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

Chippa Wilson on the stoop Collected Thoughts 008

Chippa Wilson photographed by Nate Lawrence What Youth
06.07.12 – TAGS: ,

Here’s Chippa outside the rental he shared with Mitch and Craig on their trip into the Australian desert, where their minds drifted into a pleasant psychosis commonly called “desert fever” and they began to see things. Like tubes. Tubes and ramps.

Chippa recalls the experience:

I didn’t even check if there were good waves there, I just heard there’s like huge sharks, and it’s cold, and I wasn’t too psyched. But I was just like, Fuck it, I’m going for sure.

That was at first, until we got there, and then there was these rights and just perfect lefts, definitely different then I anticipated. I’m calling, like, I don’t want to make it public or anything, but it has like the best waves in the world.

The first day we got there it was real windy. We got there the day of a storm, and we drove up the coast for two hours, to these cliffs up the point from the slab. It looked pretty perfect but I hadn’t surfed a pit in a long time, so I was kind of on my back foot.

Then we checked another slab and I was like, What am I doing? I went to bed that night, woke up, and it was all offshore in the morning, and just perfect pits. Then we had this lefthand that would go into a little closeout section. It was like as much fun as I’d ever had surfing.

It was only me, Mitch and Ando out there and they have these sets with two to three good ones probably every 10 minutes or something like that. You’ve got no people to worry about, like you’re not going on one and then having to wait 20 minutes for the next chance.

We’d go travel 40 minutes on a dirt road to the west, jet uphill and get to the IGA, the supermarket, just stock up on Nutribars and water, you know just chips and snacks. Then snack all day and make it to the pubs at 8:30. Like a full Groundhog Day but with perfect waves, every day.

Tom Lowe, British Surfer, Nate Lawrence

Who’s that British madman? Collected Thoughts 135: The first time Nate Lawrence saw Tom Lowe paddle past him

Editor’s Note: You know we’re up to something when a dude like Tom Lowe’s name starts coming up. The British surfer smiles in the face of horror, and he’s been on our radar and in our inbox. Here’s some scary info from Nate Lawrence about him. Stay tuned for what we’re up to.—Travis  This might…

what youth ryan burch punching a rock by nate lawrence

There was a fight on a surf podcast Collected Thoughts 134: Nate Lawrence on the near violence on Surf Splendor

It’s 5 a.m. and I’m sitting on the couch at WY’s Scott Chenoweth’s house in Long Beach — wide awake because I just heard a car getting broke into right outside. I can’t sleep so I end up in the vortex of my phone and find myself hitting a link to a podcast featuring Beach Grit’s…

what youth jordy smith surfing in west oz photographd by nate lawrence

Jordy Smith, West Oz in trunks Collected Thoughts 133

Jordy is one of the easiest guys to take photos of surfing. He lands most of his airs and always entertains. On this day, Jordy was surfing in board shorts in the chilly waters of West Oz. O’Neill needed board short photos and instead of flying somewhere warm to do the shoot, Jordy just surfed…

what youth surfing indonesia Garut Widiarta

Garut Widiarta at Padang Padang Collected Thoughts 132: More Indo gold with Nate Lawrence

Garut Widiarta has been surfing out at Padang Padang since he was a little kid. And while he still looks like a little kid, his surfing does not. Recently it turned on for a few hours with only a handful of guys out and Garut was doing turns like these… ? —Nate Lawrence

what youth collected thoughts nate lawrence ian crane surfing indo

Deserted Deserts Collected Thoughts 131: Nate Lawrence checks in from the road with Ian Crane and Evan Geiselman

There’s no shortage of swell. And there’s no shortage of hype. People love to talk about the next swell….But how’s the one out the back?! After surfing in Bali with 93 other guys, Evan and Crane rented and car and drove straight to the ferry. No sleep and some bed bug bites later they saw…

what youth nate lawrence collected thoughts

More of the Same Same Collected Thoughts 130: Year of the fucking drone.

“So here we are. 2017. Year of the fucking drone. We’re pretty far behind schedule, according to Marty McFly. But finally every single person in the world owns a drone. Yay! And now we get to look at even more of the same same. Same beach. Same angle. Different caption. (insert grammatical error here) The…

what youth mitch coleborn nate lawrence surfing

Mitch Coleborn in Indonesia Collected Thoughts 129

“Surfing will always have those off-moments that make you pause and really appreciate the place we get to play.” —Nate Lawrence

what youth collected thoughts Bali Nate Lawrence

The Inside Section Collected Thoughts 128: Nate Lawrence is at it again

Editor’s Note: Nate doesn’t realize how messed up this is, sending us these insane, casual lineups from the weekend when we’re in the sharky doldrums of summer, and he’s running through race tracks like this. That being said, might be time we join him, back on the road…  “The inside section, looking oh-so fun on a…

what youth surfing john john florence

A John John Florence Prediction Collected Thoughts 127: Nate Lawrence chimes in on the sporting side of things

“There’s been plenty to talk about with the WSL recently. Most of it about the horrible advertisements and even worse music coinciding with the WSL. But I got to thinking after watching the 2nd round of the NBA Playoffs and how un-competitive it has been — it’s almost like the WSL. Kelly Slater was Michael…

what youth indo nate lawrence surfing waves

My Indo Dream Wave Collected Thoughts 126: Nate Lawrence and the wave that started his Indo Obsession

“For the better part of my teenage years I drooled at photos of this wave. I still do today” —Nate Lawrence Editor’s Note: Nate Lawrence was there to document this wave when it was new. Timmy Tuner and Brett Schwartz and Travis Potter would venture to the jungles of Indo, get dropped off and wait for…

what youth nate lawrence bali surfing waves

New Swell in Bali Collected Thoughts 125

“The swell is filing in and we found a nice right all to ourselves. Bali bagus.” —Nate Lawrence

what youth john john florence photographed by nate lawrence

John John Florence, 14 for Five years Collected Thoughts 124

Looking at this photo, it seems like so long ago. John John was this young, long haired blonde kid who surfed Pipe. I remember seeing him paddling out in pretty big conditions and thinking that he was going to drown. But he didn’t. And then he caught one of those big waves. But that’s all…

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