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

On the Unthinkable Mick Fanning and Julian Wilson brought us to tears

dear youth mick fanning shark attack what youth surfing

For whatever reason, I’ve been more emotional than usual the last week or two. I feel like I’ve been on the verge of tears at times. For no reason. Just highly volatile. A good inspirational Nike commercial will get me to well up and I’ll have to walk away. No chance at watching movies. People have told me all the astrological reasons and I’m sure that’s part of it. And all weekend it continued. I was kicked out of the ocean by a lightning storm in CA in July. Literally forced to come in by both my own conscious and lifeguards. A man walked in front of a train near my house and I unknowingly witnessed the cleanup and the air went heavy again. But yesterday, after watching Mick Fanning’s encounter with a shark on a live webcast at a wave we’ve all surfed or dreamed to surf, during a final — I popped.

I re-watched the whole thing a million times, looking at every detail, every perfect body movement by Mick (and goddamn he was on point), the commentators reaction, Julian paddling his ass off toward Mick. The boats. The crowd. Every aspect of the ordeal analyzed with hungover, emotional eyes. And then once the emotional interviews went down, and Mick and Kelly started welling up, followed by Julian’s emotional recount, that was it. I cried too.

I was in South Africa all of May, surfing “sharkier” waves than J-Bay with my best friends. Then we went to J-Bay and surfed it too. It was firing. Best memories of our lives for sure. But I’m now forced to think back to all those post-surf beers and chats about how “sharky” it is and how safe you feel on land wearing shoes and socks and it’s all laughs and tough talk. But to hear Mick Fanning and Julian Wilson do it, after an actual incident feels extremely fucking real. I’m personally thinking about all the lonely wide paddle arounds I did at J-Bay and how haunted they feel. It is ALWAYS in your head there. And you’re really at the mercy of planet earth and the fauna, just hoping it doesn’t happen to you or anyone ever. But it does. And to see it happen the way it happened is and will always be one of the most surreal things we’ll  ever witness.

I also think I need to applaud the WSL for the way they covered and handled it all. Probably the first time they actually showed that they are people and not just aloha-shirted robots saying slogans. Pottz spoke for us all when he said, “Holy shit…” live on the air as he watched in horror at the impossible thing unfolding before him. And “Holy shit” is what 100 percent of us said and still are saying. And while now we can get into topics like whether it should be labeled an “attack” or an “encounter” or whatever the conservationists and scientist want to do with that is all fine now, because we all got to keep our family members in tact.

As for the post-game on the boys: Mick and Julian handled it both like professionals and people, a combination I wish we saw more of during competitive broadcasts. But at this stage, that all means nothing. I just don’t care. The only thing that means anything is that they’re all flying home safe (hopefully first class with oodles and oodles of Champagne for winning the heat of a lifetime) and hopefully we all had a good cry together. And it’s probably going to take a few minutes before we decide what’s next. —Travis 

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.