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

“Where ya been?” A little update on our recent movements

letters from what youth where ya been

Don’t you just love when people ask you that? Well, we do. And people been asking us – especially our mailman, cuz we haven’t been home in a while… so let’s see, where did we go… a little bit of everywhere really. We road tripped up the CA coast in a van thanks to you and the marvel that is Kickstarter. Then we carried that momentum all the way to Samoa (thanks to Waterways Travel and Salani Surf Camp) where we were promptly hit by a cyclone. We weathered that beautifully with beer and readings out of the Bible in our rooms. The cyclone eventually blew over and we got barreled and Gavin Beschen came and basically changed our lives. We threw a rad party with The Jacuzzi Boys in Florida during the very unpretentious and fun Surf Expo show to celebrate Cam Richards new part. Then we zig-zagged to Hawaii to watch Noa Deane surf a comp at Pipe. Now we’re here. A little unsure how to roll it all out. But like we always say and like Albert Camus originally said: “To begin, begin.”

HERE’S A LOOK AT WHAT’S COMING:

Road Trip to SF Thanks to You

We packed Harry Bryant, Colin Moran, Mitch Coleborn and Nate Tyler and eventually Chippa Wilson in and we surfed all over California. Mitch pet a raccoon at 3 a.m. outside our very sketchy motel room. Harry came home in a kimono and face paint and we got some really rare waves pretty damn good.

Photo: Nate Lawrence

Cyclone Samoa

Rolled the dice by flying into Samoa during a pretty big cyclone with Gavin Beschen, Colin Moran, and Ford Archbold. Thanks to the guidance of the Waterways and Salani Surf Camp guys though, we pulled it and found plenty of ramps and pits between the Bible readings and beer.

Photos: Timmy Ridenour

The Other Guys

I personally jumped over to Hawaii to try my hand at webcasting. Did so thanks to the much looser rules of “The Other Guys” show, but I did get to do this magical interview with Mason Ho (see below) while I was there, and cheer Cam Richards into the final and Noa Deane into the Semis. Josh Moniz won the comp and he’s a legend himself. So Hawaii was very much a success. I also played basketball for the first time this decade. Made a basket too.

Issue 20

We kinda missed every deadline associated with it so far, and we won’t bother with the details though because print is dead and it’s a miracle we get to make these things at all and go have parties and hang out with you all. But I will tell you, this one is nearly ready. And when it comes out, we’re coming out: all over, hitting the road and we don’t plan on stopping. Tell the mailman to hold our mail: 2018 is gonna be the most on the run we’ve ever been. You’ll see.

Youth Against the Machine

And in case you need something to do between now and the release: Keep raging! Click here to see why we’re so proud of you for never ceasing to flop like a fish on the deck of a boat to get your voices heard and changes made.

 

Indonesia Boat Trip Cluster Filming Yoyo Island Creed McTaggart Brendon Gibbens Craig Anderson Thom Pringle Surfing Dear Youth What Youth

Dear Youth Field notes from the outer islands

A five-day trip to get the fuck outta Bali and film for ClusterTM with Craig Anderson, Brendon Gibbens, Creed McTaggart & Thom Pringle. We slept in dungeon style cell rooms with a shitty fan, all of us. Tucked tight together with mattresses on the floor. This was Indo at it’s best. A real surf trip….

Indonesia, mitch coleborn chippa wilson what youth

Dear Youth Noa Deane and Mitch Coleborn getting it done

This is just one of those photos that makes you want to drop everything and max out your credit card and book a boat trip with your buddies. Mitch Coleborn is paddling out and Noa Deane is about to get really barreled. What more needs to be said? It’s all happening. —Nate Lawrence

Karate Zen Dear Youth What Youth Filming Kai Neville

Dear Youth Can you hear me? Where has my zen gone?

Time’s spinning by at a wild pace. I need to reflect on what went down over the last…the last month. West oz road tripping, a boat trip, Maccas camp post up, back to back. I think we may need to just chill. I love the hustle, but… Don’t get me wrong, this shit is sick. I…

Quinn Matthews Dillon Perillo Salina Cruz Surfing What Youth Dear Youth

Dear Youth Quinn Matthews in Training

Editor’s Note: Quinn Matthews is a talented young photographer. And we like him a lot. He brought creative angles to the North Shore. And hung with the boys in West OZ. That’s step one and two of success in this game. But there are more steps which are a bit trickier to explain. Last week, Quinn…

dion Agius dane reynolds craig anderson what youth

Dear Youth Craig Anderson, Dion Agius, Dane Reynolds in New Zealand, filming for Dear Suburbia, 2012

Editor’s Note: Blake Myers is Kai Neville and What Youth’s mascot/employee/filmmaker/creative Kiwi. He’s been making Lego videos and films for years now, and he’s also pretty good at snapping interesting photos along the way. The moments that usually go unoticed — which we thrive on. He’ll be contributing to Photo Credit and unearthing his archive…

Kai Neville Creed McTaggart Noa Deane Dear Youth What Youth Music

Dear Youth Click happy

“Popular is not the same as important, or often, not the same as good.” — Seth Godin Yesterday, sitting in the boiling cauldron that is Los Angeles traffic, I tuned the radio dial to 88.9, which is KXLU, a tiny independent radio station broadcasting from the campus at Loyola Marymount. It’s not world famous and…

Chippa Wilson getting barreled for cluster what youth

Dear Youth Chippa Wilson, Indonesia, Last week

Nate Lawrence: “Chippa Wilson is more known for his airs than his barrel riding skills, but damn can he ride the barrel well. We just finished a good ol’ fashioned Mentawai boat trip and it did not disappoint. There’s something about bobbing on a boat for 12 days with your friends that will never get…

Noa Deane Surfing Cluster What Youth Dear Youth

Dear Youth Noa Deane’s washed up traveler kit

A lot of people like to snap photos of their ultra-curated travel kits: vintage camera, neat bag, perfectly-folded shirt, passport, funny hat, postcards, Moleskin, etc. You know the shot. Well, over the past few years the travel kits we’ve seen don’t exactly look like that. They’re more like this. So here’s the first in a…

Noa Deana Indonesia Cluster Kai Neville Surfing Dear Youth What Youth

Dear Youth Noa Deane’s Indo stitch up

The ramps were good and the crowd was super mellow with the stiff breeze. 30 minutes into the surf Noa boned a pretty big Stalefish. Off target, his fin caught his arm and left him with a nice open gash. He bellied in and I started wondering why the hell he was coming in —…

mitch coleborn jack freestone noa deane what youth cluster

Dear Youth Nate on the Run

Editor’s note: Nate Lawrence is a good employee. Fills our hard drives with photographic gold all year long and is just one of the best dudes you’ll find. However, occasionally, he disappears. Doesn’t usually take us long to see that it often coincides with an active Indian Ocean, which just so happens to be firing…

Craig anderson surfing what youth

Dear Youth Boy to Man: Quinn Mathews returns from Western Australia

Photographer Quinn Matthews just walked in the door here at What Youth. Quinn is 18. Super talented. And up until now hadn’t been on too many surf trips. He was a green grom and we sent him into the wild. He went to Western Australia for 8 weeks to take photos and prove his worth…

Jordy smith what youth

Dear Youth Jordy Smith’s Indonesian Salon

Jordy Smith and Rob Bain, Indonesia 2013 “This here is a photo of Jordy just starting to dive into a fresh haircut for his boss, Rob Bain. It was the last night of the trip and Jordy had a line of people ready to get haircuts. What Youth photographer Hamish Humphreys had just got his…

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