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

On Yesterday Evan Geiselman, Billy Kemper, Andre Botha, Jaws, John John Florence, Greg Long…damn dudes.

what youth greg long jaws surfing

Yesterday was a beautiful day in California. It was calm. Sunny. The waves were 3-foot. Football was on and mama was cooking chicken all across the land. But if you were a surf fan — like an online surf-watching Instagram-hound type of surf fan — yesterday was fucking stressful and emotional.

The morning was high-octane. Greg Long channeled the adrenaline of a thousand men and packed a 200-foot (estimate) closeout on live broadcast. It was a monumental wave, moment and done by a captain of preparation and lunacy. My coffee gave me the jitters. Coupled with watching what was happening in Maui, I nearly passed out. This was all lumped on top of an impending Issue 13 deadline and, like, 4 pre-bed IPA’s. It was anything but easy like Sunday morning.

I had a surf midday and something kept me anxious — of all the places to be stressed: glassy 2-foot beachbreak wasn’t the place but I couldn’t help it. Something was off. I’m not lying that I could feel it. I hoped everything was going smooth at Peahí — which it was, aside from Billy Kemper’s Jet Ski wipeout turtle roll.(And a big congratulations to Billy for winning the event — that wasn’t a contest, that was so much more than that, and I hope you had a few too many with your family and friends. Those were incredible feats and performance by dudes who you couldn’t respect more. Hard to make it competitive when it’s life or death, literally.

So once I exited the water at my local beachbreak, I quickly saw that it was a true anxiety. Our friend and everyone’s favorite golden boy Evan Geiselman had been worked at big Pipe — nearly drowned and saved miraculously by South African bodyboard charger and now lifesaving angel Andre Botha. Gets welling up just thinking about the video. He performed CPR while swimming Evan in and dug him from the bottom by his leash while huge sets continued to pound him. Evan has since been upgraded from critical to stable condition at Queens hospital in Oahu and should make a full recovery. But we leave with another reminder to always look out for each other. Pipeline is scary and there is no other way to put it. It does not fuck around. And Evan, we’ve always known you charged, and you’ve done it again, we’re very happy you’re OK and we love you. Don’t know what else to say.

But after all the drama and excitement of the day, the night wrapped with what is supposed to be “surfing’s biggest night” or something. It’s called The Surfer Poll Awards and it happens at Turtle Bay Hotel on Oahu. Maybe you’ve heard of it. We were actually nominated for some movies but our invitations must have been lost in the mail —  but let’s just be honest: View From the Blue Moon is Star Wars and deservedly got it’s dude, taking out most honors. And if if you watched the webcast of the Poll (and I tried) the night was just exhausted. I’m sure there were some life celebrations happening at the bar, but the show was goofy. Plain and simple. By the time it came on, it just seemed like we’d run out of steam. All adrenaline and excitement and drama had already been tapped. The first few awards were given to people not in attendance. And then it was time for bed. But the recap says John John cleaned house, grabbing the number one spot from the thousand time winner Kelly Slater, movie of the year, maneuver of the year etc. But above all that, I’m mostly happy to report that everyone is alive and well and we can all surf together today. —Travis

what youth dylan rieder rest in piece

Dylan Rieder: 1988-2016 R.I.P. to one of the greatest of all time

It’s strange to type this. Hard to believe what the keys are putting down, but Dylan Rieder has passed away from complications with leukemia. He was 28 years old. Dylan’s influence is ingrained so very deeply in skateboarding and everything he touched, and forever will be. Happy to have had the pleasure to spend time…

france, travis ferre

I’m Home! But Have No Idea Where I am After a month in the Old World, I’ve returned to a disheveled homeland

I just got home from a few weeks away. I think it’s called holiday. Or vacation. Depending where you’re from. First one I’ve ever tried. And holy shit do I recommend it. I surfed beautiful waves in Portugal, strolled ancient streets of Lisbon, ate extremely well in San Sebastián, biked through a forest in France…

“There are no beers for Media” Another downtrodden day for the WSL press corps

It was Sunday. I felt like watching surfing and I am fortunate to live within a stone throw of a ‘CT venue that shall remain anonymous, but it is in Europe, is not in Portugal and is within a country renowned for cheese and wine. You get the picture. Some friends and I have media…

Peter Hook and the Light at the Wiltern And we all danced

If you don’t like at least one song by Joy Division or New Order than you’re probably a liar. The thing about both of these bands is that they are so prominent in music of various genres. Whether you like it or not, we hear them everyday in our favorite bands. The extent of their influence…

what youth black sabbath music live concert

Black Sabbath played last night at the Hollywood Bowl For those who don’t want “The End” to end

Black Sabbath played last night at the Hollywood Bowl, and I was there, lucky beyond any measure, to have witnessed what they’re calling their last tour ever, appropriately and painfully called “The End.” With almost all original members on stage – Prince of Darkness Ozzy, Godfather of Metal Tony Iommi, and bass legend Geezer Butler…

taj burrow, surfing

The Tour Without Taj It’s like a sad Friday night in

I’m about to walk down the trail at Lowers to watch the contest. Live. Yep, fuck it, I wanna watch some surfing. And make sure there is still free beer at contests. I remember Jay Larson said he surfed because there was “Free beer at contests” in an old issue of Surfer Magazine. I need…

what youth hunter martinez surfing photography

Hurricane Hermine Hunt Photographer Hunter Martinez took us on his recent hurricane chase

Being from the West Coast, hurricanes — at least the ones they get in the east — are exciting. They seem to change and move and shift and are all sorts of unpredictable (and dangerous). And because of that, it’s not rare to score all by yourself if you’re persistent. It’s also really easy to…

what youth issue 15 launch party

Issue 15 party in the desert Full-moon skinny dips, The Paranoyds and a new issue of What Youth in the desert

At one point last night I looked around and everyone was either in just underwear or swimming in the ACE pool with all their clothes on. The moon was full. The Paranoyds had just blown our minds and HUF and Richer Poorer had kitted everyone out with gear, and then we were swimming. We were nowhere…

Metal Neck and the Olympics What an interesting day it has been

Last night Metal Neck II: The Bangover was released. And of course, we fucking loved it. A classic (and free!) give-no-fucks throwback independent surf vid starring a lot of our friends and a few wild characters including Christian Fletcher, Muffin Man, Noa, Droid, Colin Moran and more. And wouldn’t you know it, the awkward little…

what youth surfing padang padang mason ho

Mega Semadhi wins the Padang Cup A Contest We can definitely get behind

The Padang Cup has always been one of the few contests that we can get behind. The dudes who come out to go left and get tubed at one of our favorite waves are always a perfect mix of local standouts and global superheros like Bruce Irons, Mason Ho and Damien Hobgood and more. The…

The same day in Amsterdam and Paris Europe for the Brixton Broadcast and a bit of radical class tourism

Paris is far too big to seen properly in one day, yet so damn pretty you can feel like you did. And we’re here, right now, but not for long. As is too often the case. We were in Amsterdam last weekend and then Paris. A few nights ago, we watched and documented the Brixton Broadcast…

what youth dear suburbia us open

Surf movie premiere season The US Open of Surfing isn’t just underage drinking and drawing

The US Open of Surfing doesn’t just mean no parking, terrible traffic, underage drinking and drawing, the Huntington Hop, overcrowded lineups, MMA flexing and heavily policed streets. It also means premiering new surf movies. And although it may not be the same grandiose events that used to take place in front of the Shorebreak Hotel…

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