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

Scandinavian Wanderlust Getting closer to the Gods with Chippa Wilson, Keegan Valaika, Jake Blauvelt and Louif Paradis in Norway and Sweden

Traveling through Norway and Sweden with Chippa Wilson, Keegan Valaika, Jake Blauvelt and Louif Paradis

Drinking gets you closer to the Gods in Norway. Or so they say. And we just got up close and personal with them. Because we continue to be like Ozzie and just say yes. And our most recent “yes” led us to Norway and Sweden with Adidas. To surf and skate and even ride snow. In what is easily being called “the most beautiful place we’ve been.” Breathtaking pisses and epiphany-filled 2 a.m. strolls and surfs in broad daylight made up most of our days. And we met a whole new cast of characters.

A052_C010_01014W

Like Keegan Valaika, the trend setter of snow.  He’s extremely creative, able to illustrate any situation in very funny simple interesting ways. Very in his own head called What Youth gossip girl. Instead of skating one day he went to go check out a museum in Stockholm. Love that about him.

A052_C035_0101QO

Then there was Jake Blauvelt. You always feel safe around Jake. He’s the neutralizer in every situation. Very honest and informative. He’s been around for quite some time, won the US Open of Snowboarding at age 17. Stars in and produces multi-million dollar films…most recent one was called “Naturally.”

Jake

We also got to hang with Louif Paradis from Quebec. His first language is French, but he speaks great English. While we were there on the trip he won video part of the year. Definitely the most motivated and fastest driver of the trip.  He gets shit done on all fronts.

A052_C007_0101UG

And there’s Chippa. He was the star of the trip really. Everyone looked up to him and asked him about his surfing and complimented him on his “front fives” AKA air reverses (Btw we still dont know why its called an air reverse. Can we look into changing this somehow?).

Stay tuned for more on our trip to Scandinavia coming soon.

Also big thank you to our friends at  Story Hotel, and Hotel Rival in Stockholm. Also, Unstad Arctic Surf, check them out if you make it to the Lofoten Islands to rip. 

A049_C001_0101EUA049_C021_0101SS A051_C001_0101HSA051_C029_0101ZM A051_C058_0101DEA051_C062_0101B2 A051_C121_0101NHA051_C123_01018H A051_C141_010158A052_C001_0101AI A052_C010_01014WA052_C021_0101QU A052_C022_0101NYA052_C045_0101ZB A052_C062_0101MP

what youth surfing california swell

When California gets good It’s not always like this, but it sure is nice when it is. Tom Carey documents.

If you’re not in Florida like some of us are, then you’ve probably been scoring sick waves. California’s been getting blasted by rain and swell all week, and then yesterday: the rain stopped, the water turned blue again and the boys been getting piped. Tom Carey tried his luck in a few fickle zones and had…

what youth surfing magazine

SURFING Magazine is gone An institution is extinct. Now what?

Yesterday, after 53 years of publishing SURFING Magazine closed down. This is strange and sad for a few reasons. My first being personal: I worked there for 8 years. Hell, I was practically raised there. Learned to be a pro and a punk at the same time and am proud that somehow when every title…

what youth womens march photography by Darren Ankenman

The prettiest day in America Darren Ankenman photographs from Saturday’s Women’s March in Los Angeles

After the day that was Friday, there was Saturday: The most beautiful day in American History. All over America people joined together to celebrate women’s equal rights and I found myself, for the moment anyway, a proud American. I watched as the streets filled with women from all over and supporters of women from all walks of life stood…

what youth craig anderson indonesia surfing

A good looking cutting room floor Issue 17 is ready for ink, here’s a peek

Full disclosure: We didn’t plan it like this. But as we’ve learned along the way, that’s so very OK. Hell, that’s what we’ve been doing in here since day 1: not sticking to the plan. Being spontaneous and open minded. And that’s the story with Issue 17. It’s got a bunch of chipped teeth, backfires…

what youth travis ferre scott chenoweth 2017

Memo from the Editor’s Desk Day 4 of 2017…

I chugged my pint of 2016 a few days ago but I’m still looking for 2017’s heartbeat. Even the ocean is still on break. But we’re not. We’re currently putting the final touches on a new issue (holy shit it’s number 17!) and have inched ourselves even closer to announcing some very exciting new projects,…

what youth hawaii rvca house kelly slater alex knost

A North Shore gathering for Dylan RVCA and Mark Oblow create a Hawaiian night that can only happen on the North Shore

Things happen on the North Shore that don’t and can’t happen anywhere else. I’m now thoroughly convinced of that. The other night at the RVCA Pipeline house we held a small bbq along with Mark Oblow and RVCA and a very limited number of our Dylan Rieder issues. The waves had fired all day long…

what youth gavin beschen

A Day With Uncle Gavin Beschen On location in Hawaii for a new episode of “4 Cities”

We met up with Gavin Beschen at Sunset Beach. He was checking the surf in his truck and we had just pounded Haupia pies from Ted’s Bakery. We walked up and found him on the boardwalk checking the waves. He told us to follow him up the hill and said he had some boards we…

Waikiki

What Youth on the North Shore “We are not Subway”

We land in Honolulu before midnight and immediately make our way to the Thrifty Car Rental place to grab our car. Everything was sorted we thought. And were told. I know because I told everyone and sorted it. What Youth is back on the North Shore finally. Been a few years and we’re pretty excited. That’s when the aloha…

what youth office fire

What Youth Fire Update: We’re good Can’t say the same for some of our neighbors

Early Friday morning we got word that the units behind our building had caught fire. Assuming it was merely a dumpster fire, I thought nothing of it for about 15 minutes. A little research proved otherwise: This was BIG. A real fire. Explosions. It was all over the news. And our building was definitely in…

what youth dear youth fuck trump

The Shape of Art To Come Let’s make sure we take advantage of this

Yesterday I stood inside a church and looked at a ballot with measures on porn and weed and a presidential battle between a woman and a rich guy with traits I usually label as “asshole.” It was a bizarre 20 minutes. But I did my part. I voted, put my sticker on my shirt and walked…

what youth magazine dylan rieder issue coming soon

The Dylan Rieder Issue: On Sale 11-22-2016 We teamed up with Mark Oblow to create our 16th issue and devoted it entirely in loving memory of Dylan Rieder.

This one means a lot. And it’s off to print today. After learning that we lost Dylan to his fight with leukemia last month, we immediately shelved all in-progress plans for Issue 16, got with Mark Oblow and discussed creating something special and memorable for one of the most influential people we’ve ever met.  Thanks…

John John Florence, Surfing, World Champ

John John Florence is the World Champ And we’re backing that big time

While we were sleeping, John John Florence became the World Champ. He sliced and diced his way through Portugal, and in making the final, and with Jordy’s semifinal loss, we got us a John John crown. And this is nice news to wake up to. Because John John deserves this. We all deserve this. It’s…

Sign up for letters from What Youth


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