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

When Mitch and Yago stop by “Don’t you wanna fly above the water like a pelican?”

what youth happy hour mitch coleborn us open of surfing summer
Photos: Travis Ferré

Hi there. Yep, back. Nothing like a nice couple of “Happy Hours” with Mitch Coleborn and Yago Dora to ignite the spirit. Yesterday, both popped in for the afternoon to kick off the completely unofficial and totally unregulated or sponsored “What Youth Happy Hours.” If you don’t know, we have a little store front at our HQ now, so you can come shop, say hello, tell us about the wave you got this morning and you can generally assume we’ll have a coffee or a beer to offer you. Maybe. The other perk of this situation is the dudes who roll through. Yesterday we got Yago and Mitch. Yago popped in for a hug and hello. Love that kid. He gushed about how fun the waves in Huntington have been, and we learned that he’s currently ranked 3rd on the WQS. That is great news to us. But he also discussed how excited he is to continue free surfing, and how if he does qualify, that it will just lead to more trip opportunities. Good chance he’s going to join us in Portugal this fall. Can’t wait.

Then there’s “Spawn.” Coleborn. We spent much of our time skimming through old SURFING Mags and laughing about how funny it was that the first article on him was called: “Who The Fuck is Mitch Coleborn?” It consisted of a variety of surfers — ranging from Pottz and Tom Carroll, to Dane, Dion and other peers talking about what they knew of him — There were even a few contest legends like Al Hunt who said if he can’t win a contest he’ll never amount to much. He was surrounded by Bintangs in the photo, and we’re pretty sure he’s still one of our favorites and that he’s entertained us plenty the past few years.

Between skate sessions and Coors full-strengths we got on to the topic of surf gimmicks and how they’ve become the new normal. We’re all supposed to trade in our quivers for foam boards with no fins and hydro-foils or cleavage to get clicks and engagement. Mitch did have a funny story about the discussion he had with Ryan Burch and Noa Deane during a recent photo shoot for Volcom about hydro foils though. After way too many chuckles from Noa and Mitch about Laird and Kai Lenny’s enthusiasm for the damn things, Burch chimed in: “You guys suck…don’t you wanna fly like a pelican above the water!?” To which, we simply decided: no…not really. But that’s OK. Here we are, now entertain us. Please don’t chop someone in half to do it though. —Travis 

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Over the weekend, lots of you probably watched Owen Wright win the Quiksilver Pro. A feel good hit for the spring to be sure. There were times over the past year in which I had conversations with people about whether Owen would ever properly surf again, so I must say it was a pleasure to sink…

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OK, so this is a few days late. Lots of rum-infused discussions around fire rings to sort the order. But we did it. Just in time to beat the big boys out at Snapper. And so, just to brush up here’s the criteria: A perfectly inexact science that sees the surfers who represent themselves the…

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My favorite new band just got deported Italian Dark Wave band Soviet Soviet just got arrested, embarrassed and sent home before playing in LA

I discovered a rad new band this week. They’re Italian and called Soviet Soviet. Chris Coté sent it to me, and Maya was into it too as was everyone I’ve sent it to. Rad, Italian Dark Wave (my new favorite genre) for my headphones. And I was in luck, they were scheduled to play Sunday night…

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The New What Youth Top 34 We’ll unveil the new list Monday, March 13th

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Can’t Surf This Pipeline Water, Oil, and Standing Rock: Why the fuck do we wanna destroy the earth?

Editor’s Note: When it comes to water and the environment, we’re all in. We have to be. It goes far beyond politics. It’s life. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good week for either. Once again, we called our political consultant in SF, Heleanor S. Thompson to get some clarity on why anyone would want to put an oil pipe through someone’s drinking…

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Former is here Dane Reynolds, Craig Anderson and Austyn Gillette’s new clothing line is live (and it looks good)

Yesterday I went on a rant. I do that. Wine at night and all. I said things felt alarmingly stale in surfing. Boredom was getting me, I wanted to drown out the real world with my trusty surf world, where anything was possible and you just ride a wave, man. And I wasn’t happy with what…

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Because of the sensationalist potential of this story, it was kinda hard to tell how serious it was. We talked to Dane’s wife Courtney and she said Dane’s being let go now and is OK. It’s been a few very sleepless days and nights for her due to some head-scratching policy in Portugal for a…

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Soli Bailey was born during the biggest storm in the history of Byron Bay. And he just won one of our favorite contests, the Volcom Pipe Pro. It’s our favorite for a few reason, mostly because the commentators don’t handle us with kid gloves, and even better, Red Bull implemented an “Other Guys” secondary commentary booth…

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