We pulled up the driveway at Chippa Wilson’s house today to 3 brand new boards, ready to rip. Not beat up clunkers from deep in his garage. These were quiver staples of his. 3 completes, right there waiting for us. After a travel itinerary that lasted over 29 hours and 3 countries and 5 cities, we were pretty excited to rip. And not only did Chippa let us stay, but he made us beds, and coffee and gave us boards. In this day and age of pro surfer, I can’t articulate how fucking sick it is to land on your feet like this. Thanks Chippa :)

Prior to stepping into Chippa’s dream land in the hills outside Cabarita, we spent days literally lost in translation. We went to Japanese trade shows with Kanoa Igarashi and watched him get bombarded and kindly speak Japanese and greet thousands of fans as they celebrated his qualification for the WSL World Tour. We went to Tokyo. We went to Kanoa’s hometown of Jindai ji where he paid respects to his grandfather and made soba noodles with his uncle, the owner of one of Japan’s most famous noodle restaurants I Kyu-an. From there, we paid our own respects to the bar that Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson spent most of their time in Sofia Coppola’s amazing film Lost in Translation. And then we left.

Jumped on a few Thai Airways flights through Bangkok, lived the surreal life that is 29 hours of air travel and landed on the Gold Coast, where we promptly grabbed Chippa’s boards and jumped in the sea for a ridiculously fun surf and then had some lunch with Noa at a Vegan spot in Coolangatta.

And now we’re here. About to link with Noa Deane, Rasta, Ozzy, Kai, Chippa and who knows who else for a surf up the coast. Not to mention we are headed to Melbourne this weekend for the Brixton Broadcast. Stay tuned, we’re redefining youth on the run again. Thank God. —Travis