His record he said is 49 minutes. The drive is usually 1.30 hours. We made our flight by 5 minutes. Kudos doddy!

austyn gillete what youth part friend skateboarding

Dear Youth Our weekend with Austyn Gillette and Part Friend

Austyn Gillette was down in San Clemente for physical therapy on Friday. He said he’d be back to his house in LA around 2:30 and invited us to meet up. His band Part Friend was playing with Swimm. all was well until I arrived and Austyn was at the Emergency room with his friend who…

Ian Walsh and John John Florence what youth Eddie opening ceremony

Dear Youth Ian Walsh and John John Florence at the opening ceremony for “The Eddie”

“I don’t understand them, but I sure do respect them.” Nate Lawrence told us that last night after attending the opening ceremony to the 30th Annual Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau event with Ian Walsh, John John Florence and the rest of the world’s best big wave surfers — including DEKKA author/photographer Derek Dunfee…

derek dunfee what youth dear youth

Dear Youth DEKKA Journals by Derek Dunfee

Editor’s Note: For those of you who don’t know Derek yet, you’re in luck. Basically this is like getting to ride shotgun to some of the world’s scariest places and waves, with one of the nicest, most talented dudes there is. He shoots photos, surfs the world’s biggest waves, travels at the slightest breath of wind…

The Anxiety of On the Road’s Original scroll After reading On the Road (Twice) I feel different

I’ve read Jack Kerouac’s coming-of-age novel On the Road twice now.  First the heavily edited, Penguin Edition and now the racier, much more raw original scroll edition. I’ve also read most of Jack’s other books including Big Sur, The Dharma Bums, Tristessa, Visions of Cody, Mexico City Blues, The Sea is My Brother, and Satori in Paris…

Julian Wilson what youth surfing

Dear Youth European Photo Diary of Quinn Matthews

Editor’s note: It’s well documented what a national treasure photographer Quinn Matthews is. And while his Europe tour of duty wasn’t without it’s hiccups and we thought we lost him, or he’d lost it, or both, he did manage to come back with some gold. The gallery and story below by Quinn are proof that…

Kai Neville Cluster France What Youth

Dear Youth France, you son of a bitch

Chip nearly stomped a huge backside slob. Noa came so close I vomited on the beach. Dion lost his credit card, got a new one, and lost it again.

Quinn matthews in portugal waves surfing what youth

Dear Youth Damp Jeans and the wave of your life

I’ve been in Portugal for about two weeks, and it’s been sunny all of two days. The rest of the time it’s been gale force winds and rain. All of my clothes are wet, cold and dirty from the rain and mud everywhere. I tried to do some laundry the other day, but we don’t…

Kelly slater 540 surfing air photographed by quinn matthews for what youth

Dear Youth: Kelly Slater’s 540 sequence Processing Kelly’s air at the Cluster House in France

Kai, Blake and myself went down to Bayonne to pick up some film from a French lab. We had moules and frites on the river (just like Chas suggested) and were enjoying a warm Fall day in France when Mitch Coleborn texted us and said the waves were firing and to hurry the fuck up…

Noa Deane guitar what youth surfing

Dear Youth France House

Every one knows now that the best camera in the world is the one in your pocket. And hell, we all have one in our pocket! The only difference with these photos and yours, is Blake tends to wander around France with the world’s best surfers. He’s with Kai filming Cluster. Eating baguettes, drinking latte’s…

John John Florence in France Photographed by Quinn Matthews What Youth

Dear Youth Deep Frence sand and currents with Quinn Matthews

France has been fun. Like, really fun. But like I think I said earlier, it’s a lot colder than last year, and I didn’t pack properly. There’s been a bunch of stuff that’s gone on but I’ll just get right to it and rattle off some observations and experiences in the past week or so….

what youth issue 9 deadlines dead lions what youth

Dear Youth Dead Lions Suck

Can we start planning the party yet? Holy shit. Issue 9 deadline nearly made us dead. And we need to start party planning. It’s time. And while shit aint confirmed, we need this man. Let’s just say, mark your calendar: Thursday, October 23 Something is going down. If you’re in the greater CA area, we’re…

Dane Reynolds, Craig Anderson, Dion Agius and Noa Deane surfboards in france surfing what youth

Dear Youth Scenes from Europe: Part 2

Today I drove past a little Russian gypsy stall and there were a bunch of old cameras on display. I noticed a vintage 35mm Leica, brass plated with a slick wood grain wrap. It had this Nazi emblem etched into the brass. I managed to heckle them down to 120 Euros. It was a relic,…

Sign up for letters from What Youth


By enabling this page, you are acknowledging and accepting our privacy terms and conditions.